The Dow Jones Industrial average closed yesterday at 6544. This is down 50% from it's high of one year ago. This massive drop means that America has lost about half it's wealth over the past year.The Stock Market is the place were people put money to earn more money. They invest to help create new businesses and new jobs in companies. In return for this investment, they earn a return, hopefully better then the local Bank can pay in interest.
Many people see the Stock Market as the place were "rich people buy companies." This is an over simplification. If a person, you for example, has a dollar and wants to earn money on it, you can invest it. Millions of Americans do this with 401K retirement plans and other pension funds. These funds take all the dollars from the workers and invest in the Stock Market.
Half of these retirement investments are gone because the Stock Market has dropped. This means millions of Americans will NOT retire in the next 10 years and they will work until they are 80.
The question now is "how low will it go?"
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