Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks » Politics & Your Money

A Tough Nut to Crack

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:18:00 +0000

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has an impressive record with passing big votes, but according to this article on The Hill a robust public option may be too much for the Congress to handle. Pelosi is relying on a complex series of whips to keep the factional Democratic party in line. There are two votes that [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/E_nXcWd3tg8" height="1" width="1"/

Healthcare Reform Becoming Less Likely

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:39:59 +0000

A bill to freeze cuts to doctors#8217; Medicare payments #8211; one that should have been heavily bipartisan #8211; is now in serious danger of passing. The American Medical Association (AMA) promised Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) 27 Republican votes, but now it appears there are as few as two. Undoubtedly, 27 is an ambitious number for [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/hXoAMsH2cN8" height="1" width="1"/

Update on Alternative Energy

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:33:42 +0000

The (H.R. 2454) passed the House of Representatives last Friday - but only by seven votes. Obama focused today on making his case to the U.S. Senate, confident that they will #8220;move this country forward.#8221; He cited the case of California, where tougher energy legislation in the 1970s has both created jobs for the state, [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/BIBRVXUsSBU" height="1" width="1"/

Obama’s Financial System Overhaul Would Give the Fed Broad Powers Over Wall Street

Don Miller — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:50:31 +0000

Grow Rich Automatically with the World’s Only Gold-Backed “Cash” The U.S. Treasury Dept. has finally approved the new gold-backed “cash.” And according to gold expert Peter Schiff, this new money, called “Gold Dollars,” is not only the best place for your savings today… it could prove very profitable. Why? Because every “dollar” you hold in [...]

The Next 100 Days

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:41:36 +0000

Healthcare was one of the sectors that we were unlikely to see much impact in during Obama#8217;s first 100 days. But as we are beginning to get a hold on our economic situation, it is quite likely to see some comprehensive healthcare legislation in the near future. This was discussed yesterday by Les Funtleyder and [...]img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/VHWfipl6wyE" height="1" width="1"/

A Touch of Irony

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:01:58 +0000

Typically here on Election Stocks, we make decisions on how stocks are likely due to behave based on Barack Obama#8217;s policies in office. What#8217;s interesting about this post is that it has nothing to do with any real policy being proposed by this administration - rather a growing sentiment among many suspicious right wingers. We are [...]img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/t3ok_qz0938" height="1" width="1"/

Cuban Telecommunications

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:57:55 +0000

American telecommunication companies have big opportunities to make some cash thanks to Obama#8217;s eased stance on Cuba. Most importantly for our purposes, we can easily link specific stocks that would do very, very well with some Cuban business. Persons under U.S. jurisdiction will be allowed to activate and pay U.S. or third-country service providers for telecommunications, [...]img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/orr0T6xeR7c" height="1" width="1"/

Easing Restrictions on Cuba

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:18:11 +0000

Today, the White House announced that it would start taking steps to ease restrictions on Cuba. Keep mind these are baby steps, primarily regarding family travel and gift giving, but they are steps in the right direction nonetheless. With bills for removing the embargo in our legislature as we speak, it#8217;s only a matter of time [...]img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/CZCNOWfqn8A" height="1" width="1"/

Straight talk on the Obama mortgage plan

Mike Larson — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:08:48 +0000

Hardly a day goes by without another government bailout plan, and this week was no different. In Arizona on Wednesday, President Obama rolled out a plan designed to reduce foreclosures. The multipronged plan has several moving parts. Since it could have an impact on ...

More Stimulus Winners From Clifton

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:58:25 +0000

Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas Partners, was on Kudlow #038; Company the other night with a solid list of stimulus winners and lowers. You can view the video here (the one titled Stimulus Winners and Losers). Right off the bat, Clifton said wind and solar were safe calls because of the new grant [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/542794594" height="1" width="1"/

Stimulus Package Extravaganza

Jeffrey Miller — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:19:01 +0000

We all know that the stimulus package is going to be the big spending bill of the year, making it the #8216;pork barrel#8217; - so to speak. The fact that there is going to be quite limited appropriations of cash for the rest of 09, this does a lot for us in determining the timing [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/539806996" height="1" width="1"/

