So the DJIA has pushed beyond 18,000. It may not quite
get to 30,000 soon, but still – what a momentous achievement! Which reminds
me of a remarkable #Colbert interview from March 2009. The guest was #EmilyYoffe
who had just published an article on Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Slate. The previous week the Dow Jones
had hit rock bottom at 6,547, and Ms. Yoffe explained somewhat sternly that the
whole financial meltdown had resulted from Americans “binging on ‘I deserve it.’”
After asking a few probing questions, the Colbert character retorted: “But the
economy and the market is really all based on confidence. Why don’t we just
recapture that narcissism that we had a year ago and pretend that everything is just OK,
and won’t the market come right back? Won’t we just rebuild the bubble?” At the
time this was meant as a joke, but now the joke is on the non-believers, or
should I say – the non-narcissists?
