By Robert Folsom
The major stock indexes closed higher on Monday (Jan. 14).
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A lot of important economic data that used to be described in dollar figures gets measured these days as a "percentage of GDP."
Maybe it's because people are harder to impress than they used to be. MP3 players smaller than a wallet can hold 20,000 songs. A few hundred bucks will get you a subwoofer with enough rumble to set off your next-door neighbor's car alarm. And after all, everybody knows that a billion dollars (etc.) just ain't what it used to be.
On the other hand, it's equally possible that our esteemed representatives in Washington would rather say that government spending is about "33% of GDP," instead of telling constituents that they will spend something like $2,662 billion (that's $2,662,000,000,000) in FY2008.
So, I say that if "percentage of GDP" is now the yardstick of choice, then let's do some measuring.
Consider, for example, the financial assets held by Wall Street. Back in 1974 those assets were about 1.3% of GDP. I don't know what that amounted to in dollar terms, though at the time I'm sure it would have sounded impressive.
These days?
Well, a year ago, the financial assets held by Wall Street stood at 20.5% of GDP. That's a lot. But wait, there's more. That doesn't even count hedge fund assets, which amounted to $2 trillion alone. The only real way to grasp just how much all this comes to is with a picture -- literally.
The chart is from a Special Section in the January 2007 issue of the Elliott Wave Financial Forecast -- which, combined with the commentary, was the sort of research, analysis, and illustration that makes EWFF unique -- and uniquely able to present subscribers with tomorrow's news today.
The 2008 EWFF has another Special Section that looks at the year to come -- and gives subscribers another opportunity to read tomorrow's news today. See it for yourself, via the fast steps below.