In spite of the pandemic, lack luster GDP growth and a deeply divided nation, the stock market continues to print record highs on an apparent rise to oblivion. Of course, anyone following the financial press knows this advance from the lows of 2020 was completely manufactured by the Federal Reserve's money machine and has nothing to do with traditional metrics that typically govern market behavior. Unfortunately, most of the working class is not participating in this 'money for nothing' give away because the top 10% owns 89% of the market. In fact, most people have been negatively impacted by the residual inflation.
So what exactly is the stock market and who benefits from its existence?
First and foremost, it's a man made construct created by capitalists to further enrich their investments by offering shares in companies they created or invested in at an early stage. And yes, it does work like a Ponzi scheme. Throughout most of history, the stock market was a rich man's gambling apparatus with a few notorious exemptions like the late 1920's when they infamously attracted the public's money resulting in a massive crash and the Great Depression.
Then came the 1980's and the birth of Neo-Liberal Economics in the United States. A system of wealth re-distribution designed, manufactured and maintained by the .01% who reluctantly watched their share decrease during the years following the New Deal up until the late 1970's - a period of time known for generating the world's greatest middle class!
In a nut shell, this is how it worked and currently works. First, deficit spend like there is no tomorrow (Reagan tripled the national debt in eight years and every president thereafter doubled it during his tenure). Two, give the keys to Wall Street and privatize everything. Three, increase military spending and reduce most programs focused on the general public.
All three phases were implemented and maintained. The net result, a 40 year corporate coup and devastated middle class resulting in record inequality rivaling the gilded age. Of course, the entire package was sold to the country as a trickle down, all boats rise pile of nonsense through ubiquitous and persistent corporate media propaganda.
And at the center of it all, Wall Street.
In fact, without this vehicle to concentrate wealth and monopolize the economy, none of it would have been possible.
How so?
Because shareholders demand quarterly profits and by law, all publicly traded corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to increase them. This is why they passed NAFTA (to access cheap labor) and allowed China to enter the World Trade Organization (to access even cheaper labor). This why they consolidated the media from 85 independent outlets to 5 major corporations (to coordinate and consolidate the message). This is why they terminated the Glass Steagall Act separating investment banks from protective savings institutions (to legally gamble savers money). And this is why they reduced Union participation from 30% to 5% (to reduce wages, benefits and job security). All of it, due to the demands of Wall Street.
Finally, to place a bright, shiny cherry on top of the con, the .01% make even more money (lots of it) by collecting interest payments on the national debt (850 Billion in 1980 to 30 Trillion today) from the tax paying public because they are the people who lend the money. And let's not forget about the Federal Reserve, a private bank printing digital money on command and monetizing its own debt to pump trillions into collapsing markets. After all, we can't allow the investor class to lose that third vacation home!
If your face hasn't turned three shades of red by now, keep in mind, Wall Street's been bailed out by you, the tax payer, three times over the past 20 years (expect another at the bottom of the coming crash) which affectively concentrated their wealth and power even further. This is why both political parties are completely bought and paid for and do nothing for the common man.
So the next time you get all worked up over some fallacious story promoting the manufactured left/right divide or social justice warrior ridiculousness, remind yourself - those who control the levers want you focused on anything and everything other than themselves. Divide and Conquer - it works every time.
Wake up folks!
"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing."
Phillip Fisher
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