"The purpose of studying..."

stock market fluctuating wildly
or so they would have you believe
this bit of intelligent information from
the "Week" july 6/13 2018

"The stock market index is becoming meaningless said Alexis Madrigal.
Last week, GE, which has been a part of the Dow Jones industrial average
since 1907, was replaced in the index's basket of 30 stocks by Walgreens.
GE's removal probably has to do with its sagging profits or the relative decline
of industrial companies-out of 3,500 publicly listed corporations-supposed to tell
us about our "massively complex, globalized economy" anyway? In truth, the Dow was made for another era, "when people didn't have nearly as much access to different kinds of information."
An index of a few dozen stocks is helpful for historical comparisons, but it no longer reflects
our primary economic forces. As a matter of design, the Dow can't include extremely high-priced
stocks such as Google and Amazon because their values would wildly distort the average.
Share prices are also "becoming detached" from traditional measures of a company's worth,
because digital firms are valued so differently. Costco had earnings per share of $6.08 last year,
while Amazon had $6.15. But Costco's market value is $91 billion, while Amazons is $844 billion.
If we want a snapshot of the economy, "the real one that you and I live and work in," the Dow is
"not the best indicator."  Alexis Madrigal "The Atlantic"

"The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic
questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists." Joan Robinson

got to go

bootlegcircus