I've been listening to this stat since it hit the news. It gives
the impression that wealth is being broadly distributed.
And this is where polls and journalists lie, not statistics: it never
says anywhere what percentage this stock mkt participation
is of each groups personal economy. It doesn't divulge that
a large chunk of those stock owners are marginal participants
and won't be making much from their investment: they own too
few shares, they own one or two stocks and don't manage
them well, they don't add to their investment significantly, etc.
My biggest gripe is that media-types can get away with quoting
one statistic and they don't seem to be req'd to fill out the
context for that statistic. I heard Michael Moore say once:
"a statistic is an information fragment without context."
-Steve Grube ============================== Doug Henwood wrote:
> [from Gallup's weekly update]
>
> BUSINESS & THE ECONOMY
>
> Seventy Years After Stock Market Crash, Six of Ten American
> Households Invested in Stock Market
>
> Seventy years ago October 29 the stock market plummeted,
> signaling the onset of the Great Depression, the worst financial crisis this
> country has ever experienced. By the early 1950s, more than twenty years
> after the crash, only 8% of Americans reported having some investments in
> the stock market. But according to a Gallup poll conducted October 21-24,
> 60% of American households are now invested in the stock market, a number
> that has remained stable in Gallup polls conducted over the past two years.
>
> View full release at
> http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr991029b.asp