Stock Market Records and Basic Economic Strength Are Two Different Things
Robert Rapier, who works in the energy industry and writes and speaks about issues involving energy and the environment, was one of my first contacts in the renewable energy field. He writes about the graph below:I often talk about a disconnect between the stock market and the underlying strength of the economy. This graphic from Bloomberg illustrates that quite well. If you had money in the stock market last year, you probably took a big dip in March but then you recovered to new all-time highs by year-end. But millions of people lost jobs, and unemployment remains high.
A major problem facing our civilization in posing and resolving its most important questions is the sheer volume of data points that can be cherry-picked to support practically any imaginable assertion. A good and frequently seen example is how Trump supporters point to the increase in the stock market indices as proof of a strong economy.
I don’t think any of us can honestly say he’s immune from cognitive bias. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve wanted to write about something, and then Googled for information that would confirm what I already believed.
