Yea Osama pain in the butt has released another tape. But there is no evidence of an impending attack.

So we could feel that Osama is simply selling “woof tickets” to rally his base. But given al Qaeda is in the terrorism business and even the most evil of a business needs money, it’s possible bin Laden has another angle. When Osama opens his vile mouth outside of a Presidential election stocks go down. They went down in September of 2003 and they went down big with the release of this latest tape. The only time they’ve gone up after Osama’s bloviating, was in late October 2004. It is believed that stocks probably went up then because terrorist threats favored Bush in the election and Bush’s policies were better for businesses. (Keep in mind people have jobs because of businesses. Presidents don’t “make jobs”.)

So what if Osama is simply trying to raise funds via the simple tactic of being a stock short? He’s probably still got enough connections to engage in stock transactions and knowing the release of his tape would depress the market would make it very easy for him to short some stocks for a quick gain. This would make for an easy way for him to raise money when he’s desperate and given he knows Bush is not afraid to take a shot he probably is desperate for any resources he can get, money included. Unfortunately he can count on skittish investors to work such a plan, if he has the desire to do so. American investors should show more resolve and only sell heavy when the tangible fundamentals of a company change. Osama talking trash is not a reason to run and put the money under the mattress. If we really want to show Osama that we are not afraid, it’s time to put our money where our mouths are.