Market Manias: How People Go Cuckoo for Coco Puffs (or Tulips or Beanie Babies or Crypto or Whatever) . . . Do Extra Low Interest Rates Really Help the Economy?

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Always on the cutting edge of all important cultural trends, Adam and Jeff talk about the recurring tendencies of otherwise intelligent people to become caught up in manias in which they will pay almost any price to purchase an item that a 5-year old child would think is worthless. Jeff points out that humans have an infinite capacity to rationalize incredibly stupid decisions whether they involve investing in absurdly overpriced assets or implementing government policies that have failed repeatedly in the past while hoping for a different outcome. Adam suggests that the Federal Reserve's repeated flooding of the economy with essentially worthless dollars has not contributed to any meaningful increase in physical output but instead made everyone a little wealthier on paper but probably resulted in a lower standard of living. Peter Drucker is quoted for his insight that when businesses run out of ideas, they try to merge with other businesses--most of whom have also run out of ideas so that everyone can go down the tubes together.