He gets the credit. It is Obama's economy now, when he leaves office, and 50 years later when taxpayers finally pay off all the debt.

Obama is not at fault for the S&P 500 freefall, nor is he the catalyst for the turnaround.

The market seems to be done testing its lows and money is flowing back into equities. There is a lot of short covering going on. Also, it's earnings season - and some companies are announcing solid numbers.

the president never has anything to do with the stock market. nothing at all. they get credit when its up and take the heat when its down, but they have no control over it.

presidents ran the economy the way economies are tied to their terms.

The market is up the presidents a genius, the market is down the presidents an idiot. Simple financial/political equation.

The market ytd did bottom out three months into his administration so he was a an idiot. And now is coming back but still about 5% down ytd. Hence Andrew applying the simple financial/political equation he remains an idiot, hopefully for not too much longer. ytd anyways.

In every commentary of a liberal bent that I've seen, the commentator seems to understand the inherent risk of saying "when this number goes up, my guy is doing good", namely that they'd better be pretty damn sure that that number is going to keep going up. If you're not sure that's going to happen, you keep your mouth shut to avoid looking silly. Liberal commentators tend to be skeptical on most things for that very reason.

The conservative commentators of January and February preaching stock market doom under Obama hadn't learned that lesson, and lo and behold they've got egg on their face now.

Personally, I think the stock market issues of the last half of 2007 were mostly due to worries that the banking system would completely collapse. Whatever else happens, any news that makes it seem less likely that that will happen is good news for the market. Obama was definitely part of that, but was also certainly not the whole thing.

Bull market? What bull market? There's trouble buried in the numbers and you don't have to dig deep to find it. Start with the trading volume. Then look at the next wave of option-ARM resets that's about to hit housing. Next up, take a peak at the unemployment claims which are still in "Oh fudge!" territory. When done there, take a gander at corporate earnings and the P/E ratios on these "bull market" stocks.

People buy because stocks are going up, not because the values are fair. (Sounds like the bubble mania is still there, eh?) And people buy because sloppy journalism/business writing/market cheerleading misleads them with fuzzy numbers.

There's another word for fuzzy number fed bubble mania. That word is bait. And you know what bait is for? Traps. Bear traps. And a bear trap is what this market is. I hope the people jumping in time their exit correctly, because when the leaves fall, the markets will go do likewise. There is no there, there.

Could you imagine the world wide economic collapse and depression if McCain / Palin had won the freak'n election!!!!!???

If McCain and his poodle Palin had won and subsequently done what they had said they would do:

-Tax cuts for the rich,

-No stimulus package,

-Let the financial system completely fail (because to do otherwise is “socialism” in their words)

-Continue torture and indefinitely extend the war in Iraq.

-Let Pakistan and their nuclear weapons fall into religious fundamentalist's hands.

-Deteriorated relations with all rest of countries of the world.

Taking that into account I think it is no exaggeration to state that Obama has saved the USA from complete economic, moral and military collapse.

PS(The reason most non-rightwing hacks don’t tout the stock market as an indicator of the health of the economy is that it is a lousy gauge of the overall health of the economy. Bush and his band of evil idiots should have taught the ignorant news media that years ago.)

And won't be.

Worries Rise on the Size of U.S. Debt

“Given the outlook for the economy, the cost of restoring a smoothly functioning financial system and the pending entitlement obligations to retiring baby boomers,” a report from the [Treasury Borrowing Advisory] committee said, “the fiscal outlook is one of rapidly increasing debt in the years ahead.”

While the real long-term interest rate will not rise immediately, the committee concluded, “such a fiscal path could force real rates notably higher at some point in the future.”

http://tinyurl.com/dbbont

Rising interest rates are a certainty and will snuff out any nascent recovery.

Additionally:

1.) There are no good jobs with a living wage and decent health/retirement benefits. None now and none in the pipeline. Krugman's latest column is worth a read:

Falling Wage Syndrome

http://tinyurl.com/ddgnpt

2.) Millions are already unemployed/underemployed, and this trend will continue.

3.) The halcyon days of endless, mindless consumer spending fueled by easy credit and the housing ATM are kaput. There goes 70% of GDP.

4.) The supposed rise in pending home sales is mainly fueled by speculators snapping up properties at what they hope are bottomed-out prices. They are wrong. The inventory of unsold homes is being vastly understated.

Banks aren't reselling many foreclosed homes

A vast "shadow inventory" of foreclosed homes that banks are holding off the market could wreak havoc with the already battered real estate sector, industry observers say.

http://tinyurl.com/cdakz6

Further:

A Second Mortgage Disaster On The Horizon?

It turns out the abyss is deeper than most people think because there is a second mortgage shock heading for the economy. In the executive suites of Wall Street and Washington, you're beginning to hear alarm about a new wave of mortgages with strange names that are about to become all too familiar. If you thought sub-primes were insanely reckless wait until you hear what's coming.

http://tinyurl.com/66u37r

Anyone who thinks the economy is going to magically recover and that we'll be right back in Bubble City again is not paying attention.