BUT THE DOW!!

[Ol Janx Spirit]

"The Dow is over 50,000 right now, the S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. Americans' 401(k)s and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about" - Pam Bondi, February 2026.

That combative answer from Attorney General Pam Bondi in a House Judiciary Committee hearing centered on the DOJ's handling of the Epstein files actually revealed a lot about the Administration's approach to governing: as long as the Stock Market is making our people happy it doesn't matter what we do.

And to some extent that is actually true.

The economy is consistently rated as a top issue by voters.

And for the wealthy donors that drive policy in Republican circles, the Stock Market is king. Protect their investments and you can grab them by the whatever you want...and they will love you for it.

But the Administration has veered off course here. What tariffs surprisingly didn't do, a clearly under-planned foray into Iran based on a "feeling" by President [REDACTED] has finally managed to accomplish: the DOW has dropped precipitously since the start of the invasion--basically wiping out all gains for the year.

It was on its way down following the screeching Bondi's attempt at deflection. The DOW's high point for the year of 50,512 was reached just before her testimony. Since then it has lost over 2,500 points. With that drop the DOW is now down 427 points from the close on January 2nd of this year.

On March 3rd alone, reports indicated roughly $950 billion was wiped out of the U.S. stock market.

And one big reason for that is that investors are realizing that the Administration really did not have a plan--not for what comes next; not for making sure the Strait of Hormuz stayed open; not for how to reassure our allies of their security; not for how to reassure even the American people that the repercussions of this "war"--or whatever they are calling it today--will not reach our shores.

As a result, Americans' 401(k)s and retirement savings are no longer booming, and many of the wealthiest companies have been hit the hardest.

While the Stock Market isn't the economy, approximately 62% of American adults own stock, either directly or through retirement accounts like 401(k)s or IRAs, according to a 2025 Gallup survey.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx

That makes fluctuations in the markets much less of an issue for just the top 10% than we sometimes like to think. Its performance is important to a lot of people, and its voice is heard throughout the economy--especially as it is still the way a lot of companies raise money for capital investment which creates jobs.

And now we get the report that the U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February.

After telling us over and over how stupid our leaders of the past have been and that's why we can't have nice things, we are finally getting to see what actual stupidity looks like (again) when it grabs the wheel out of the captain's hands and heads towards the storm rather than away from it.

Whatever happens, at the moment it doesn't look like the DOW is going to save us. But then again, if there is anything our current incompetent captain does pay attention to it is clearly the DOW....

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Biden had the DOW crack 45,000

So 4.4% growth from the Biden booming economy.

DOW has averaged +10.4% a year the last 30 years. So we're talking awful returns under Trump.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

5. My biggest fear going into [REDACTED] 2.0 was that they would basically ride the Biden...

...economy to the midterms and turn around the normal pattern of losses for the incumbent's party, and that would allow them to do a lot more of the terrible things they really wanted to do with both economic tailwinds and more political power.

I really did not imagine that they would squander every bit of it this quickly.

[Johonny]

8. Trump destroyed his dad's gravy train

To dig himself out of debt he destroy what his father built screwing his sister and brother in the process. He is a horrible at economics, but rich enough to never face consequences. Amazing!

[Emile]

2. I wonder if the overseas markets

are overperforming ours?

[Javaman]

4. oh yeah they are. I have to find the chart but out of like 15 other nations we are 14th

give me a moment to see if I can locate it.

correction, we are 19th out of 20

on edit: here you go

[img][/img]

[Omnipresent]

3. But it's way over 50,000 now right?..

Right?!

[Ol Janx Spirit]

7. You have to look at the "silent DOW."

[dutch777]

6. As with all things Trumpian, they pick the data that suits them today. While many large corporations have done ok...

....some have not and small businesses are fairing poorly in many instances. The stock market reflects the former and not the latter and certainly not the average individual. The 1/3 of the wage earning populace that is living paycheck to paycheck and the many others that have less than $1,000 on hand for emergencies probably aren't in the stock market game, be it up or down. Add to the list of those not having financial fun are many farmers, the wine and spirits industry and a bunch of others who don't have deep pockets and for whom Trump policy, or lack of policy, has seriously hurt them. And then there are the increasing number of residential property owners seeing their biggest financial holding going underwater in many markets. With tech and other companies, some publicly, some quietly, shedding workers in favor of AI, the only sector adding workers is healthcare. Necessity-- groceries, gas, housing and clothing along with energy and healthcare will keep economic activity at a base level-- but maybe not a high level-- and leave a lot of others hurting.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

10. Exactly. And, the scary moment we find ourselves in now...

...is that we are in a situation where the top 10% of U.S. earners are driving nearly half of all consumer spending--reaching a historic high of 49.2% in the second quarter of 2025.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-10-earners-drive-nearly-191500198.html

The economy is driven largely by consumer spending--accounting for roughly 70% of it.

If 1/2 of that is now being driven by the top 10%--a group heavily invested in the stock market--drops in the DOW can only spell more trouble for what looks like a pretty fragile economy at this point.

[dutch777]

11. It is past time that the pain of bad decisions be shared.

[Johonny]

9. We might end the week sub 47000

So much winning.