Remember all those "green shoots" that were supposedly sprouting in the economy? Well, we just can't see them. Indeed, just by talking to people you quickly realize that the economy is still in terrible shape. Virtually everyone in my universe knows someone who is out of work and unable to line anything up because there are just no jobs out there. People still can't sell their houses or apartments because the real estate market is dead in the water. Now the stock market has corrected by about 8% from the mid-June high and that will further thwart renewed consumer confidence. Now the political winds are beginning to turn on the Obama Administration because the stimulus in the eyes of many (particularly the right wing) is not working, which has brought up the prospect of still more stimulus, i.e. more government spending. In my opinion this would be an utter disaster. What the economy needs is an immediate personal tax cut and real business tax incentives. The quickest way to get money back into the economy is to put it directly in the hands of consumers via more money in their pay checks. Also, although I think President Obama is a great ambassador for the U.S. I would prefer seeing him at home talking more about economic issues. Against this back drop of horrible news it's really hard for me to get excited about the prospect for stocks in general.