By the time an asset expansion reaches the manic bubble phase, the vast majority of people have already made long-term personal decisions predicated upon the indefinite continuation of the asset levitation. At that point, they are neither willing nor capable of acknowledging the existence of an asset bubble. Instead, they will deny it, rationalize it and ignore it profusely. For Wall Street, the incentives to ignore risk are even greater. The average hedge fund is now underperforming the S&P by 7.5% YTD, which means that these funds have overwhelming incentive to take as much risk as possible to maximize the year-end return. If that performance gap is not closed within four months, many of these funds will face major redemptions anyway. So, they have overwhelming incentive to ignore risk right now.
This would all be a lot more "fun" if it wasn't happening for the third time in 15 years. For anyone who just fell off a turnip truck, I'm sure seeing Tesla and Apple at new all time highs is "the best Jerry". However, for anyone with an attention span longer than a coked up flea, this serial boom/bust roller coaster is getting old.
MarketWatch:
Greenspan:
"Well, I agree with that"
Greenspan's retirement w/Case-Shiller Home Price Index:
Home foreclosures by year:
Bernankenstein's tenure with the Dow
Who says market timing doesn't work?
Trending Now - the Soylent Idiocracy - straight down.
Ignorance is self-appointed extinction. Very democratic.
