Market mavens are always looking at the data to get the upper hand in stock trading.
Well, here’s one correlation they probably missed: The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 made all-time highs last week, while the number of food-stamp recipients also reached new highs.
Never before have these benchmarks peaked at the same time.
Since the lows of 2008, the rolls of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the provider of food stamps, have soared 70 percent, while the equity exchanges are up 100 percent. Now, that’s a correlation you could have made money on — if you had thought for a second it was even possible.
Anyone who thinks the economy is strong or doing well, based on stock prices, is economically a buffoon or a political operative for rent with an economics degree.
While a rising stock market is positive, you have to look at what’s behind the numbers. Is there real growth?
The fact is that the economy stinks for most Americans. We have yet to belt out a couple years of 4 percent to 5 percent-plus growth.
A lame economy paralleling a roaring market will have some saying, “Whoa,” but let’s look at the math. In 2008, there were 28.2 million people receiving SNAP assistance, just to feed their families, many of whom would have gone hungry without it. Today? It’s 47.8 million and growing.
With the Federal Reserve and the Obama stimulus, Washington’s actions have truly made us an economically bifurcated country.
The haves and the have-nots have never been further apart. There are clearly two Europes, and we’ve caught their awful socialistic contagion. Today there are two Americas: those on food stamps and living below the poverty line, and those who are not.
Here’s a better market correlation: When the number of Americans on food stamps falls substantially, then we’ll know our economy is strong — not before.
Our markets today are a byproduct of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s policies and not of economic strength And we need to fix that — today.