WHAT THE DOW JONES MEANS

Ironic that last Friday when it was announced that 598,000 Americans lost their jobs the Dow Jones responded by gaining 217 points. Meanwhile when the stimulus passed the Senate the Dow Jones lost 381 points.

For anyone who appreciates the absurdity of the market place just listen to the analysts describing the daily ups and downs of the market. The large drop yesterday was attributed to a speech by the Secretary of the Treasury but I’ve noticed that generally when the middle class suffers whether it’s because of job loses, or home foreclosures etc. the market generally does well while conversely anytime the middle class gains an advantage the market drops like a rock.

According to http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/Recessions.html it appears that in the last 50 years we’ve had 2 sharp recessions and 4 mild recessions. The current recession nears an economic depression begging the question: when will we conclude that our economic system of free market capitalism does not serve the middle class well?