Thoughts about the coming crash keep popping up in the news. Just the other day, I saw three somewhat unrelated signs.
In the Wall Street Journal, 8 March, 2007, David Wessel talked about “Great Moderation.” This is fact that the prices of stocks, houses, and other assets have been pushed up due to a placid economy. Of course, as readers of “The Coming Crash” know, this placid economy is the result of riding the coattails of the investments of the baby boom generation.
Of course, this is an idea that is starting to be noticed elsewhere. In fact, John Bogle (the founder of the Vanguard Group) said in a recent WSJ that the stock market in the long term future provide a smaller return than it has in the recent past.
These ideas have even made it to the steps of Congress. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), recently said “Continued budget and trade deficits will be a drag on our standard of living and leave us ill-prepared to deal with the effects of retirement of the baby boom generation.”
