Daily Beinhart 2

More wisdom from Larry Beinhart:

"Once tax cutting began, the culture of business changed.

"It was no longer enough for a business to be a reasonably good business, making steady, reliable profits.

"Indeed, that became a very bad condition for a business to be in. It made it a target for takeovers by people who were willing to milk them of their profits."

I'm no economist, but it seems apparent that the chasm between "main street" and Wall Street is vast.  According to the Economic Policy Institute, as of 2006 fewer than half of American households were invested in the stock market "in any form".  Furthermore,

"The wealthiest 20% of households own over 90% of all stock value."

We should be paying more attention to unemployment figures than to the drop in the Dow.

I realize of course that the two are inextricably related in American capitalism.  But there's no excuse for the lax regulation that has turned the market into a glorified casino. 

What else can you call a system that allows speculators to profit on "bets" that financial entities will default on the debts they own?

Comments

[Craig]

It's true that the Economic Policy Institute link that you cited reported that less than one half of American households were invested in the stock market.

But just barely. The percentage who weren't invested in the stock market was 51. That means 49% of American households did, in fact, own stock.

If you have a 401(K) or contribute to a pension fund from, for example, a labor union, you, like almost half of American households, own stock.

That's why fixing the Wall Street mess is important to Main Street.