Stock Exchanges

How Important is the Stock Market?

If you were asked to name an institution that could not be shut down for a month without wreaking havoc all over the country, what comes to mind?

Schools? (Yeah!!!! Kids get an early vacation.)
The federal government? (The Senate and the House have recently done that a couple of times.)
The White House? (Mr. President would enjoy more golf games.)
IRS? (You must be kidding.)

Did you have the stock market or the bond market (securities exchanges) in mind? Without the security exchanges, our economic system would be in big trouble. Think about it. Our federal government already, $5 trillion in the red, would not be able to sell T-bills and T-bonds to pay its bills.

Without the securities exchanges in the United States, corporations such as McDonald's, Disney, Coke, and Bank of America, would have major problems running their businesses. Even foreign companies such as Sony, Toyota, and Minolta would have to stop shipping their products. Most of the public companies, large or small, domestic or foreign, raise money to pay their bills and to develop their businesses by selling stocks, bonds, and the like in the securities exchanges.

If we shut down the financial market, factories would send their workers home, offices would close, and banks would run out of money. America would no longer be the capitalistic society that we know it as. Although you may not have noticed, the securities exchanges are a very important part of our society. Life can’t move on for long without them.