The Stock Market Is Plummeting. Welcome to the End of the 'Everything Bubble.'
About this episode
As the S&P 500 entered bear-market territory in June 2022, Klein spoke with Financial Times journalist Rana Foroohar about her longstanding 'everything bubble' thesis — that since the 1980s, the Fed's loose-money policies have inflated everything from stocks to crypto to housing. Foroohar argues the Fed's limited toolkit produced a 'sugar high' of asset prices while corporations channeled cheap money into share buybacks rather than productive investment, financializing rather than building the real economy. The conversation covers how easy money drove retail investors into crypto and platforms like Robinhood, how COVID and the Ukraine war exposed fragile global supply chains, and the private-equity takeover of rental housing. She sees the neoliberal era ending — with opportunities in decoupling, climate cooperation and new technology — but warns the bursting bubble will hurt ordinary consumers.