pulling money out of the stock market

[bongo_x]

I don’t know if this has been discussed and I’m no financial expert, but;

I was thinking about how the main weapon people have is voting with their dollars, yet individual boycotts are very hard to organize and the right knows it.
So what if people on the Left just pulled all of their investments? Sort of like a bank run. This is something that would scare the shit out of the Right.

[CountAllVotes]

1. many of "us" have nothing in the stock market

n/t

[walldude]

3. +1

Never bought a stock and never will. I'd rather go to Vegas and gamble the shit away, at least they give free drinks while fucking you over.

[DeadEyeDyck]

24. I made $14K day trading last year in two months n/t

[Common Sense Party]

31. And how much did you lose the other 10 months?

:evilgrin:

Sorry. Just messin' with you.

[GeorgeGist]

34. Easier than stealing ...

isn't it? Safer too.

[PDJane]

2. And those who do have money in the stock market

Are beginning to pull it out. Well, the wise ones are.

[Waiting For Everyman]

4. If people start moving their pension money, the RW and its banks are screwed.

I'm sure that's why it is trying to takeover the pension funds, preemptively, before people can do that.

Imagine if there were POSITIVE investments funds, how cool would that be? Like green funds, or those funding positive people-projects, and nothing destructive?

There was a "bank boycott" planned in France last Fall, but I didn't hear what came of it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. been out for years. Family members and friends still in...

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I have also thought the same thing. I do have investments,

and I have thought that I am just feeding the beast by being in the stock market. I have always believed that the whole creation of IRAs and 401(k) plans was to stimulate the market with ordinary people's savings, and to make the common worker a stakeholder in Wall Street. Then we would be less likely to fight against them, since our interests have now become their interests.

My question though, is where do you move investment money? And until I can answer that question, I am not making any decisions.

[Aerows]

10. No offense

but if you don't find a place to move it, you are going to lose it.

[earthside]

15. 401K plans ...

... matched by employers keep you in the market. Now, I moved my investments about ten years ago into Tocqueville Gold, CEF (Canadian gold) and Prudent Bear.

The value of my investments have gone up! I didn't lose anything during the crash.

But, indeed, where do you put your 401K investment money if you just want to preserve your gains?

I think there is a way/place ... but I don't know what it is.

I also agree that the whole 401K plan (passed in 1979) was a way to inflate the stock market back in the economic doldrum days at the end of Pres. Carter's term. We've been living in an artificial market bubble for thirty years (artificial because most working folks wouldn't be in the market if given a choice).

[CountAllVotes]

20. mine is in laddered CDs

The ones I recently renewed at my credit union are at a paltry 2.75%. I took it - better than the 1.4% that the bank down the street is offering. It sucks yes, but I don't have to worry about it going *poof* overnight and I can get to sleep.

I have asked myself over and over again, "What would my father have done?". He would have said to take the best deal you can find and wait it out. Things will eventually change and yes, that is very true.

[madmax]

7. No stocks.. I'm a bird in the hand person

Have a 401k which earns shit and a small emergency fund in the bank which also earns shit, maybe 1.5 percent.

We, the middle class are SCREWED. That's All Folks...

[Aerows]

9. Mine went to hell, too

Just get out of it.

[madmax]

13. My brother in law, the Republican has money

in China stock. I refuse to be a part of digging my own grave with my own shovel.

He lives well and has no problem with that concept.

[CountAllVotes]

19. actually ....

China reported big losses today and that is in part why the DOW dumped over 200 pts.

When China loses, the world loses in today's economy.

Who would have ever thought?

Maybe your brother-in-law won't be so damn smug soon enough dare I suggest!

[Aerows]

8. If the average investor...

...still has money in the stock market, they might as well just assume they will lose it.

I am 100% serious about that. The Stock Market is so controlled by HFT, where the big players can trade before they make their investors trades, therefore selling or buying before the investor trades go through, that it no longer serves anyone but the big money market makers - such as Goldman Sachs.

Take it to Vegas - I guarantee at least Vegas is less rigged. The stock market is a poker game where the house not only has better odds to win, they know everyone else's cards.

[madmax]

14. Agree - I don't buy lottery tickets

we've taken these little boat trips round a rock or whatever that have slots. I take 15.00 bucks - play when it's gone, so am I. To the BAR! :rofl: Then I dance.

