I wish I could say I disagree, but to be perfectly honest, I was fully expecting a recession last year. As someone may have already mentioned though, between FED basically keeping the market afloat, stimulus working its way through the economy and dollar still riding as a safe haven, it is not that surprising that US economy did not crash, while a good chunk of population is at home and out of commission.
The thing that worries me is that by attempting to prolong it as long as we are, we are basically setting up a stage for a greater depression. We already saw 'sell everything' panic in March.
If Thanos snapped his finger and disappeared the oldest 10% of the population, ~33 million people, I'd wager that would do far less economic damage than keeping everyone on lockdown for 365 days. The rate of the economy shrinking is going to get worse and worse as more companies go out of business.
I wish we could not communicate in bumper stickers. I did not argue this in any way, but you jumped to a conclusion and I am not certain what that conclusion is based on.
I do not want to make trite comments about how US economy is not the same as S&P500, but I will point that those losses were largely gained back for now. The US economy is still going ( and that is despite lockdown ). Hell, government could declare no business is essential and it would still go on in the form of black market.
Because keeping it afloat indefinitely creates a fake value that does not correspond to real situation on the ground. That reality will eventually burst the bubble and because the bubble appears to encompass just about every asset class, it will hurt everyone.
Not really. They happen when whoever holds power gets weak and there is discontent simultaneously. As long as you are strong, the gap can be arbitrary large.
Many dictators have been deposed not because they were weak, but because their subjects grew tired of lies and life under their rule.
Gadaffi, Sisi, Ceaușescu, Romanovs were not weak by any objective measure, they were happy to suppress dissent and kill their subjects and still had a functioning security apparatus when deposed, ordinary citizens just refused to cooperate. If almost the entire civilian population refuses to cooperate, regimes cannot function.
The thing that worries me is that by attempting to prolong it as long as we are, we are basically setting up a stage for a greater depression. We already saw 'sell everything' panic in March.