Impact of the Stimulus Package

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:19:14 +0000

With its specific goal of stimulating the economy and creating jobs, it#8217;s only natural that the stimulus package would include significant amounts of government cash allocated to creating infrastructure. There was an excellent article on Seeking Alpha pinpointing a few solid picks that ought to pull up in mid-February when the bill is expected to [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/538439234" height="1" width="1"/

A Sad Display

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:25:31 +0000

President Obama#8217;s agenda seems to have taken a hit on one of his first initiatives: the stimulus package. Failure to pass this bill quickly indicates several things to the keen observer. 1. The hope for astounding bi-partisanship and cooperation in Washington seems far-fetched. 2. The fact that Obama is using the #8216;politics of fear#8216; that he campaigned [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/535963335" height="1" width="1"/

ETF Expert Picks a Few Good Ones

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:15:26 +0000

This article from back in November by Gary the ETF Expert has some pretty solid reasoning on his picks for a few good Obama sectors. He relies predominately on the idea that Obama will improve our country#8217;s infrastructure - and do it in a #8220;greener, cleaner way.#8221;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/530115346" height="1" width="1"/

Ten Things Obama Can Do Now

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:28:41 +0000

Forbes had a characteristically thoughtful piece last week naming ten things Obama could accomplish with an executive order that would help the market out. Our energy policy is one thing the Bush administration worked hard to influence; Obama could choose to regulate our alternative and standard energy sources. A few specific sectors the author specifically [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/523849314" height="1" width="1"/

Obamania!

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:34:28 +0000

A website called The Big Money is picking up on the Obama fever and, while still cautioning people of the stock market#8217;s volatility, have assembled a number of Obama portfolios. Their personal favorites include: Apple (due to Obama’s iPod use and general technophilism) Hawaiian Airlines (the 50th state is now superchic) J. Crew (Michelle’s famous ensemble on The [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/520334281" height="1" width="1"/

Progress

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:58:11 +0000

We hope everybody enjoyed the beautiful inauguration ceremonies today. It was a historic moment sure to be remembered by all who saw it. We are now going to see some definitive progress - not only in the broad social setting, but also in terms of our physical goals at Election Stocks. With Obama now in [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/518054563" height="1" width="1"/

Second Thoughts on Frosty The Coalman

Susan B — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:18:53 +0000

When we were little (back in the olden days) our grandparents had a coal furnace. We loved to see the coalman come and send all that coal down the coal chute. In winter it was even better because we could search around the chute and find eyes for our snowmen. Not so [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/495936115" height="1" width="1"/

Opportunity for Cooperation

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:37:55 +0000

Surprisingly enough, considering Blagojevich#8217;s latest scandal, the political environment surrounding Obama as he prepares to enter the White House is rather calm. Leaders in the Republican party cite a #8220;Honeymoon Phase#8221; in which everyone would like to see Barack Obama succeed in his job has president. The seriousness of the country#8217;s economic state seems to be [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/493443773" height="1" width="1"/

Reaching Out

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:14:02 +0000

President-elect Obama is paving the way for success in working with Congress. The Hill calls it a #8220;charm offensive on congressional Republicans.#8221; Alexander Bolton reports, #8220;One Republican called it the biggest effort to engage Congress since former President Ronald Reagan.#8221; The story also provides a link to a handy table of which ranking members [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/488091597" height="1" width="1"/

Obama’s Healthcare Plan: Later than Sooner?

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:06:57 +0000

We at Election Stocks not only keep track of stocks and sectors that are sensitive to Obama#8217;s moves in the White House, we try and predict when these moves are going to happen. As for Obama#8217;s plans for reforming healthcare, news from The Hill is that Congress may attempt to delay this action until 2010. Pete [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/488085809" height="1" width="1"/

Obama’s Plan for Housing

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:25:53 +0000

Our own Jeff Miller was browsing Bloomberg.com when he stumbled upon aggressive plans that Obama has in the works for the housing market. What follows below is the post he discussed on Real Money earlier today. Obama and Housing 12/16/2008 12:25 PM EST President-elect Obama is meeting with his economic team today. CNBC reported that they are contemplating the [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/487063133" height="1" width="1"/

