The Cult of Speculation Is a Cult of Doom

Undoubtedly the Fed gods will verify the cult’s most revered articles of faith. However false gods ultimately fail, even the Fed.

Every once in awhile the zeitgeist establishes an either/ or: either the zeitgeist is crazy or I’m insane. (OK, let’s agree I’m insane; see, it’s not that tough to discover something to settle on, is it?)

What strikes me as insane is the worldwide Cult of Speculation which has actually recruited virtually the entire human population in an unusual cult in which hypothesizing wildly is now the accepted norm, a norm papered over with fine-sounding phrases such as “investing for the future,” “hold on for dear life,” “conviction trade,” “new paradigm,” and so on, all variations on the time-honored “this time it’s different.”

But speculative frenzies that sweep up everybody with a couple of quatloos to place on the gaming table are not different, they are the standard. Humans love gambling, winning, windfalls, something for nothing, leading the pack (“the new paradigm,” etc) and the excitement of running with the victorious herd, all of which are satisfied by speculative frenzies.

All the speculative free-for-all is easy going enjoyable en route up, however there is a much bleaker truth that couple of want to acknowledge, much less talk about: now that the worldwide economy is in thrall to the leading 0.1% and the structures of widespread success fall apart into dust, the ladder to wealth, power and status has few rungs left.

The majority of the few remaining open slots in the leading tier have currently been taken by insiders and the offspring of the already-wealthy, and so the only method to get ahead is to hypothesize and win– not simply win, however win big.

In other words, the essential chauffeur of this speculative craze isn’t simply greed, it’s desperation. For the vast bulk of the world’s population, hypothesizing and winning is their only possibility to leave debt-serfdom or wage-slavery.

The international Cult of Speculation is a Cult of Doom because all speculative bubbles pop, usually in a manner that continues to provide punters purchasing the dip hope that the recession is now over and big gains await those who back up the truck and buy, buy, purchase.

The essential dynamic in speculative frenzies is the self-reinforcing feedback of everybody else being confident the bottom remains in to so buy now: the very first blip higher persuades skittish bulls that the bottom is certainly in and so buying encourages more buying which then stampedes the herd into an euphoric self-confidence that this is it, the herd is running, the rally is unstoppable.

This works once again and once again, increasing the bulls’ self-confidence, up until one time the herd roars off a cliff. All speculative crazes eventually pop due to the fact that the bliss has actually removed from real-world basics and went into an unsteady orbit of magical thinking–the Fed is all-powerful, and so on.

Just like all cults, doubters and doubters are damned and rejected: this isn’t a speculative craze doomed to crash, it’s rock-solid since do not battle the Fed, strong revenues, new paradigm, etc. Those outside the cult search in marvel at the strange rituals and severe habits. Wise outsiders prevent any contact with the unsteady, skittish herd.

We’re now in the confounding phase where buying the dip isn’t working 100% of the time, and so the cult is losing followers even as the faithful double-down and demand evidence of fealty. Surely the Fed gods will affirm the cult’s most revered posts of faith. However false gods ultimately fail, even the Fed.

As soon as the false gods fail, the once-crowded temple of the cult is abandoned and left to the jungle. Visitors marvel: here great fortunes were made and lost, and now there’s absolutely nothing left however debris.

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