I believe, in the stock market - that's one of my fields - that most people are irrational. And to be irrational, you can be irrational in so many different ways that, practically, the result is indeterminate.
Interpretation
The stock market is often influenced by irrational behavior, leading to unpredictable outcomes.
Paul Samuelson suggests that in the realm of the stock market, many investors act irrationally, which can manifest in various forms. This irrationality not only complicates analysis but also contributes to the unpredictable nature of market results, highlighting the challenges of forecasting in finance.
In practice
During an investment seminar, I quoted Samuelson to illustrate the unpredictability of market trends.
To a person of analytical ability, perceptive enough to realise that mathematical equipment was a powerful sword in economics, the world of economics was his or her oyster in 1935. The terrain was strewn with beautiful theorems begging to be picked up and arranged in unified order.
I can't think of a president who has been overburdened by a knowledge of economics.
My belief is that nothing that can be expressed by mathematics cannot be expressed by careful use of literary words.
Politicians like to tell people what they want to hear - and what they want to hear is what won't happen.
My family was well off but not rich. I spent the four years I was an undergraduate working on the beach. And it wasn't because I was lazy; it was because my freshman class would go to a hundred different employers and wouldn't get a nibble. That was a disequilibrium system. I realized that the ordinary old-fashioned Euclidean geometry didn't apply.
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
Regardless of what happens in the markets, stick to your investment program. Changing your strategy at the wrong time can be the single most devastating mistake you can make as an investor.
Debt collectors like to play on your emotions because they think you'll give in and do something you can't really afford to do. Most of them don't care about you or your situation as long as they get some money.
It is absurd to think that the general public can ever make money out of market forecasts.
The financial industry is a service industry. It should serve others before it serves itself.
Investors have few spare tires left. Think of the image of a car on a bumpy road to an uncertain destination that has already used up its spare tire. The cash reserves of people have been eaten up by the recent market volatility.
Eliminate emotion from your investment program.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.