There's no need to belabor the point. Everything about the stock markets says, "bubble." Not that anybody cares; we're all going to be rich because the U.S. economy - um, sorry, the stock market and the economy are two different things - is humming right along.
The U.S. economy is built on welfare payments, pension account payouts, Social Security benefits and other government handouts and entitlements to rich and poor alike. Money - actually currency - spent using credit cards accounts for another huge chunk of GDP, along with those never-ending monthly payments to CapitalOne, Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard, and other credit purveyors.
All of this spending makes up U.S. GDP, which is a horrible measure of the health of an economy because it includes all manner of expenditures by government which actually doesn't produce much of anything other than more debt.
In any case, the U.S. debt to GDP calculation shows the ratio going over 100% in 2020 (plandemic), hitting 124% that year and remaining above 100% since. In other words, Total federal debt exceeds annual GDP, generally understood by economists to be a sign of an ailing economy (not one that's running on all cylinders, stocks making record highs).
Not convinced? How about this:
In 2024, an average of almost 68 million Americans per month will receive a Social Security benefit, totaling about $1.5 trillion in benefits paid during the year.
That's a direct quote from the Social Security Administration in their fact sheet [PDF].
Still not convinced?
In fiscal year 2023, Total Welfare Expenditures by the federal government were $1.1 Trillion, including Medicaid payments, accounting for 18% of federal outlays. Without Medicaid, the total was $485 billion, with the single largest program, SNAP (food stamps), accounting for $135 billion, up from $64 billion just five years earlier (fiscal year 2019). Hmmm, no wonder poor people are so fat.
Credit card spending (transactions for goods and services) was just short of $5 trillion in 2022. Ten years prior, 2012, the toal was just above $2 trillion. Credit card spending has more than doubled in just the last 10 years. If the economy is doing so well, why is everybody borrowing to pay for things?
Without welfare and pension benefits and items bought with credit cards, what would Walmart's profits look like? Apple's? How many new iPhones would have been purchased? Home Depot?
It's not worth debating. The U.S. economy is a mirage.
Bitcoin, the invisible currency of which less than two percent of wallet addresses hold more than 90% of all total BTC currently in circulation, has gone ballistic, up more than $4,000 in the last 24 hours (4.11%) and up 132.58% year-to-date. Somebody's getting rich. Probably not you.
Bitcoin's up. Stocks are up. Gold and silver had their runs earlier in the year. Since the election (November 5) they're both down nearly three percent. Why? Because this is a bubble economy.
It's like being a bartender at a house of pleasure. Enjoy it while it lasts.
At the Close, Wednesday, December 4, 2024:
Dow: 45,014.04, +308.51 (+0.69%)
NASDAQ: 19,735.12, +254.21 (+1.30%)
S&P 500: 6,086.49, +36.61 (+0.61%)
NYSE Composite: 20,188.60, +2.79 (+0.01%)
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