Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

How is it that so many missed all the signs, and that so much money is being lost? The signs have been there all along, showing clearly that something is gravely amiss, that all market sectors have been teetering on the unsustainable for years now, and only the delusional could have believed that such an anomalous upward trend could have continued unabated. Apparently, most of us, at least in the US, can count ourselves as delusional.

Below are compiled some telling figures, of the major stock indices and housing prices and wage trends, going back as far as 1965 in some cases. The x-axis is consistent between the figures, so that years can be more easily compared. Can anyone look at this data and seriously contend that they are surprised at what looks to be only the beginning of a catastrophic financial meltdown? My guess is that anyone who is genuinely surprised is probably routinely filling a prescription for Xanax or Ambien or another similar pharmaceutical.

Those of us in California should pay particular attention to the last graph, of housing prices in Japan, and in particular we should note the similarity of Carlifornia's curve to that of Japan's largest cities.

It is what it is. Ignore reality at your peril.