Over the past week, there has been a sea-change in the psychology of bulls out there.
Although we’ve been in a bear market for a solid six months now, they have been quite, shall we say, understanding about the whole situation. They haven’t been upset. They haven’t been angry. They figure it’s just a “correction” and, as always, things will recovery. So bears like me are harmless nuisances, to be pitied more than feared.
But as someone with about 22,500 followers on Twitter, I’ve got a pretty good feel for the hive mind out there, and the entire tone has changed, and changed quite suddenly.
To be clear, the messages aren’t vicious or scolding. I would say more along the lines of either sneering or confused. Take this one, for example:
Here is my response:
- This cuddly permabear suffered for YEARS and YEARS, and I don’t recall anyone’s heart breaking with sympathy or concern over me. So the bulls can seriously blow me twice.
- My bearishness was my own doing. I own it.
- Likewise, if they’re blinkered enough to want to hold on to stocks, that’s on them. The amount of sympathy I have is roughly zero. Strike that. It’s precisely zero.
- I am highly confident people can elect to be in cash. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I don’t think they FORCE you to choose between bonds and stocks.
And then another one tumbled in………
The insinuation being, I suppose, that surely this is the bottom, and I’m going to make a dreadful ass of myself by talking bearishly when it is, in fact, a fantastic time to buy stocks since they are “on sale.”
Well, feel free to troll through the archives, I suppose. Truth to tell, I actually DO remember my show on the exact day of the 2020 bottom, and I said the bottom was in. But I didn’t act on it. So, yeah, I’m an idiot. But I did, in fact, call the bottom. To the day.
Truly, though, this week has created an utter shift in attitude. Bulls are out of patience. They’re getting MAD. And, since most people are idiots, they’re doing to take it out on “those in charge”, and the Democrats are going to get completely destroyed in November. For newcomers, let me be clear that I am as anti-MAGA as you can get, so this is not me talking my book. I sincerely believe Team Blue is going to be toast in November. Toast.
All the same, as the de facto Jesus Christ of equity bears, I will continue to carry my cross, no matter what insipid tweets come my way. I believe we are going to be heading into the darkest times of our lives in the next couple of years, and what we’re witnessing now is the financial shot across the bow.
