On the way home from work, when the curious side of me wants to hear the Right Wing's talking points, I'll often switch over and listen to Hannity for a few minutes, which is all I can take. During the past week or so, in addition to hearing Sean and one of his guests go on about how all teachers are pushing communism, Sean has been using the following talking points (and others) repeatedly to blame the stock market's performance as a reaction to the election of our new President:

"The market is reacting to Obama's radical socialist views"
"The investors have no confidence in the new administration"
"The investors' taxes are going to be raised, so they're getting out while they can"

Unlike Sean the "Great American", my contention is that the investor class has been getting out because of the market uncertainty surrounding the potential collapse of the banks, not because they might be nationalized but rather because they have been taking massive write downs and losses for almost a year and a half, coupled with the fact that we still don't know how many more write downs might be on the horizon.

When Merrill Lynch loses $27 billion in one year, AIG loses $60 billion in one quarter, and banks and brokerage firms are merging to stay alive, not too much confidence will be instilled upon the investor class. If I had a ton of money right now, it would find itself under the mattress, given the fact that AIG is the company that insures a great number of money market funds. The markets were headed in this direction for some time now, and as the news kept coming out about more write downs, more mergers (i.e Wells Fargo and Wachovia), and more massive losses, the market downturn was amplified.

Now I want to hear from the Truth Seekers and Great Americans. Why did the market rebound today? Did the investor class suddenly say, "you know what? Obama's got it going on"? Did they decide not to pay attention to his education reform speech? After all, I've heard many times that "every time Obama speaks, the markets go down."

So I'd like to hear the justifications for today's market. Obama spoke. The market went up. This is the polar opposite to what you've been touting lately. Please. Help me understand! The talking points are getting all twisted, and I need to know which set of (factual) data to present the next time said talking points are thrown in my direction.