The Lost Decade -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

If you came here for the Bakken, please scroll up or down until you find a story about the Bakken, but avoid this post at all costs.

There is a story elsewhere on the "lost decade." I haven't read this particular story yet. I started talking about the "lost decade" a very long time ago, and even have a tag at the bottom of the post, "Lost Decade." In fact, I even have a new tag, the "Second Lost Decade."

Sometime in 2008, 2009, maybe 2010, I was optimistic with regard to the end of the first "Last Decade." I defined the first "Lost Decade" as 2001 to 2010, inclusive, as the "lost decade."  I thought that "we" might turn the corner, but then I noted two things

First, starting about a year ago, maybe two years ago, it became very obvious that the mainstream media was printing more and more stories about the immorality of making money in the US. Even "too big to fail" is a subset of those stories (the federal government and the states of California and Illinois are exceptions: they are too big to fail).

And, then, last Friday, to entrepreneurs, "If you have a company, you did not build it, someone else did." And something to the effect that the government built the internet so everyone could make money off it.

So, I see another "lost decade" in the works, regardless of how November turns out. We are already well into 2012, business plans are in the works for 2013, and it takes awhile for an economy the size of the US to turn around. With the mainstream media printing more and more stories on the immorality of making money in the US, ... not a pretty picture.

But I remain an eternal optimist. Just remember the story about the two walkers in the forest confronted by a bear, and one walker asks the other why the other is putting on tennis shoes, noting that even with tennis shoes, he won't be able to outrun the bear.