Since the late 1990s the world has witnessed the implosion of two of the worst economic bubbles in history. Some economist believe that pending economic bubbles can go unnoticed for five to ten years before they implode like a dying star. In fact, some economist believe we sitting on the next economic stellar black hole. But I think there is another bubble brewing up, a different kind of bubble: The Ego Bubble.
The Ego Bubble, however, differs from an Economic Bubble. First off, economic bubbles are simply a time when investors go bonkers for something. Investopedia says bubbles “occurs when the price of a financial asset or a commodity rises to levels well above historical norms, above its actual value, or both.”
A healthy ego is a good thing. It projects self awareness, self esteem and props up a positive self-image. However, when an ego’s awareness becomes inflated and reality becomes distorted, or “rises to levels well above historical norms, “the inflated ego, unchecked, can become a black hole of self-centered superiority pulling in misconceptions and false beliefs.
One essential element in the growth of any bubble, egoic or economic, is groupthink. According to Psychology Today, “Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform or the belief that dissent is impossible.” For an economic bubble to grow it needs large amounts of money chasing a belief in the perception that an asset or a commodity will keep growing exponentially. That means a lot of people have to believe in the pot of gold theory.
No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.–H L Mencken
History is full of both bubbles. When economic bubbles implode they can leave irate investors, homeless and without two nickels to rub together. With pitchforks in hand they are ready to chase down Frankenstein’s monster.
We can go back to 1637 and Tulip Mania; The South Sea Bubble in 1720 that pulled in King George and Sir Isaac Newton into its economic Tsunami wave. Parliament created the monster, The South Sea Company. According to History UK “It was a public and private partnership that was designed as a way of consolidating, controlling and reducing the national debt and to help Britain increase its trade and profits in the Americas.” That old “national debt” is a spectre that’s been around forever in some sort of big beautiful way, driving countries numb and dumb. Even Sir Isaac Newton, who could figure out why an apple falls off a tree was unable to explain why investor losses dropped from tons to pounds. Maybe it was because the whole thing was based on an immoral concept: slavery. The South Sea Company thought it had a monopoly on providing Spain with the needed labor, slave labor, for her New World colonies.
“The slave trade had proved immensely profitable in the previous two centuries and there was huge public confidence in (The South Sea Company) scheme, as many expected slave profits to increase dramatically…–History UK
Since the 1990s we have seen two of the worst economic bubbles collapse. The the Dot com Bubble of the late 1990s; then there was the 2008 Real Estate Bubble, along with Bernie Madoff’s 20 year Ponzi scheme collapsing the same year. With economic bubbles people cheerfully hop on the bandwagon. They then ride the fallacy: The majority’s opinion, in this case the investor’s belief in a sure thing, until it is not.
The South Sea Bubble has been called: the world’s first financial crash, the world’s first Ponzi scheme, speculation mania and a disastrous example of what can happen when people fall prey to ‘group think’. That it was a catastrophic financial crash is in no doubt and that some of the greatest thinkers at the time succumbed to it, including Isaac Newton himself, is also irrefutable. Estimates vary but Newton reportedly lost as much as £40 million (pounds) of today’s money in the scheme.–Historic Uk.
Ego bubble works on a similar concept. The first thing needed is an individual who uses an inflated ego to gather control of an idea or concept–a sure thing. One of history’s best examples is Adolf Hitler. It did not take Hitler long to suck like-minded people into his scapegoating illusions of political and economic reality. Once the groupthink expands with these like-minded people a small cohesive secondary autocratic group of leaders*, like Himmler, Goering and Goebbels forms to bolstered Hitler’s power. These leaders sell their souls to a fallacious concept. They are the ones who keep the faithful in line. Critical thinking is one of the first things that goes out the door. Because what is needed, is conformity and consensus. The fallacy of the bandwagon needs to keep moving forward.
- Himmler, Goering and Goebbels all committed suicide when Hitler’s ego bubble disintegrated.
