How has the stock market suddenly entered this conversation? It has nothing to do with anything being discussed here, and its short-term knee-jerk reactions are irrelevant to discussions of policy, pretty much as discussed in this thread and summed up here:
Markets generally tend to react well to Republicans being in power, but markets are neither good predictors of economic prosperity nor good barometers of societal economic health.
One might also note the following incidental facts:
The economic fundamentals haven’t changed since the economic recovery and consequent strong bull market began under Obama in 2009 after the Bush recession. If this gang of incompetents mismanages the economy, the fundamentals eventually will change, and markets will follow, as they always do. So far said incompetents have done nothing at all, although if they kill NAFTA that may be the start of it.
According to Gallup only 54% of Americans invest in the market, either through individual stocks, mutual funds, pensions or retirement plans like a 401(k). That’s down 11% since the Great Recession. So to a big chunk of Trump supporters stock market gains matter not a whit.
Mnuchin warned that most of the gains would be reversed if Congress didn’t pass tax cuts. But if they do, the tax cuts would further widen the record level of wealth inequality by overwhelmingly favoring the top 1% who already alone control nearly 40% of America’s wealth. Which is directly pertinent to my earlier statement: equity markets alone are a terrible indicator of general societal well-being.