No sooner do Fed Chief Ben Bernanke and President Obama deliver their over-hyped but underwhelming speeches and the market immediately moves on, relegating their words to the scrap heap that is yesterday's news, while re-focusing on renewed turmoil in Europe, including rumors that Greece may default on its debt as soon as this weekend, and the sudden resignation of the European Central Bank's Chief Economist.

Sonny and Cher nailed it when they sang The Beat Goes On, because this market clearly knows what it wants and if it doesn't get it, seeks out something else to worry about.

As a result, fund managers like Mike Mullaney of Fiduciary Trust in Boston continue to "err on the side of caution" by taking off risk and staying defensive. "Right now we are in a precarious situation" Mullaney says, "the level of GDP growth now is so slow and so low, that any exogenous factor could push us over the edge."

Any hopes that the leader of the free world or the most important banker on earth were going to be able to talk us into a better place have proven futile, as Mullaney calls the President's speech "somewhat of a sleeper" and views Bernanke to be out of ammunition. That is not a new stance, but rather one that has been validated again over the past 24 hours.

Before a year-end rally, Mullaney expects stocks to live down to expectations this month, saying "September is generally the dregs of the market place." Interestingly, he sees a retest of the lows in October, followed by a rally into the new year fueled by good old fashioned profit growth, which is estimated to be about 17%, but a market that is still posting at least a 5% loss so far this year.

The President's long-awaited address to Congress and the voting public wasn't a matter of a "style over substance." Obama delivered on the former, but there was little, if any, substance to chew on. The headlines were "$450 billion" and the phrase "pass this bill." The dollar figure was largely meaningless and as Matt Nesto noted, the President's call to pass the bill sounded more like the request of a salesman, not the mandate of a strong President.

Every aspect of the vague program was short-term in nature. The much reviled Wall Street is constantly criticized for focusing on the short-term, yet the same President, placing himself on the frontline of class warfare, offered tax cuts running only through 2013. If you're currently planning or expanding a business you most likely are doing so with more than the next 5 quarters in mind. A major plant started today would be completed roughly at the same time as the proposed tax cuts expire. These tax breaks will do nothing to create jobs today.

The bill is "$450 billion on the ask" as Nesto put it. For those unfamiliar with trading parlance, the ask is what the seller wants, the bid is what the buyers offer. In this case the would-be buyers are ultimately the voters. It seems unlikely Americans are going to surrender the nearly half a trillion without some evidence that the money will be better spent than what was dumped into stimulus efforts undertaken in 2009.

Estimates on what the "American Jobs Act" would do for the economy range from our rather conservative figure of "nothing" to Mark Zandi's view that passage of the still-nonexistent bill would add 2 points to GDP and hack 1% off the 9.1% unemployment rate. Mr. Zandi is employed by Moody's, a ratings agency. It's worth noting that it's in Moody's best interest to curry favor with the White House in light of the abuse being heaped upon fellow ratings agency Standard & Poors for having the audacity to express a negative view of the government. Not to suggest that Mr. Zandi is in any way conflicted in his opinion; it's simply something to consider as the Administration rapturously embraces Moody's view.