Does the Dow Jones Industrial average reaching 13,000+ accurately define the economy?

Question

37 million Americans don’t think so.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/04/poverty_numbers.html

Answer 1

Of course not.

Corporate America is beholden to their stock holders (not our country). This is evident in many actions taken by companies including outsourcing of jobs (offshore), elimination of pension plans, frequent reorgs with layoffs...etc...etc...etc. The DOW is a great tool to guide you in your investments, but is not indicative of the health of our economy.

Conservatives would lead you to believe that all of the great Burger King and Mcdonalds jobs that have been created have put our economy on a solid footing, but I think most working folks would disagree

Answer 2

It does not.

Ready for a economy/stock market lesson? Yay!

The Dow Jones Industrial AVERAGE is figured out by taking 30 companies (out of the 1000's) and using their figures to project a market wide average. It often is not a very good indicator of the entire market, nor the economy.

S&P's 500 average is a better barameter and there's another one that uses 2000 I believe...can't remember the name offhand tho.

Right now the USD is at an alltime low against the Euro and at a 15 year low against the British pound. Those are typically better indicators of our economy.

Answer 3

Of course it doesn't. The Stock Market has no bearing on the economy. The economy is measured by the GDP. Even the Fed will tell you that.

Here is a quote from a recent article.

"The US economy is seeing an expansion that is "only modest or moderate" with softness in real estate, manufacturing and auto sales in many regions, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book Wednesday.
"

Answer 4

Let's ask the mortgage industry who is now willing to help people to try to stem the ever increasing flow of home foreclosures. Maybe the housing industry where there is now no denying the market has softened. Maybe we should ask the average American now paying three bucks a gallon for gas and the summer driving season hasn't even arrived. It defines how much we are being overcharged for everything, from soup to nuts.

Answer 5

If you look into it you may find that some industries are carrying the market while large portions of others are failing at an alarming rate.
The common man is suffering while the divide between rich and poor is becoming greater.
*Anything to do with war is doing great - if you have excess income to buy into it ... the rest - which we experience daily - is not doing so great.

Answer 6

by utilising nature i'm no longer an useful human being despite the indisputable fact that i will gamble that the Dow Jones will upward push above 14,000 interior of 10 years.each and each of the doom and gloom merchants and each and each of the human beings who provided all their stocks will look stupid by Christmas, i recommend have you ever tremendous the fee/income ratios of a few of those agencies,the marvelous in 14 years.The media spin is in basic terms about hysterical often times and highly some sufferer adult adult males and women each body is going to make a lot of money contained in the subsequent few years.

Answer 7

Judging from some of your answers, I don't think many actually looked at your link. I did.

I studied economics in college, have a bachelors. I see waves of poor immigrants coming across our southern border, because I live near it. The wages for unskilled workers are proportionate to the amount of unskilled workers in our country.

That is a better indicator of our economy and educational system. An excessive amount of unskilled labor.

Answer 8

No, it doesn't define the economy. Take a look at real estate. Housing is down 8% and poverty is up. What it shows is rich people getting richer. This is what the "trickle-down theory" invented by reagan and daddy bush wanted back in the 80's, and what "dumbaya" is doing now.

The "trickle-down theory" that reagan's administration invented was to lower taxes so the rich businesses and rich people would get more money, then that money was suppose to "trickle-down" by rich people spending money and it goes down to the poor. It hid the truth that reagan and the Republican presidents who followed just wanted the rich to get richer. Rich people get richer by saving money and investing it in themselves, so how were the poor suppose to benefit?

Answer 9

Not at all. Less than one fourth of Americans own individual stocks, which is what is represented in the DOW.

the real economy is that individual debt is at an all time high in America. People are using credit cards for car gas, utilities, food, and other necessities. that is the "real" economy.

Real income is down every year that Bush has been in office. that is the "real" economy.

Answer 10

stock market does not equate a great economy, no matter how neo-cons want to spin it to make their glorious leader not look like a total waste