The real lesson of the 2008 crash is that long periods of prosperity inevitably produce an accumulation of poor investments, parasitic false beliefs, and outrig

The real lesson of the 2008 crash is that long periods of prosperity inevitably produce an accumulation of poor investments, parasitic false beliefs, and outright fraud. At first, the economy is strong enough to shrug off the burden of this detritus, but it eventually accumulates and overwhelms growth. We end up one day having a Minsky moment and clean up the crud accumulated during the growth phase. The best way to minimize the pain associated with this necessary process is to commit to reason, empiricism, and truth during the growth phase, minimizing the accumulation of uselessness that the eventual economic contraction must discharge.