"You've got to grab your friends, you’ve got to grab your co-workers, you know, don’t just get the folks who you know are gonna vote, you’ve got to find Cousin Pookie. He’s sitting on the couch right now watching football, hasn't voted in the last five elections, you’ve got to grab him, and tell him to go vote.”

The big question, President Obama, is why is Pookie on the couch in the first place? Come on, you nuanced the comment with the "football" game, but those are played on weekends and late weekday nights, it would never interfere with going to the voting booth in the daytime. The miscalculated comment is not unlike the miscalculation of what happens when you take away the will and need of people to work, replaced by scores of programs delivered like clockwork.

Voter turnout for last Tuesday's election was the lowest since 1942.

It's a shocking reality of indifference toward a process that is the cornerstone right of each American. In his first press conference after the massive defeat, President Obama referenced the light turnout intimidating the vast majority of those voters who would have cast their ballots for him... if they had bothered to get off the couch.

This entire episode, and what I've watched over the past six years, reminds me of the HG Wells novel The Time Machine, written in 1895.

In the year AD 802,701 two species of man share the earth. One on the surface called the Eloi: child-like and frail and lead a life of ease provided by the second species, the Morlocks who work beneath underground and provide the Eloi with food and shelter. The thing is, Morlocks tend to the Eloi because they eat them. We are currently turning large swathes of Americans into Eloi.

You might remember on the eve of the first Iraq War when Colin Powell told President Bush "you are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people... their hopes, aspirations and problems. You break it... you own it.”

Well, President Obama maybe those were your voters that stayed home on the couch, but you broke them and now you own them.

Release the Kraken

Do elections really have consequences?

In a last ditch attempt to push through his ideological agenda, President Obama is on the verge of releasing a torrid of regulations that will entangle businesses and crush economic growth like the mythical Kraken attacking a ship at sea.

 The onslaught of rules begins next month into January:

• Smog-causing ozone
• Coal ash
• Interstate pollution
• Greenhouse Gas limits on Future Power Plants

The ozone rules alone would cost $270 billion a year, but it doesn't matter to the President.

There isn't a lot Republicans can do, other than slow down the process of holding up the continuing resolution or going for impeachment. The fact is, the former is off base while they rehabilitate their image and the latter would be the only thing that gets Pookie off the couch.

Today's Session

Earnings out after the bell and this morning aren't moving the needle, but I find it interesting that investors are ignoring lower guidance from Nordstrom, just as they did yesterday with Wal-Mart.

Its seems pretty clear investors expect a massive positive impact on household spending from freefalling crude oil which broke key technical support at $75 yesterday. The swift and amazing collapse of oil has many talking about a new paradigm with crude near or under $70 for years to come. It's hard to believe that could exist for very long, although there's no doubt the energy miracle in America has changed the game.

By the same token, the spark to economies should increase demand for power triggering a virtuous cycle.

One thing for sure is the crash in crude has resulted in very cheap stocks in the oil patch. These are buy/holds for investors. On that note, the late news yesterday that Halliburton is going after Baker Hughes is just the beginning. Early reports of a $20 billion bid seems too low if this happens, looking for BHI to command an extra 30%.

We already asked subscribers to add to Chesapeake (CHK) at $19.55 and learned this morning of a gigantic insider buy of 500,000 shares at $23.00 each, a $11.7 million vote of confidence.

This morning's retail sales number was very impressive when you take out gas and auto sales- I suspect leaving them in should also start to show marked improvement.

Although the upward bias is keeping the market higher, it's been like pulling teeth and the composition of the up days is problematic. Yesterday, only 33% of stocks were actually higher. Investors are pouring money into a few select names that carry a lot of weight in the indexes.

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