People moan every day about the stock market. I make my living there, so I suppose I should be moaning more than a guy who gets paid twice a month like clockwork. But, I'm pretty sanguine about it, maybe because there are things going on in my life these days that make market woes look pretty puny.
However, you'll be pleased to hear that I have a 3 Point Plan (TM) that would make the world equity markets take off, straight up, like a rocket.
1. President-elect Obama pledges to not let any of the 2003 tax rate cuts expire. Not by extending them, but by making them "permanent." (There is no such thing as "permanent" in the tax code but that's the DC shorthand for it.)
2. Mark-to-market accounting rules are waived by the current administration.
3. President-elect Obama pledges to cut capital gains taxes from the current 15% to 10% rather than implementing any of his various promises to raise the rates by anywhere from 33% to 86%.
Will any of this happen? Maybe number 2... possibly. But the first President of the United States to come to power with ZERO executive experience in 40 years (Nixon-1968) won't do #'s 1 & 2.
Sorry. It would be rocket fueled.
Elections matter. Bad policy can be very expensive to the taxpayer.
