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The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

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Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#51

Post by renewiltord »

stuaxo wrote: post #46
renewiltord wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You guys are so obsessed with inequality because you're always looking in the other guy's cup. I don't care about inequality at all - only absolute living standards. The US has been an unequal place all its history and it's a tremendous country to live in. Here's a recipe for happiness: stop comparing yourself to others and stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. It's old advice, but it's clearly been forgotten.

Even the most basic of primates have a sense of fairness and get unhappy if someone is hoarding.

I exhort you to rise above the most basic of primates. I have transcended the flinging of my faeces and it has brought me great joy.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#52

Post by djantje »

kaptainscarlet wrote: post #26
weatherlite wrote: post #4

So a stock market and/or real estate crash can actually be good to reduce inequality . In fact I think its about the only way to dramatically reduce inequality. Think about young people trying to buy their 1st home now, its becoming impossible.

It makes the rich poorer but keeps the poor in the same place.

It makes the rich less rich, the poor more poor.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#53

Post by jeff-davis »

Sincere question about communism:

Let's say hypothetically that the distribution of stock ownership was more even across the population, and variance was largely (but not completely) due to length of time in the workforce. And further, that the stock owned by workers is a large enough block that they effectively have controlling shares at many companies. Maybe I'm talking about a different universe, but please imagine it for a moment.

Would that hypothetical world be kind of like communism in the sense that the workers own the means of production? If not, why not?

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#54

Post by euroderf »

ty6853 wrote: post #39
47282847 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Median household income USA in 2023: $80,610 https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-28...

Median personal has to be close to zero before redistribution payments, for all ages. It paints a pretty poor picture of what is possible. I met many uneducated immigrants on a fish processing boat in the Bering Sea making 10k a month, a job usually begging for people. They would show me pictures of their wives and children living well.

How many died that season? Dangerous work.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#55

Post by _bin_ »

this is the least-bad state of things. consider the financial literacy (or notable lack thereof) of the average person. consider how much worse active investing would be, particularly in light of the bubble-y market regime recently prevailing where simple rules are thrown out the window, a regime somewhat exacerbated by retail hype. and consider the massively market-distorting effects of passive indexing when scaled to its current level, let alone beyond.

it's also pointless to mention this out when, if you examine returns to public versus private markets from e.g. IPOs in the past twenty years, they are so radically lower than the twenty before. that trend is by no means abating. let's not get offended that more average joes aren't playing exit liquidity to some VC/PE guy. this is somewhat to be expected given the level of hell the government has made it to be publicly listed, the response of growing private markets, and the SEC's asinine refusal to allow anyone but rich people access to those privates.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#56

Post by RangerScience »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #38
arvinsim wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Financial education is useless if you don't have capital. Most poor people are just earning enough to live day by day. Getting financial literacy would help little.

I think the importance of financial education is pretty underestimated. But just to illustrate, investing $10 a month into an index fund would mean something like $100K saved up for retirement. Even if you’re poor, it is usually possible to find that $10.

AFAIK, the issue isn't finding that $10/mo; although I'd still definitely agree that financial education is underestimated; I'd certainly love to have had a lot more! But, AFAIK -

The issue is when something goes wrong, and you have to choose between the gas bill and mom's meds. And then you need to choose between saving that $10/mo for retirement, or for emergencies; or taking what's been saved out of the retirement fund (if that's even possible) because, well, an emergency.

Had a colleague have to sell some (most?) of their BTC at $100 to make some student loan payments. As an example.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#57

Post by geysersam »

kaptainscarlet wrote: post #26
weatherlite wrote: post #4

So a stock market and/or real estate crash can actually be good to reduce inequality . In fact I think its about the only way to dramatically reduce inequality. Think about young people trying to buy their 1st home now, its becoming impossible.

It makes the rich poorer but keeps the poor in the same place.

Not really. Stock value is just paper. Stocks going down just means they are valued less now relative to other stuff.

Imagine if everyones socks were suddenly valued a million bucks, except yours. Would you "stay in the same place" or would you suddenly be too poor to afford to buy the labor of all the newly minted millionaires? I'd bet on the latter.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#58

Post by ninetyninenine »

ookblah wrote: post #31

I think about this from time to time and I suppose everything is cyclical in the end. Most of us would have been some peasant in the feudal age and when it gets really bad it always ends in a revolution of some sort. It's just on a global scale and timeframe now. As more of the population feels the effects of inequality they won't appeased by just fancy toys and shiny things, they will want change by force. My only s…

It’s different this time around. The sheer complexity of society makes it hard to ascertain exactly the true nature of the situation.

People who voted for trump aren’t even aware he’s part of the problem of wealth inequality. They aren’t even aware wealth inequality is the problem.

At worst we will get an angry mob stampeding the White House with no real direction or objective. Are rich people the problem or is it the government? They may have a feeling "something" is wrong, but they aren't sure what it is or who to blame, or they may think that nothing is wrong and life is just hard.

Re: The top 10% owns 87% of the stocks

#60

Post by wiseowise »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #2

Financial education - spending less, saving up, and investing - is common sense but maybe needs to be taught in school. Or maybe the new sovereign wealth fund will indirectly reduce this inequality without needing every individual to take action. Not sure what other options there are.

“Guhuh just fununcially aducate urself”

Do they teach in school how to invest when you can barely afford food and have no disposable income? Must be easy to talk shit when sitting on your cushy white collar job.

Stop simping for billionaires, it’s pathetic.

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