The Stock Market Looks Totally Normal

I’m having a slow start to the 2020s. For one thing, this is my 8th decade, and that seems wrong somehow. I suppose this is what I get for being born near the end of a decade and then blogging near the beginning of another, but still. Eight decades!

Well, let’s start out with a chart, shall we? Here is Tim Duy’s log scale of the stock market, which suggests that everything is ducky. Stocks seem to be rising in value at about the same rate as they have for a long time (outside of the dotcom bubble, of course). What this means is that if you buy stocks because they don’t look overvalued, and then you lose your shirt, you should blame Tim. Just don’t blame me.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

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