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While the President talks about 401(k) gains and the media continues report on daily S&P 500 & Dow Jones gyrations, the #StockMarket fundamentals remain the same. THREAD 1/n
As @equitablegrowth Visiting Scholar John Sabelhaus explained, prioritizing “stock-market first” economic policies will increase stock prices, at least in the short run https://equitablegrowth.org/the-hidden-costs-of-stock-market-first-u-s-economic-policies/ 2/n
#StockMarket-first policies include: Keeping interest rates low, cutting taxes on multinational corporations, & slashing antitrust, environmental, & labor rules. 3/n
But that doesn’t actually mean we’re better off: Higher stock prices conceal the steep hidden costs we’re all paying everyday as #wages stagnate, jobs disappear, the environment degrades, and large corporate monoliths gain more market power. 4/n
And nearly half the country has ZERO $ invested in the #StockMarket, even when counting pensions & other retirement accounts. The top 1% (made up largely of White men) owns 39% of all shares, as @hboushey pointed out in @washingtonpost last month https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/stock-market-unemployment-disconnect/2020/09/09/087374ca-f306-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html 5/n
^^ This is 1 reason federal response to coronavirus has only exacerbated inequalities. As our policy director @amandalfischer has written, the Fed has taken extraordinary measures to prop up equity & bond markets but has asked very little in return https://equitablegrowth.org/main-streets-workers-families-and-small-businesses-are-now-suffering-as-wall-street-prospers-from-policies-to-fight-the-coronavirus-recession/ 6/n
Policymakers should stop looking at Wall Street stock indexes to learn how the economy is doing, and look instead at Main Street workers, families, and #SmallBusinesses, which, sadly, paints a much darker picture. /end
