What do the fortunes of Wall Street have to do with most of us?

[Cyrano]

Economics is one of my many weak points. Yet, I just don't understand what Wall Street's up and downs have to do with most of us.

From what I've observed over the years, when they're doing great, it has little to do with the lives of the rest of us, except in one way. When the market goes down, we get fucked.

So their good fortune is theirs. And we end up paying for their bad fortune.

It seems to me that there's something wrong with this system. Perhaps OAC can explain it better to all of us.

[GusBob]

1. unless you have a 401k, its has nothing to do with us

Wall Street is not the economy

its run by a bunch of crooks who game the system

read the book Flash Boys by Lewis

[BSdetect]

2. Companies are getting stomped on by the Chinese thanks to drumph and his tariffs

They need to stand up and fight his idiocy.

Just like "real" people.

[Chin music]

4. They don't pay, it's passed to the consumer ALWAYS.

When's the last time a corp took a loss to help consumers? NEVER. They use the stock market as some sort of a measuring stick and talking point that everythings economically stellar. For Board memebers, trustees, and those in the know, it is. The stock figures translate to Americans very very rarely. Even w a 401k.

[snowybirdie]

3. If you have a pension or IRA

Or are saving for anything, most funds and banks invest in the market. Your money rises and falls according to the whims of the market.

[Chin music]

5. Most notably FALLS.

NOT SURE HOW MANY TIMES MY 401K WAS "DOING OK", ONLY TO BE SLASHED BY THE ECONOMY. Shoot. sorry for the caps.
PS...where does that money go when they carve off big chunks of 401ks? I know one thing, if I had every dollar i put in mine, Id have retired years ago. Big fricken scam.

[Cyrano]

6. Is whoever watches over your pension or IRA

responsible to your interests, or their own?

I once invested some of my savings into some municipal bonds that were a "sure thing." The bank thug who talked me into it made a commission. I lost.

Unregulated capitalism is a license to steal. And anyone who doesn't get this is setting themselves up to get fucked beyond repair.

[Chin music]

8. Totally agree.

Remember the law..."Investment bankers don't have to put YOUR interests before theirs." Life is cockamamie.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Do you have a 401K or an IRA or other retirement funds?

When the market goes up those investments are more valuable. When it goes down they're less valuable. This is a big deal if you're retired.

[Cyrano]

9. Yes, I get it.

But that doesn't change the fact that is was a scam from the beginning.

Did you insist that Wall Street take care of your retirement funds? Or did lobbyists who profited from your choice and conned you into trusting American business?

Perhaps you still believe in America's form of unregulated capitalism. I truly hope it doesn't burn you.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. I'm not saying it's not a messed-up system. Your question was whether the stock market matters.

My answer was yes, it does. I'm retired. I had a pension fund through my previous employer, which eventually became a 401K, and which I converted to an IRA when I retired. This contains mutual funds that in turn hold stocks. These funds were employment benefits that I was not about to turn down, but I didn't choose them or the system that produced them. I am, however, damned happy to have them, and I hope for a healthy stock market so I don't have to be eating cat food when I'm 80. It's the system we're stuck with until someone can create a better one.