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Here's an interesting investment observation to mark the start of the Olympics in Beijing: Stock markets in host countries tend to fare well following the games.

In fact, the stock markets of host countries have beaten the world averages after each of the past five summer Olympics, observes William Greiner, chief investment officer at UMB Asset Management, which is affiliated with UMB Bank. That pattern held true whether you look at performance six months following the games or a full 12 months later.

The stock markets of South Korea (1988), Australia (2000) and Greece (2004) really took off at double-digit  rates, Greiner says, while prices gained more modestly in Spain (1992) and the U.S. (1996).

Curiously, Greiner figures the good performance reflects a slowdown in economic activity following the games. Why is that good? Because the lower economic pace often leads to a drop in interest rates, which investors like for various reasons.

Presumably, the pre-Olympics buildup and subsequent lapses are magnified for smaller economies like Greece and Australia and less so in places like the U.S., where the Atlanta Olympics had a modest impact on the nation as a whole.

If that's the case, the post-Olympics breather for China - now one of the world's biggest economies - should be fairly mild. Still, it's an interesting theory.

For what it's worth, now could be a great time to invest in China anyway considering that the typical China-oriented mutual fund tracked by Lipper Inc. is down 30 percent for the year to date.

More on Operation Save the Cheeseburger (and the cheap labor that fries the thing up)...

It appears that the people who want to repay Russell Pearce for Arizona's employer sanctions law are continuing on their quest, coming up first with a three-decade-old allegation that he beat up his wife and now with a hit piece that implies he's a Neo Nazi.

I say “appears” because the attack team – a group called Mesa Deserves Better – is still in hiding. On Tuesday, they'll have to disclose their contributers.

Until then, we are left to ponder who they are and to wait for the next in what they're calling “a well documented history of events in (Pearce's) life that demonstrate he is not morally fit to serve”. The second piece – attempting to tie him to white supremacists – hit Friday.

Nathan Sproul, the group's frontman, won't say who's bankrolling the campaign which he calls a fight for the soul of the GOP. “This,” he said, “is about whether or not the Republican Party in this state is going to be the party of Russell Pearce and white supremacists and the John Birch Society or whether we are going to be the party of John McCain and Jon Kyl.”

Pearce, meanwhile, says it's about his success in turning up the heat on illegal immigration. “We're changing the tone in Washington DC from Arizona,” he said. “That's what scares them. This is about big money, big profits and I'm the icon and they intend to take me out.”

And so comes the mailer this week to District 18 voters, with a picture of crying woman: “Rep. Russell Pearce Strangled His Wife,” it says. “Now He Wants Amnesty from Us?”

It's a devastating piece, based on a claim in a divorce petition filed by Lu Anne Pearce.

But if you had a magnifying glass, you would see that the petition pictured on the flier was filed in 1980. And if you had ESP, you would know that Pearce's wife withdrew the allegation shortly after filing it and that the couple has been married 33 years. And that Lu Anne now says the claim wasn't true.

The most interesting part about the mailer is the shadowy force behind it. Who would stoop so low to bring Pearce down?

Well, let's start with Sproul, a Republican operative who chairs Mesa Deserves Better and is also working on Prop. 202, which seeks to weaken the state's employer sanctions law. A law spearheaded by none other than Russell Pearce.

And the people behind Prop. 202? Wake Up Arizona!, a business coalition led by Mac Magruder, who owns a string of McDonald's, and Jason LaVecke, who owns Arizona's Carl's Jr. and Pizza Patrón franchises.

For years, they fought off proposals to – gasp! -- hold employers accountable for who they hire. When the Legislature and Gov. Janet Napolitano finally rolled over them, they went to court to try to stop the law. And lost.

Now, it appears, they're coming after the law's author. In fact, LaVecke has admitted that he's involved in the get-Pearce campaign.

Friday's piece is at least from this century. It shows Pearce arm-in-arm with a White supremacist by the name of JT Ready and notes that Pearce once sent out a racist e-mail. Unlike the 28-year-old smear job, it's a fair question to ask Pearce how he came to be standing beside a neo Nazi last year. Too bad they didn't include his answer.

“He was one of our precinct committeemen,” Pearce told me. “Nobody knew that he was a bad guy at that time.”

As for offending e-mail, Pearce apologized immediately after sending it in 2006, saying he forwarded it without fully reading it.

His enemies, meanwhile, know exactly what they are serving up and why.

Thus far, however, it tastes more veggie burger than Big Mac.

(Column published Aug. 9, 2008, The Arizona Republic)

From the political notebook:

' Buried within Barack Obama's energy plan is an industrial policy that is even more naïve and disturbing.

Obama says that changing our energy mix requires an economic transformation as well.
According to Obama, his plan will create 5 million “green jobs.” These will be American jobs. They will be high paying. And, according to Obama, they will even be union jobs.

