An economy in which a growing mistrust of businesses and an increasingly pronounced millenarianism of elites combine can be a combustible mixture.
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Much of Wall Street is in a fatalistic mood. Photo documentation of the Works
Charles Mackay’s book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841) is hated among historians and revered among merchants. He is most famous for his vivid descriptions of the tulip fever in the 17th century and the South Sea Company balloon in the 18th century. Anyone who wants to truly understand the business world of the 21st century might start with Mackay’s chapter on the “epidemic fear of the end of the world.” Apocalypticism is the strongest impulse of American capitalism. Elon Musk, easily imagined as a character from Mackay’s book, is about to go public with Spacex, a rocket company that has declared its mission to prevent an existential threat to humanity by establishing a colony on Mars. Musk is the richest American…
