Copyright © 2026 Knight Sac Media. All rights reserved.https://www.siliconinvestor.com/subject.aspx?subjectid=51271The American public has just finished being treated to a 16 year bull market in equities, culminating in the largest speculative financial bubble in modern times. Now that the bubble has clearly burst we are at that chapter in the script where the bubble is in the midst of unwinding. No bubble of the proportions we just experienced ends in two year lows. Usually it takes 10-15 years of lows before investors have sufficiently lost their taste for paper assets to the extent that you can find some bargains. Demographics will play a key role in this secular bear market for paper assets. An avalanche of selling looms over the horizon in 2005 as the leading edge baby boomers can start withdrawing funds from their retirement accounts. What is an investor to do? Well if history is any guide we can get in on a brand new bull market that is just starting to show signs of emerging. One of the by-prodcuts of a mania which focuses on one particular asset class is the exclusion of investment in other asset classes. As stocks and bonds attracted ever increasing amounts of capital, that capital had to flow out of other less attractive areas. Commodities and natural resources happened to be hit especially hard--for good reason. There was a huge commodities boom during the 1970's for a number of reasons. Investors fearful of inflation pulled money out of paper assets and poured it into energy and precious metals. Tensions in the middle east and oil embargos sent oil skyrocketing to $40 a barrel. Demand for many commodities increased as stockpiles were built up in preparation to fight a "cold war". Naturally, the rising prices attracted speculators which drove prices up even further. Fast rising prices attracted a frenzy of investment in mining and drilling as people were sure oil was going to $100 a barrel and gold was going to eclipse $1000 an ounce. Well all that over-investment in natural resources led to a glut in supply. People started driving smaller cars, they started turning down the heat, and oil plummeted. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker said he was going to beat inflation and he meant it. There goes your demand for gold. The cold war wound to an end and there goes your demand for many other base commodities. All during this time during the 70's investment in technology was overlooked because we had an energy crisis and interest rates at 21%. By 1982 we had a new president who cut taxes. Inflation and interest rates were settling back down, and baby boomers hit their late 30's and wanted to start investing for their retirement. This was the perfect set of conditions for a technology led bull market in stocks. Productivity was the buzzword thrown around which was going to maximize profits and minimize inflation. (incidentally it was the same buzzword used in the 1920's). Falling commodities prices helped support these circumstances. As the equity bull market raged on into the 90's more and more capital flowed away from natural ...https://www.siliconinvestor.com/images/Logo380x132.pnghttps://www.siliconinvestor.com/subject.aspx?subjectid=5127138013210