As a kid, I would frequently grab a random volume of The World Book Encyclopedia and start reading random articles, just because I enjoyed the act of learning. Similarly, and more recently, the last thing I do every day is spend about thirty minutes reading articles from Quora. Sometimes they are scientific, and sometimes they are just silly. But I enjoy learning new things every day, regardless of topic.

In the “silly” category, there was an article talking about women’s makeup, and what an extraordinary difference there is between the un-made-up face and the professionally-done face. They offered some wedding day photos as evidence, and I must say, they are extraordinary:

Frankly, I think the photo on the right side is over-the-top, since I’ve never been mesmerized by a human being with so much product caked onto themselves. However, I understand it’s a wedding day, and people have their fantasies about idealized beauty. The article continues………..

………..and although I’m sure you get the point already, here’s one more example;

Now, any of you who has every watched me on tastytrade knows that I’ve never put one molecule of makeup on, mainly because I’ve never been hung up on my personal appearance (yeah, surprise, right?) So any blotch, pimple, or imperfection on my face, yep, that’s me, folks, and you’re gonna see it. So I’m not here to make fun of makeup, since it’s not my place to judge. I’d probably benefit my viewers if I put a little something on.

The metaphorical point, however, is that the women on the left represent reality, and the woman on the right represent artificial fantasy. Just like………..you guessed it………….asset prices today.

Because the citizens of the world are all at the altar, getting married to the girl on the right. She’s gorgeous. She’s perfect. She’s a sexual dream come true. So you’re hitched.

And then the wedding crowd disperses. And the band goes home. And the caterers clean up. And the two of you, just the lovely bride and Mister Tripod, scurry back to your honeymoon suite. And, sooner or later, you’re going to discover that there is a substantial delta between what your eyes beheld and what God has rendered. You have actively participated in a deception.

Just like the market.

Metaphorical nimrod that I am, allow me to offer one more idea, and it is this item, which frankly I personally find much more exciting than any of the photos above:

A delicious cheeseburger. Juicy. Salty. Flavorful. You’d gladly eat one every single day.

You understand, intellectually, that it’s bad for you. It’s loaded with fat, cholesterol, salt, preservatives. You’re getting fatter every day. It is extremely hard to get rid of fat once it’s on your body, you pig. But you keep eating it, because, God damn it, it tastes good.

And then one day, you pick it up and take a bite, and for some mysterious reason it tastes like sawdust. It looks the same, but the flavor is gone. Absolutely gone. So you throw it in the garbage, disappointed and disgusted. Finally, your intellect (“you should not eat that cheeseburger“) aligns with your carnal self (“I do not want to eat this cheeseburger, for it gives me no pleasure.“)

And that, my friends, is what has been happening in just the past few days with the markets. Because the intellectual part of the world recognizes that these tens of trillions of dollars of new money are wrong-headed, misguided, and a very bad idea, but God damn it, those trillions taste great. It’s satisfying and provides pleasure. So, screw the intellect, bring on the trillions.

And yet, only recently, the threat of inflation has made it taste bad. The cheese isn’t dripping down the sides anymore. The meat isn’t hot and juicy, but cold and rubbery. It’s dawning on people that what’s going on is a Bad Thing, and they want no part of it.

One by one, people are going to stop eating cheeseburgers. And then, to make a metaphorical leap, we’re all going to wake up, turn to the other person in bed with us in our honeymoon suite, and realize we’ve all made a horrible, horrible mistake.