By 1997, I had graduated from a steady, iconic and expensive list of higher educational institutions which emphasized critical thinking, objective data, historical context and basic math.
But had I told a single professor back then that one day we’d see the simultaneous occurrence of Treasury Yields at 1.35%, and an “official” YoY CPI (inflation) growth rate of 5.4%, and an S&P reaching all-time highs above 4000, despite negative annual GDP rates, and consumer sentiment tanking, it’s likely they’d ask me to return my diplomas.
Why?
Because everything I (and all the rest of us) had been taught long ago was that rising risk assets reflect healthy economic growth, vigorous natural demand and a robust confidence in continued productivity and hence free-market price discovery.
That, at least, was the “reality” that nine years of secondary (post high-school) education gave me before I began my first toe-dip into the public exchanges (i.e., asset bubbles) of 1999.
…
Nothing I learned in school was “real” and nothing about our current moment in time has even the slightest resemblance to anything remotely characterized as natural, free-market or fair-price-driven.
Nothing. Not even close.
Matthew Piepenburg
September 14, 2021
Nothing is Real: A Visual Journey Through Market Absurdity
[Emphasis in the original.
We live in interesting times.
Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
Like this:
Like Loading...