Dean Baker says something very important re: the Stock Market and the Economy

[edhopper]

And that is,
The Stock Market Is Not the Economy

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=03&year=2009&base_name=the_stock_market_is_not_the_ec_3#comments

I particularly like this;

"An announcement that the government will shut down Social Security in order to make Citigroup, Bank of America, and other banks fully solvent would probably send the market soaring, even though it would likely be really bad news for the economy."

[NashVegas]

1. Great Quote

Repeating myself from earlier today:

The only practical benefits of a high stock price, from a business's standpoint, is that it makes loans cheaper and discourages takeovers.

In the post-Reagan merger mania, once the stocks got to a certain level and pretty much everything that could be merged was merged, businesses that were not able to compete by running profitably are prime for crumbling. Businesses that can only compete by buying out their competition are in for trouble.

[RoyGBiv]

2. And a hundred other people will say it ...

... and that still won't stop the psychopaths at CNBC from doing their damn level best to keep everyone freaked right the hell out with every minor fluctuation.

Ratings, ratings, ratings ... This current mess is the financial media's 9/11. They'll hype it until a golden parachute drops on their head.

[TomClash]

3. This is basic but forgotten in the market worship era

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5169904&mesg_id=5169951

[GeorgeGist]

4. No, but capitalists do own the economy.

The Stock Markets serve to show how much it's worth ... to the capitalists.

[Supersedeas]

5. but the beancounters and their shills in the shiny happy bidness newsroom would cream