A Mr. John ("Zippy") Callister of Ithaca, New York, had a letter to the editor published in the Journal today (subscription required).
I am the median-age voter [and the] thing I remember about the 1992 election is that shortly after that inexperienced Arkansas governor was elected, my portfolio did a curious thing... it grew at a rapid rate. It continued to do so, right up to 2000, over doubling my net worth... Since 2000, my portfolio has remained flat. Today's S&P 500 index is almost identical to the value it had when George W. Bush took office.
I don't really care about modest overseas wars, except that the hundreds of billions spent seem to depress the stock market. I don't care about terrorism, when drug dealers kill many more people than terrorists ever will. I don't care about health insurance, I have that. I don't care about social security, I am quite sure I won't collect much of it, if any. My income has not gone up in real terms. My tax burden is modest, and changes in tax rates affect me very little. But, a 100 point gain in the S&P 500 means about $50,000 in my pocket... It is odd that so many people forget the stock market boom of the late 1990s.
I will vote for the candidate that has the best chance of getting the stock market heading up. George W. Bush failed to do that. The stock market is the only chance that millions of us have to create wealth. Journal readers -- and writers -- should remember that.
John "Zippy" Callister, Ithaca, N.Y.
Hey, Zippy - did you ever stop to consider two minor, inconsequential drivers of the stock market during the Clinton years?
1) Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Freaking Web.
The web was released as a free service by the CERN research facility in 1993. The massive and unprecedented "Tech Boom" accompanied the popularization of the web as companies like eBay, Google, Yahoo, and Amazon emerged, transforming global commerce .Gee, Zippy... I wonder if Hillary or Obama can duplicate that teensy, weensy invention and all of its repercussions?
2) Another anomalous, economy-boosting event was the "Year 2000" computer remediation effort (or "Y2K"). An immense repair investment -- estimated at $300 billion -- occurred in the late 1990's as governments and companies rushed to make their legacy computer systems "Y2K-compliant."
Hey, Zippy... perhaps a Democrat can turn the clocks back to '97 so we can duplicate that spending frenzy, too?
The massive 90's surge in the stock market, related directly to these events, had about as much to do with Clinton's stewardship of the economy as I was behind the invention of the burrito.
As for ignoring terrorism? Yep, your boy Bill certainly did that. The results included the attacks of 9/11 (followed up with Sandy Berger's crimes) which OMB estimated at a measly half trillion dollar impact to the economy.
Put simply, Bobo the Chimpanzee could have been President during the late 90's tech boom. Come to think of it, even a philandering, disbarred former attorney who sold missile secrets to the Chinese for campaign donations while allowing terrorists to relentlessly attack U.S. interests could have been President.
And the tech boom -- the so-called "Clinton economy" -- would have happened regardless.Please, Journal Editors, it's creepy enough that Dick Clark refuses to retire from ABC's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Please don't publish letters from the likes of "Zippy" Callister.
Update: Linked by Mitchell Langbert, who shreds Zippy's letter in a manner reminiscent of Sherman through Atlanta.
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