Asked at a July 1 event why he personally was profiting, President Trump gave a broader answer. 'You know why I'm profiting?' he said. 'Because the stock market's going up, everybody's profiting' [1]. He returned to the theme days later, ringing the opening bell on Wall Street and tying his presidency to the market's gains. The market is indeed near highs. The word that does not hold up is 'everybody.'
Stock wealth in the United States is concentrated near the top. Federal Reserve data show the wealthiest 10 percent of households own more than 87 percent of all corporate equities and mutual-fund shares, and the top 1 percent alone own about half. The bottom 50 percent of households own roughly 1 percent of it [2]. For most families, a rising market is something that happens to other people's balance sheets.
Data
| Top 10 percent of households | 87 percent of stock and fund wealth |
|---|---|
| Next 40 percent | 12 percent of stock and fund wealth |
| Bottom 50 percent | 1 percent of stock and fund wealth |
Even the analysts who follow the rally say so. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's, put it plainly in the same reporting: the surging stock market is enormously beneficial to the finances of the well to do, but means little for most Americans [1]. That is not a claim the rally is bad or fake. It is a statement about who it reaches.
Whether a booming market is something to celebrate is a fair argument to have. That it lifts everybody is not an argument, it is a factual claim, and the ownership data answer it. When half the country holds about one percent of the stock market, 'everybody's profiting' describes the top of the distribution and folds the rest of the country into a gain most of them will never see.
