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Americans are bracing for inflation and a market crash: survey:
Inflation and a potential stock market crash. These are the two biggest threats to the US economy and to the financial wellbeing of Americans, so says a survey by personal finance software firm Quicken.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based Quicken/SurveyMonkey online poll was taken earlier this month, which consisted of a sample of 1,200 US adults ages 18 to 74 from the Cint Consumer Network, according to Quicken's press release.
The survey revealed that nearly three-fourths who responded to the survey (71%) ranked inflation (currently at 7% and the highest since the early 1980s), as the top concern, followed by new COVID-19 variants, supply chain disruptions and a stock market crash. On that last point, the survey noted that 52% surveyed agree that there will be a stock market crash in the next five years. Of that group, 58% expect a looming stock market crash will impact their finances negatively, according to the press release.
Yet not everyone views a potential crash as such a bad prospect. Some Americans saw the financial gains that more aggressive investors had made from the day of the 2008 stock market crash, and are now looking to capitalize for the next one. According to the press release, 52% of self-described "aggressive" investors are likely to say the 2008 crash benefited them financially, compared to 18% of so-called "conservative" investors. What's more, 71% of aggressive investors, compared to 20% of conservative investors, believe a stock market crash in the future would benefit them financially. A notable percentage of respondents who believe there's going to be a crash in the next five years – 35% – agree that they're waiting for a crash in order to invest some extra cash.
A sizable percentage of younger adult generations surveyed – Millennial and Gen Z – also see the benefits to a future stock market crash. According to the survey, 41% of Gen Z and 36% of Millennials agree that they are waiting for a stock crash in order to invest their extra cash. Another 30% of Gen Z and 28% of Millennials say they're waiting for a crash so that they can start investing, according to the press release.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 23 2022, @06:33AM (1 child)
Who could possibly be responsible for this? WHO CAN WE BLAME?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 23 2022, @06:45AM
Market crashes occur when bubbles are allowed to grow to massive proportions. The problem is that we seem to only follow half of Keynesian economics, which is government spending to promote economic growth in times when growth is slow. We ignore the part about intervening to eliminate bubbles before they grow too large. Practiced correctly, Keynesian economics means that the role of government should be to keep economic growth steady, to keep corrections and recessions small, and prevent bubbles from forming. Politically, nobody wants a recession on their watch, so we only practice half of Keynesian economics. We keep the easy money flowing to keep the economy growing even when there should be a recession, and that allows bubbles to grow far beyond what would happen if the theory was practiced correctly. Pointing the finger at a particular individual or even solely at the Fed is much too easy. The problem is that politicians know the economy wins and loses elections, which means that regardless of party or ideology, they will act to keep the economy growing even if that creates far bigger problems in the future.