Solomon said, “When a wicked man rules, people groan.” We all understand how that works. In 2022 the American people groaned in many ways, but some of the loudest groaning was heard in the financial markets, in which very nearly every asset class racked up large losses.
Falling markets are a clearer signal of pessimism about the direction of the country than the usual political and economic griping. Falling markets tell more truth than angry tirades during holiday family gatherings, howls of outrage in social media, or answers given to pollsters about whether America is going in the wrong way or the right way.
That’s because no “expert” seems to suffer negative consequences for last year’s wrong prediction about the future of America or sharing foolish opinions with pollsters. Have you ever seen a pundit fired for making a wrong prediction? If that had happened,…