This is the beginning of my last week posting the daily STOCK MARKET WATCH thread.

I don't even know how long I've been doing it. Since before the 💩 administration I'm sure, but how much longer is beyond my recollection . . . and beyond my desire to dig through the DU archives! I think I kept it up during a vacation in 2012 . . . . . . .

Anyway, it's time for a change, for me, for you, for DU, for SMW. I don't know if Hugin, our fearless leader, has someone lined up to take it over, but if you're interested, he's the guy to talk to.

Now, a bit of an explanation at least for the quote included in today's post.

Back in the early 2000s, I did some fairly extensive research into the history of arts and crafts in the US as both economic and political resistance. I had long been an admirer of Englishman William Morris as both an artist and an active socialist, and was specifically looking for similar traits in this country. Long before JD Vance popped up on the scene, I had copies of Allen Eaton's Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands and Jane S. Becker's Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the construction of an American Folk, 1930-1940 and Garry Barker's The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990, among others. Those three are still on my personal bookshelf.

It's so easy to equate The Markets with The Economy, but for the vast majority of Americans, the stock markets are no more a part of their daily lives than a ticker marquee is a fixture in their living room. Jobs, grocery prices, college tuition, rent, health care, the electric bill: these are the real economy. And for a good portion, if not the majority, of Americans, the economy was -- and perhaps still is -- even smaller than that: How much can they sell a dozen eggs for, rather than how much do eggs cost at Kroger's?

Yesterday I went in search of current information on just how accurate J. D. Vance's take on Appalachia really is, because I haven't read Hillbilly Elegy -- and probably never will. Just one link proved enlightening:

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/18/nx-s1-5065643/appalachian-authors-are-coming-together-to-counter-the-narrative-in-jd-vances-book

Thank you Tansy for all your dedicated years to the daily Stock Market Watch. Loved all the political cartoons and more recently the quotes you found in your extensive library collection. Yeh, I saved them all!

It has been a long run! I often miss all the regulars that used to frequent this daily thread. Hope all are well and you too. Labor Day is a good time for a change. May the future be kind and healthy for you.

DemReadingDU

Candidate Harris’s acceptance speech that she intends to serve even those to whom having “money” is a luxury. No matter where they may live.

She demonstrates with this statement the reality that there are many pockets of “Appalachia” all through this land and what they need is opportunity and respect.

A striking difference from those such as Trump and the Broliarchs, who just want to make it illegal to be poor and send them away… Somewhere. Somehow. We all know how that story ends.

". . . the affirmative action of generational wealth."

I think it really says something about our party that so many of our candidates didn't come from generational wealth. Bill Clinton certainly didn't. Barack Obama didn't. Hillary grew up in the same working class Chicago suburb my mom did. (I only lived there until I was 3.) Joe Biden didn't. Tim Walz didn't.

We often look at the stock market as a barometer for retirement funds, especially those 401k accounts that replaced employer-funded pension funds. But how many have had to cash in those 401k's to cover medical bills or loss of job due to COVID or other emergencies? How many have never been able to afford to contribute to a 401k or IRA or any other self-funded "retirement" fund?

I have to say I've learned a lot from posting this thread, and from the research I've done almost every single day for the quotes. It's almost time to dig out another one!

I am finding investing in small bits easier than market watching and trading and it is more profitable in the long run, with far less time

My addiction is over!

I've missed your posts and appreciate your dedication.