The Standard and Poor’s index closed at a record high today.

Wall Street’s indices all have recovered what they lost during the Great Recession of 2008-09 — and then some.

And yet …

We keep hearing from the chronic naysayers that the economy is in the tank. They bemoan the economic stimulus enacted shortly after Barack Obama became president. They decry the slowness of job growth. They ignore the other indicators that are blaring loudly and clearly that the economy is on its way back.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/27/investing/stocks-markets/index.html

Why is that?

Oh, silly me. It’s politics. I forget sometimes that in the political world, reality often takes a back seat to people’s ambition, which they usually promote at others’ expense.

I am heartened that my own retirement account hasn’t been flushed permanently down the toilet. I had some concerns when the market was collapsing, losing nearly half of its value. My financial guru told my wife and me not to sweat it. “Think long term,” we were told. We have but we’ve also been grateful that it didn’t all that long for our retirement account to recover its losses.

The S&P’s record is just one more indicator that investors seem confident in the future.

If only they could persuade the political chattering class.