The Dow and S&P 500 closed Friday at record highs.
The problem with this is the same as it’s been since 1980, which is, of course, not very many people in this country actually own stock. And, since 2007, that number has been decimated:
52% of Americans currently claim to own stocks, including 401(k)s, down from 62% who claimed to have owned stock before the Bush economy crashed.
But here’s the thing, out of that 52% of Americans, the wealthiest among us are continuing to choke the life out of the real economy until we’re turning from blue, to purple and red states in the national face.
10 percent of Americans own 80 percent of the stocks in the United States.
The invisible hands around the necks of overworked/underpaid America isn’t the government, it’s as it has been since Reaganomics invaded our national sensibilities– a small minority of thieves and corporate welfare vampires who are siphoning off all the blood and sweat and tears of America, tying up their il-gotten gains in immoral Ponzi schemes, derivative speculation, environmental catastrophe, and hoarding it from the people who need it most– offshore, like some awaiting armada of corporate pirate ships sending ashore marauding scouts of lobbyists to destroy labor unions and rescind democratic redress for the looting of national wealth and resources– pillaging communities and the public commons, and leaving next to nothing for the beggar-hands of humanity’s ‘beacon.’
The president is out trying to rally the country for a fairer balance between wealth and poverty, and his plan is as it’s always been.
Republicans have countered with the Keystone XL Pipeline and the midnight massacre of the American middle class.