The uncertainty that hangs over the markets, in large part because of the uncertainty of the presidential election, has cost $4,768 "for every man, woman and child in the United States," according to UPI Business and Economics Editor Martin Hutchinson.
"Think what you can do with $4,768," he adds, noting that we’re talking about a slide in the value of listed stocks in November at $1,316 trillion, as reported by the Wilshire 5000 index.
As it happens, the damage to the economy is noticed by the men and women who are taking the hits for Vice President Al Gore’s apparent belief that stealing the election is more important than what happens to your IRA or 401(k).
We have all been hearing the diplomatically worded concerns of Wall Street. NewsMax.Com has heard from Main Street, and a spot-check of small-business people and workers shows the complaints there are less diplomatic.
David Seremeck of Elmhurst, Ill., says Gore’s "Ahab-like pursuit of the white House" is "depleting the assets of hardworking Americans that play by the rules, unlike him."
The one-time "pit trader" in the Chicago futures markets says you should be prepared for a shock when you see your brokerage statement on or shortly after Jan. 1, 2001.
"Algore has accelerated the demolition of America’s nest eggs and retirement accounts. His madness is affecting world stock markets. Did I hear someone say worldwide recession?? Thanks, Al."
Seremak’s current occupation as a full-time father of a 5-year-old boy presents him with ample experience in coming right up against the brick wall of the post-election Gore economy.
When he goes back into the business, hopefully as an off-floor trader, he hopes there will be an economy left. But he harbors fears of what it would be like if Gore gets to implement the policies of his (unratified) Kyoto "global warming" treaty, which critics believe would "shut down America," to China’s advantage. "What kind of man would do this to his own country?" the Midwesterner wonders.
Erich Erdmann of Austin, Texas, says he is "tired of selfish Al Gore destroying the market. If the market hates one thing, it is uncertainty."
Erdmann, a registered nurse working his way through graduate school to get a master's degree in business administration, cites his investment in the Pfizer pharmaceutical firm.
"Every time the news [out of Florida] is good for Bush, it [Pfizer] goes up 5 percent," he says, "and whenever there’s good news for Gore" or Gore goes on TV to announce another lawsuit, "it goes down."
One other NewsMax.Com reader, preferring anonymity, made the same point, saying, "Every time you put Lieberman or Gore on the TV, the market falls hard! Either restrict them to whining after the market closes or tell them enough is enough already and concede like men! Not children!"
The 31-year-old Erdmann added that this year’s presidential race was "the most divisive since I’ve been alive. You can see it at work. There is a tension there between the Gore and the Bush camps." And of course, the Gore persistence has added to that, heading into the holiday season when people like to look ahead and put the election behind them, preferably with a market that is not providing a metaphoric lump of coal in their stockings.
This merely symbolizes the Clinton presidency, which began on a divisive note and appears to be exiting the same way.
And though you may assume that federal government employees are marching in lockstep with Al Gore because he represents big government, read these words from Guna MacDonald, a NewsMax.Com reader from the Washington, D.C., area. She was at the Friday pro-Bush demonstration outside the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Even people that are in the federal government, even their pensions, are tied up with the stock market. That means their pensions are at risk, thanks to Al Gore refusing to concede," she told us.
Kathy Reed, a real estate agent from Ann Arundel County, Md., says those "housing starts" reports you hear about on the news are dated. They’re two or three months behind.
"I’m seeing a slowing today," she says. "Usually [in November and December] we have our people who need to be in a house by the end of the year because they need a tax break." That’s not happening much this year, she says.
"I’ve been a single mom for 16 years," Reed adds. "Nobody handed me anything. I’ve made decisions on my own. And this [the Gore litigation] is ridiculous."
Gina Alexander of Knoxville, Tenn., fears Al Gore is heading the business climate into the doldrums. Alexander, a wife and the mother of a 2-year-old, is in the industrial supply business. She relates the current drag on the economy not only to Al Gore’s attempted theft of the election, but also to investor fears that if the vice president succeeds in that quest, the automotive industry with which she deals will suffer because of the Democrat candidate’s crusade against the internal combustion engine.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the strongest, 1 the weakest), Alexander puts the Tennessee economy at about a 4 right now, which is one reason she believes Al Gore failed to carry his "home" state, as well as the county he represented as a congressman.
"Somebody needs to tell Al to go home," she declares, when reminded that Gore was really raised in a luxury hotel in Washington.
Gina’s husband is a tax accountant. His worldview is similar to hers. In fact, "you don’t even want to get him started."
The 35-year-old woman, whose mother sent NewsMax.Com the original complaint about the Gore post-election economy, was familiar with NewsMax.Com’s Florida "recount" coverage.
"Don’t give up the fight!" she pleaded, a sentiment expressed by Erdmann, the Austin business student, who said, "Please know there are a lot of folks – and I mean a LOT of people, who appreciate your work."
From Greensboro, N.C., Marilyn Braxton, a housewife and mother, complained that under the Gore economy, her and her husband’s portfolio had "gone to pot."
She had heard from others whose 401(k) plans and other investments had suffered.
The Al Gore she sees running from court to court and refusing to live with reality confirms some of her worst fears about the Clinton-Gore era.
"My main issue," she told us, "is that I want a president my children can respect. And we haven’t had that the last eight years."
"We’re tired of this [Gore foot-dragging]," says the North Carolinian, who adds that she and her businessman husband are raising "a Christian family." Although a Republican, Braxton says she sometimes "crosses the party line" in the voting booth, but that "it’s going to be hard to vote Democrat in the future, with this kind of behavior."
Gore "should concede," she added.
Disenchantment with the Democratic Party is reflected also in comments by Jen McManus, a Woodlands, Texas, clinical pharmacist for a rehab hospital. She says if Gore does not concede, "I will work tirelessly in the [2002] midterm elections to see that NO Democrats get elected."
"Anyone with money in the market (basically anyone with a 401(k)) is in complete shock with the recent market tumbles." McManus wants Gore to concede "before the stock market crashes!" adds McManus, whose husband is a business/financial analyst.
From Michigan, Shauny McCormick, a design engineer manager, says she and her husband Jeff, a senior mechanical project engineer, have noted adverse economic consequences, especially among her co-workers. A resident of Clarkston, 50 miles form Detroit, McCormick hears "many grievances" from her fellow workers and others about their situations with their 401(k)s "and that of the plight of their parents’ 401(k)s."
While watching the market plummet with every new push from Gore, McCormick says she is upset "with Gore’s persistence and its consequences for everyday people."
Those Americans who think Alan Greenspan can save the day would be interested in an observation in the Nov. 29 "Evans-Novak Political Report."
Noting the Fed chairman has not moved to cut rates, the report cites informed speculation that "he has been frozen in his tracks by the vast uncertainty created by the undetermined U.S. election."
Which gets us back to Square One: Al Gore.
The Americans to whom we talked or who communicated with us are "playing by the rules" and hoping to provide a decent life for themselves and their dependents and provide a better economy for those who follow.
They believe right now that one man stands in their way.
Al Gore won't stop. Read NewsMax.com's urgent letter. Click Here to find out how you can help inform America about Al Gore's election theft.
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