I cannot help reminding folks again of the hysterical refrain when the bailout boondoggle was initially defeated: Look! The stock market is down 700 points! Wall Street is crying out for this bailout bill! There’s not enough time to worry about graft for ACORN, wool research, wooden arrows, and whatnot! Tomorrow may be too late!
The Dow close that “dark” day (Sept. 29) at 10,365 points. By the end of the week (Oct. 3), the Dow closed at 10,325 points. During the middle of the week, when passage of a bailout bill was as far from a fait accompli that it was going to be, the Dow was above 10,800 points.
That Friday afternoon, Oct. 3, was when the bailout b[ill] passed. When the markets opened the following Monday (Oct. 6), the reaction was worse than the one-day tumble that the media, the president, and Congress all agreed signified the markets’ burning desire for a bailout ? the Dow closed below 10,000 at 9,955 points. It’s still falling. As of this writing, the Dow is down today by close to 700 points (679) and right now is at 8,579 points.