This is a broad q, but can someone explain the stock market to me?

i missed this day in economics...lol, also, expain investments, if u can, like iras, 401k, etc, etc....

OK, this is very broad and general question, so here goes a very broad and general answer. On the surface, the stock market is quite simply a place where people get together to trade issues of public company's equity. It is in essence, no different than a farmers market in the sense that there are buyers and sellers of "things". The stock market is a highly organized medium for making these trades happen. Underneath the surface, the stock market is a place where people, IE: investors, express their opinions about many different issues such as politics, the economy, globalization, wars, corruption, and just about everything you can imagine. Those views are reflected in the price that market instruments trade for. I really could keep writing here infinitely, but I'll wrap it up by saying that, once again, the stock market is a place where trades allow investors to express their opinion about the equities that underlie those trades. Hope this helps.

the stock market is a device created by the wealthy to exploit the poor.

broad answer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_marke...

it kills me when people ask this question

Shares of a publicly traded company entitle the person holding them to a share of the company, in good times that is called profit. Stock is company ownership. The trading of stock has become big business when there is an exchange, a place where people trade (exchange) their shares. Examples of exchanges are the New York, American, and NASDAQ. Prices for stock on exchanges are determined by the buyer and seller. I will give you a dollar for a share of XYZ company, do you accept (XYZ is worth $1.25).

www.fool.com
http://finance.yahoo.com