Maven: Off Balance

Let's assume for quick moment that the accusations that the media have a slight liberal bias are true. The Business Press Maven cares nothing about how this would contort political coverage but wants to explain how it would cloud business coverage. (I'm not saying it's true; let's just pretend for a moment here.) The effects would be a little subtler than you think -- we're not talking rank boosterism here -- but any investor who wants to get a bead on which way the economy might head -- especially with a possibly power-shifting election looming -- needs to understand them, and quickly.

Liberals tend to believe in a more active government, which means they have confidence in the federal government's ability to do a lot, including running the economy (one way or another) and affecting the stock market (one way or another.)

A realist looks at any long-term measure of either the economy or the stock market and says, "Wait a minute." Over any big swath of history, there ain't a bit of difference in stock market or economic performance under either party. Sure, different sectors might be favored or reviled under certain parties. But -- and this is very foreign to any liberal viewpoint -- it doesn't appear to even matter who is in Washington long term.

The same might not be said of Iraq, but remember: We're talking the economy and stock market here.

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