Dow Jones is Outdated

The largest market in the world, the New York Stock Exchange fluctuates according to popular index funds. The Dow Jones (.dji) and  S&P 500 (.inx) are funds which have portfolio's which consist of the most mainstream corporations. These index funds have positions in mega-cap companies, but leave out the small-cap business's. These smaller companies are riskier, but there should be a way of following the ENTIRE market and not just the huge blue chips. All of Wall Street follows both of these index's, if the mega-cap industries go up then so do all of the smaller companies that do not have similarities with the larger companies. All stocks follow the Dow and the S&P because there is no other way to measure how the markets are doing! What the media and the NYSE needs to do is disclose information for the total performance for funds in these categories:

• Mega-cap: Over $200 billion
• Large-cap: Over $5 billion
• Mid-cap: $5 billion to $1 billion
• Small-cap: $1 billion to $250 million
• Micro-cap: $250 million to $50 million
• Nano-cap: Below $50 million
• Total market (every stock)

This information should not be collected from index funds, but rather information directly from the NYSE. The market being followed and lead according to index funds is a thing of the past. This information organized and provided in such a fashion would be extremely helpful to the market and all of its participants. It would help analysts in the industry make far more educated decisions and we would know how the markets are performing in a much more detailed sense. Everybody playing in the markets according to how an index fund performs is illogical. For the most part the entire market moves according to the price of 30 stocks. The Dow is criticized for being a price-weighted average, which gives higher-priced stocks more influence over the average than their lower priced counterparts, but takes no account of the relative industry size or market capitalization of the components. The closest thing to a broad measurement of how the markets are doing can be followed by the index fund Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index. This index consists of 5,000 stocks,becoming far more common in the media, is watched by major institutions, and the Federal Reserve. This does not change the fact that index funds are not a way to measure the markets sufficiently. It is not the 1800's! The NYSE should create it's own market information. The NYSE need to modernize and adapt!

Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan Chase CEO) vs Ben Bernanke

Now we are aware that the Great Recession was caused due to risky investments from mortgage backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, and extreme leverage on all of these types of investments. But the recession has dragged on for 4 years! Do we need bank deregulation so we can grow?? Or is current regulation good enough which requires banks to hold cash reserves?Is it time to be more careful or to take more risks? Bernanke is cautious of a double dip recession.
-Banks investing more money = prosper 
-Banks keeping more capital reserves= security

Law Enforcement Bubble/Inflation

The reasons are in dispute, but the trend is clear: The California Highway Patrol is handing out more traffic citations than it did a few years ago, which has generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for state and local governments. Local and state police positions are becoming more and more popular as careers, while both their recruitment and pay have increased as well. The demand for law enforcement comes from the need for additional revenue for state and cities that are nearing bankruptcy. Because of this, traffic fee's are much more common and much more costly. For example, in California, a cell phone violation while driving is $142! The CHP issued about 200,000 more traffic citations in 2009 than it did in 2007. Driver advocates say that such growth in traffic enforcement is happening all over the country and that the timing isn't coincidental. Revenue from ticket citations have increased as much as 50 million dollars between 2007 and 2009. This helps to keep local and state governments afloat. While in office Arnold Schwarzenegger expanded the CHP by a third. Interestingly enough, there are still not enough officers in "crime ridden" areas, but there are still many police men in wealthy areas. Discipline on the road is not tolerant of small traffic violations nowadays and hits your wallet harder than ever before. When governments manipulate law enforcement, they are taxing society, wasting valuable manpower, and are creating a bad image for law enforcement. In a positive light, law enforcement is helping our government stay away from bankruptcy and default. Law enforcement is in such high demand that governments are willing to pay their employees a very generous salary. An officer takes a difficult 6 month course and gets handed a lifetime agreement of a generous salary and a generous pension, which includes consistent over-time. The only requirement to join to CHP is a high school diploma and a clean criminal record. A very do-able and relaxed prerequisite. The Department provides an excellent salary, full medical benefits, and up to 90 percent retirement. The starting salary for an officer is $73,969.44. With overtime and other benefits, that can add up to $87,228.64. After five years, the salary goes up to $90,184.68 and with overtime and other benefits, up to $109,147.08. Full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 25–34 with bachelor's degree had an average annual earning of $40,100 in 2009. During the first year of being in the CHP, you can automatically be at the top 26% and after five years of experience, you can be at the top 15%. With the huge demand of officers, there is an even bigger supply of candidates. Law enforcement is known for its dangerous conditions. Two hundred and twenty CHP officcer's have died on the job since 1929. That means that a total of 2.65 officers die each year in a state with over 33 million people. It seems as the judicial and law enforcement work close together trying to recieve revenues from traffic violations. All of a sudden drivers get worse because the economic outlook for the state is bad? No its CHP collecting revenue.

http://www.modbee.com/2011/03/31/1624518/chp-traffic-tickets-increase.html

http://www.chp.ca.gov/