Richardson as Secretary of Commerce

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:04:29 +0000

President-elect Obama#8217;s choice of Richardson as Secretary of Commerce appears a solid pick by our judgement. Although typically seen as a lightweight cabinet position, the office really is what the president makes of it. Considering Obama#8217;s own ambitious plans as well as the pressure on him to fix the economy, we think it#8217;s safe to [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/474031229" height="1" width="1"/

International Economic Policy

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:57:22 +0000

Obama#8217;s election as president pleased many nations around the world. Amongst other things, it gives America a second chance to dramatically alter the way it is seen around the world. But by no means does that mean our negotiations with European nations will be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows from now on. John Mauldin covered this, amongst [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/472931762" height="1" width="1"/

LEDs and Alternative Energy

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:05:59 +0000

Real Money#8217;s Chris Versace had an interesting point on alternative energy today. I can understand why several of the solar stocks are up big today, but if at least one of the driving forces here is how the next presidential administration will be favoring alternative energy programs, then why not LEDs, which use 10% the energy [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/464367910" height="1" width="1"/

Dirt Cheap Infrastructure

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:25:56 +0000

There is a post on Yahoo finance, citing our frequent colleague Mr. Altucher, with a list of dirt cheap infrastructure stocks that are bound to go up under President Obama. These look like great picks to us - though futher research is necessary on a prospective time frame to pick these up in time for [...]img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ElectionStocks/~4/461196393" height="1" width="1"/

Prepping to be President

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:33:20 +0000

Last night Barack Obama was on a 60 Minutes interview with no coaching, no teleprompter, and no notes; and he beautifully answered questions regarding the challenges in coming into his administration. (click post to view video) Amongst other things, we learned that he’s been reading a whole lot of briefing papers and that he does have [...]

A Look at Obama’s Trade Policy

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:47:12 +0000

CNBC has been taking off running with our subject matter ever since election day. We can’t link to every single video they’ve done, obviously, but hopefully you’ve caught a good few. Here’s a particularly high quality recent piece that indicates that Obama would not be the protectionist that some expect (something we’ve been saying here [...]

Two Profitable Obama Sectors

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:48:57 +0000

An important thing to remember now that election season is over is that regardless of who you may have supported, it’s imperative now to keep politics out of the picture. The focus here is now entirely on policy and the market’s response. Keeping your own stocks in line with the new administration’s policies takes [...]

Observations Upon Election

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:21:58 +0000

Our writer, Jeff Miller, is also a columnist on Real Money - and through this we have access to the insightful commentary of his colleagues. Detailed below will be several observations by other Real Money writers as of November 5. James Altucher was the first to note that Asian markets were experiencing positive numbers “on the [...]

A New Direction for Election Stocks

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:20:23 +0000

We were rightly excited to see the amount of attention our subject matter has received over the last couple of days. The sheer influx of ideas will take time to sort, record, and analyze; but we will attempt to do this as promptly as possible. Tt is now our sole focus to compile all this [...]

Get Out and Vote!

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:13:47 +0000

The campaigning season is coming to a close and our fate as a website is uncertain. At the end of the day, though, we at Election Stocks hope that we have been able to provide you with useful information about the candidates and their potential impact on the economy. It’s going to be a close [...]

What Lousy Candidates!

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:37:52 +0000

Here at Election Stocks, we always like to investigate links between politics and the stock market. That’s why an article on the Wall Street Journal’s website caught our attention today. It’s been common knowledge that even with the wide range of candidates in the 2008 election, voters have often felt an extreme dislike for most [...]

Alternative End Game Strategies

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:50:45 +0000

Yesterday, exactly one week before voting day, both the McCain and Obama campaigns released stump speeches to RealClearPolitics.com. These first hand accounts demonstrate the staggering differences that each side is taking to the final moments before the election. Obama’s speech was riddled with anaphora, emphasizing the importance of the idea of voting. He knows that if [...]

How to Use Our Website

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:09:43 +0000

As the race enters the final countdown, we at Election Stocks realize that we ought to be receiving increased traffic in the near future. We also realize that through the course of the past year, our site has become quite cluttered in a mass plethera of news coverage, opinion articles, and articles that best cater [...]

