Today I spent some time perusing many of the over 1,000 rapidly added comments on some blog post. I don’t remember all the details, but I know it was an interview with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) concerning a comment the governor of Texas had made about seceding from the union, apparently in frustration over the economic situation.
Paul’s main interest seems to have been about banking, but the majority of comments I saw, stimulated partly by the title, were about left-right politics.
My own political sentiment aside, one thing I found interesting were the number of times the word “moron” and its unfriendly synonyms were thrown against the opposition (whichever the opposition happened to be), along with assorted accusations on the topics of the immaturity, historical ignorance (often partly true), and lack of patriotism of the other side (again, whichever the other side happened to be).
A surprising number also expressed approval at the idea of Texas seceding, whether the comments were motivated by exasperation, sarcasm, or (on the flip side) hope at escaping the frustrating machinations of the remainder of the American union. And of course many who thought that was ridiculous. The most popular emotional concern seems to have been to blame others or put them in their place. And a small sample feebly requested others to calm down.
The anger behind such an un-moderated, polarized brawl seems to have been expressed by a wide variety of Americans from a wide variety of locations in a surprisingly short period of time. It seems representative of a larger segment of society.
More to my present point, it seems to fit well the theory that mass psychology drives the market, an economic theory associated with such names as Kondratiev, Elliott, and Prechter.
Negative emotion drives bear markets as positive ones drive bull markets. Polarization is also symptomatic of the causes of a bear market. Granting that there is plenty of blame to go around regarding the causes of the bull market collapse, yet I would like to conclude with a question: “What are you and I going to do, not to focus on blame, but to lift yourself and others emotionally and economically?”
Peter Rubel
Tags: anger, bear market, ron paul, social mood
I’m going to call you a MORON for suggesting such a thing, of course! Why don’t you go back to Texas where you came from? And take it with you!
But seriously, folks… your post is right on topic with something I’ve been thinking about all day. How can we share more wisdom with each other in this newly networked world–instead of just splintering faster and louder?
Hi Scott! Thanks for the –er– encouragement. Good question about “How to.” Probably the best approach would be to draw from the minds of many with such a concern.
Of course, in the post I am observing a social trend as I see it supporting an economic or mass-psychology theory: The dominant mood of the masses drives the market. Political winds too are driven from behind by grass-roots moods.
My worldview seems tantalizingly related to the theory: the worship and obedience of the true God generally brings economic (and political) blessings in the long haul, and conversely disobedience brings woes. Never mind for the time being the lag time in various graphs. Never mind points where the mass-psychology theory and my worldview may lack correspondence.
In my view, the truly valuable way out of bear market negativism has more to do with worship and obedience of the true God than it does fostering hope and positive thinking, or rather hope and positive thinking divorced from a “theologically correct” worldview. The overlap of optimism and relationship to God is what chiefly interests me.
But the above is only a sketchy conversation starter at best. Fuller treatment would be far longer.
Please let me add this. I think Mother Teresa said something about the charity of one seeming to be (as insignificant as) a drop in the sea, but her take was that the drop would be missed if it were not there. Even a cup of cold water given in Jesus name will not fail to receive its reward. We cannot save Calcutta or the world, but we can do some good, economic and/or otherwise.
And that’s my two cents for the moment. How about yours?
[...] context driving my thoughts here. I have discussed this context in terms of an economic theory, social mood, and bear market depression [...]