Opinion: Why Dow 22,000 is not good news for most Americans

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The U.S. stock market hit another record Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassing 22,000 for the first time.

The media act like Dow 22,000 (DJIA) is a good thing. The cheerleaders in the anchor desks are wearing goofy hats and high-fiving each other like their team just won the Super Bowl.

But record-high stock prices are not inherently a good thing. Whether it’s good for you individually depends on whether you own lots of shares or not. Most people do not own very many shares at all, so most of us aren’t benefiting much from high stock prices.

The media don’t crow every time the price of milk goes up, so why should it cheer higher prices in a different market?

Who owns the stock market? About half of all equity is owned by the richest 1 million or so families, and another 41% is owned by the rest of the top 10%. The bottom 90% of families own about 9% of outstanding shares.

In the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (the most recent data), the Federal Reserve found that only 48.8% of families owned any stock, either directly or indirectly. For the bottom 50% of families by income, only about a quarter had any equities. The typical middle-class family that had some shares owned less than $10,000 worth.

-more-

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/opinion-why-dow-22000-is-not-good-news-for-most-americans/ar-AApjlRw?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp

[yallerdawg]

1. Another thing.

There are no underlying fundamentals for the growth.

It's a bubble.

When the rich take their profit, the rest of us get another Great Recession.

[kimbutgar]

2. A lot of this uptick is also due to these computer programs which can pick in an uptick in a stock

From a buyer and they push the stock up. I used to trade stocks before the computer programs were used. Then we used to start dealing with these computerized bot programs that would run up a stock. They would then jump in and push a stock up 1-5 points quickly. It is all artificial trading. And the big Wall Street firms started getting these programs. I laugh at the 22,000 mark and know it's fake. This has nothing to do with chump and I suspect Russia is also helping push up these stocks. I know someday sooner rather than later the bottom is going to fall out. 2008 will look like child's play. I made a lot of money myself in the 90's playing with these computer trading bots. Buying a stock then selling it within 2 hours and making nice profits. The firm I worked for finally forbid us from doing it and said we had to hold a stock for at least a week. We all stopped flipping. But I made enough to pay cash and get my kitchen remodeled one year!

[Doreen]

3. As I said yesterday, "yippee fucking skippy."

For those who are middle class there will be some pain, for those who are lower middle class there will be more pain, then those of us who are poor we will feel the most pain. Through out my life when I have seen the Dow go up things get worse for the common folk. I just wait to see what will become more expensive, unavailable, discontinued, or just taken away. Even though it starts going down it does not get better for some of us. No, I am not talking about this from the proof of charts or articles just what I have experienced and watched what happens around me.

[Break time]

4. All it means to most of us

Is that the big shots are making money and he rest of us are contributing by paying higher prices for things.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Oh, come on now. Did you forget how well trickle down economics works?

[tavernier]

6. Hey! My portfolio will be up $26 next period!!

I can make a down payment on a Rolls!

[mwooldri]

7. I have my eyes on this Rolls.

Yup, Bread Rolls. Only "Rolls" that's in my budget.

[madinmaryland]

11. Nice buns you got there.

😈

[raccoon]

8. Sending this off to Greatest!

But record-high stock prices are not inherently a good thing. Whether it’s good for you individually depends on whether you own lots of shares or not. Most people do not own very many shares at all, so most of us aren’t benefiting much from high stock prices.

This should be shouted from the rooftops. Most of us here on DU know this,
but the idiot media crows about high stock prices like it's something wonderful. As this article points out, it certainly doesn't do anything for the average American.

[AwakeAtLast]

9. I'm cashing out my 401K

It has had to recover from two crashes, I'm not losing again!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. How old are you?

You take a pretty big penalty for early withdrawal.

My 401K more than recovered from the 2008 crash. It might be smarter to move your money into more conservative investments if you're worried.