Less than a century ago, Calvin Coolidge — the nation’s 30th president — did something similar to Trump. He made speeches and reassured the public anytime real estate prices or the stock market went down, he would say not to worry (Did you know they had fake news in the 20’s)? The 1920’s was referred to “The roaring 20″s”. What happened after “The Roaring 20’s…… I’d rather not say.
Coolidge “was like Trump in that he was really businessman type and pro-business… I think [he] did inspire the Roaring Twenties,” said Shiller. “You have to be as flamboyant as Trump to be an inspiration.”
Shiller’s book Stated:
In the 1920s, Coolidge and his Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, reassured the public every time the “stock market declined significantly or the public decried speculators’ high level of borrowing to purchase stocks.”
The dynamic became known as the “Coolidge-Mellon bull tips.” It was president Coolidge influence on public confidence which is not unlike the “Trump Put” — a term popularized by Wall Street in reference to Trump’s comments that could backstop a market selloff.
Shiller also noted in a New York Times op-ed that Trump’s “exuberant speeches, if one believes them, still encourage big spending and confidence.”
I encourage my readers to watch this video interview with Robert Shiller
File Under: I’m selling my Realogy Stock
