Interesting Market Development

At the moment, the stock market is up around 250 points.  Wonder why?

The most obvious answer is that Obama is out of the country.  That means he can't be putting his pointy head together with Tim "Tax Cheat" Geithner's to take over more private American companies.  It'll be interesting to see what happens when he comes back.

On a more serious note, the cause is probably the release of this information:

Financial stocks led the rally, getting a big boost after the Financial Accounting Standards Board relaxed accounting rules forcing banks to value their assets at current prices. The change should help banks reduce losses.

This was the mark-to-market thing that economic grown-ups (i.e. conservatives) were suggesting last fall.  It's great that it's finally happening, but look how much economic damage we've sustained over the past six months.  There was also a positive report on manufacturing, which probably helped some, too.

But, don't get too happy yet:

Leaders of the Group of 20 nations agreed Thursday to provide more than $1 trillion in resources to the International Monetary Fund and other international institutions in an effort to confront a deep global economic downturn, while also moving to rein in hedge funds and crack down on tax havens.

As with any international funding effort, guess who's going to pay the lion's share of it?  We will.  Also, there's this little thing:

G20 countries Thursday agreed to reform the organization of the international financial system in depth, by regulating hedge funds and registering credit agencies, overhauling accounting rules and setting guidelines to cap bankers' pay.

This amounts to submitting American economic sovereignty to an international governing organization which will almost certainly be anti-American.  This is the economic equivalent to the World Court, in which foreign nations could sue American soldiers for 'war crimes' committed on official American missions during war.  It is true insanity to submit American sovereignty -- militarily or economically -- to the rest of the world, and it will be the end of American greatness and leadership.

The true tragedy is that Barack Obama himself is leading the charge.  It's all part of his vision to re-make America into a European-like socialist nation that is just like every other world non-leader.

There's my two cents.