matclone

Now that Obama is given as the Democratic nominee, it didn't take long for the right-wing smear machine to crank up.

On talk radio last night (Cunningham?), I heard him say: "Obama is a liberal (slash)/socialist/marxist/bolshevik". [note: the "slash"--which he pronounced, suggests to me he was reading from a script]. Oh, he also said that if Obama is elected, the stock market will collapse overnight.

Listen to 5 minutes of commercial talk radio, and I guarantee you will find 5 minutes of pure, unadulterated bullshit.

Throwby

matclone - I got a good natured laugh out of this one "Listen to 5 minutes of commercial talk radio, and I guarantee you will find 5 minutes of pure, unadulterated bullshit." So do you just listen to it to see how elevated you can get your blood pressure?

JensenS

Thats what all news "commentators" (and I use this term incredibly loosely) get paid to do. I don't know why anyone is surprised by this.

It certainly isn't exclusive to one side or the other either. Much as "some" (and I again use this term loosely) would love to paint it as.

matclone

It's not exactly what I would call an elevating experience, but, yes, the blood pressure probably rises a little.

Chance174

If you listen to talk radio and I do, well when i can that is. They talk just as much shit about McCain as they do Obama.

matclone

I make a distinction between news (which, sure, can be biased) and propaganda. Commercial talk radio has nothing to do with news.

JensenS

I was speaking more along the lines of the TV "commentators" in the vein of O'Reilly and Olbermann.

Chance174

I think you can get some good information from talk radio. Of course i usually listen to local talk radio. However, just like the news or sites that worldnetdaily and huffington you need to take some of it with a grain of salt.

matclone

I'm sure they will/are engaging in nonsense, too, and in days to come we will hear of the evil nature of the presidential candidates (rather than of anything of substance).

Cyclone85

Stocks may very well go down because he indicated a policy of increasing the capital gains tax to much higher levels. Now, in an account like a 401k/403b/457, capital gains are not taxed when they are paid. Instead, when you start to draw on those funds (presumably after you retire), you'll pay income tax on those withdrawn funds.

However, there are millions of accounts out there that are *outside* of the protections of a 401k/403b/457, quite possibly -- there could be a stampede to sell so as to lock-in any gains at the current capital gains tax rates. I will completely liquidate my entire Scottrade.com account (well in advance) and lock in capital gains @ 15% or whatever they are at my tax rate. Especially if you're going to be needing the money in the near future, why would anybody wait 6-months to pay 28%? That higher rate is equivalent to them taking 18 to 20-months of gains that I earned. I will not invest in any account that could be subject to such capital gains rates. So yes -- this could have a very negative effect on market sentiment.