Stock Market Insanity - All Time Highs! WTF

Here's the deal folks...

The NASDAQ and the S & P 500 have just hit all time highs, and we've just seen a major re-arranging of the publicly-traded companies that are listed on the DOW Jones Industrial Average (Exxon, Pfizer, Raytheon removed... and Honeywell, Amgen, Salesforce added). Back in 2011, Exxon was the biggest company in the world. Back in July however, Apple's stock gained more market cap. in ONE DAY than Exxon's entire net worth.

Furthermore, Apple's market cap. back in September, 2019 surpassed $1 Trillion... today, Apple's market cap. is over $2 trillion (doubling its market capitalization in less than a year).

Furthermore, Jerome Powell, representing the Federal Reserve just announced that the Fed's "new plan" is to let "our economy run hotter" (AKA, let inflation run much higher, meaning higher prices for consumer goods).

The Fed's premise is that since inflation has (officially) been measuring in at less than 2% (which was their "target"), that now they are justifying even higher inflation in order to reach an average of 2% inflation, thereby looking for 4, 5, 6%+ annual inflation in order to "make up for" past years, in which official inflation metrics came in at under 2%. Cost of living = increase, quality of life = will get worse. Wages never seem to keep up with inflation and the wealth divide will continue to widen.

The crux of it is that Wall Street is hitting all time highs, while 20 million or more Americans in the workforce are currently unemployed, and the Fed just printed between $6.5 and $10 TRILLION dollars (depending on how you look at it) since COVID, thereby diluting the purchasing power of each USD in circulation (as economists say, once the inflation "genie" is let out of the bottle, it is very difficult to get back in). Be vigilant my friends.

Here's the newest episode covering everything (and more) that was discussed in the OP - Episode 8 of this series:

Market Insanity - Paradise Lost Financial


Previous Episodes (not all of these have had threads either, so may be worth checking out):

Episode 1: Phantom Finance

Episode 2: Financial Engineering

Episode 3: Global Debt Trap

Episode 4: The Economics of Socialist Policies

Episode 5: Stocks & Securities as Investments (no thread on this one, not yet anyway)

Episode 6: Precious Metals & Wealth Preservation

Episode 7: Voodoo Economics
(no thread on this one yet either , which is actually my favorite episode so far and likely well-suited for the ATS crowd due to the conspiratorial nature of this episode)

a reply to: FamCore

Thanks FamCore! I have seen a few of these threads/listened to some of the different episodes & although I don't follow that channel regularly, every time I have decided to check it out has been well-worth my time (but I am not an investor so-to-speak). This is a great channel IMO, thanks for sharing

a reply to: FamCore

What is gentrification when applied to a nation instead of a local area?


Thats what this is and its been talked about.

Were on a path that doesn't end well for everyday folks.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: FamCore

What is gentrification when applied to a nation instead of a local area?

Oligarchy.

I knew the second I read your thread title — this was going to be terrible bad news. From behind the curtain.

Apple = in your hand and in your head.

Apple Pay for your new currency?

Damnit, I do enjoy apple products. I will discard it like a used tissue — if need be.

The damage is done, the world is on borrowed time right now, COVID19 was the bump in the road which burst the tire, sparks are now starting to appear

I have no idea how we’re going to get out of this one... usually war, however this time, and I’m sure many will agree, it seems very much designed & manufactured

Very worrying and depressing times we’re living in and moving towards rapidly

I wish my portfolio heard of this. My stocks are doing #

originally posted by: TritonTaranis
The damage is done, the world is on borrowed time right now, COVID19 was the bump in the road which burst the tire, sparks are now starting to appear

I have no idea how we’re going to get out of this one... usually war, however this time, and I’m sure many will agree, it seems very much designed & manufactured

Very worrying and depressing times we’re living in and moving towards rapidly

Youv'e just been rooting for trouble in another thread!!

a reply to: FamCore

#1 pay off your debt
#2 don't count on Social Security
#3 learn some survival skills

a reply to: FamCore

Biden wants my 401k so I’m torn on this one...haha

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: FamCore

Biden wants my 401k so I’m torn on this one...haha

Biden also said he "wouldn't raise taxes on anyone with an income under $400,000 per year [blatant LIE]: Biden Pledges ‘No New Taxes’ On Incomes Under $400,000, ‘Mom And Pop’ Businesses

All while he and the rest of the democrats refuse to even admit, nonetheless recognize the damage done by anarchists & terrorists, such as those of ANTIFA & BLM. 2020 is worse than a bad movie at this point

a reply to: FamCore.

