What If Boomers Can't Retire?

CHAPTER 6The Drive to Create Phantom Wealth

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AMERICA’S “EFFICIENT” EQUITY MARKEt seems like a perpetual motion machine that just goes on cranking out wealth. Few people who benefit from it understand how the machine works, much less care about its economic, social, political, and environmental costs. But sooner or later its defects—including that much of the wealth it creates is just phantom wealth—will become obvious to everybody.

Real and Phantom Returns

First let’s look at the difference between real and phantom returns.

Real Returns

A little company must sell its product or services and produce revenue before it can pass anything on to its ...