How Markets Could Topple the Global Economy
Postedabout 2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago
economist.comOtherstory
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Global EconomyMarket RisksWealth Inequality
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Global Economy
Market Risks
Wealth Inequality
The article discusses potential risks to the global economy from market instability, with commenters debating the causes and highlighting issues like wealth inequality.
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Nov 14, 2025 at 2:26 AM EST
about 2 months ago
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This gives a wildly inaccurate picture of the investing landscape.
The bottom 50% of all American households account for less than 1% of all stocks and shares held.
The bottom 90% hold only 10% of all stocks and shares.
It’s the top-10% of households that hold the other 90% of all stocks and shares.
The peak of the stock-investing bell curve isn’t even a bell curve - it’s an asymptote that only rises the further you go up the wealth ladder.
The Working Class will feel almost nothing from any stock market crash. It’s the Parasite Class who will feel almost 100% of it.
That's not the case - if the top 50/10/1% of households loose a chunk of their wealth they'll spend less which will have an impact on the entire economy.
The US is already meant to be in a 'k-shaped' economy where 10% of income earners account for nearly 50% of all consumer spending - if the top 10% cut back its going to be at the expense of jobs of the bottom 90%.
> We calculate that a fall in stocks comparable to the dotcom bust would reduce American households’ net worth by 8%. That could cause a big retrenchment in consumer spending. By one rule of thumb, the pullback would amount to 1.6% of GDP—enough to push America, where the labour market is already suffering, into a recession