hi c2,
Never said that Richebacher lied.
no, nor was i suggesting that you did, and sorry if i gave that impression. i'm simply saying that if you don't believe his stats, then the only alternative is to believe he's lying (or confused, or using a malfunctioning calculator, or citing incorrect data...). however, i recognize that your desire for corroboration of his claims is both reasonable and not an accusation of lying (although i wonder if you sought the same corroboration of the sources which led you to question the validity of the market-to-GDP metric). unfortunately, i can't do the corroborating. but i am also more or less willing to believe what he says, and since he says there is a $3TRILLION net debt to foreigners, i am inclined to believe there is considerable "fudge room" even if his stats are off somewhat. however, my willingness to believe that such a gap exists was "prepped" by viewing of similar stats from other sources, which i alluded to earlier...
OK, enough epistemology...
...bringing this discussion back home, the original issue we were debating was one measure of stock-market valuation (total market valuation-to-GDP ratio), and i am still inclined to believe that whatever foreign based assets US cos own do not contradict the meaning of this ratio (because foreigners apparently own more US assets than vice-versa).
cheers,
MM |
