Originally Posted September 2021

 I watched people go back to their old ways from 2014 to 2020 and mistakenly thought that the Covid-19 event would be the pin that pricked a large but somewhat harmless credit bubble that had inflated post "Great Recession".  True, the CFPB was put into place during that time but I was a first person witness to consumers and bankers returning to the use of credit at unhealthy levels.  I made a mistake in not realizing that Congress, the Federal Reserve and politicians who were jockeying for power would answer Covid (and the needless hysteria that they fostered surrounding Covid) with an avalanche of digital "currency/credit".  Astonishing.  So, now we have Yellen telling Congress to allow the debt ceiling to rise or face a default even as the Fed serves as a monthly dumping ground for mortgage backed securities, treasuries, collateralized debt obligations, etc.

The Covid "meth-money" is drying up.  It felt exhilarating while it lasted but it is going to leave many with an insatiable craving for more and a really bad set of teeth.

There is talk within the Federal Reserve of tapering its purchases.

The currency is losing value.  Outside of the U.S., many are asking, and rightfully so, "Why should the dollar remain the world's reserve currency?"

Many gullible young people who supported the Democrats in the hopes that they would have all of their student loan indebtedness forgiven are realizing that they participated in a lottery and while a few will be fortunate enough to be picked to have their debts forgiven, most will be left holding a worthless, losing lottery ticket.  The large education debt remains but hey, at least you didn't support the evil Orange Man.

Boomers are no longer the country's largest demographic but they do control the lion's share of the wealth.  The wealth effect went into high gear during the past year.  Boomers who saw their homes shoot up in "value" and their 401k's shoot the moon during all of the Federal Reserve inspired spending partied like it was 1999.   It's hard to blame them.  When you don't have to do much to see your net worth increase by double digits month after month, you'll "get the big head" as we used to say in Mississippi and start thinking that your shit does not stink.  All of that "paper wealth" translated into a lot of spending of current income and not just on necessities.  No "want" would go unmet - sky's the limit.  When the "wealth effect" shifts into reverse (and it will just as it did in 2009), Boomers again will re-think their spending habits.  Few will see the folly of their ways - as a dog returns to its vomit, so too does the fool return to his folly.  Boomers seemingly invented the habit of doubling down on stupid.  2 Bush terms, 2 Obama terms, yikes.

When your "asset values" on paper are going red and each week it costs more to go to the grocery store, automobile parts house, gas station, etc. and each month the utility bill seems a little higher than the same month in the previous year, it no longer seems prudent to blow through money on needless items or go on weekly retail therapy junkets.  The "incurable financial herpes" of these bubbles are tax rates and amounts.  For grins and giggles, I checked my old home's valuation and tax record.  The "value" shot up like a rocket during the Covid months and began its descent during this past month having lost $3,000 in resale value.  The taxes during the previous decade have gone from just under $2,000 per year to $3,000 this year.  Taxes on these "bubble values" linger into eternity.  It's just a fact of life.