Soaring Stock Market, Life's 1964 issue on American affluence featured the different sectors of the American economy that were responsible for its boom. Since 1961, the New York Stock Market saw a rise in stock prices by 34%, a $120 billion increase, and U. S. stockholders grew in number from 16 million to almost 18 million. American policy makers believed that affluence would enable them to solve most of the nation's social and economic problems. Source: Life Magazine, 10-16-1964.