My thought, the Fed is allowed to buy assets right now. Said entity has been doing so at an unprecedented rate. This is beyond quantitative easing from the past. Sanity would dictate that practice eventually stops and we trace back.


Though, I've heard that people in the finance realm see the writing on the wall and are building positions in corporations poised to absorb the fallen market shares. We were going towards large corporations and transnationals, and COVID just sped things up. This argument is that the market may not be as bad as it looks, rather a repositioning.

Hopefully I'm wrong, and we actually do live in a fantasy world where somehow a long bull market just keeps breaking records. Though, even if that's the case it doesn't necessarily equate to prosperity for the masses.

Frankly, any angle I look at it, I don't feel confident and optimistic about where it leads.

originally posted by: smurfy

originally posted by: TritonTaranis
The damage is done, the world is on borrowed time right now, COVID19 was the bump in the road which burst the tire, sparks are now starting to appear

I have no idea how we’re going to get out of this one... usually war, however this time, and I’m sure many will agree, it seems very much designed & manufactured

Very worrying and depressing times we’re living in and moving towards rapidly

Youv'e just been rooting for trouble in another thread!!

I’m predicting it and ready for it, not to be confused with starting it

a reply to: FamCore

Biden also said he "wouldn't raise taxes on anyone with an income under $400,000 per year

I don't know anybody who makes $400,000 per year.

Maybe I am ghetto....

Nothing about the stock market is real anymore. The reality it once had, which was only partial to begin with, is totally gone. It should not be that high right now, it is nothing but deception. It is totally based on belief and the belief is in greed.

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: FamCore

Biden also said he "wouldn't raise taxes on anyone with an income under $400,000 per year

I don't know anybody who makes $400,000 per year.

Maybe I am ghetto....

My sarcasm was lost in that post... that is exactly my point. Neither do I. Biden's statement is the furthest thing from the truth as the government needs to raise taxes now, more than ever due to the mega-money printing programs that have been going in since March.

Taxes are about to skyrocket and the purchasing power of the dollar will be eroded significantly in the next 18 months. Things are not good

a reply to: FamCore

Unfortunately I think it's too late.

We've been given many chances and passed too many markers for raising taxes to have a meaningful impact.

Ideally we would have sold bonds to fund our endeavors, allowing people to buy in voluntarily for the first couple waves of reaction. We jumped the gun, and waited until the job market was unhealthy, already maxed out the cards, and any tax hike (involuntarily) could just cause an exodus of remaining wealth. Whether that be moving money to tax havens or exiting the USD altogether signalling the loss of faith in said fiat. Warren has already started to take a position in gold which is not typical of him. He's always claimed to hedge in other ways.

Slashing spending right now is the only option, and it would just stop the bleeding in one part only to cause problems in another.

People would have to buy into the next course of action, and seeing as most of them are broke, they'll have to buy in through agreement. Everyone on the same page that we hunker down depression style and show some good ol' fashioned resilience in the face of extreme adversity...... I know, I'm laughing too.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Nothing you said is off the mark.

Where we are going is going to look very different.

RESET

a reply to: JinMI

I'll be elated if one day I get to say I was being dramatic.


I'll try and change my tone a bit and say something optimistic since I've been a downer. So far, humanity has always prevailed.... Eventually.

We can decide the level of pain, and most likely will bounce back from whatever the decision. It will just cost some years.

a reply to: FamCore


Traditionaly when the market cycle of fiat ends which is what is happening. The curency printing always ends the same,low interest payments means the economic activity is stymied , This time its a big deal , the traditional way out , the only way out is to put your fiat into precious metals. But this time it looks like suddenly all over the world getting some seems to be nigh on impossible.I wonder if this is a planned event. Sure you can get a few coins , but interesting amounts of bullion , are nigh on impossible to get, and forget about the spot price the premiums for what you can get are going sky high. Even the Chinese are counterfiting silver plated buffalos, to trap the unwary. Considering the fact that the likes of Gregory Mannerino, with an almost supernatural hit rate with regards to reading the market has exited all open positions as of last week. Also consider Warren Buffet is also in defensive positions and has exited. Next week could indicate a correction.Where metals take off again, and never stop.