第 6 章
American Gods: The New Financial Religion
You have questions about how markets can reach record highs while society seems to be falling apart. How can stocks break through to new heights while the country sinks to new depths?
What happened to American Exceptionalism? If we killed it, the murder weapon was disbelief. In place of the pillars that upheld everything we once valued, we're now putting our faith in something new: Technology. Systems. Data. Innovation.
Like in Neil Gaiman's novel "American Gods," old beliefs are being replaced by new ones. Throughout American history, immigrants brought their gods with them, but over generations, these Old World deities lost their influence as new American gods took hold: radio, television, automobiles, airplanes, electricity, telephones, assembly lines, the internet.
Now we're witnessing this same transfer of faith in our institutions. The FBI, Senate, House of Representatives, Electoral College, mainstream media, Federal Reserve, intelligence community, judicial branch, and even the Constitution-these "Older Gods" are fading in influence and public trust.
Our faith is being transferred to a new pantheon of technology companies. Stocks like Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Marriott, McDonald's, Netflix, Salesforce, and Visa keep hitting all-time highs despite societal turmoil. These aren't new companies, but institutions that have earned the trust of millions. We believe in their products, their durability, their vision. We've decided that regardless of Washington's chaos, these entities will shape our future.
There's blind faith at work-a self-fulfilling prophecy as these stocks grow larger in the index funds investors increasingly worship. Vanguard has become a Mecca for money, drawing more adherents and invested dollars to these corporate giants.
There's a man preaching in the desert, telling fabulous tales and winning converts daily. His detractors question mundane matters like cash flows and valuation, but he dazzles believers with spectacles-self-driving cars, automated factories, solar roofs, reusable rockets. After such feats, who wants to talk about accounting?
Saint Steve left behind plans for his final masterwork-Apple's 12.8 million square foot circular headquarters, designed for 12,000 employees. This modern Mount Olympus appears to levitate above Cupertino, built with absurdly specific materials that defy comparison.
Everything I said in 2017 remains true but has intensified. Microsoft's stock price has risen an astonishing 468%, reaching a $2.6 trillion market cap. Netflix tripled to over $200 billion, exceeding century-old Disney. Newcomer Nvidia, worth over $1 trillion with a 1,700% share price increase, has become the linchpin of humanity's AI quest through its GPUs.
Tesla joined the S&P 500, gaining 1,260% in stock price and 1,680% in market cap since 2017. At a trillion dollars, it dwarfs all other auto manufacturers, while Elon Musk became the world's wealthiest person and acquired Twitter for $44 billion.
Apple reached a $3 trillion market cap-the most valuable company in history, worth the entire Russell 2000 index combined. It comprises half of Warren Buffett's equity portfolio and trades at a 50% premium to the S&P 500's earnings multiple. As Buffett explained, "If you're an Apple user and somebody offers you $10,000 to take away your iPhone forever, you're not going to take it."
These American Gods have outlasted presidencies and grown more dominant. Their hegemony has expanded as they've rewarded shareholders and wrapped consumers ever more tightly in their WiFi-enabled, Cloud-powered embrace. They command our respect, attention and dollars regardless of geopolitical, meteorological or societal circumstances.
