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Socionomics Reverses the Thinking Process Relating Markets and EventsWhile knowledge of current events and extramarket conditions has almost no value in predicting the stock market, knowledge about the position of the market can help predict changes in outside conditions. The Wave Principle provides a basis for speculating upon upcoming changes in market trends and therefore the events that result from the social psychology that the trend changes represent. This ability provides an opportunity to prepare for the coming character of events, and sometimes even actual events, before they are realized. It is worth knowing, for instance, that banks were closed by government decree in 1933 shortly after the low of Supercycle wave (IV) and that most of the banks in the country closed in 1857 as well, at the end of Supercycle wave (II). It is unlikely, therefore, that with regard to bank health, the next bear market of Supercycle or larger degree will fail to produce similar results. Most analysts work the other way around. For example, they wait until they have observed widespread bank failures and then declare their bearish meaning for the stock market, which is precisely the opposite of their true implication. With the Wave Principle, we have a tool that allows us to use the pattern of social mood objectively and properly rather than let
it bend
us to its design.
A conventional analyst asks, 'What will the Fed's actions do for, or to, the stock and bond markets? The Socionomist asks, 'What will stock and bond market action do for (or to) the reputation of the Fed?'
A conventional analyst sees a country's prime minister as standing 'at the helm of the economy'. The Socionomist sees social mood, and thus the market, and thus the economy, as standing at the helm of the prime minister's reputation. A conventional analyst asks how bills in congress (
our case, parliament) will affect the stock market. The Socionomist asks what the stock market says about the kinds of bills that will be introduced and whether they will be passed. A conventional analyst points out that an election was
divisive. The Socionomist says it was
divided.
A conventional analyst says that the outbreak of war will make people fearful and angry. The Socionomist says that angry and fearful people are prone to engaging in war. A conventional analyst asks how a federal government tax surplus will help the country. The Socionomist asks when it is in the wave progression of social mood that budget surpluses typically occur and forecasts the surplus. A conventional analyst asks what the impact of revised corporate earnings estimates will be on the stock market. The Socionomist watches the trend of stock prices and predicts in what direction analysts will revise their earnings estimates. Let us explore some concrete examples of this reversal of roles.
Throughout the 1950s, people built bomb shelters. They were responding to events that had
already happened,
in essence preparing for 1945 a decade late. In 1994, the Smithsonian Institution placed a bomb shelter in its collection as a relic. Observers, conventional analysts all hailed it as reflecting the beginning of a new era of peace for mankind. What is the true importance of that occurrence as a reflection of social mood? It reflects a complacency common to developing major social mood tops. It suggests to a socionomist that the long-term positive mood trend is nearing an extreme and that worries about warfare will probably soon begin waxing again.
Conventional thinkers waste time building shelters when they are unnecessary and then have no shelters when they need them the most. Socionomists do the opposite. Here is another example. Major market uptrends eventually bring into fashion the recurring belief that market timing is passe and useless, if not counterproductive: "All one needs is good stock selection. Just stay in good stocks, and you will make money
and be safe." When have we seen this sentiment widely expressed? Answer: 1928, 1968 and 1998. Few made this case in June 1984. No one made this in 1932, 1942, 1859 or 1842. What socionomic conclusion can you draw when this opinion is pervasive?
It is a symptom of complacency about the trend of the overall market, a complacency that people express only very late in uptrends. Now contemplate the kind of irony that we continually observe when thinking socionomically.
It is precisely the position of the stock market in its overall trend that induces people to say that the position of the stock market in its overall trend is irrelevant. At the bottom of a bear market,
timing becomes the new philosophy, which assumes its place on the pedestal just when it is actually time to concentrate on holding and selecting stocks. Socionomists can observe and profit from such irony in the marketplace very day; conventional analysts produce irony every day without knowing it.
Conventional thinkers waste time building shelters when they are unnecessary and then have no shelters when they need them the most. Socionomists do the opposite.