It's not just numbers driving the market, he reminds us, it's mass psychology, too. And Shiller is not just another apolitical market naysayer. He makes the point that there is a demoralization that occurs when the market bubble inflates to the degree that it has. You feel like a sucker. It feels bad.
Nobody wants to be a loser.
Today, it seems the world is divided into winners and losers. The old feeling of solidarity with your fellow human being is eroded somehow. There was a feeling of labor solidarity. I remember hearing union songs on the radio when I was growing up in Detroit. That era is gone.