January 17, 2021 | The Grip Tightens
John Mauldin John Mauldin is a renowned financial expert, a
New York Times best-selling author, and a pioneering online commentator. Each week, over 1 million readers turn to Mauldin for his penetrating view on Wall Street, global markets, and economic history.
This is part two of my 2021 forecast series. I began last week (you can read it here) discussing a three-handed alien race envisioned by science fiction writers Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. They had two regular hands and a third “gripping hand,” which though less dexterous, was far stronger. My analogy was that the COVID-19 vaccine has us in the Gripping Hand. Any forecast for 2021 must first consider this decidedly “known unknown.”
The Grip Tightens
This is part two of my 2021 forecast series. I began last week (you can read it here) discussing a three-handed alien race envisioned by science fiction writers Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. They had two regular hands and a third “gripping hand,” which though less dexterous, was far stronger. My analogy was that the COVID-19 vaccine has us in the Gripping Hand. Any forecast for 2021 must first consider this decidedly “known unknown.”
Today we’ll begin by looking at new virus developments, some of which are good, some very good, and some frightening. We (the entire world) are in a very tight race with dire consequences if we lose.
Stock Market Party
- Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), American lawyer
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The end of 2020 has me looking back. I started writing the letters that later became
Thoughts from the Frontline back in the late 1990s. Similar to COVID-19 today, we had a giant macro issue then, too: Y2K. It’s hard to believe now how frightened some people were. But as I expected, the big day came and the world didn’t end.
Another similarity is the stock market was rising like a rocket. This newfangled “Internet thing had people super-excited, and rightly so. It was a world-changing paradigm shift. Unfortunately, some of the stocks born in that incredible boom weren’t world-changing paradigms at all. The market party ended, just as this one will, but went on far longer than almost anyone (including me) expected.
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), American lawyer
The end of 2020 has me looking back. I started writing the letters that later became
Thoughts from the Frontline back in the late 1990s. Similar to COVID-19 today, we had a giant macro issue then, too: Y2K. It’s hard to believe now how frightened some people were. But as I expected, the big day came and the world didn’t end.
Another similarity is the stock market was rising like a rocket. This newfangled “Internet” thing had people super-excited, and rightly so. It was a world-changing paradigm shift. Unfortunately, some of the stocks born in that incredible boom weren’t world-changing paradigms at all. The market party ended, just as this one will, but went on far longer than almost anyone (including me) expected.