Interest rates. The unprecedented, ~10 year sugar high of near-zero (or in some cases, below zero) interest rates is finally ending, and there's a massive deflation of non-monetary assets underway, across the global economy.
If you only follow the bay area tech industry, you'd be excused for believing that this bubble isn't structural -- that it's just the inevitable consequence of the maturing role of the internet and technology in our daily lives. But assets everywhere are inflated in value. From Tesla shares to vacation homes to startup stock to blockchain tulips, the global pool of money has been desperately chasing speculative returns for years, and that process is finally beginning to unwind.
If you only follow the bay area tech industry, you'd be excused for believing that this bubble isn't structural -- that it's just the inevitable consequence of the maturing role of the internet and technology in our daily lives. But assets everywhere are inflated in value. From Tesla shares to vacation homes to startup stock to blockchain tulips, the global pool of money has been desperately chasing speculative returns for years, and that process is finally beginning to unwind.