Okay, so this is going to be interesting. And by the end of it I may or may not still have a job. But here goes.
If you’ve been listening to Marketplace this week, you know we’ve been airing some stories and interviews from the debut of our new live stage show.
We premiered in Washington,D.C., with WAMU in late April – we’re in a handful of cities around the country this summer and fall. (Complete tour information here.)
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Numbers is just that: An exploration and explanation of the flood of numbers we’re deluged with when talking about business and the economy. You know ’em as well as I do, so I won’t belabor the point, other than to say this (which will, eventually, get me to my point): sometimes, the numbers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
Case in point: the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Now, I like the Dow as much as the next guy. I mean, we do it on the show every day.
(Little known Marketplace fact: the only segment that’s appeared on each and every broadcast, going all the way back to Show No. 1? The Numbers.)
But really, a non-inflation adjusted, stock-price sensitive index made up of 30 lousy companies as a proxy for the entire $16 trillion American economy? C’mon.
There are plenty of reasons to still keep a daily eye on the Dow. And a whole bunch of reasons not to.
But if – and I’m just saying “if” here (thinking out loud, if you will, quite possibly at the risk of my job) – if we were going to stop tracking the Dow, what’s something better to replace it with?
The Wilshire 5000 and the Russell and all the rest we can come up with ourselves. Gimme your ideas. Hit me up in the comments below, or tweet us.
@Marketplace is the show, @kairyssdal is me.
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