The picture of the stock market as a kind of supermarket is quite apropos. Stocks and shares are the products anyone can buy or sell and these packages do represent so many real products as well as services in the external economic world.
This happens in real life, much more so now than in older days. Consider the warehouse-type supermarkets where people can buy in bulk or wholesale at a much cheaper prices. Many of the buyers do have their own retail businesses where they sell the products they buy from those warehouse store. It is a stable wealth creator. However, the stock market is not a 100% wealth creator, unless of course, one has mastered and perfected the strategies of the industry like Warren Buffet has. Even retailers have to follow certain strategies to make money on their investments.
Hence, the metaphor still applies.
The main difference is the fact that stock markets often require investors to wait out for a certain period until the best time to sell stocks arrives. But wait! This also happens to retailers who horde certain goods or products for months and years until a crisis or a slump in supply allows them to jack up their prices. However, such a gambit is frowned upon by governments and can be considered economic sabotage, especially if we are talking about essential goods, such as staple grains or ingredients of primary products such as flour and sugar.
Perhaps, this is where stock markets may be playing around with investors' money: They know of certain political or economies policies that are clandestinely leaked by legislators or policy-
Makers that have future impact on the economy of a country or of the globe. Consider oil, steel, coal, solar power, gold and other prime commodities that could be manipulated by a conniving government, business-people and stock market operators in order to favour a few people in the know. It is not an impossible scenario.
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