No question in my mind, energy companies will play an over-sized role in the stock market and will continue to post, for a while, large profits. Especially when the world's economies come roaring back.

You're right, Re-Tog. Since private firms weren't willing / able to buy up GM, it probably would have died and parceled out for scraps. It saved a lot of jobs and kept manufacturing jobs in the USA.  Whether or not GM management can stay competitive with other car makers is another story still being written.

Greybeard58: "You really are phsyched out if you believe that the economy is getting better. The economy has been receding for all of 2012, starting out a dismal 2% growth and now only 1.3%. That is called retraction. The only thing the market is going to do in the short term is to trend down. Long term is anyones gues...more

So here we have the stock market near it's peak and the economy still down in the dumps but getting better. If the stock market reflects valuations with this amount of profits and activity, I can only assume that the market has begun to price in the potential of what will happen when the economy actually starts really ...more

The party's over gents. It's time to move on to the next challenge.  The winner will have his hands full, but luckily knows what's he's doing.  Not confused, not flip flopping to try to get votes, not hoping on the lack of short term memory to see the constant changing of positions.  Let's move on.

It's always frightening when those who avoid going to war will advocate war with others' lives.

buddadon : "I guess what I dont understand is everyone's response to our big debt is to cut intitlements, get id of healthcare, get rid of social security, get rid of unemployment payouts, and defund any education program. if you do this they all believe this will solve our deficit problem. So who will pay for these pr...more

Perhaps you were born into the wrong family.

Spending cuts in a fragile economy is a recipe for another recession / depression like what happened during the Great Depression.  Let's not do it again, shall we? Let's wait until the economy is humming and then skim off some of the excess and pay down the debt without tanking the economy.