[grania]

The thing people don't realize fully is the stock market. Example: if you asked me how much money I have in the stock market, the answer is $250. That's what I could write a check for. To get money for the stocks, let's say it's $5000 I'd have to sell those stocks first. If everybody sold their stocks to get the money, the price of stocks would quickly spiral down, and the stocks would sell for a fraction of their value. Thus, that "money" disappears into thin air.

To try to counter the effects of the recession interest on savings was lowered for one reason so people wouldn't sell off their stocks quickly without enough buyers. Saved the stock market, screwed savers who want to prepare for the future.

[John Valentine]

In a hyper inflationary scenario, the price of stocks goes up just as dramatically as everything else. You’ll be seeing the Dow at 100,000 and it won’t mean a damned thing when rent for a 2 bedroom flat in an average part of town costs $6,000 a month, and bread costs $7 a loaf - on the way to $60,000 a month rent at $70 loaves of bread.