Just days after the U.S. surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases, and the same day the government announced over 30 million people have applied for unemployment benefits in the last six weeks alone, Wall Street announced it had its best month since 1987. They are saying this because the S&P 500, which is a measurement of the stock market performance of the 500 biggest companies on the stock exchange, had its biggest one-month percentage increase since 1987 this month. Fueling this increase was trillions of dollars of stimulus money coming to the richest corporations and banks, as well future guarantees from the government for more money and interest-free loans.
While thousands of people spend their days lined up at food banks or understaffed unemployment offices wondering how they are going to make it by, big finance and big business are having trillions of dollars of money handed to them. While many small businesses are being forced to close their doors for good and millions lose their employee-healthcare after being laid off, the profits made by the Wall Street casino will likely fund more than a few yachts and vacation homes like the $43 million dollar one Bill Gates just bought in San Diego.
If this doesn’t prove that the stock market has nothing to do with the real economy and is a complete sham, we don’t know what will.
Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons
