The Republican effect and why it will take longer to get out of this recession.

The Republican party has taken on the mantle of being the loyal opposition since the election of President Barack Obama. The affect of this is to continue divided government and this in turn plays out amplifying the continued fears of most informed citizens. This in turn keeps confidence low and ensures the lack of a recovery. The best way to monitor this is to watch the stock market.

Yesterday President Obama appealed to Republicans to enjoin him where there can be agreement and offer solutions rather than just finding fault with proposals before him, referring to upcoming challenges such as Healthcare reform and Social Security reform.

But the effect on markets today is again a slip in major indexes. Wall Street controls the money and the markets as they are the market makers. They can drive markets up or down at will and the small investor gets whipped around. I predict the result of this will be fewer traders in the coming years and that will not benefit them. They are playing Russian Roulette and are not being too strategic. In fact they are being quite short sighted in my view.

The game is rigged but for now they don't want anyone winning a thing. We are still at the edge and looking into the abyss. The Dow continues to test the 7,200 level.