Dirty Tricks Abound in Last Weeks Before Election

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:54:19 +0000

We find ourselves in the closing weeks of the 2008 Election. Desperation by pro McCain or otherwise anti Obama parties really shines through in this time of year. Aside from McCain’s official campaign ramping up Obama’s supposed connections to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and other radicals, many anti Obama elements are beginning their own smear [...]

American Writer Flees Kenya

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:55:37 +0000

According to the LA Times, the writer of a new anti-Obama book titled Obama Nation has either been forced to leave or voluntarily fled Kenya after flying in to promote the literature and research possible connections Obama has to the leader of Kenya. This is simply the latest in a new, aggressive campaign by anti-Obama [...]

Need a Giggle?

Susan B — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:19:16 +0000

Depressed about bad economic times? From Chris Cillizza at The Fix: Hockey Moms Against Palin. He’s always coming up with something interesting.

Playing Politics with the Sub-Prime Crisis

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:30:00 +0000

John McCain released a statement today announcing that Friday’s debate ought to be postponed in order to better deal with the economic crisis of this past week. The gut reaction by many is that he is simply playing good political strategy. Obama is widely considered to be better economically than McCain and surely he would [...]

Criticizing Adams’ Economic Survey

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:46:31 +0000

Scott Adams took considerable effort to make his survey an objective one that hits on key facts about economic thought. Because of this objective, Adams posted a very well written comment criticizing the validity of his survey (which is quoted below). We recommend you follow up on The Dilbert Blog at dilbert.com/blog to keep up [...]

The Battleground States

Susan B — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:27:32 +0000

Fox News/Rasmussen polls report 2-2-1 in the battleground states: Ohio McCain 51% Obama 44% Virginia McCain 49% Obama 47% Florida McCain-Obama tied at 48% each Colorado Obama 49% Obama 46% Pennsylvania Obama 47% McCain 45%

Unemployment Jumps Up

Susan B — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:05:27 +0000

Yes, to the tune of 6.1%. How do McCain and Obama react? Real Clear Politics reports that both wasted no time in “blasting out statements.” Here’s a taste, but read the whole article. Obama: …Today’s jobs report is a reminder of what’s at stake in this election ‘ John McCain showed last night that he is [...]

Election 2008: A McCain Victory Won’t Mean Same Old Republican Story

Martin Hutchinson — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:44:32 +0000

[“Election 2008" is an ongoing Money Morning series that examines the investor implications of the presidential election campaign] By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor One thing... Money Morning is here to help investors profit h...

Update on Tobacco and 08

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:08:32 +0000

Earlier in February we at Election Stocks covered the FDA’s regulation of the tobacco market and considered whether or not it would be beneficial to tobacco companies. Now Christopher Atayan from TheStreet.com writes in correspondence with our own Jeff Miller: Philip Morris is supporting the FDA regulation of tobacco because they believe it will freeze their [...]

McCain’s Veep

Susan B — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:59:42 +0000

No, it’s not Pawlenty. It’s not Romney or Lieberman either. It’s Sarah Palin, first-term gov of Alaska. Palin is a social conservative, opposed to abortion, opposed to same-sex marriage, and pro-gun. Alaska loves her. She ran for gov on a clean-up-government campaign, and doesn’t suffer fools or oil companies gladly.

White Sox Fan Obama Won’t Waffle

Susan B — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:01:44 +0000

Obama was interviewed by ESPN’s Stuart Scott Among other things, he is an unashamed White Sox fan. Scott: “If the Cubs and the White Sox both make it to the World Series? Obama: “I would be going.” Scott: “Who would you root for? Obama: “Oh, that’s easy. White Sox. I’m not one of these fair weather fans. You go [...]

Hillary to Speak at Convention Today

Susan B — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:22:47 +0000

Which Hillary will we get? Sure she knows exactly what she should say, but will we see the perfectly dressed and coifed former Presidential candidate? Or will we see the Hillary that seems to have forgotten the number of her hairdresser, and the location of her hair spray and make-up mirror? To be clear: her appearance [...]

Quick Guide to Joe Biden

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:35:19 +0000

Here is a short list of essential pros and cons to VP pick Joe Biden. For more in depth analysis we recommend the following articles: On The Biden VP Pick Biden’s plagiarism should not be forgotten The Case for Joe Biden The Downside to Joe Biden How Biden Helps Obama

Biden is Obama’s VP

Jeffrey Miller — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:50:45 +0000

I just received the official text message from Barack Obama confirming Biden as his VP. An awfully strange time to send it out, of course, but you heard it first from Election Stocks.

