Between monetary policies from the Fed that have increased the base money supply by a factor of >5 since 2008 [1], and sustained trade imbalances on the order o

Between monetary policies from the Fed that have increased the base money supply by a factor of >5 since 2008 [1], and sustained trade imbalances on the order of tens of billions per month [2], it should not be surprising that stock prices are at records highs. There is just so much more money around that has to be invested but cannot be used; the recent high in the stock market is not just based on the business cycle and traditional productivity/population growth. If this is your take on the stock market's dramatic rise beyond 2008, then investing further in stocks and indexes may still be the thing to do even if it feel we're getting ripped off on the price. 1. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL 2. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOPGSTB https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOPGSTB