Reader Julian Silk asks what happened to indicators around the Saturday Night Massacre, when President Nixon fired the Independent Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. The Baker, Bloom and Davis daily version of the Economic Policy Index only extends back to 1985. Here is the Nasdaq around that date. Since October 20th was a Saturday, the relevant dates are 10/19 and 10/22.
Figure 1: Nasdaq index, June 1973-January 1974.
The Nasdaq rose slightly today. The true issue is what happens as events unfold.
Don’t forget the weaponization of oil … The quadrupling of price during that period… From then on…”The oil-exporting nations began to accumulate vast wealth.”
Nixon positively proved politics preceeds price.
And, Nixon created a new world order, including with OPEC, which the U.S. benefited tremendously in the long-wave bust cycle from 1973-82 and thereafter. Foreigners sold their goods for dollars, which they needed to buy oil, and the dollars were invested in the U.S..
Bloomberg excerpts:
“It was July 1974…That year, the oil crisis had hit home. An embargo by OPEC’s Arab nations—payback for U.S. military aid to the Israelis during the Yom Kippur War—quadrupled oil prices. Inflation soared, the stock market crashed, and the U.S. economy was in a tailspin.
The goal: neutralize crude oil as an economic weapon and find a way to persuade a hostile kingdom to finance America’s widening deficit…The basic framework was strikingly simple. The U.S. would buy oil from Saudi Arabia and provide the kingdom military aid and equipment. In return, the Saudis would plow billions of their petrodollar revenue back into Treasuries and finance America’s spending.”
It evolved into foreigners exchanging valuable goods for worth less dollars, which were invested in the U.S. for U.S. military protection in the Middle East.
Oil fell to $10 a barrel in the late ’90s. And, we had the fracking boom after the oil shock in 2008.
trump sacks the fbi who is investigating his collusion with the russians during the election process, and silence from the conservative side. Fascinating. i guess the republicans can live with russian agents in the white house as long as a republican is in office. shoot, they even supported the use of a russian agent to lead our intelligence programs. let’s pursue those hillary “emails” and forget the activities of the soviet white house.
They’ve been investigating and found no evidence Trump colluded with the Russians.
The media should be going after Hillary where’s there’s plenty of evidence.
“They’ve been investigating and found no evidence Trump colluded with the Russians.”
WRONG. unless you and sean hannity are privy to internal fbi investigations, this is something you do not know. it is speculation. all that you do know is the trump administration is being investigated.
on the other hand, there is plenty of evidence to suggest collusion between trump and the russians. trump himself publicly asked the russians for help in the hacking, in case you forgot. this is not “fake news”, but actual fact.
peak, the hillary investigation was completed and found to be lacking. case closed. the trump investigation is ONGOING, and you already have a conclusion? why not let the investigation be completed? ahh, that’s right. because trump is now interfering with the investigation. but you seem to have no problem with a sitting president interfering with an fbi investigation of his own administration. fascinating. you need to let go of your obsession with the clintons, and focus on the real problems staring you in the face.
Baffling, you continue to disagree with what I didn’t say and create senseless narratives.
peak you seem to have a reading comprehension problem. the hillary story is closed. the fbi already determined there is nothing there.
however, comrade trump has continued to pose problems with his russian interactions. we have the passing of classified information. possible money laundering. continued investigation of collusion between trump associates and the russians. shoot, trump even hired a russian agent as his intelligence chair. and you are still worried about hillary? the thinking of a partisan hack.
Peak pulls a prescient quote:
“The U.S. would buy oil from Saudi Arabia and provide the kingdom military aid and equipment.”
$110 billion here, $300 billion there… Pretty soon we’re talking Dirkson units…