All that is solid melts into air

[Carl Remick]

>Was it ever solid in the first place?
>
>If I remember correctly, the Survey of Consumer Finances estimates
>that the richest 10% of households owns something like 85-90% of all
>publicly traded stock.  If 49 million households own some stock,
>which would amount to about of all households, then the majority
>of these households couldn't have lost much since they didn't
>have much.  (I'm always dubious about the spread of stock
>ownership but thats another issue).  So it would seem that
>the recently minted and trust fund trash took most of the
>hit.  Or the pension funds?  Actually, does a loss like
>this have any significant impact?
>
>Dennis Breslin

Depends on whether you consider the Great Depression "significant."  Perhaps 
I exaggerate the potential downside, but the risk that the stock market 
collapse will fuel a downward spiral in consumer sentiment is enormous.  The 
era of Reagan-Clinton was hellbent on recreating the "glory" days of 
unfettered capitalism and was wildly successful at recreating the dynamics 
needed for traditional booms and busts.  Well, we've had our boom.

Carl
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