My sis found this on FB: "Now that the Dow is at an all time high ...

[Honeycombe8]

94. No one knows why the stock market goes up and down.

Including me. I've read that it goes up and down depending on a variety of factors, and not necessarily having anything to do with the economy, though it does at times.

But if it's gone up because of greed of the companies, I agree with you...and that would hurt us all, even those of us who have 401ks and pensions (if you take both of those together, that is actually MOST of the workers in the U.S., since close to half of the workers have 401ks).

Stocks don't go up, though, because a company has a stash of cash, though it helps. It's the financial outlook of the company, or what "experts" THINK is the financial outlook of a company, or insider information, that drives the price of the stock, I think.

So when the unemployment rate goes down, the stock market goes up often because people think the outlook of the companies is good. And that's good for everyone, if it's true.

But if there's one thing I've noticed about the stock market, it's that it will go down again, and it will go up again. We just don't know when.