Biden as a Possible VP Choice

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:45:50 +0000

Biden was never a frontrunner in the 2008 Election, but he was always considered as a favorite VP choice (along with Bill Richardson). It seems, however, that if Barack chooses Biden as VP, quite a few things he said back in his presidential bid would come back to haunt him. Most notably: “The only guy on [...]

McCain Hurting In The Rural Vote

Jeffrey Miller — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:12:33 +0000

Republicans have long counted on the rural vote to help them win battleground states. It seems like McCain should be able to do the same, especially with the view that Obama is elitist (remember “bittergate”?). Unfortunately for McCain, the economic strife that rural voters perceive to be caused by the Bush administration is causing more [...]

Capital Gains Tax: Obama’s Downfall?

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:38:09 +0000

The Capital Gains Tax seems to the chink in Obama’s economic armor. He is capable of adequately defending all his other tax hikes, or really any other part of his plan, but the Capital Gains Tax hike appears undefendable. From an NY Sun article: According to the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, Mr. [...]

The McCain Tax Reform Plan For Economic Growth

Steve Selengut — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:28:36 +0000

The writing is on the wall (street, that is), and it is telling us that we need to reaffirm the United States as the dominant force in the global economy, and that we have to do more to protect our citizens’ retirement and investment programs. Most economic research suggests that tax code replacement surgery is essential [...]

The Obama Tax Plan For Economic Growth

Steve Selengut — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:20:44 +0000

Most economic research suggests that tax code replacement surgery is essential for long-term economic progress. The goal of my plan is to make sure that you are not grumbling ten years from now about the same things that trouble you today. This is a fifteen-point plan to end the cycles of economic frustration and global [...]

Barack Obama: A Free Trader

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:57:34 +0000

Barack Obama and free trade advocate are not to phrases often heard in the same sentence, without a “is not” in between them of course. In fact, OnTheIssues.org says that Obama opposes supporting and expanding free trade. However, the Economists View has a great article that explains a slightly different definition of free trade. [...]

McCain Showing His Age?

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:58:58 +0000

I always have sympathy for political candidates that are interviewed and questioned throughout their entire day by a whole host of citizens, workers in the media, etc. But John McCain’s latest list of gaffes are slightly alarming. According to The Washington Post: McCain referred to the “Iraq-Pakistan border” in a “Good Morning America” interview; since there [...]

Fair Trade or Free Trade?

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:41:11 +0000

Obama supports fair trade; McCain free. On trade, the two candidates seem like polar opposites. However, since both candidates did not fair very well with workers in the primaries, they haven’t been speaking much on trade. Bloomberg.com had a great article discussing the trade issue. Trade can be a complex issue; even workers who benefit from [...]

Details on Obama’s Healthcare Plan

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:23:18 +0000

We’ve covered Obama’s healthcare plan and its impact on the healthcare sector previously here at Election Stocks, but new details about the plan are raising doubts that it could ever be put into place. For instance, Obama stated that his plan will give healthcare insurance to 47 million Americans. But as the New York Post states: That [...]

Deficit Funded Tax Cuts: A Bad Idea?

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:29:06 +0000

To any rational person this seems like a simple, logical idea. Unfortunately people tend to be irrational if it means it could save them money in the short term. But what happens over the long term? To answer that we turn to EconomistMom: the deficit as a share of the economy (GDP) would actually fall from [...]

The Psychology of Economics

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:16:13 +0000

Our post the other day mentioned how lifting the offshore oil drilling ban could drop oil prices purely from the psychological effect on speculators. Recently McCain even said that the gas tax holiday and lifting the drilling ban would have mainly “psychological benefits”. So just how far can these psychological effects go? This is a ridiculously [...]

It’s a Tough Time for Obama

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:54:34 +0000

Today’s New York Daily News has an interesting article about Obama’s foreign policy. In particular, it discusses how Obama has refused to factor in the fact that the Surge is working into his 16-month plan for withdrawal. This seems interesting considering that Obama has received enormous criticism for his recent “flip-flopping” or as we like to [...]

