Still doesn’t mean poor people should yank their money out of the market. It does nothing to sabotage it: it just makes poor people poorer and rich richer.
Apologies, but is a button for me, as the myth that “the stock market is only for rich people” is absolutely false, but probably spread to scare the poor away from it. Widespread worker ownership of companies would be an incredible change. Engagement in stock choice, as a form of activism, would be extremely powerful.
No worries, thanks for the correction cos I just don’t participate in it myself so my statement was definitely out of ignorance and glad to know that that isn’t a viable idea and why it isn’t. Knowledge is power so keep correcting the myth
Bit of a chicken and egg problem, most people aren’t buying stocks because they have no money, not because they don’t understand them. They have no money because the stock holders of the companies choose to put there profits into dividends and stock buybacks rather than increasing wages.
Class antagonism cannot be solved by just giving workers stock, because the worse off workers will just sell it due to economic pressure. Some may be able to hold it but they will have there interests ruptured with the stockless workers. So the capitalists will just raise the wages on those classes of workers with significant ownership , eg. The managers and professionals, and continue to ignore the rest, which is about where we’re at right now.
In order to have mass ownership of stocks there would have to be a mass social safety net so the people aren’t forced to sell there stocks to make ends meet. At that point then stocks stop becoming a source of security for the workers since they already feel secure from that safety net. Then they just become a voting mechanism for production that is still heavily skewed towards the rich. That would be better handled by the government or unions which have an equitable voting system.
Tell that to all the people who have pension plans invested in the market. Tell that to all universities who have endowments that enable them to grant scholarships for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it.
I think the entire system needs to be destroyed
Still doesn’t mean poor people should yank their money out of the market. It does nothing to sabotage it: it just makes poor people poorer and rich richer.
Apologies, but is a button for me, as the myth that “the stock market is only for rich people” is absolutely false, but probably spread to scare the poor away from it. Widespread worker ownership of companies would be an incredible change. Engagement in stock choice, as a form of activism, would be extremely powerful.
No worries, thanks for the correction cos I just don’t participate in it myself so my statement was definitely out of ignorance and glad to know that that isn’t a viable idea and why it isn’t. Knowledge is power so keep correcting the myth
Bit of a chicken and egg problem, most people aren’t buying stocks because they have no money, not because they don’t understand them. They have no money because the stock holders of the companies choose to put there profits into dividends and stock buybacks rather than increasing wages.
Class antagonism cannot be solved by just giving workers stock, because the worse off workers will just sell it due to economic pressure. Some may be able to hold it but they will have there interests ruptured with the stockless workers. So the capitalists will just raise the wages on those classes of workers with significant ownership , eg. The managers and professionals, and continue to ignore the rest, which is about where we’re at right now.
In order to have mass ownership of stocks there would have to be a mass social safety net so the people aren’t forced to sell there stocks to make ends meet. At that point then stocks stop becoming a source of security for the workers since they already feel secure from that safety net. Then they just become a voting mechanism for production that is still heavily skewed towards the rich. That would be better handled by the government or unions which have an equitable voting system.
Tell that to all the people who have pension plans invested in the market. Tell that to all universities who have endowments that enable them to grant scholarships for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it.
I will continue to tell people that. Participation in this system only furthers its bullshit. Change isn’t going to be comfortable.