This chart from the NYTimes pretty much says it all:
The average annual inflation-adjusted return for the S&P 500 has been in decline since the late 90s, the decline only paused in the 00s and that fooled us into thinking it was a recovery but we only stopped getting worse for a while. Meanwhile, real personal income has been in decline since Nixon lifted the gold standard in the early 70s and that, like our real GDP adjusted for inflation, should certainly not be the “envy of the World” – even if we assume it still is.
$20Tn was pumped into our $60Tn Global Economy since the 2008 crisis and that is not including “stealth” stimulus like the estimated $8Tn handed out by our own Fed to their Bankster buddies as well as tens of Trillions handed our around the World by other Central Banks.
Like the late 70s, my expectation is that we will see a bottoming of real stock returns over the next few years as the inflation train pulls into the station. The markets will do great on the surface but, underneath, they are not going to be able to keep up with the massive inflation that is likely to begin as the flood of money being used to “fix” the global banking system begins leaking out into the Global Economy.
IN PROGRESS