Each generation is disposed to its own unique myths and legends.  Perhaps an absence of prior experience is what compels the younger generation to pick up the torch of popular delusion regardless of if it’s pure madness.  The older generation, on the other hand, may have garnered false expectations through a lifetime spent living in a world that no longer exists.

“Myths and legends die hard in America,” remarked Hunter S. Thompson in The Great Shark Hunt, nearly 40-years ago.  No doubt, Thompson’s insight holds true today.  There are an abundance of myths and legends in America today that are bound for a hard death.  A partial listing includes:

The myth that U.S. Treasuries are the safest – default-free – investment in the world.  The legend of American exceptionalism.  The myth that everyone can live off the expense of their neighbors.  The legend that it is the President whom leads the country.  The myth that packaging up a sausage of prime and subprime loans into a collateralized debt obligation and rating them triple-A somehow vanishes risk.  And so on and so on, including… Continue reading →