Let them eat cake

Obama said yesterday in the Oval Office that the stock market engages in "fits and starts" and he suggested that he can't be concerned about such short range events because he's focused on the long range instead. But this bear market has seen a plunge of roughly 50 percent in value. The situation is critical because average people are seeing what little wealth they have evaporate. Rather than concern himself with Social Security or Medicare, the president would be well advised to show some concern for the markets. He ought at least to avoid making matters worse by, for example, appearing on television daily announcing a new idiotic plan or bad-mouthing a bank or CEO, or threatening a "stress test." He ought also not send out his tax-cheating Treasury secretary to do something similar. Markets react unfavorably to such things and it costs citizens money they can't afford to lose.