Without
question, the biggest winner of the 4 ½-year recovery is corporate
America.
Publicly
traded companies have reaped most of the benefits of the Fed’s ultra-loose
monetary policy and have completely recouped the losses in share value since
the credit crisis. Meanwhile, Main
Street struggles on and hasn’t reaped nearly as much benefit from QE3 than corporations
have.
The
increase in merger and acquisition activity in the last two years testifies to
the consolidation of corporate power.
Bull markets always result in frenzied M&A activity, which in turn
stimulates the growth of oligopolies.
One
school of thought is that bull markets are engineered for the express purpose
of enhancing oligopoly power. Whatever
the case, there’s no denying that the last few years have done more for
Corporate America than for Main Street America.
