Not All Is Awful

From the New York Times:

Fears that an economic slowdown in the United States could spread to other parts of the world and lead to lower energy consumption pushed oil prices down sharply for the second day on Wednesday.

The drop in price contributed to a jump on Wall Street with the major markets all rising more than 2.5 percent.

The two-day decline in oil prices might signal a break in the oil price rally that began more than six years ago, although it remains unclear how far prices will fall or whether the respite is temporary.

Oil futures closed down fell $4.14 to settle at $134.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That followed a $6.44 drop on Tuesday, the biggest one-day decline since 1991.

As oil dropped, the major market indexes soared. In late afternoon trading, the Dow was up 2.5 percent or 276.74 points, to 11,239.28. The broader indicators also rose during afternoon trading. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 2.5 percent, to 1,245.34, and the Nasdaq rose 3.1 percent, to 2,284.85. The stock market also got a lift from a decision by Wells Fargo & Company to increase its dividend easing some investor concerns about the stability of banks.

Bond prices declined and the dollar strengthened against the euro.

The fall in oil prices comes as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, provided a bleak assessment of the American economy over two days of testimony before Congress. It was also ignited by fresh evidence that Americans were reducing their energy use.

A weekly report by the Energy Department showed that commercial oil inventories, which were expected to fall, rose unexpectedly on Wednesday as more oil went into storage than expected instead of being refined and sold.

These excessively high oil prices cannot last.  Not only are they being held artificially high by subsidies in China and India, but they are also based on bad news.  Unfortunately, the MSM likes to report bad news and hopes of bad news, so that's all the American people ever hear.  Also, the fact that people are actually changing their consumption habits means the supply will go up.  Once again, for all the Democrats in the audience: when supply goes up, the price goes down.  And, of course, good financial news from major institutions always helps the market.  As I am getting ready to post this, the Dow Jones is currently up almost another 200 points.

There is plenty of good news out there, so when you hear the constant drumbeat of doom and gloom, just keep in mind that the MSM is essentially the propaganda wing of the Democrat party, and they are deliberately trying to make people unhappy in order to sweep the Dems into power on the basis of 'change'.  If life is good, there's no reason to change things, right?  So, they must manufacture crises where they do not exist, exaggerate every piece of bad news they can find, and avoid any mention of good stuff happening.  It's how they work, so you have to take everything you get from them with a giant grain of salt.

Things are still good, the economy is still growing -- though at a much slower rate than before -- and America is still the best place in the world.  If it wasn't, why would so many other people be trying to come here?

Cheer up!

There's my two cents.