"The wartime stock market is saying that things might be better than most people believe"
Larry Kudlow: Prioritizing The Cost Of War For The National Review
Greed and callousness at its worse [from the National Review]
At the close of business last Friday — after another violent week in the Middle East — Bloomberg chronicled the impressive performance of world stock markets: U.S. share prices had their best gain since November 2004...The wartime stock market is saying that things might be better than most people believe.
Think of it: On the world stage, there is more capitalism, free trade, and economic interconnectiveness ... than ever before. Because of this, literally hundreds of millions of share-owning investors are voting daily on the great issues of war, peace, prosperity, and hope for the future. And their vote is optimistic...
If freedom, democracy, individual liberty, and economic liberalization are all vital cornerstones of the successful City on the Hill experiment that is the United States, campaigns such as Israel’s only mark an expansion of this freedom. Israel may be a relatively small hill in global terms, but the battle it is waging is incalculably large on the world stage. As Israel inflicts more punishment on Hezbollah, the more Syria and Iran will have their Axis of Evil ears pinned back. This is a huge positive step for democracy and a big potential defeat for totalitarianism. Does the global investor class get it? How could it not?
For a long two weeks Israel and Hezbollah have been going at it hard, and world stock markets have chosen to climb. The backward-looking media pessimists won’t see this, but the real world, real money votes of the global investor class should be noted and digested by all the rest of us. Indeed, I believe world investors are thankful for Israel’s courageous efforts in the cause of freedom, independence, security, and hope for the future.
Of course, the stakes are very high in this game. But that is exactly why global investors are cheering Israel’s advance.
Two words: Unbelievable. Disgusting.
