SIMULACRUM - The Matrix and Stock indexes:

[tullworthington]

Hello...new to all this philosophy but enjoying it.  

 

So i am watching a video about Simulacrum (the Matrix) where something is a copy of something that no longer exists.  And it occurs to me - this is what has always bothered my about Stock Market Indexes like S and P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average that are held up by the Government as a tracking barometer of the health of the economy.

 

I think many assume that these indices are unchanging...that what makes up the index today is the same as 10 years ago..that it is monolithic in nature....but it is not.  

 

Usually on annual basis companies that are failing (or have gone bankrupt) are dropped from the index. In place of these losers, new stronger companies are added to fill the void.  The index is then "rebalanced" with the new healthy companies and held up as proof positive that our economy has improved and that investing in the stock market is great.

 

For example in 2013 Alcoa, Bank of America, and Hewlett Packard were dropped and rising stars Nike, Visa and Goldman Sachs were added in their place.  

 

So the 2014 copy of the index is not the same as the 2013.  However, it is held up as a standard to judge growth of the economy.   And it is quoted, without qualification, as THE Dow Jones Industrial Average.

 

If i am corrrect - that this is a form of the matrix...then the matrix is truly everywhere.  Even the One Dollar bill is but a shadow copy (in value) of the original.  Yet it is still referred to as the number 1 when it should be more accurately refered to as the .08 cents piece.

 

Well, if i'm totally wrong be gentle for i am a newbie  

 

 

[AccuTron]

I didn't know about the dropping and adding of companies in that manner.  I'll use that in my further thinking.