A quick comment on the dow:

[Political Heretic]

Just a reminder...

[pleah]

1. :(

[Political Heretic]

3. Indeed.

:(

[AllentownJake]

2. But my 401(k) went up a little today

All is right in the world I got my crumbs from the table of the master!

[Sandrine for you]

4. Are-you a communist ?

sarcasm..

[Political Heretic]

5. No (sarcasm noted) but I think its more important than ever before that we...

..really know our financial system. Know what we're defending. Especially now when some might argue we have more of an opportunity than every before to address some of these systemic inequalities and bring our 80% of America up to levels comparable with the 19 other industrialized nations.

(I'm about to make a post on that as well, with statistics - we're pretty much dead last amoung that gang of 20 in every category. How shameful is that?)

[Sandrine for you]

7. I understand, but the ideology of individualism, the hate of the state

and the forces who defend that ideology in USA look so big that in not really optimist about your possibility to bring your 80% to a level comparable with the other industrialized nations. The fact is that the 10% upper level will prefer to used the same amount to destroy this possibility than the amount they will have to pay if they where in the other industrialized nations...and they are ready to kill.

Good luck .

[Political Heretic]

8. I need your help.

I know the obstacles are daunting, but there's never been a time (in my lifetime) where there was more potential. I feel like we have to try and fight to at least lessen some of these inequities. We need to find ways to seize the opportunity that popular outrage has created. The public is awake for once, and mad as hell. Where or where are our organizers and activists to help orchestrate a real movement for serious change?

I'm doing whatever I know to do, but living in isolated Idaho makes efforts tough. Which is why we all need to pull together.

[Political Heretic]

6. No, this is not going to die yet. I want people to see this and let it sink in

While we're spending so much time fretting over the DOW (and I know that to some extent we don't have a choice) I really think this context is relevant to current events.

[NMDemDist2]

9. you're ok now, it's on the Greatest

but too bad you can't resize the graph, it's so large it can't be taken in at a glance

:hi:

[Honeycombe8]

12. I care about the Dow. That's where a big chunk of my 401K is.

So...I don't get your point. If the stock market doesn't do well, it's not likely that I'll ever be able to retire. Why shouldn't I care about the Dow?

The unemployment rate, and the stock market. Two critical things (but not related necessarily).

[stevenleser]

13. Not only that, but the stock market is a fairly accurate forcast

of the end of a recession. It usually starts a reliable up trend about 6-9 months before jobs start being created and the GDP turns back positive.

[Honeycombe8]

14. Really? I didn't know that. Hmmm. I'll keep a closer eye on it, then. Thx. nt

[Political Heretic]

16. That puts you in a minority.

Not that it makes your concern any less valid. If you have money there, you're one of a minority few (that includes 410ks, which white collar people always think "most people" have when they don't.)

But I don't want your savings to be lost. The point however, is that the make-up of the market, the fact that it is overwhelmingly a game played by the super-rich for the super-rich effects how policy is being made. The economic proposals rolling out right now - they're not the the "best" approaches in my opinion; they are simply the ones most favored by the wealthy class that dominates wall street and influences Washington.

The remaining 80% of America that has no money in the stock market is left holding the bag and getting the short end of the stick.

[zeos3]

17. Thanks for the post

It seems persuading us to take notice of the Dow's erratic movements is part of the overall plan for the right. It's a misdirection to take away our focus from our day to day finances (ie wages and expenses like rent, food, fuel, etc) and shift out concern to something that benefits them much more (the stock market).

They control the MSM and can tell us what should concern us and what perspective the news is framed in. They run up huge deficits when they are in power to ensure that any Democrat that might follow them can never fund any of the "socialist" programs that the people support like Social Security and Medicare. When they remove these safety nets, we our on our own and have to turn to the stock market for our retirement and health care money.

On an individual basis, we've moved away from defined benefit retirement plans and moved toward defined contribution plans (like 401Ks). This means that people (like the one you replied to) will focus on the swings of the market because he/she has a vested interest now, in spite of the fact that it is still a game for the very wealthy. This is also part of the reason for privatizing Social Security. The reason I include health care in this is because of the push to get everyone into HSAs, which allow you to invest excess premium in the market to cover medical expenses. If this happens, we will ALL be FORCED to bow down to the whims of the market.

[chill_wind]

10. K & R.

[Political Heretic]

11. Consider this and then muse on how much of our governments "plans" are about bailing out Wall Street

Something for reflection.

[amborin]

15. k&R

[LittleBlue]

18. K&R

Some people have become pretty foolish cheering a one-day rally as evidence the economy is recovering.