The other day I was watching from the shadows a live stream from a known YouTuber who talks about Wall Street. He mentioned how Biden’s team is not taking advantage of the fact that the stock market is at an all-time high.
He didn’t understand it but was told by a friend that the reason Biden and his team have not made that a central plot or theme in his reelection is because it doesn’t pander to their group, their followers.
This YouTuber, is someone I admire but oftentimes I don’t agree with their politics or their takes. He’s a conservative, he leans pretty heavily on that side although, this doesn’t mean he always agrees with everything conservative. Still at times, I can see where his judgment does become clouded.
He said what his friend said does make sense even though he could be wrong, but there is weight to it given that the message from the leftist party is that, corporate greed is bad! The stock market is bad! Capitalism is bad! leading the Biden administration to omit these numbers .
I wanted to tell him, corporate greed is bad! in reaction to his mockery, but taking a step back I get where he was coming from considering all things.
In the critical aspect, when you’re thinking about it or reflecting on past conversations, he’s mentioned that we don’t actually have true capitalism right now, but rather “crony capitalism.”
Sometimes, when we’re in our own worldview, we muddy the waters with the things we say without thought which can lead to clashes with individuals who are quick to respond and create a firey ball of miscommunication.
Being sarcastic doesn’t always get your point across. Corporate greed is indeed bad, but because the messages from both political ends have been extreme, one party is all about the negative side of capitalism, and the other party is all about the positive side, there has been no room for the middle where the truth often resides which leads to frustration for many.
On the end I tend to lean towards at times, but not always, I am an independent (No, this doesn’t mean I always vote for independents) it’s all about corporate greed, the stock market being bad, and taxing the rich. That extreme message that is the center of the political football field, lacks nuance and gray matter on the issue.
There’s been no room to acknowledge that yes, people are hurting and corporations need to be dealt with at times but are not the sole reason behind inflation, whilst at the same time, the stock market is at an all-time high bringing up portfolios and retirements, which indeed could be a great look for the Biden team, however, I’m not sure how one would communicate that to the everyday person when some blame of corporate greed and a disregard for ethical business practice has led to higher price increases which some people contribute to the stock holders and corporations influencing the stock market.
For example, consider the person sitting in a bar after a long day of hard blue-collar work at a construction site.
How do you tell them, “Look, the stock market is at an all-time high, and your retirement account is doing really well,” when they have to go home and worry about their lights being shut off?
Because their last paycheck went towards buying a ‘new’ probably used truck after their old one broke down when just a few years ago inflation (corporate greed) wasn’t eating into their pockets as wildly it is today?
How do you justify market returns when everyday people are feeling the hit in their pockets now without sounding dismissive of their plights? Retirement planning is the last thing on their mind.
Furthermore, average everyday workers have lost trust in corporations before the pandemic with the rampant monopolizing of certain businesses. And yes, just like every political group does, the current left ran and went extreme in their message with corporate greed being the sole reason behind inflation. At the end of the day this has been American politics for awhile now and both parties have gone extreme in their messaging on every single topic one can imagine even when not entirely accurate.
Still, even if the extremism was omitted, there are a lot more everyday Joe’s and Janes in the world in this situation than there are millionaire and billionaire Janes and Joe’s who don’t have to look at the price of groceries when shopping (not saying they don’t look, because keeping wealth requires being mindful but they don’t have to).
It makes sense that the Biden administration wouldn’t want the focus to be on the stock market being at an all-time high right now because it it doesn’t translate well to the average everyday worker, unfortunately.
We have done a poor job of educating people on the stock market, economics, their 401ks, Roth’s, pensions and other funds. I have heard so many stories of people who have left cash sitting in their retirement accounts uninvested because they didn’t know they had to pick a fund to invest in.
Truthfully, this is where I think it’s important to remember that for those of us who do invest – hands on, this is great news for us, right? This is the message we would want to hear – the market reaching all time highs.
After all we’re investors. Our money is growing, our capital is growing, we’re watching our returns grow year over year, which is beautiful.
But for everyday people who do not have money in the market, under certain jobs or knowledge and actual hands-on experience outside of a 401k, they’re not seeing the returns like we are. It’s not translating well.
And quite frankly, I don’t think they would care at this moment if they can’t feed their children, if they can’t feed themselves, if they can’t get ahead or get a moment to breathe in the present.
I think it’s really important to understand the limitations of the worldview that represents our own world because we understand how it works. This can be argued for many different parties and groups in affiliations.
Those who are struggling and believe that the stock market is a bad thing and that corporate greed often goes unchecked, aren’t wrong in the latter, I am inclined to argue for their perspective.
