on WS, the economy trumps war. Today.

So the war appears to be going "well", at least as well as wars with no exit strategy and a restive population can ever go. Yet over the past few months we've been hearing how the Dow would rise after the "uncertainties" of the conflict were resolved.

Well, we're pretty certain that victory (however phyrric) is at hand in Iraq, we're fairly certain that WMDs won't be used against US troops or Israel (if Iraq ever even had them), and we're certain that the oil spigot will be cranked to "full", which should harken lower energy prices.

So why is the market getting hit today, on this day of good news?

I've long ago ceased trying to make sense of the markets. For all I know, the Dow will shoot up 300 points as soon as I post this.

But there seems to be a realization that war isn't the only thing keeping the markets down. Economic malaise and poor corporate earnings results still rule the Wall Street roost.

We'll know more in a week, as the current trickle of quarterly results turns into a flood. But no Iraq success can overshadow Bush's stunning victories in his War on the Economy. This nation is nowhere near being out of the nightmarish woods into which Bush has dragged us.

Posted April 09, 2003 11:09 AM | Comments (71)