As a follow up to the post on Jan. 19, 2010 regarding the increase in hate crimes and “us versus them” mentality during a major bear market, which is what we are in now (according to the folks at Elliott Wave Int’l. – the group I most respect on matters financial), news out today says that the Obama administration has been the most polarized first year of any administration ever.  “The 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats’ (88%) and Republicans’ (23%) average job approval ratings for Barack Obama is easily the largest for any president in his first year in office, greatly exceeding the prior high of 52 points for Bill Clinton.”  Here is a link to the whole article: http://www.gallup.com/poll/125345/Obama-Approval-Polarized-First-Year-President.aspx .  If as I fear, the markets continue to fall at a rapid, steep pace – then sadly we can expect more hate crimes, more “let’s blame __” and more general discontent which may erupt into riots, if the jobless rate gets high enough. 

 Michael