Reality Check

One thing I notice the conservosphere never tires of mentioning lately is the record high of the Dow. Today it passed 12,000, so I'm sure there will be another round of stories (although it's dipped below that figure currently).

Ahem.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which measures 30 blue-chip stocks and not the entire NYSE, is up a hundred or so points in six-plus years. That means that an initial investment of $1,000 in those 30 blue-chip stocks six years ago would net you about 10 dollars of profit.

By contrast, the NASDAQ average, which measures not a 30-stock sample but every stock in that market, is hovering around 2,300. It's six-year high was over 5,000. That means that your initial investment of $1,000 would have lost you over $500.

In addition, the S&P 500 is around 1,365, down 200 or so from its all-time high. So that would be a losing proposition as well.

Never mind the fact that 1% of the population own 65% of the stocks.

I know that economics is not the strongest subject of the conservosphere, but I do wish they'd put down the Cheetos long enough to recognize these facts.