Quote from trefoil:
The Big One, for our generation, happened in 2008. What we have now is a ton of disbelief that that's over with for now, for us. Minsky wrote, and I believe he was the correct one, that each cycle lasts a little longer and ends with a bigger crash. Looking back since 1982, 1990 lasted a bit, and the recovery from that was weak enough, at first, to dethrone Bush the First.
Then along came the dot com bust. Greenspan, who I firmly believe scented doom on the wind, dropped rates to what we all at the time thought was rockbottom. The recovery from that was long and weak, then along came 2008, an even bigger bust, from which we are now in an even weaker recovery, for now. But like the one from Bush the First, this one will get stronger and last longer than anyone now imagines.
Then a bust that makes everyone think it's 2008 all over again, except it won't be, and then after that, finally, a truly stable environment should set in, and we will again get into a new cycle where each bust is a little more severe and each recovery takes a little longer until the next big generational bust.
The fun part is that, like the Great Depression or even 1980 to 1982, the two big ones before 2008, there will be large geopolitical consequences.
The Great Depression led to WWII, while the early eighties ended up with Eastern European communism imploding.
Which part of the world will give us some fun this time? I'm guessing China, since once growth stops their CP will have a tough time defending the legitimacy of their dictatorship. Could be building up right now as I write this. The Financial Times had an interesting analysis pointing out that Mexico has been doing well because it is gaining back business it lost to China as Chinese wages catch up to Mexico, leaving a business to throw in the cost of shipping from China, not to mention the longer time it takes for delivery, and then looking at Mexico and realizing the cost of shipping is lower AND it takes a lot less time to get delivery of the product.
Anyway, it's kind of like having a big earthquake: there's always a large aftershock.