When I read his article “From The Market’s Pain Comes Wisdom“, I almost spit up my avocado smoothie.
Todd shows off his typically amazing vocabulary:
The unfortunate capital market destruction is an inevitable comeuppance, the cumulative result of risk gone awry. It’s been percolating under the seemingly calm surface for several years, magnified by financial engineering and consumed by an immediate gratification society.
The socioeconomic consequences will be pervasive as we endure the other side of the business cycle, an unenviable retrenchment that politicians and policy makers tried so hard to avoid. It’s certainly scary as new beginnings always are.
Therein lies the opportunity.
I want this guy on my team for Scrabble!
He goes on:
I view the Great Depression as the framework for optimism. Most of society worked, great discoveries were made and formidable franchises were established.
I agree Todd, this isn’t the end of the world. Good insight, but this is just crazy talk:
The past few decades were about wealth, accumulation and conspicuous consumption but we’ve now entered a period that is entirely more austere, if not more sensible. Debt reduction and the rejection of materialism will continue to manifest as we come to terms with doing more with less.
Flashy rides and big-ticket items that were once badges of honor now serve as hollow reminders of misplaced priorities. Humility, once viewed as weakness, will be embraced.
Doing for others — rather than asking what others can do for you — will become increasingly common as people appreciate what they have rather than constantly complaining about what they don’t.
Say what? You really think this is gonna make people better people/less greedy/less leverage-loving?
Todd, God bless your beautifully optimistic soul, but I think you’ve been sitting in front of a computer screen for too many years and the radiation has gotten to ya. (You betcha!)
Sure, sure, mammoth (that’s the extent of my vocab) losses will definitely reduce the flash/materialism for the time being, but in no way–I’d be willing to bet if anybody wants to take me up on it–will this lead to some everlasting change that will make us all better/more considerate human beings.
It’s fun to talk about us evolving, but in no way do society/people ever really smarten up (obviously, there are individual cases, namely me and my CYGT losses) and I find it tough to believe we’ll all still be here in a few centuries when we’ve already come close to blowing ourselves up several times in just the last few decades.
Saying these losses will help us remember the errors of the past is like saying ‘The Great War’/ ‘The War To End All Wars’ (aka World War 1) made us all wise enough to reject war forever.
That’s a nice thought, but it only took two decades for us to forget…WW2 mofos.
My guess is this time around we forget inside of a decade. But that’s just me, a cynical penny stock trader.
What do you guys think?
Tags: Analogies, Breakdowns
