The current administration's stock market performance is likely to be a prouder legacy than the one which it will leave in Iraq. Nevertheless, as of yesterday, it is at the bottom of the last ten administrations -- just below that of Richard Nixon. Here are the presidents ranked from best to worst in terms of average annual S&P 500 returns during their tenure:

• Bill Clinton: +17.40%
• Gerald Ford: +17.00%
• Harry Truman: +15.60%
• Dwight Eisenhower: +14.90%
• Ronald Reagan: +14.40%
• George H. W. Bush: +14.40%
• John Kennedy: +12.40%
• Jimmy Carter: +11.20%
• Lyndon Johnson: +10.20%
• Richard Nixon: +0.60%
• George W. Bush: +0.56%

But this administration's S&P 500 performance masks the enormous stock market benefits resulting from its Industrial Policy -- the application of national leadership to favor specific industries. By betting correctly on which industries a new leader's policies will help, investment opportunities could emerge. To that end, in May 2001, I began to think about which industries would benefit from an oil man in the White House. This led to the W-Industrial Complex (WIC) Index which tracks stocks in the energy, defense, conservative media, and high-end retailing industries.