How "Economic Blindness" Is Obscuring Our Financial Reality
5/13/202624 min
On Sunday, President Trump rejected Iran’s latest response to his administration’s ceasefire proposal by taking to Truth Social, calling it "totally unacceptable." In the meantime, the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels, remains effectively blocked. And people everywhere are beginning to feel the squeeze. The national average cost of gas is now $4.55 per gallon, and diesel is inching closer to $6 a gallon. The Philippines has long declared a national energy emergency, government workers moving to a four-day work week. Lufthansa has canceled 20,000 flights through October of this year.
But curiously, you wouldn’t know it if you wandered down Wall Street. Last week, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, and both have continued to climb this week. This week, host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Walsh, editor of Vox’s Future Perfect section, to discuss the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” or the jarring mismatch between economic reality and the markets. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
On the Media is supported by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Make another smart choice with Auto Quote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.
Brooke Gladstone· Host0:24
WNYC Studios is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up, and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O-D-O-O.com. That's O-D-O-O.com. [gentle music] This is On the Media's midweek podcast. I'm Brooke Gladstone. On our show last weekend, Vox's Future Perfect, Brian Walsh, explained how and why the economic disruption caused by our war with Iran has not been reflected in the financial markets. I mean, we were puzzled.
Speaker 3· Soundbite1:17
We're in the middle of a war, we've got oil prices spiking, and yet stocks are soaring.
Speaker 4· Soundbite1:21
And more new highs for the stock market today. The NASDAQ Composite with a huge gain on top of a market