I didn't realize it at the time, though I suspected, but I invested at EXACTLY the right time. By 2007 I had MORE than doubled my investment, so I sold enough shares to make up my initial investment and kept the rest as profits. A good chunk of what I sold for profit went to investing in Sunpower which, in turn, doubled in value, so I sold enough to make up for what I invested and still have the rest (which has gone down in value) as profit.
Bottom line is I bought and sold as the India market bottomed and peaked. The part of my India investment that I kept plummeted as the Bush recession hit full force in 2008. It has now been recovering.
What strikes me, though, is the statement made by the fund manager about what is going on. It is in direct contradiction to what right wing extremists are saying about government intervention in the economy. Basically, the recovery from 2008 (when the Bush economy dominated and markets were bottoming out) to 2009 (when the Obama economy was just beginnning) there was a real recovery in investment value. To be fair, how much of this filtered down to the working and middle class is a fair question. The stimulus helped investors...how much it helped working and middle class remains an open question. But, Republicans have claimed that the kind of government intervention that the Stimulus represents is some kind of socialism that hurts business.
I have clear evidence that this is bullshit. In the Annual Report I just received from the Eaton Vance Greater India Fund investment I have, is the following statement by the fund manager:
Equity markets the world over staged a dramatic comeback during the 12 months ending December 31, 2009 [Obama's first year in office], most clawing their way back into positive territory from the depths of a global recession that began to reach historic proportions in the second half of 2008 [the end of Bush's adminstration]. Significant infusions of government monetary and fiscal stimulus helped moderate the economic downdraft early in 2009...
In other words, that government intervention called a "stimulus" that Republicans are calling "socialist" led to a "dramatic comeback" from a global recession of "historic proportions." Those so-called "socialist" infusions of government monetary and fiscal stimulus saved the day according to this mutual fund manager.
So the Republicans are against the policies that have been responsible for the current recovery. Sure, us leftists think we need MORE of this for MORE recovery. But the Republicans currently are attacking the very policies that mutual fund managers are saying saved us from the worst of the Bush recession.
So thanks to the Stimulus. I know my job is more secure thanks to the Stimulus. And this fund manager is attributing the change from the Bush recession to the Obama recovery to the government intervention in the stimulus package. So I really think it is time to stop paying any attention to the delusional Republicans and start listening to the FDR Democrat strategy of government stimulus. THAT is what has driven the recovery so far, so why aren't we going even further along this road to recovery?