(James) Janis and other researchers have found that in a situation that can be characterized as groupthink, individuals tend to refrain from expressing doubts and judgments or disagreeing with the consensus. In the interest of making a decision that furthers their group cause, members may also ignore ethical or moral consequences.–Psychology Today
Once critical thinking is kicked to the curb, dissention in the ranks also disappears. It becomes easy to stereotype those outside the bubble as being dumb, or a threat to the greater well being. There is no counter debate or diversity. The access to additional information is locked out. Poor decisions are sure to follow without the inflow disparate information to fuel constructive debate.
In biology, for example, for a cell to exist it must be able to transport necessary nutrients into the cell and wastes out of the cell. According to biologyinsights.com, for proper cell function “Cell transport mechanisms are essential processes that maintain homeostasis” and allows “cells to interact with their surroundings and adapt to changes.” A mechanism lacking in the ego bubble to allow new ideas in and dead beliefs out.
In the 1930s the world witnessed the growth of three gigantic ego bubbles. Two of these bubbles were in Europe: Adolf Hitler and his Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party, and Benito Mussolini and his Partito Nazionale Fascista or the National Fascist Party. In the Pacific, General Hideki Tojo was a militerist from the Imperial Rule Assistance Association Party of Japan. It is safe to say that there were no opposition parties. Their individual ego bubbles were secure with no opposing ideas moving in. Together these bubbles formed the Axis Powers, a black hole that sucked almost every contintnet they came in contact with into a world war.
Today’s astrological alignment of ego bubbles are being filled in the East by China’s Xi Jinping’s lust for the “golden age” of the Tang Dynasty; in the North by Russia’s Vladimir Putin visions of Peter the Great; and here at home with Donald Trump’s belief that only he can Make America Great Again. We have seen how these bubbles bounce into each other. America and China engaged in trade war. Putin trying to engulf Ukraine into the Russian sphere. All the while ,Trump and Putin are on the disco dance floor doing The Hustle one minute and then grooving into The Electric Slide next. All three bubbles are trying to avoid The Bump.
There are several other smaller bubbles floating around causing trouble: Israel’s Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Both Netanyahu and Kim are double bubbles that attach and develop onto an existing bigger bubble. It is hard to tell which bubble dominates at time. I would not classify Iran has having an ego bubble per se. Religious fanaticism is a whole different form of groupthink, just as dangerous and not as easily popped. Religious fanaticism is like Dandelion seeds spreading from one yard to another: One terrorist group spawns another.
I am not suggesting that these three bubbles would combine to form an Axis-like Super Bubble. In fact, I am not really suggesting anything. Right now they are there just floating around. But, since I brought up religion I must say it is not in my nature to proselytize. I am not suggesting any sort of divine intervention in popping ego bubbles. Because for some reason when it comes to gods, God always seems to be on everybody’s side. German soldiers going back to Prussia in the 1700s all the way up to the Nazi in WWII went into battle with Gott mit uns or God is with us on their belt buckle. Nor I am not going to propose any sort of Freudian psychology or psychoanalyst theories to explain the comings and goings or the inner wounded child theory in any of the oversized ego. However, I prefer to use Proverbs 6: 16-19 as an ego bubble checklist.
If by simple observation the following criteria can be checked off in evaluating an egoic, groupthink bubble, we could be in for trouble. For instance if it can be determined that the bubble exhibits “a lying tongue,” and has “a false witnesses who pours out lies;” and is a bubble that “stirs up conflict in the community,” we may be witnessing the forming of an ego bubble. If we see a bubble “that devises wicked schemes and has feet that are quick to rush into evil,” the devil may already be on the loose. If “that (bubble) has hands that shed innocent blood,” we, as Tom Waits sings, may have failed to “keep the devil way down in the hole, he’s got the fire and fury at his command…” We just might be in for some serious Old Testament fire and brimstone on the level of Sodom and Gomorrah.
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