The stock market is NOT the economy. The Dow Jones is a measure of how 30 selected representative multi-national corporations with wide ownership are doing--not how the American citizen is doing. It is one single facet of the economy.

At the closing bell, the five or six standing at the podium giving applause at the closing are giving praise and salute to how many dollars they increased their holding by for the day===certainly not how much the working man made that day.

Yeah, the market is up for me too. But at work I was awarded a pay raise as a result of a superior evaluation. guess what; my company increased the amount of my contribution to my health care plan by an amount that exceeds my raise. So, my salary increase doesn't even cover the rate of inflation just the insurance increase. The stock market may be going up, but my actual salary in real terms of purchasing power is going down. And this is the story writ large for the middle class.

Publius