Calcifer

I’m sure I’ve read this before but I cannot remember the source - would you mind sharing where it’s from?

I’ll have to see if I can find the video again, but I saw someone do a really interesting analysis on why this happens. The central idea was that it’s due to a whole ideology based on conformity. Everyone converges on the same “look” not necessarily because they even like it (though many of the choices do clearly represent a white cishet ideal) but because they hate the “alternatives”. For example, “creative” hair colors and makeup are things people do to try to be more individual, which is why these women paint those choices as “tacky” or marks of being an “evil lib” etc. Their fashion choices are self-limiting by design.

At this point, I don’t know if even someone trusted would be able to change his mind. Admitting to being wrong about vaccines means admitting he basically killed their daughter. Horribly sad.

The stock market is generally more of a “rich people’s feelings” graph - very few Americans relatively are invested in any meaningful way, most if they are do so through a 401k or similar. That said, what “the market” hates most is uncertainty - and there’s quite a lot of reasons to be uncertain at the moment between tariff threats and mass layoffs (not to mention geopolitical tensions).

Importantly though (and this is just a personal opinion) I think many stocks on the market are way overvalued. Executives and investors have used every trick in the book to “make a line go up”, which means they aren’t really operating on any business foundation designed for longevity or to withstand swings in the market. There’s bubbles lurking in a lot of sectors. I’d guess at least some of this downwards momentum will be a market correction for some of these issues.

As always though, it’s the folks invested through pensions and 401ks that have the most to lose relatively. The big players have probably already taken out their cash and are just waiting to see what they can buy up in a crash.