From Jeff Carter at Points and Figures, Ebola Helping the Market Break [1]
Excerpt:
ISIS is on the march trying to erect a Muslim caliphate. Putin is taking back the Soviet empire, brick by brick and biding his time. Obama’s White House has had scandal after scandal. Crony capitalism will do that for you. Our southern border is more porous than usual. Meanwhile, Obama is disengaged, and doesn’t have the will to crush opposition because he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism. The American media, try as they might, cannot sweep it all under the rug because the wave of bad news on virtually every front is overwhelming like a tsunami.
Except, the market has known the above facts for a while. The only new fly in the ointment is the spread of Ebola out of west Africa and onto the US continent. Where it stops no one knows. But the American governmental bureaucracy is unable to function to do anything about it. More spending isn’t going to make it function any better.
I believe that general lack of confidence in the American bureaucracy (not Congress) to do anything worthwhile has also seeped into the market. If we were confident, we wouldn’t be that worried about things like Ebola. Butwe know [2] that the government bureaucracy, processes, paperwork, and shiftlessness cannot do anything to help [3]. Only people exercising individual liberty and critical thought can save us now.
Government doesn’t always do what’s best for you. It does what’s best for government. The Ebola scare will continue, and the market will continue to get spooked. As soon as things get under control, the market will stabilize.