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Monday Morning Market Musings 12/21/98
Impeached!As you no doubt know by now, the US House of Representatives has approved two Articles of Impeachment against President William Jefferson Clinton. For only the second time in US history, a president faces trial and removal from office if found guilty by a 2/3rd vote of the US Senate. Already it’s being billed as "the trial of the century" (sorry O.J.).
The bombing of Iraq appears to have had no effect on the situation other than to add ammunition for the Democrats in their whinings on the floor over why entire Clinton-Lewinsky investigation has been unfair and partisan. Does Wag the Dog get Movie of the Year or what?
Aside from Britain’s Tony Blair, the bombings have been condemned widely around the world. Just another gallon of gasoline added to the global bonfire in the making. The fires have not ignited yet, but the friction between nations is getting hotter and hotter day by day. What is going to be the last straw that sets it all off? Your guess is as good as mine.
The votes for and against the Articles of Impeachment were almost 100% along party lines. For example, only five Democrats and five Republicans had the guts to vote contrary to the rest of their partymates on Article One. The sad thing is that you know damn well if the tables had been turned, if in some parallel universe President Clinton was a Republican, each and every one of those votes would have been cast in the opposite direction.
Representative Bob Livingston’s surprise resignation certainly turned up the heat and the rhetoric on the floor. His dramatic announcement made great theatre. Indeed, this whole enchilada has taken on a feeling of Theatre of the Absurd. It’s all stranger than fiction.
If aliens from Mars have been eves dropping on the entire Clinton-Lewinsky affair and Ken Starr’s investigation of it, surely they’re scratching their green ears, mumbling unintelligibly, and postulating new theories of human behavior.
Facts:
- The duly elected leader of Earth’s most influential nation may be thrown out of office in utter disgrace and embarrassment.
- This duly elected leader of Earth’s most influential nation freely exercises several of the most common human traits: he craves power; he enjoys sex; and he’ll lie about power and sex when he thinks he has to.
- The vast majority of the American public, you know, the people who are being lead by this duly elected leader, apparently don’t care about any of this.
So what will the president do? Back on 09/14/98 we summarized his options:
The president has two viable courses of action:
He can continue to push back and attack Kenneth Starr, and defend his micro parsing of the legal definition of "sexual relations." This would simply serve to prolong and exacerbate the impeachment hearings in the House, and then the Senate, dragging on for months. One has to hope that President Clinton has enough "decency" to not put the country, and indeed the entire world, through such torture and embarrassment.
He can resign. One would hope he would do so. Whether his motive would be "for the good of the country," or "to save his own sorry butt," is irrelevant. The sooner he takes personal responsibility for his actions, the better.
Good luck, Mr. William Jefferson Clinton!
Not to miss an opportunity to show his "vigor and strength," Boris Yeltsin recalled the Russian ambassadors from both Washington and London. Anything to distract the Russian people from their suffering this winter. Not that any of this is a laughing matter, but as Johnny Carson used to ask: "How cold is it?" It’s the coldest winter in 30 years.
Just how hungry are the Russian people? According to the New York Times, this is the worst harvest in 45 years.
Just how many Russians are suffering? An estimated 44% of the population is living below the official Russian poverty level: about $40 a month.
Just how desperate are the Russian people? There are reports that several families in one remote Russian village actually sold all their furniture and household goods in order to buy vodka.
Not much reaction in the markets so far to Clinton’s impeachment. Er, rather, no reaction is the reaction. Going into Monday morning trading on Wall Street, March S&P 500 futures trading on Globex are off a couple of points. Asian markets are down slightly across the board.
We continue with our ongoing outlook that the market is in a massive bull trap rally that is merely setting the stage for an inevitable and historic market crash. See the back issues index for a refresher.
US stocks remain on FULL CRASH ALERT!Happy Holidays to all! Note: Grizzly will be in hibernation next week. Next report: Monday January 4, 1999.
"May you live in interesting times."
-- Ancient Chinese CURSE
Grizzly
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