Reply #10: Framing the debate...

[Sammy Pepys]

This is the kind of thinking I like, but we need to be vigilant about how we present these things. While I do think the "investor class" has gained many members over the past ten years, I think making a connection betweent eh Dow and the wallets of the American working public is a comparison that's not going to gain a whole lot of traction. The stock market does not necessarily move in ways that are intuitive, and stocks and wages are not correlated in any special way.

Moreover, bryant makes a good point. I have money in the stock market too...so do a lot of people who have 401(k)s and similar retirement plans which are primarily based on mutual funds. The stock market is just not a rich man's game anymore.

The flipside of it is that if you're not in at all it's not going to make a difference to you what it's done. We gotta be crystal clear here about the issues, rather than trying to tie stocks and wages, a comparison I'm not sure works very well.