Dow breaks above 20,000 as US stocks hit all-time highs

Ikari said:

Some benefits because a lot of people have 401Ks that are tied to the market and such. But it's not a strong indicator of unemployment, growth, and purchasing power overall. Mostly the people making money on the stock market are the companies and banks that already have a lot of money. There are other metrics, such as household purchasing power and wealth disparity, that show better the health of the middle class and aggregate People.

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Quite right. A stock market index is but one metric and not the most important one for the average person. But I do not think wealth disparity matters that much - it can be low, as in Sweden, but living standards can still decline.

Sweden said:

Quite right. A stock market index is but one metric and not the most important one for the average person. But I do not think wealth disparity matters that much - it can be low, as in Sweden, but living standards can still decline.

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Wealth disparity, I believe, plays into it. Because if it grows rapidly, you have a dying middle class. It is true that being low doesn't mean that you avoid stagnation, but it's another metric to gauge a healthy economy. There will always be some, and you need an upper class, but for a truly successful and free country you need a very large and healthy middle class. Looking at trends such as disparity or household spending power can highlight the health of the middle class. Any healthy economy will have an upper class, but it's also going to need economic mobility and a strong middle, and that is shown, in part through wealth disparity. If disparity, for instance, is trending upwards and has been trending upwards and shows no sign of stopping, that is a very large concern.

As I said, disparity will not be zero, and there needs to be enough of a gap to encourage a level of entrepreneurship, innovation, invention, and participation within the economy. But it should also, more or less, be relatively flat over long time periods.

American said:

Name the Obama policies that led to this? Trump just stated, we'll see what his policies do.

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That is the whole thing about the rise of the market at this point.
It is heavily dependent on trump getting certain things passed. in short order.

3. regulation scale down.
2. tax reform.
1. this is the big one. the infrastructure spending he is wanting to do.

if the congress stalls or doesn't get some of this stuff passed then you will see the market plunge.
right now they I would say they are on an psychological ride more than a financial one.

those are dangerous because the market moves on feeling and emotion vs reason and logic.

this could mean huge swings up or down depending.

Sweden said:

The 'average American' has stakes, direct or indirect, in many institutions like pension and insurance companies. He and she will indeed benefit from a healthy stock market.

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you do know that was also true the last 8 years right? I've gotten the distinct feeling that a certain group pretended not to know that.