A Brief Glance At Offshore Oil

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:48:05 +0000

Alright, we are going to look at this from to aspects. First from a purely economic point of view and then from a more pragmatic view. But before we jump into that, let’s quickly go over how the candidates feel. Obama, along with most Democrats, is wholly opposed to lifting the drilling ban. McCain recently [...]

Fannie and Freddie: A Tale of Misery

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:26:46 +0000

Since the last time we wrote about Fannie and Freddie, quite a bit has happened. Last time we wrote about how Fannie and Freddie might help the mortgage crisis, this time we are writing about how they are causing a crisis of their own. First off we must understand the position that Fannie and Freddie are [...]

Debate Please

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:40:38 +0000

The way things are going, it seems like we might have to wait until September to see a debate. Despite Obama claiming that he would debate McCain “anytime, anywhere” we still haven’t seen a single debate planned until the major September 18 debate at the Morial Convention Center. It seems strange that the first debate is [...]

McCain: Too Tough on Foreign Policy

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:51:03 +0000

McCain jumps through a lot of hoops to appear different from the current Republican president, but his terrible judgement regarding the G-8 takes it much too far. His actual choice would be to exclude Russia from the G-8 because lately their government has been centralized through less than democratic means. This begs several questions. First of [...]

Presenting…The John McCain Economic Plan

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:36:41 +0000

After months and months of waiting, McCain has finally released a detailed economic plan. Unfortunately, it’s about as disappointing as Spiderman 3. The AngryBear’s post on this topic was really just a recommendation for the EconomistMom’s post. In fact, EconomistMom does such a good job explaining the topic, that we were hard pressed to find [...]

Corporate Income Tax Reform

Steve Selengut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:47:50 +0000

The investor’s eye view of politics is a simplistic, practical, dot-connecting approach to sorting things out so that win/win change can be considered. Real world politics is not concerned with such things, and that is one of the most serious problems facing investors today. There are at least ten issues that require government action if [...]

McCain and the Latino Vote

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:26:43 +0000

This article in Real Clear Politics identifies with the moral struggles of working class people: i.e., they adhere to a strict ethical code when faced with economic hardship. In general, Latin American people, governments, and leaders are leaning right on the political spectrum (especially when you consider their prominent catholicism). Therefore, in Southwestern America, one [...]

Stem Cells and the 2008 Election

Eric Cheshier — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:35:48 +0000

Like any good forward-thinking investor, here at the Stockmasters we’re trying to think of what is in store for America in 2009, when our next president takes office. I found what looks like a win-win situation for the Stem Cells Sector. Read on to find out:

Obama’s Stance on Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Washinton Post: Vital Part of Housing Bill is Brainchild of Banks

Trader Mark — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

We've touched on these subjects in the past, but as we get many new readers I like to revisit them and add new data. Back in April [Apr 4: Congress is Rushing to Help Homeowners Out!! (Not)] I pointed out how the wonderfully cute and fuzzy "Foreclosure...

Nothing Like A Bad Economy

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:58:38 +0000

There’s nothing like a bad economy to cause the average voter to take an interest in the economy. In fact, a recent poll shows that the economy has surpassed the war in Iraq as the most important issue to American voters. But what does that mean for our candidates? The article that we linked to above [...]

The Merits of Obama’s Move to the Middle

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:13:42 +0000

I, personally, have noticed a lot of tension lately in the online community. It seems people are anxious or somewhat disillusioned with how Obama has been running his campaign since the primaries ended. We at Election Stocks have been anticipating as well as covering this for some time now (albiet we mostly deal with his [...]

Fastest Train In The World

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:16:36 +0000

Recently it seems like infrastructure has been thrust into the spotlight, with roads in disrepair and inadequate levees leading to terrible flooding. The Angry Bear blog commented on this phenomenon the other day. They mentioned some of the key politicians who are pushing the issue, and also mentioned a nice definition of infrastructure from Mostly [...]

The Left Attacks McCain’s War Record

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:17:49 +0000

Although Obama’s camp left the decision open as to whether or not they wanted to swiftboat in this campaign season, those on the far left have made up their minds. They have criticized McCain’s service in the air force by claiming that pilots don’t have to take responsibilty for or think about the people that [...]

