Collapse,10 Year Market Cycles and Gas
1: Despite Perception, Spending on Gas is Flat vs Pre-Pandemic
2: Strong Decades for Equities Followed by Weak Decades
The following chart shows the cyclical nature of market returns. Long periods of strong performance are often followed by long periods of weak performance. As of December 2021, we have experienced a decade of unusually strong annualized 10 year returns, and currently sit a unusually high valuations (as per my previous email).
3: The Mindset of “Collapse-Aware” Redditors
Redditors belonging to r/Collapse (a group with over 360,000 members) were recently surveyed about their views on the potential for the collapse of civilization. Understandably, the views were skewed to the negative since anyone part of the group is personally invested in the idea.
This group has grown rapidly over the past year as more people become “collapse-aware”. Perhaps members of this group are ahead of the curve and have a realistic view of existential threats presented by climate change, social divide, geopolitics, environmental degradation and resource depletion. Or perhaps they are nihilists with deep-seated depressive personalities, seeking to satisfy an urge for virtual self-immolation. I don’t know. But neither is good for society. Either we get blindsided by existential threats or a growing proportion of society has lost hope (or both).
What happens to a society that lacks hope?
While you contemplate that question, below are some key findings from that survey: