Arkady's Thoughts

I am not an expert on Israeli elections, but suffice it to say that the process is far more complicated than it is here. Israel has numerous parties many of whom have seats in the Knesset. Israelis go to the voting booths and select a party, not any particular individual politician like we do here. Because no party can ever win a majority, they form coalitions and then pick their PM. As you may have heard Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu was a very likely PM choice just a short two weeks ago. As it is with politics things have changed dramatically and now it seems like the centrist party had edged Bibi out. I won't lie to you, I am all for Bibi and I think Israel needs him. He is a strong conservative, he will not negotiate with terrorists and will respect and use the IDF correctly. More importantly however he is a fiscal conservative. As finance minister he has reportedly done wonders in the banking sector and dramatically improved the GDP of Israel. I cannot stress the paramo...

Due to yesterday's cloture today's vote was a mere formality, however the fight is not quite over. Due to the heavy modifications of the bill, a next step involves the bill moving to a conference committee. There they will have to once again compromise and after reaching a happy medium, this well done slightly salted slab of pork is moving to Obama for digestion. Like me, you are probably somewhat exasperated and maybe called and wrote to many Senators this past week to no avail. But the fight is not over yet. What can you do!? Americans for Prosperity have setup a nostimulus website where you can sign a petition. Check out the website and when you are ready, in case you need further incentives sign the petition ! Remember, there are plenty of resources on the web available that dissect this stimulus bill blast ing giant holes in both it's original purpose and the rhetoric behind why America should support this pork sandwich. Send material to your liberal friends and urg...

There is no single better indicator of future economic projections than the stock market. Traditionally the market always signaled what direction the economy is heading by a good six to nine months. The market is talking to us and if we listen, the following has been said since late 2008. The market did not like Barack Obama. Ever since the reality of him becoming president set in, the market shaved off a tremendous amount of value. Obviously September and October are traditionally bad months and that contributed to the sell-off, but if there was one mandate made in November, it was done by investors and traders. The market continued to dislike Barack Obama with the worst post-election week sell-off in American history. The market did not like the TARP. Since TARP most of the companies involved and the precarious $ BKX (Banking index) are now lower than they were when TARP was announced. The market does not like the stimulus bill nor does it like TARP2. Today the market shaved off clo...