A WSJ article on the flubbed Facebook IPO article linked by Barry Ritholtz on the TBP blog had this quote: “Since the flash crash [ in May 2010], $370 billion has been withdrawn from U.S. stock funds by small investors, according to EPFR.”
The article contains a host of reasons and stats on why and how retail investors are abandoning the stock market but it all comes down to this: Lack of Trust. Unfortunately the perverse incentives of Wall St. banksters combined with their unlimited ‘contributions’ to political campaigns makes it unlikely that any meaningful change will happen. President Obama has shown little interest in cutting himself off from the funds but now with a bankster running against him he may be cut off anyway. Is this an opportunity to show some leadership and get back to representing the citizens in this country?
See the whole WSJ article here: Stock Market Loses Face
And then there’s this: “Today, however, stock markets, once the bedrock of American capitalism, are slowly becoming a noisy sideshow that churns out increasingly meager returns. The show still gets lots of attention, but the real business of the global economy is inexorably leaving the stock market — and the vast majority of us — behind” In another Bloomberg article entitled: “Banks’ Hyper-Hedging Adds to Risk of a Market Meltdown” http://bloom.bg/KXFW6c
See also Bloomberg calling Facebook worse than MF Global in performance: http://bloom.bg/NgiCEt – Not a confidence builder.