It sounds counterintuitive to say so, but nothing brings home to the Elites the reality of economic distress than trouble on Wall Street. Atrios writes:
Crash, Market, Crash
No I don't want that to happen, but it's the only "economic indicator" (the DJIA is neither economic nor an indicator discuss) that our Galtian Overlords seem to care about.
I'm not sure I do not want it to happen. One of the fundamental problems the country faces is the disconnect between the economic conditions of the wealthy elites from the rest of the country. The Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly doubled in value in the last 2 years from 6500+ to over 13,000. In the meantime, the country has remained in the midst of an economic crisis. This disconnect was and is unhealthy for policymaking. It causes sub 9% unemployment to be perceived as the "new normal" and for arguments about "structural unemployment" in the midst of a zero bound economic recession. This in turn leads to rejection of government spending as stimulus and to "austerity packages."
Which in turn leads further economic troubles. IF the economic troubles do not spread to Wall Street, government policy will be forever hamstrung. IF the Elites don't feel it, then nothing can be done.
So, I guess I AM saying, Crash, Market Crash. Maybe then we can get some responsive policy on the economy