Weekend Stuff for Political Junkies

Trader Mark — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:01:00 +0000

For any of you political junkies out there - here is an interesting site with analysis and compilations of all the polling - fivethirtyeight.com. Some good stuff.Back when the blog started, and everyone was still talking about Iraq as "the issue" last...

Exchange Controls are Proposed for the U.S.A.

The Gold Report — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:50:38 +0000

Source: www.GoldForecaster.com 06/27/2008 In a long week in which attempts to lower the oil price and talks about the $ were disappointed [ G-8 meeting and the oil producer’s meeting in Saudi Arabia], the threat of much higher oil prices, a weaker $ and perhaps a vicious fall in equity market in the next few [...]

The Fed: Just Words For Now

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:14:43 +0000

For those of you who follow the economy, you have already probably heard the Fed’s Wednesday announcement to keep the target rate unchanged. We found a great article on BankRate.com that takes out the rhetoric from the statement, making it much more readable. However, the Fed’s main point was more concern with inflation as opposed [...]

Dr. NObama

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:39:14 +0000

McCain’s newest video ad likens Obama to the evil James Bond villain Doctor No. Surprisingly enough, this advertisement appears to trumpet the economic ignorance McCain has been displaying lately: from the gas tax holiday to the issues with offshore drilling. Shown below is the video itself. You may need to actually click on this post [...]

Understanding the Market

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:40:51 +0000

McCain is widely considered to be a responsible authority on military and foreign issues. But as of late, many of his economic statements have been latent with a sort of anti-capitalist sentiment. This sentiment, whether it be more populist pandering or just plain economic ignorance, places some of McCain’s economic policies to the left of [...]

Obama offers steps to curb oil speculation (DIG DUG)

Stockmasters Staff — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:55:36 +0000

Barack Obama has offered new steps to crack down on speculation in oil markets, saying his plan would help rein in runaway fuel costs. Let's review the details of Obama's plan, which will benefit investors by Shorting DIG and going Long DUG:

Congress Debates High Oil Prices While Corporations and Consumers Pick up the Tab

Money Morning — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:15:11 +0000

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor The price of oil edged up again yesterday (Tuesday), before settling at $137 a barrel flat, as concerns about short-term supplies continues to overwhelm Saudi... Money Morning is here to help investors profit ha...

McCain: EBay Economy

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:37:11 +0000

Recently McCain has been praising EBay as a tool for creating jobs. Apparently, he believes that EBay proves the ability of American’s to compete in a global economy without excessive tax or tariffs (essentially the base of Republican economic policy). The talk of EBay should end there, but McCain takes it further and instead of [...]

A New Wave of Congressionally Mandated Energy Profits Is Just Around the Corner

Keith Fitz-Gerald — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:59:03 +0000

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report Congress is talking about going after oil speculators in an effort to lower prices by limiting the amount... Money Morning is here to help investors profit han...

A Plan to Grant the Fed Additional Powers Will Only Exacerbate Current U.S. Woes

Peter D. Schiff — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:56:19 +0000

By Peter D. Schiff Guest Columnist Throughout history, governments have always used crises to justify blatant power grabs. All too often, the "expanded government powers" that... Money Morning is here to help investors profit hands...

Obama’s Issue with Public Funding

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:04:29 +0000

Join the forum discussion on this postObama is the first candidate in about forty years to forego public financing. His campaign says that it’s part of Obama’s new way of doing things, i.e. small donors giving ordinary amounts to fuel the campaign - no lobbyists or special interest groups. But his opponents are trying to [...]

McCain’s Issues With Oil

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:44:21 +0000

It seems that almost every day there is an editorial urging John McCain to relieve the American people of their high gas price burden. But rather than an endorsement of his gas tax vacation, the average conservative citizen is urging McCain to drill for domestic oil. If he indeed decided to drill for more [...]

Parsing Electoral Votes

Susan B — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:29:42 +0000

Some political analysts say McCain and Obama could split the electoral vote 269-269. House of Representatives would then come into play. The LA Times has an interesting interactive map for those of you who want to play along at home. Just a thought, but our inquiring mind wonders why the total electoral votes add up to [...]

