...what is propping up this market?
Many people got out of the market, because it was too volatile. Others got out because they cashed in their 401ks when the economy tanked. They needed that money to survive. Generally, the stock market has become a toy of the monied. To some extent it always was. However, there were many, many people with pensions, 401ks and retirement funds--and a lot of them were died-in-the-wool middle classers.
I think the market has sloughed a good portion of the middle class.
I will never understand what is driving these near-record numbers. The growth seems plastic--or artificial. You mentioned algorithms. Could the market be artificially and steadily growing, when it really isn't?
Do you pay attention to the Baltic Dry Index? I look at this Index as a very important measure of economic growth and activity. It has TANKED like a hot stone lately. It's as low as it was during the 2008 crash. A year ago, I heard one commentator say that if the BDI is under 1,000, it is time to start panicking. It's at around 600 last time I checked--which is horrendous. The MSM is spinning these deplorable numbers as a product of increased dry ships--which thereby instills a downward pressure on bulk shipping prices.
Baloney. That can't be driving these numbers that low. Low BDI numbers suggest that the global
economy has slowed and is in a white-hot free fall.
I will never understand what is propping up the stock market. It's like they've figured out how to succeed without us--without "We The People." It wouldn't surprise me to learn that they've got some kind of artificial scheme that increases the DOW--only to enrich themselves.
They're all criminals. I put nothing past them. They know our politicians will protect them, deregulate them, fail to investigate or prosecute them. They have no fear of reprisals, legal
or otherwise. They're able to do whatever their criminal imaginations dream up.
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