DJIA

open 10,270.08

close 10,320.10 up 50.63

day high 10,320.37

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today's volume 149,931,903

3mo avg. daily volume 203,768,523

DJTA

open 4,284.86

close 4,342.03 up 58.62

day high 4,343.71

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today's volume 13,515,359

3mo avg. daily volume 18,960,379
 
Click to see this Reuters article  for more information.  A few thoughts on Obama's Rose Garden discussion this week.  Quotes and comments below...

"Obama cited possible steps such as extending tax cuts for the middle class that are set to expire this year, increasing government support for clean energy development, and rebuilding more U.S. infrastructure."  I hate to use a bad quote from a bad movie, but "show me the money."  Bernanke already confirmed moderate to no inflationary growth for an extended period of time, keeping interest rates low.  But our President clearly has no concept of fiscal policy.  Wait, how about another bad quote, "have your cake and eat it too."  You cannot have something that costs something for nothing.  So if the funds are not coming from taxes and not coming from the fed, how does he expect to pay for this?  Now to quote something that actually does make sense, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, "Presidents don't have power, their purpose is to draw attention away from it."  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, and as long as the American public has no clue what's going on, they'll gladly swallow the cough syrup... it's all placebo, but hopefully to the White House, that doesn't matter.
 
"He also said he was considering "further tax cuts to encourage businesses to put their capital to work creating jobs here in the United States." How many mom and pop shops outsource their labor?  And for those that do, how much?  See this ADP Employment Report where is mentions that large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment remain essentially flat while employment among medium-size businesses, defined as those with between 50 and 499 workers decreased by 5,000. Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, decreased by 6,000.

I have about had enough... and for those of you out there who think changing parties mid stream will ultimately do ANY good, you're wrong.  The best thing that could happen to the Dem's is to lose seats for the next two years, that way the looming catastrophe falls on Rep's shoulders... remember, we silly little Americans have no attention span and even less ability to rationalize, reason, and create realistic opinions about things... perhaps we deserve socialism, free market capitalism is for a less dependent group of people than most of us tend to be.

Life is not about trying to make the world into the Utopia you hope it will become, life is about understanding what type of boat will ride best on top of grime that pours out of the Capitol Hill sewers.