Election 2008: Why Poor Presidential Approval Ratings Make For Great Stock Markets

Keith Fitz-Gerald — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:13:33 +0000

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report No question, President George Bush’s approval ratings have pulled an “Enron.” A recent... Money Morning is here to help investors profit handsomely ...

Political Stupidity

The Energy Report — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:23:21 +0000

Source: David Galland, Casey Research 06/19/2008 A few weeks ago we witnessed a political act of such unimaginable stupidity, it is hard to not choke at the mention of it. A cursory review of the details is worth a minute of your time. This compliments of The Oil & Gas Journal… WASHINGTON, DC, May 20 — The US House [...]

Election 2008: The Achilles™ Heel of Obamanomics

Martin Hutchinson — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:07:10 +0000

By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, recently told The Wall Street Journal that he intended to lift the United States out of recession through a burst of... Money Morning is here to help investors profit han...

Obama’s Foreign Policy Advisors

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:04:24 +0000

Often times, people educated in the area of politics will say that it’s not the president who makes the decisions, but rather his close circle of advisers. We’ve even know people who vote based off candidate’s ability to speak because they felt that the candidates positions were more or less irrelevant. While we wouldn’t take [...]

I’m Voting Republican

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:41:20 +0000

First it was Obama Girl: the saucy, young dancer endorsing Barack Obama with a very catchy music video. Now the Democratic party has developed a new internet video as part of their program to get people registered to vote (for Obama). Behold! If McCain can’t realize that utilizing the internet to its fullest would put his [...]

CNBC On Healthcare

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:23:30 +0000

Today, CNBC had Vince Farrell and Kris Jenner on to discuss how healthcare stocks would be affected by the election (click here to watch the video). Jenner believed that speculation at this point couldn’t be used to obtain specific stocks for either candidate, but Farrell seemed skeptical about Jenner’s belief. Either way they both seemed [...]

McCain’s Economic Team

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:12:40 +0000

Recently McCain and Hillary stunned many in the field of economists by defying all of their detailed and unanimous advice and embracing the ridiculous gas tax vacation plan. Barack Obama used this issue to prove himself well versed in economics and prepared to accept advice when it came along. Angry Bear Blog had a really shocking [...]

The Future of Ron Paul

Jeffrey Miller — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:54:08 +0000

Yesterday, Ron Paul said that he had a major announcement to make later that night. And indeed it was a major one, as he announced that he was ending his presidential campaign last night. Just today however, Ron Paul posted a thank you to all his supporters on his website. And this thank you makes [...]

Obama Inches Towards the Center

Jeffrey Miller — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:33:17 +0000

As we have predicted at Election Stocks for some time and Kudlow predicted two nights ago on his show, Barack Obama is indeed depolarizing for a wider appeal during the General Election. Great evidence of this comes with the news that Obama has changed up his economic advisor. This new advisor symbolizes the bipartisan effort Barack [...]

Pro-Growth vs. Protectionism?

Jeffrey Miller — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:11:36 +0000

On CNBC yesterday, the theme seemed to be Obama vs. McCain. The McCain supporters focused on McCain’s pro-growth tax cuts and attacked what they called protectionism from Obama; while the Obama supporters atttempted to show Obama’s policies moving towards the middle while attempting to portray McCain’s policies as impossible. The main points that where brought up [...]

Dehydrated Babies?

Jeffrey Miller — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:04:13 +0000

This is nothing short of bizzare. Guess which politician orated the following quote: We should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies If you guessed John McCain, you would be correct. Obama has received a lot of criticism lately for media pandering and putting forth plans with little or no real value, but we [...]

McCain and His Tax Cuts

Jeffrey Miller — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:04:32 +0000

The other day we mentioned Obama raising the Capital Gains Tax, and a reader mentioned how McCain’s tax cuts are better for the economy. So today,we will examine both the plausibility of McCain’s tax cuts and the economic effects of them. Now no offense to McCain, but just glancing over his site we found numerous mathematical [...]

Election 2008: Obama or McCain – U.S. May Suffer Either Way

Martin Hutchinson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:13:56 +0000

Article Source As Barack Obama closes in on the Democratic presidential nomination, investors should focus their minds around one uncomfortable fact: Whether it’s Obama or Republican John McCain who wins the White House, expect some policy changes that won’t sit well with investors – or with the U.S. economy. This could make for several [...]