September Optimism

Bob Novak’s column this morning talks about "Republican Melancholy.”

Okay, I’m sure there’s a lot of that going around. But on the other hand, President Bush is making some good moves. His surprise trip to Anbar Province is one example, and it highlights the progress from General Petraeus’s counterinsurgency surge.

Here at home, the president is taking steps to help the lower-middle-income working poor to hang on to their mortgages and their homes with an expanded FHA insurance plan and an end to the IRS foreclosure tax on housing short sales.

Meanwhile, Fed chair Ben Bernanke is moving toward a slight easing of policy. Today’s ISM manufacturing report shows growth, not recession.

Incidentally, the stock market actually rose in August, and opened higher in the first day of September trading earlier this morning.

If stocks are optimistic, then so am I.