Prodigal, I have thought more about wall street, due to this thread, than I have thought about wall street in the previous 50 years of my life. It used to be a barometer of how the economy was doing though it did not always mirror how my business was doing. I have purchased only two stocks in my life, both oil related and both for my co's profit sharing and I was the fiduciary. Both on recommendations and both lost 40% of their value before I ended the experiment.
When I went into business in 1965, wall street was intriguing but I would not put my money into something I knew nothing about. Most of my earnings went back into the company and some to real estate.
I have watched wall street (back then banks did not sell stocks) evolve from intriguing to a monster that in my opinion broke the world. I liked wall street back in the 60's, I detest wall street now. I am a small business lover. I wonder what the ratio of small business was to all the business on the stock market in the 60's, and now? To me, small business in America is America. I don't feel the same about mega corps.
It was mentioned above that maybe I wanted to go back to a farming and ranching economy. Exaggerations are fun but no, I don't want to go back that far. But moving wall street back to the 60's would be plenty good for me.