re: #210 Killgore Trout

Economy grows at a meager 1.3%, well below the consensus estimate of 1.8% (which itself is a pretty low figure). Add that the 1Q figures were sharply downgraded from 1.9% to .4% and I think that the 114 loss so far is the tip of the iceberg.

The debate, of course, is how much of that is due to the debt debate, and how much is due to the ongoing weakness in various sectors of the economy - primarily jobs and real estate.

And yet, there are some companies that had blowout earnings during this period and the small 3 automakers are showing some signs of life in the new economic conditions, but that is also a sign of cannibalization of lost sales by the Japanese carmakers following the Sendai quake.