President Obama has raised more campaign finance from Wall Street than the total raised by the seven Republican candidates - click here. Even though Wall Street is disaffected with Obama (see previous post), it is still backing him. Why? The answer may be that he is Wall Street's puppet. After all, many of the policies implemented by the Obama administration have been favourable to (and even devised on) Wall Street. In addition, Obama has not sought retribution from Wall Street for the financial and economic mess they have created. Conclusion - Obama is Wall Street's man, and this means he is likely to be re-elected.
My colleague and former PhD student Gareth Campbell has created a website about the British Railway Mania - click here . This episode has been described by the Economist as probably the greatest bubble in human history. Gareth's website provides background on the Mania and posits some explanations for the 'bubble'. In his explanation of why the bubble happened, Gareth places a lot of emphasis on investor myopia regarding future dividends and uncalled capital. His study of investors during the episode does not support the view that this episode was fuelled by naive and irrational investors.