[Common Sense Party]

32. One of the more ignorant things I have read on DU. Welcome.

You'll fit right in.

[HockeyMom]

11. I have never put my money in the Stock Market and never will

First off, I am a New Yorker going back to the 1800's. I learned my lessons very well from Grandma who lived through the Market Crash of 1929. She told me of people jumpting from buildings. She also told me how my Grandpa had all his money in the market when it crashed. Grandma didn't trust the market, or even banks. She hid gold and silver coins around the house. She bought diamonds and hid them too. When the Stock Market crashed back then, it was Grandma's stash that kept the family aloat, not Grandpa's "investments".

Even when she died back in the 60s, most of her money was hidden in nooks and crannies around the house. We paid NO taxes on any of this gold, silver, or diamonds when she passed.

Today, I had to listen to my husband how his "money" is dwindling down due to the martket decline because of Saudi Arabia. Excuse me? That is a HORRIBLE way to live and keep your money.

I would rather trust Grandma's method of saving than for it to be dependent on the Stock Market and forces that are beyond the man in the street's control.

[CountAllVotes]

18. similar background

My great grandfather was the treasurer of a well known city in his day. He died in May of 1929 before the crash. After he died I believe that my grandfather got some of the money he had out of the stocks but not all of it.

As a result, the family went through some very hard times and my father would not invest in the stock market for anything.

He has been dead for about 15 years now.

Oddly, about 1 week before the meltdown occurred in 2008, I had a dream about my late father. In this dream he asked me if I had any money in Wall Street as he called it.

I told him no, I did not.

The dream ended and it was a few days later that the whole thing went belly up.

My parents knew better and now this generation coming up is learning the lessons all over again sadly. :(

:kick:

[sarcasmo]

26. One smart granny.

[marybourg]

12. DU'ers: Don't take investment advice from this thread or any site on the

internet except for bogleheads.com

[Cali_Democrat]

16. Much of the money invested in equities ultimately comes from the wealthy

...and of course Ben Bernanke's printing press.

[sendero]

17. The stock market.

.... is such a blatant and obvious rip off of the retail investor (that would be you) that I no longer even have sympathy for people who lose their ass in it.

As many are about to do, again.

[Cleita]

21. I don't have much, just some mutual funds, but I'm thinking of it.

I don't know where to put the money though. Under the mattress isn't a practical option for me. I am almost tempted to invest in a business where I could provide jobs too but it's such a crap shoot and frankly I'm too old for the sixteen hour days, seven days a week that running a small business usually requires.

[MadHound]

22. It would be blip on the screen, barely noticable.

83% of stocks are owned by the upper one percent. Even if every middle, poor and working class person got out of the stock market, it would only drop enough for the wealthy elite to consider the price to be a buying opportunity.

[Johonny]

23. I agree

they would make money from you dropping it, then make money when it goes back up.

[CountAllVotes]

25. that is very true

You'd think the way people act (aka Kudlow and Cramer) that everyone in America owns stocks. The fact is as you state.

I salute your knowledge on this issue! :patriot:

:kick:

[scarletwoman]

27. Sorry, can't help out with this one. I've NEVER had any money in the Stock Market.

As a 61-year-old anti-Establishment hippie, I've spent my entire adult life surviving on the fringes of society, and have done my best to avoid participating in mainstream capitalism as much as possible.

I shall certainly die poor, but I will die satisfied in the knowledge that while I lived, I fed the Beast as little as I could manage.

sw

[Imajika]

28. This will never happen...

...people will never pull out of the market as some kind of general boycott. The vast majority of people will quit or reduce their market presence if they fear they'll lose money, that is all.

You can target your investments in union friendly or progressive companies though.

[bongo_x]

29. more like...

I’m just thinking out loud, but I guess I mean something like an organized general strike of investments, banks, etc.

[bongo_x]

33. well, what do you know...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4764444

[Archaic]

30. Selling stock en masse only makes it easier for the rich

They buy more shares at lower prices, further consolidating ownership.

When the market goes back up, their net worth increases.

If dividends are paid, they gain additional low-tax income.

So, no, that's not going to cut it.

Vote, and get the people in local, state and federal office to represent their constituents. All of the constituents. Not 3% of them.