[Peace-discuss] How are your investments doing?

[David Green]

 According to the Piketty-Saez data, that 81% for the top 10% in stocks is lowered only to about 75% when all wealth is included--real estate, etc. But the top 10th of each segment owns  half of that segment's wealth: 40% for the top 1%, 20% for the top .1%, and 10% for the top .01%.  Thus the top .1% has almost as much as the bottom 90%; the latter's share is almost all held by the "middle" 40%, with the bottom 50% having zero net wealth on average, meaning that much of the bottom quarter has negative net wealth. Thus the factoid you hear about half of the population being unable to meet a $400 emergency, many of whom found themselves cast among the "deplorables."
DG

    On ‎Saturday‎, ‎February‎ ‎10‎, ‎2018‎ ‎06‎:‎43‎:‎29‎ ‎PM‎ ‎CST, C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:  
 
 This is important, and part of the reason for Trump’s election.

Wealth in America was more evenly distributed 40 years ago. 

Since then, there’s been a massive (and accelerating) rise in inequality of wealth (and income).


> On Feb 10, 2018, at 5:14 PM, Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> Here’s the really bad news: Only half of Americans own stocks
> WSJ  Feb 10, 2018 
> And the wealthiest among us own 81% of their value 
> 
> By ALESSANDRA MALITO
> 
> For more than a year, investors have been touting strong returns from a raging bull market. At least, until this week.
> After a week of intense market volatility, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.38% falling 10% since last month’s peak, investors are left wondering: What will this do to my 401(k) plan? Should I call my broker? What will happen to my retirement funds?
> Spare a thought for all those Americans who have no investments in the stock market. Why? There are, unfortunately, quite a lot of them.
> Just over half (54%) of Americans own stocks, according to a 2017 Gallup report. That includes individual stocks, 401(k) plans, shares in an equity mutual fund or an IRA account. What’s more, two-thirds of Americans do not participate or have access to a 401(k) plan, according to Census Bureau researchers.
> 
> In fact, the wealthiest Americans possess more than 80% of the aggregate value of stocks. “Despite the fact that 46% of households owned stock shares either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, trusts, or various pension accounts, the richest 10% of households accounted for 81% of the total value of these stocks, though less than its 91% share of directly owned stocks 22 and mutual funds,” Edward Wolff, professor of economics at New York University, wrote in his 2017 paper “Household Wealth Trends in the United States.”
> 
> “Housing, liquid assets, and pension assets accounted for 87% of the total assets of the middle class,” he added. “The remainder was about evenly split among nonhome real estate, business equity, and various financial securities and corporate stock. Stocks directly or indirectly owned amounted to only 10% of their total assets.”
>  -  -  -
> 
> Upshot (to me):
> The stock market is not the economy.
> In the shorter run, its ups & downs have little or no significant effect on middle-class people.  
> (The great majority of Americans think they are “middle class.”)
> ~~ Ron
> 
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