Government Stimulus Boosts Wall Street

Despite the major cuts in consumer spending, the stock market is soaring because the government has more than picked up the slack. While consumers have started saving, it is the government who has gone on a shopping spree, buying cars , mortgages, and maybe even health insurance. See the following post from Economist's View for more on this topic.

There's not a populist bone in Robert Reich's body. Not a one:

Why the Dow is Hitting 10,000 Even When Consumers Can't Buy And Business Cries "Socialism", by Robert Reich: So how can the Dow Jones Industrial Average be flirting with 10,000 when consumers, who make up 70 percent of the economy, have had to cut way back on buying because they have no money? Jobs continue to disappear. One out of six Americans is either unemployed or underemployed. Homes can no longer function as piggy banks because they’re worth almost a third less than they were two years ago. And for the first time in more than a decade, Americans are now having to pay down their debts and start to save.

Even more curious, how can the Dow be so far up when every business and Wall Street executive I come across tells me government is crushing the economy with its huge deficits, and its supposed “takeover” of health care, autos, housing, energy, and finance? Their anguished cries of “socialism” are almost drowning out all their cheering over the surging Dow.

The explanation is simple. The great consumer retreat from the market is being offset by government’s advance into the market. Consumer debt is way down from its peak in 2006; government debt is way up. Consumer spending is down, government spending is up. Why have new housing starts begun? Because the Fed is buying up Fannie and Freddie’s paper, and government-owned Fannie and Freddie are now just about the only mortgage games remaining in play.

Why are health care stocks booming? Because the government is about to expand coverage to tens of millions more Americans, and the White House has assured Big Pharma and health insurers that their profits will soar. Why are auto sales up? Because the cash-for-clunkers program has been subsidizing new car sales. Why is the financial sector surging? Because the Fed is keeping interest rates near zero, and ... the government is still guaranteeing any bank too big to fail will be bailed out. Why are federal contractors doing so well? Because the stimulus has kicked in.

In other words, the Dow is up despite the biggest consumer retreat from the market since the Great Depression because of the very thing so many executives are complaining about, which is government’s expansion. And regardless of what you call it – Keynesianism, socialism, or just pragmatism – it’s doing wonders for business, especially big business and Wall Street. Consumer spending is falling back to 60 to 65 percent of the economy, as government spending expands to fill the gap.

The problem is, our newly expanded government isn't doing much for average working Americans who continue to lose their jobs and whose belts continue to tighten, and who are getting almost nothing out of the rising Dow because they own few if any shares of stock. Despite ... all their cries of "socialism" -- big business and Wall Street are more politically potent than ever.

It would have been better if the effort to revive the economy had a stronger trickle up component, i.e. give the tax cuts or transfers to the people who need it rather than those who don't, they will spend the extra money, it will trickle up as profits to the owners of businesses as the money is spent and re-spent through the multiplier process, and the owners will use the profits to hire more workers and to make productive investments (and even if the money doesn't trickle up as expected, at least you've helped people in need, when tax cuts for the wealthy don't trickle down, the consolation prize isn't as attractive).

This post has been republished from Mark Thoma's blog, Economist's View.