Nice apocalypse dream with no zombies or deaths of loved ones.  The mane antagonists were the underground monsters from Tremors, but they somehow remaned unseen most of the time.  The monsters evolved a plan to starve the other animals by cutting off all infrastructure.  Days went by with no effort by the humans to grow their own food or make their own water, so the lion kingdom decided to have a go at solving the problem.  The lion kingdom owned land next to the ocean & could distill water.  


Memories of 2009 came back, as the lion kingdom pondered differences between then & now.  Famous blogger Gulker mourned losing half his 401k.  Other internet commenters & especially Robert Kiyosaki called the stonk market & even 401k plans a ponzi scheme.  Finally, there was general distrust of the government, manely by generation X.  Was the government reinflating the stonk market for good or was it luring in suckers to pay off its debt before pulling out?  The feeling then was that the stonk market would either never recover or it wouldn't recover before most people needed the money.  There was absolutely no such thing as the Dave Ramsey method.


The reason the crashes of 2009 & especially the crash of 2020 bounced back so rapidly was manely because of money printing but also because people had a lot of cash.  Higher interest rates made cash a viable position up to 2008.  The crashes of 1987 & 2000 made the baby boomers keep a lot of cash.  Even the boom from 2000-2007 didn't change the cash mentality.  Interest rates still pushed 4% in those days.


Attitudes couldn't be more opposite now.  There's absolute trust in government from millennials & generation Z.  The stonk market is the investment of 1st resort & no-one has any cash.


Bide finally got a mandate passed which requires all employers to automatically enroll employees in 401k plans if offered, increases the minimum distribution age to 75, & increases catch up amounts after age 62.  The lion kingdom will be fully unemployable by then.  Missing is the tax on 401k contributions Bide originally wanted.

The mandatory auto enrollment will no doubt fuel the conspiracy theorists of 2009 who viewed 401k plans as a ponzi scheme.  


https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/kass-there-s-downside-risk-to-economic-growth-and-upside-risk-to-inflation-15955653

Doug Kass in recent years has sounded as pessimistic as Dave Fry years ago.  The lion kingdom sees a good chance of an imaginary crisis warranting more easy money.  Some more salient predictions are a .5% in May & a .75% hike later.  Doubt that's going to happen.  Interestingly, he says slugflation instead of stagflation or contraction.  Most every analyst expects a recession, but no-one expects an extreme recession like 2000 or 2009.  No-one is saying the party is going to end in tears when the punchbowl is taken away.












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