I mean, let’s face it, capitalism in itself has not been itself in a very long time. Again, I can see why the Biden administration is not taking advantage of this because it would sound they are making a claim that corporate greed or any other problem point is good when it’s not.
On the opposite side, it’s also worthy to mention that Americans’ retirement portfolios are doing well. But again, I don’t think there’s a simple black-and-white issue here where it’s like, “Oh, let’s just focus on the all-time high.”
People are struggling, and if he’s talking about the stock market being at an all-time high, it sounds like he’s boasting about how companies have taken advantage of this time of inflation and padded their pockets and the pockets of investors.
It’s the same situation when you have environments where there are youth who struggle in school because they come from a certain demographic and socioeconomic environment.
Those who are focused on trying to eat and have a safe environment can’t put their energy towards being the best student for future hopes. In that moment, focusing on school seems pointless when the present is squeezing the life out of them.
Often times when you have people arguing, “Well, this is the greatest country in the world, and everyone can make it rich here, strike gold here.” It’s important to remember that is more idealism than it is realism because that’s not how the system is set up to be.
Not everyone here can get rich; it wasn’t meant to be that way. Someone has to change your tires, someone has to serve your fries, someone has to serve your coffee, wait on you at your restaurant, open the door for your fancy hotel, if you will.
There’s always going to be those jobs that people are needed in. Sure, people can get well off in a sense that they’re comfortabe. That was the idealism which built the foundation of capitalism, to provide a better standard of living, but when you constantly have inflation and corporate greed on the rise, it eats into that.
That’s where that’s where a vast majority of people are coming from—a lot of people are worried that social mobility is becoming more limited for the majority.
One thing I personally do is I try to remember that there’s more than one perspective. As someone who’s low-income, someone who’s struggled, someone who’s come from a really rough environment, I do believe that the stock market is one of the best ways to build financial security and capitalism does provide an opportunity to take your family from one extreme to another.
At the same time, I understand that not everyone has the privilege to do so and not everyone is aware or has the capabilities to partake in this.
Its important to understand the nuances and not make everything so black and white because it fits our personal worldview.
No matter what happens and no matter how successful I get in my own endeavors, I never want to lose sight of how fortunate I am and the world that I come from. The one thing that allows me to be who I am is understanding the gray area that a lot of people overlook or believe doesn’t exist when it does indeed.
I’m not saying that we should lean on one side or another, only that it’s crucial to take a step back and acknowledge that our experience does not relate to everyone else. Just because you witnessed, experienced or didn’t experience something doesn’t mean it is the lens of the world for everyone else.
I had to tell someone else that the other day when they were questioning me about going to school and asked me if I was going to go all the way. They knew someone who went for my degree, who worked at Starbucks as a barista in the beginning, got a degree, and went right back to working at Starbucks.
I had to tell them you can’t apply one person’s experience to the whole world. This person went on about other friends that had dome the same thing – my first thought was maybe they needed to change their friend group, but I kept my mouth shut because again, nuances, quick responses don’t allow room for thought.
We have to remember that our group of people is very limited compared to what is out there in the world.
There is a whole world out there and even though we know this, it is hard to keep it in our world view because our every day lives creates the bubble in which we live in.
It’s a good reminder that your world is really limited compared to the vast majority of what’s out there and we forget just how vast the world really is even for those of us who travel to different cities.
If all you do is spend your time with people who are like you, which is not a bad thing, but if all you do is spend time around people who are like you, with the same hobbies as you, or the same ideals as you, you are going to be limited in how you see things, no matter how much you read or how smart you are.
Our experiences are not always universal; they don’t always translate across the world.
This is why some people have a hard time understanding certain concepts or why a certain individual can’t look at history the same way as another person because there’s certain things they have not experienced in their own life or family.
Yet sometimes we feel so comfortable speaking on these things as if we know they don’t exist because of what we heard, what someone else told us, what our friend group is saying, or because we haven’t experienced it.
We think, “Oh well, the way I see it, there’s no way that could be a thing. It has to be over-exaggerated.” But again, that goes back to our worldviews being limited.
Different cultures, beliefs, and systems mean our way of living doesn’t always translate to someone else’s world and it is important to keep that in mind when having these conversations.
Anyways, this post got longer than I thought it would. I just wanted to put my thoughts on paper and some have been left out otherwise this would end up too long for me to edit.
My thoughts can and will change over the years, but I believe it’s important to understand that no matter what we know and believe to be true, it’s only a tiny part of the vast information out there.
P.S I know this topic is highly emotionally charged for many, so I will say this now, if you want to comment, feel free, but understand I am not here to debate or argue, and will not respond if that is your wish.
The Broke College Student 
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