By Nathan Barton
According to Investing.com, the Standard and Poors (S&P) 500 is at all-time highs, reaching over 3,000 in the last few days. The NASDAQ is over 8,000, the Dow Jones Industrial over 27,000. (This is in general over a period of days or weeks: as I write this, the various “numbers” are actually slightly down for the day.)
So (according to Wall Street), the economy has never been better. We are growing steadily, with a few glitches along the way, but no serious problems. We are all getting richer, even if the really rich are getting even richer faster. Old and new companies are increasing in value, as business and consumers get more and more goods and services, and while there are (always) companies in trouble, going under, and just plain imploding, the average American and multinational (publicly-traded) corporation is strong and getting stronger.
It is a meme that the mainstream media has been promoting for decades, as everyone pays attention “to the numbers.” From Fox and CNN to NPR and even the Blaze, we hear and see how all the stock markets are doing. And how this reflects the state of our economy. And therefore our nations and the world.
But…
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California’s time is running out
The news out of California grows more and more bleak.
Consider this article from last week’s Independent Institute’s Blog: “Nearly 1 million Californians may find themselves without power this week as a result of pre-emptive blackouts imposed by electric utilities Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison in an attempt to mitigate wildfire risk. But neither denying power to consumers whenever it is dry and windy nor throwing more money at the problem, which appears to be the state legislature’s preferred solution, represent satisfactory long-term solutions. What is really needed is less government interference in the energy and housing markets.”
It turns out that the Institute’s prediction was right on the money. Not just on doing without power, but about wildfire, the stupidity of the General Assembly, and more.
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