How do you like this recovery? Pretty good, huh? Except for the jobs, of course. And except for the retail sales. And except for the foreclosures… and house prices. And incomes. And consumer prices. And business profits. It’s like a female impersonator… just like a real woman in every way, except for the essential ones.

At least stocks are doing well. The Dow rose another 36 points yesterday. In terms of time, it’s already beat the bounce of ’30… it’s in its 6 th month. In terms of stock prices, it’s still a laggard, however. US stocks are up about 45% from their low of 6,547 on the Dow. By that measure, the current reading of 9,398 falls a little short of the 50% increase registered 5 months after the ’29 low.

Yesterday’s news was a big disappointment for mainstream economists. It’s ‘back to the drawing board,’ says the Wall Street Journal.

The

Sweden to GM/Saab: Drop Dead!

Finally, a nation with a little backbone…a little integrity…a little good sense.

And guess what, it’s that dreary socialist refrigerator – Sweden. Asked to bailout its GM-owned automaker, Saab, the country’s Prime Minister just said ‘no.’ Good for him…

“Voters did not pick me to buy loss-making car factories,” he explained.

But it’s a time of contradictions, paradoxes and oxymorons. Up is down. Right is left. In is out. Good is bad.

The socialists are the only ones protecting the free market, now. Americans are scuttling it with every chance they get. The stocks of capitalist companies are going up in communist China…but in America, they’re going down. Since November, the Shanghai index has outperformed the S&P by 75%.

And back in the United States, projects that were considered too marginal to justify spending money a year ago are now thought to be indispensable. And the IOUs of the biggest

I don't usually read Bill Kristol's column, but once in a while, my eyes get caught by a headline (that's the difference between reading online and "on paper"), and I'll check out what he has to say. The other day, I read his column "Admit we don't know" on the current economic crisis that, while not in my mind "wrong", seemed puzzling to me. Pay attention to the last paragraph (highlighted in bold).

...basically, it seems to me, we're all flying blind. The markets are spiraling down, and our leading experts don't have much of a clue as to what to do.

Given that, one has to welcome the expected appointment to senior positions in the Obama administration of economists like Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jason Furman, Peter Orszag, and Goolsbee himself. They're sober and competent people who know we face a real crisis -- and who, importantly, may be more

Key News• Australia Central Bank Lowers Interest Rate Larger-Than-Expected 75 Points (Bloomberg)• Emerging-Market Stocks Extend Record Rally, Paced by Thailand, Indonesia (Bloomberg)

Quotable In honor of today’s US Presidential Election finale, I thought a couple well-formed thoughts on voting would be appropriate. Enjoy.

“Vote: the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” -- Ambrose Bierce

“Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.”  – Friedrich Hayek

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” – John Quincy Adams

“Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what

By Robert Prechter, CMT
Elliott Wave International

The following was adapted from Bob Prechter’s 2002 New York Times and Amazon best seller, Conquer the Crash – You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression.

Deflation requires a precondition: a major societal buildup in the extension …