Good points. > that doesn't mean there's a way to avoid it I don't think this is strictly true, though. As you said, "Stock markets aren't the same as the eco

Good points. > that doesn't mean there's a way to avoid it I don't think this is strictly true, though. As you said, "Stock markets aren't the same as the economy as a whole". The financial part of our current economy seems to have an outsized perception/participation rate. If the rules of the game changed to reduce the appeal of financial activity, there might be less second- and third-order "betting on bets (on bets)" and less of the self-fulfilling prophecy you're talking about. This may not be feasible in the world we live in: it would take a very different political climate, and of course there would be knock-on effects for society. But imagine that we turned our income tax rationale inside-out and policy shifted so that wages had very very low rates and investment income very high rates. Note I'm not advocating this, just offering it as a "what if".