After staggering out of the gate, Wall Street finished with a relatively solid showing during trading to open the week. The NASDAQ pushed up 0.88 percent (19.18 points), followed closely by gains on both the S&P 500 (0.60 percent, 6.37 points) and the Dow Jones (0.56 percent, 56.53 points).

Unfortunately for American investors the momentum from Monday did not carry well into this morning. Markets were down nearly 1 percent overall soon after the opening bell.

According to MarketWatch, the drop on the market today was largely the result of weak corporate earnings. Goldman Sachs put out the worst earnings report, but Goldman was hardly the only firm falling behind.

According to CNNMoney.com, Goldman Sachs’ profit fell 82 percent in the last fiscal quarter. The bank is still making billions in profits, but U.K.-based employees are now paying heavy bonus taxes to the British government. As a result, the profit margins, which had been astronomical, are now merely sustainable.

The United Kingdom has taken a rather proactive stance in punishing the banks responsible for the financial meltdown and taxing them in order to pay back all of the debt they created. In the United States, Republicans are still talking about cutting corporate taxes. In Europe, corporations are actually being held accountable.

Rounding out the news, according to MarketWatch, many economic analysts are now more or less certain that our economy is headed into a “double dip” recession.

The Federal Reserve no longer has the tools to manipulate monetary policy and stave off recession. The Treasury Department no longer has the capital reserves. The White House can only do so much, and Congress cannot seem to do anything at all.

For most Americans the concept of a “double dip” recession is ludicrous on its face. A “double dip” implies that at some point there was a short recovery. Most of Main Street America has never felt such a recovery. Most of America was in recession for years before the financial meltdown. Most of America will remain in recession for years after an “end” is eventually declared.

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