Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| The Ice Cream Man |
Now, I have a particular position, but some of yall know far more than I do about this. My position:It has become so difficult to become a publicly traded company, that wall st has become dominated by zombie companies. As such, Wall St no longer accurately indicates economic health, rather it is a function directly tied to Washington, and dependent on support from DC rather than the market. I’m not expressing it well, but does that make sense? | ||
|
| Get my pies outta the oven!  |
The disconnect started when the government removed food, housing and energy from calculating inflation which is absolutely astonishing to me. | |||
|
Fighting the good fight |
Must be Rum Raisin day on the ice cream production line today.  | |||
|
| No More Mr. Nice Guy |
Stock prices are disconnected from a logical value. Computer algorithms and trading are the main game with very large players, in the billions of dollars. We individuals are insignificant. Also, the idea of long term investing is no longer valid in any real way that impacts the market. All the big players are looking for the best immediate return, which means they move money in/out of stocks, bonds, options, commodities, real estate, etc very quickly. In a general way the market does reflect the economy, meaning that stock prices will rise or fall as the economy is strong or weak. But, the big money can move the market and they can act instantly. Thus, I would only look at the market with longer moving averages, not what happened today or in the last week. Only major surprises can cause real time logical price changes. Wall St definitely benefits from DC politics, and they don't care what is beneficial to Main St or individuals. In that sense they are in a silent conspiracy with DC and with the Federal Reserve. I believe the financial media is just as corrupt as the rest of the media when it comes to political agendas, so they prop up DC which helps the financiers manipulate the markets. | |||
|
| come and take it |
I have known for a while that "the economy" is NOT the stock market. I remember in 2006/2007 talking to a many businessmen in their 60s and they all seemed to think that that the economy was doing great based on what they saw. Many of them were in the commercial real estate biz and they saw real estate and the stock market doing well. I wasn't seeing real growth in the economy at the time and could tell it was all borrowed money propping it up. Wish I had been bold enough to short the market back then. One thing I will say about "zombie" companies. With all of the index funds putting money into the market if a company can make it into the Fortune 500 they can stay there. If you are company size 277, or 323, or 421, the retirement index funds are sinking money into your stock whether you are a well run company or not. If an up and coming company wants to compete, they are at a significant disadvantage. I have a few SIGs. | |||
|
| Thank you Very little  |
It's always been that way, the only thing different today is the speed at which information moves and with which trades can be made. | |||
|
Lost |
Absolutely true. I would not use the term disconnected so much as latent. To explain, the stock market does not gauge the current economy, it gauges where investors think it will be in the future. The economy, especially at the Main Street level, is where the average citizen is now financially, and if anything even reflects the past, with respect to the record level of consumer credit debt. The two are definitely connected, but it's not by a short leash. Some will liken the disparity between the stock market and main street as a symptom of a systemic class divide. The wealthy few vs. the struggling masses, even mirroring the conditions of the French Revolution. There are many more factors driving this complex issue, including policy influence at the Washington level, but it's a situation that's been around for decades, and seems to have gotten significantly worse for the past 4 years or so. | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
© SIGforum 2024