Self-described "middle-of-the-road Democrat, Obama supporter and CNBC analyst Jim Cramer:
Look at the incredible decline in the stock market, in all indices, since the inauguration of the president, with the drop accelerating when the budget plan came to light because of the massive fear and indecision the document sowed: Raising taxes on the eve of what could be a second Great Depression, destroying the profits in healthcare companies (one of the few areas still robust in the economy), tinkering with the mortgage deduction at a time when U.S. house price depreciation is behind much of the world's morass and certainly the devastation affecting our banks, and pushing an aggressive cap and trade program that could raise the price of energy for millions of people.
The market's the effect; much of what the president is fighting for is the cause. The market's signal can't be ignored. It's too palpable, too predictive to be ignored, despite the prattle that the market's predicted far more recessions than we have. ... But Obama has undeniably made things worse by creating an atmosphere of fear and panic rather than an atmosphere of calm and hope. He's done it by pushing a huge amount of change at a very perilous moment, by seeking to demonize the entire banking system and by raising taxes for those making more than $250,000 at the exact time when we need them to spend and build new businesses, and by revoking deductions for funds to charity and that help eliminate the excess supply of homes.
Me: You can take all the investors who I've talked to who are more confident in Team Obama today than they were on Election Day and fit them into a Smart Car. And that's if they don't have groceries. The Pelosi-designed stimulus package. The income and investment tax hikes. The cap-and-trade carbon tax. A possible healthcare tax. The lack of banking resue plan. That's how you evaporate 30 percent of the stock market in four months. No wonder my guy Ed Yardeni put this out this morning; "I am becoming increasingly convinced that the cabal in Washington has no intention of ending the financial crisis. Instead, they see tremendous opportunities to gain more power by prolonging it."
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