Tuesday, February 26, 2008

I'm So Glad I'm Not An Economist

It's days like today that remind me why I actually prefer simple things like Quantum Mechanics to the truly unfathomable things like Economics.

This is the headline over at CNN for today's stock report: Stocks rally despite bad economic news.

Yeah, that's right. Bad news, stocks go up. Why? Because. (I feel an Abbott and Costello routine coming on...).

Seriously, there is often no reason. I remember once when I was young hearing the explanation that "stocks went down on a lack of bad news". Stocks go the way they do, because they do. People buy and sell for reasons that are often way beyond inscrutable. Prices are all about supply and demand. But demand is essentially an unpredictable thing.

Reagan may have gotten tagged with "voodoo economics", but I can't figure out which part of Economics isn't voodoo.

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