The thing that should be remembered is that no matter how well you have feathered your own nest through due diligence you are along for the ride as a member of a society. Nobody can escape the consequences no matter what you do, you are caught in the trap.

It is out of the reckoning of 2008 that a lot of older MC people who have remembered the tales of the Depression formed the TEA PARTY....Pelois with her "Astro Turf" comments was and is completely out on a permanent lunch. The term TEA PARTY was coined by Rick Sanatelli who covers the Bond Market at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for CNBC. His rants have become famous as to the folly of the US government and FED Reserve in the conduct of both fiscal and monetary policy. As commented upon by myself Santelli has his pulse on the beat and sentiments of Bond Traders who have a clear view of reality. They can see the defying of gravity manipulations of policy very clearly from their perches at the trading desks.

In 2010 I said, "That there is the possibility of a new Dark Ages, where Islam will be the beneficiary." Basically that with the rise of Islam a new "dark ages" will occur.

To which Nostatus told me to take a "CHILL PILL."

TODAY we have ISIS with their BARBARISM of beheading, burning's, drownings and terrorism which is a chapter right out of the Dark Ages.

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The top is always the current highest. So if its the highest today, that is the top?

Your comment indicates that if you are in Equities you are playing in a game that you have limited knowledge about.

FED POLICY is what is driving Equities and RE. As we know the government is out to lunch. The FED with it's ACTIVIST MONETARY POLICY is guaranteeing that they will do what it takes to maintain economic stability in the face of government dysfunction. As long as the FED maintains their credibility all will be swell. Equities will maintain an upward bias perhaps trending sideways for extended periods of time.

To that end Pension funds NEED an 8% ROI to remain solvent and with interest rates being at near rock bottom the only game in town is Equities. That is what sets the game up. People who own Equities have benefited immensely while JQ Public gets the short end of the stick with their Burger King job. In 08 JQ Public got gun shy and exited Equities never to return.

The Global Bubble is NOT IN EQUITIES but in SOVEREIGN DEBT and the Debasement of currency through provisions of liquidity through debt instruments and a LOW INTEREST RATE environment which robs SAVERS of an equitable interest rate for the risk they are incurring with ever more debt creation. This to forces even risk adverse Savers into Equities.

It is all a nasty game of manipulation so as to maintain the status quo of your life style. And sooner or later there has ALWAYS been a reckoning...1929 and 2008 the next one is going to be the Mother of all reckonings, because it wiil be a SOVEREIGN DEBT reckoning of the leading economic power in the world whose CURRENCY is also the FOUNDATION of the Global economy by being it's RESERVE CURRENCY...can you say wipe out...

I am sorry that my song remains the same...it is like listening to "Stair Way To Heaven." you have heard it so many times that you want to throw up when you listen to it. BUT NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Nothing has been fixed. The trajectory remains the same.

The essence of the problem is that the Global economy has expanded to the point where Consumers have run out of cash and credit. The only thing the Global economy can do at that point is to deflate until it reaches a point of equilibrium. All the fixes applied so far have done is to continue the extension of credit regime only on a Sovereign level instead of a private one as before. All of the rewriting of Trade agreements and tax reforms do is nibble at the symptoms of the malaise without addressing the core issue.

The hope has been that with tax reform and rewriting trad agreements that the fatted calf of the American consumer will have a good job that puts cash in his pocket so that they can resume their spending addiction. This ignores the fact that the American consumer is saturated with a variety of consumer goods, and has a debt service load to carry that limits new consumption. Add into that a governmental debt service load that will require it to seek new income streams to fund.

You might say that we have run into the same problem as in 1929. A great expansion during WW1, after the war consumers didn't have the wages to consume and no credit was available. Thus a collapse in 29. The fix was increased governmental spending which was had mixed results. The resolution cam with increasing Global tensions which led to a devastating world war in 1939. After WW2 it seems we are on a rinse and repeat cycle.

Tabs, I think that you're the PPOT Peggy Noonan. :)

World War 2 as we know devastated the world destroying centuries of mans productivity. That all needed replenishing and renewing as a result the US and then world economy grew exponentially. Now that the world has replenished itself the world has come to a saturation point where the consumers have so many choices that the laws of diminishing returns now apply. Couple that with the exhaustion of the consumers with where with all and you have a Global economy that is in a deflationary mode.

The funny thing is, I'm more concerned with how bad it will get when we hit the bottom. And I'm really not a "glass half empty" person. I mean, I make my own beer so my glass is always half full.... or better.