"Damn the Torpedoes-- Full Steam Ahead" Admiral David Farragut at the battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864.
Stocks Gain Amid 'Cliff' Optimism, Despite Boehner Remarks (AP)
So.. Stocks Gain i.e. rise based on 'Cliff' Optimism... even though one of the Republican heads at the negotiating table is Not feeling it...
"House Speaker John Boehner told fellow lawmakers that the White House has not been serious with proposals for spending cuts and accused President Obama of trying to "slow-walk" the process." (ABC News)
In other words, if the stock market i.e. soulless Investors want to see the market rise for their own greedy, financially prurient interests, and need to spread the rumor of optimism, not only do they not have to provide any tangible proof or base on mere hope...
The financial elite simply call their hand picked media puppets (for example Jon Hildebrandt of WSJ is personally spoon-fed every Fed rumor by Bernanke and like a good bitch dog, then obediently publishes it) and pushes forth a spin of fiscal cliff talks progressing even though one of the negotiating partners expressed quite the opposite-- feelings more akin to frustration and exasperation.
Just funny...
Kind of a shame there's no "Salem Witch Trials" in the modern era for Professional capital-I Investors and others who manipulate Wall St for their benefit. We'd certainly submit our resumes for the position of Inquisitor.
There is no "cliff"... its a molehill; its political posturing mostly by a inept, impotent political party who is under a hallucinogenic spell that tax cuts for the super wealthy and social cuts for the other 99% make for a better nation for all...
And we kinda wonder what kind of junk the Republican party leaders have been injecting into their veins lately to believe this is a winning strategy for 2016 when it obviously failed them so embarrassingly just 5 weeks ago?