July 5, 2022
The July 2019 issue of The Elliott Wave Theorist observed a “relentless climb to the greatest stock market overvaluation in U.S. history.” This trend included “widespread speculative investing by formerly conservative pension funds.”
Public pension funds suffered significant losses in the Dotcom Bust and the Great Recession, according to The Wall Street Journal. In addition, the Global Anticorruption Blog points to a “lack of transparency” in how pension managers choose investments, which contributes to a “substantial risk of corruption.” The funds are now more than $1 trillion short of the asset level they should have.
Spurred by bull-market optimism, fund managers adopted a risky solution: investing with borrowed money. The Journal warns that this practice can make investing losses more severe in a down market and that 2022 has already brought a “steep slump in financial markets.” Funds’ woes could be compounded if this slump develops into something as severe as the Financial Crisis or Dotcom Bust.
The May 2012 issue of The Socionomist warned that during such a time, debt deflation could affect the flow of checks from entitlements, including public pensions. It also warned that the massive benefit programs which politicians have been afraid to touch could become cost-cutting targets. To learn more read “The Government Entitlement Tsunami Will Subside.”
If you look closely, you can see patterns in social mood that help you predict social trends. Learn more with the Socionomics Premier Membership.
The Socionomist enables you to see trend-shaping waves of social mood, as reflected by the stock market — and capitalize on them. The April 2023 issue looks at negative social mood’s influence on the tumultuous history of the Mexican Revolution. Mood Riffs topics include President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects, challenges facing corporate giants, the new workplace trend known as Bare-Minimum Monday, and British Columbia’s effort to relax laws governing hard drugs. Read the April issue when you become a Socionomics Premier Member. 