Obama also claims that the new flex fuel and hybrid plug-in cars his plan calls for will be produced in the United States. He would give American car manufacturers $4 billion in taxpayer money and guarantees to retool their plants to make the new cars.

Now there are some jobs in the renewable energy field that have to be domestic: installing solar panels, assembling concentrating solar plants or windmills. Basically construction jobs.

However, there is nothing that about using renewable energy that gives the United States a competitive advantage in manufacturing the components for it.

Nor is there anything about using flex fuel and plug-in cars that gives American auto makers a competitive advantage in making them.

The only way to ensure that these jobs are as Obama is promising is to erect trade barriers against foreign manufactured renewable energy components and alternative-fuel cars.

That, of course, would invite retaliatory actions against U.S. manufacturing exports, which have been one of the bright spots in the American economy.

In short, if Obama means what he says, he's threatening a trade war.

This is the most disturbing feature of Obama's energy policy. Even as president, he simply wouldn't have the power to command the production of energy from specific sources at precise times in the future, as his plan calls for. However, Obama and a strongly Democratic Congress would have the power to adopt ruinous trade policies.

' Arizona Congressman John Shadegg was one of the Republican mischief-makers who continued talking after Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned out the lights on the House floor for the August recess. They were making the point that Congress should act on energy policy, specifically the Republican proposal to expand off-shore drilling, before going on vacation.

It was a good gimmick. It attracted attention to an issue, more drilling, which is one of the few winners for Republicans this election season.

However, Shadegg and some of his fellow mischief-makers returned to Washington this week to stage a reprise.

Hey guys, once was cute. Twice is overkill.

' While Shadegg was pretending to talk to a closed-down Congress, his Democratic opponent, Bob Lord, was knocking on my door.

Lord has been walking neighborhoods since March.

Democrats have hopes that Lord can do to Shadegg what Harry Mitchell did to J.D. Hayworth last election, overcome a large registration disadvantage to steal a seat.

The electoral winds are trending Democratic even more strongly this year than in 2006. The district did vote for Napolitano by almost as much as her statewide margin. The district voted against the gay marriage ban by significantly more than the statewide margin of defeat. Republican registration in the district is stagnant while that for Democrats and independents has increased.

Lord is likely to have enough money to get his message to voters. If he puts together a good ground game, which he appears to be doing, the makings of a contest are there.

However, Lord is no Mitchell, with his deep roots in the community and a lifetime of service to it. To win, Lord will have to prove himself a different kind of Democrat, but so far his campaign has been straight out of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee play book.

In response to a question, the only examples his campaign could come up with of where Lord differs with Democratic orthodoxy were gun control and keeping the Bush tax cuts on investment income.

The latter is a good start, but to truly get in the game against Shadegg he probably needs a lot more.

' Commentary has been pitched over whether the direct mail piece citing allegations from a 1980 divorce filing that state Sen. Russell Pearce physically abused his wife was fair or foul.

It was foul, for reasons having nothing to do with the allegations or their date.

The beef of the independent campaign sending out the flyer, Mesa Deserves Better, isn't how Pearce treats his wife, but his authorship of the new law imposing sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

But, instead of telling voters why they think Pearce is wrong on that issue, they are just seizing whatever they think will cause him the greatest damage.

This is, unfortunately, true of way too many independent expenditure campaigns. Rarely do they talk about the issues that truly motivate them.

I'm a supporter of unlimited political speech, including independent expenditures. But it's a tough stance to maintain when so much of such speech is fundamentally dishonest.

(column for 8.10.08)

Coach Ken Whisenhunt felt better Friday morning about the way his team played than he did when he left University of Phoenix Stadium Thursday night.

The mistakes that were made in the 24-10 loss were correctable, Whisenhunt said during his noon press conference today.

"I was very encouraged by some of the things I've seen out of our younger players," Whisenhunt.

The coach didn't feel any better about his team's propensity for penalties. His patience is gone, he said, and players who commit selfish infractions will be pulled from the game.

"The tank is pretty much on empty as far as patience goes with that," Whisenhunt said. "There are going to be penalties. I understand that. But when there are selfish penalties, when there are penalties where guys' emotions are getting the best of them, unsportsmanlike conducts or personal fouls, those things we are not going to tolerate."

Whisenhunt was encouraged by the play of some backups which means he is "not opposed at all to taking the guy that has the infraction out. We'll address it and that means we'll play other guys."

It looks like the Cardinals emerged with no serious injuries. Whisenhunt is hopeful that receiver Anquan Boldin will practice this week and play Saturday in Kansas City. Boldin took part in some position drills before the game.

Coaches also hope that rookie Early Doucet will be able to practice this week, but that seems less likely.