No doubt, readers will have heard about the boom in Mag 7. What is this … and what does it mean? In our view, Mag 7 signifies an epoch-changing development of endtime dimensions. However, before we plunge into any further explanations, we must first understand the context. It is all part and parcel of a “last day” rush to digitize and network the entire planet. Why? Satan and his cohorts (some of these very wealthy elites… see Danial 11:39) have an urgent mandate and recognize that their time is short.
In that sense, the current Mag 7 phenomenon is a continuation of a previous technology boom/bust that occurred in the late 1990s, otherwise known as the Dot Com Mania. Technology bubbles of the last three decades or so have been centered upon digital information management. The latest bubble extension (or bezzle, as these often turn out to be) has been boosted by a mania in AI (artificial intelligence).
We have discussed these boom/bust technology developments and their implications for mankind for well over 25 years. Consider that the commercial internet was only invented 31 years ago. The mobile phone (specifically, the smartphone, which we will discuss further) was launched only 17 years ago.
The latest technology bezzle phase that is occurring now is the largest ever. Moreover, it is of unprecedented global scope.
To illustrate, we return to the topic of Mag 7 to explain its significance further. Mag 7 is short for “Magnificent 7.” These are 7 major profitable and “magnificent” companies. They are the poster child for the present global boom in information technology and communications sectors and Electric Vehicles (EVs). Their businesses and share prices have prospered so much that these 7 companies today alone represent over 23% of the entire world stock market value (MSCI World).
Such wealth concentration would seem unimaginable. Nevertheless, matters are even more extreme than meets the eye. The two industry sectors of Communications Services and IT (information technology services) alone account for over 32% of the world MSCI stock index value (approximately one-third!).
These sectors include companies that are active in providing computer services, chips circuits, smartphones, iCloud and data storage, software, search engines, social media networks, communications networks, and lately, in a major way, artificial intelligence. The common thread to all of them is digital technology, data centralization, and networking.
The Magnificent 7 are as follows (in no particular order): 1. Apple; 2. Nvidia; 3. Tesla; 4. Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook); 5. Amazon; 6. Microsoft; 7. Alphabet (formerly Google).
Next, consider the scale of the investment cornucopia. Apple shares have generated a 912% total return in the past decade. Amazon shares are up 927% in the same time frame. Meta Platform shares are up 570% in 10 years. Microsoft has generated a 940% total return for investors over the past decade. Alphabet has generated a 426% return in the past 10 years. Tesla shares are up 1,144% in the past decade. Most of all, Nvidia shares have gained some 22,235% since inception! Whose soul will not have been tested by such wealth? Given the immensity of this lucre, one can be sure that Satan and those that honor him will have made effective use of the power of money.
One can see that it is money … namely, huge profit … that is integral to all these technology shifts. This again has led to a greater global investment mania, luring the savings of the near entirety of the world. We will yet discuss the impact of the familiar “boom bust” cycle that is involved.
We ask, why such an extreme financial wealth concentration … and why with such explosive rapidity? First, technology booms and busts are all fomented by human fear and greed—Mammon. In this sense, the present information-centered boom can be seen as similar to other technology-inspired booms of the distant past, including railroads in the 1840s, automobiles in the early 20th century, radio in the 1920s, television in the 1940s, transistor electronics in the 1950s, computer time-sharing in the 1960s, and home computers in the 1980s.
Arrogant Bezzle Era
With the technology boom and hutzpah, things have become quite “crazy” on Earth. Consider some of the arrogant foolery that we see today. Climatologists are promoting the notion that the earth’s temperature can be controlled as if connected to a wall-mounted Honeywell rheostat (this ignoring the fact that it all hinges on a complicated solar system). Elon Musk (the famous founder of many technologies) continues to plan an interplanetary escape to Mars, as there apparently is no such thing as a Martian NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) lobbyist. The leading AI movers and shakers claim that existential risk from artificial intelligence may lead to human extinction from the universe (this being this writer’s first tip that AI was contributing to another bezzle). And last, the recent convening of the Berggruen Institute in Venice, which discussed a new planetarity grounded in an awareness that human beings are no longer at the center of it all. As such, the Interplanetarity is putting the Anthropocene in its place. We dare say that God would agree.
As such, we note that there are two major financial bezzles underway: “fighting climate change” and AI/Search. To say the least, dealing with just one is demanding … let alone two. Of course, there may be many smaller ones, as always. It is the big bezzles, however, that can lead to economic recessions and financial crashes. Usually, one bezzle narrative has been enough to do so. Trillions of dollars may have already been duped into being spent.
Why the Smartphone Is Important: The Self and Technology
Timothy tells us: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves … of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1, 4).
According to Paul, the world will be typified by people who are centered upon themselves … pursuing their individual wants. They love themselves uppermost. They, therefore, will have fallen into a trap. Only God can love us fully and perfectly. People who are lured to the notion that they can love themselves better than God face unhappiness. No doubt, this trend is linked to the rapid rise of depression—what the World Health Organization has observed to be an epidemic. Sadly, it is seen as a disease, not at all as a spiritual malady.
At the same time that selfishness and narcissism become rampant, the world becomes more bewildering and anxiety-filled. “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
So, any technology that serves to enable the “love of self” … that spreads information leading to the magnification of the “anxieties of life” … and centralizes influence and personal monitoring is therefore likely to play a prophecy-enabling role.
Why Humans Are Vulnerable to Booms and Busts
Financial markets famously rotate through booms to busts. Manias and bubbles capture the human attention … only to later succumb to crashes and crises. These trends tend to always be supported by a major narrative that is infectiously believable.
Why are humans so vulnerable when it comes to economic booms and busts? By definition, human actions embrace behavioral factors (i.e., human neural wiring, wants, preferences and needs … etc.) Above all, the humanoid is vulnerable to changing his mind … and does so frequently.
Homo sapiens are anticipatory, unpredictable, and capricious. In general, they will gladly participate in a dupe of doubtable fundamentals so long as the stock price charts keep ascending to the upper right. As we see today, this usually leads to radical technological changes very suddenly. This makes rich soil for bubbles, manias, and busts.
The size or scope of a bezzle or bubble may not be limited by anything … just unlimited imagination. Quoting John Kenneth Galbraith (a famous Canadian-American economist and diplomat), on another time of financial delusion in the 1930s, “[the] world was inhabited, not by people who had to be convinced, but by people who sought excuses for believing.”
Similarly, today, there is no lack of misguided and willing believers with respect to starry-eyed expectations of artificial intelligence and the “consensus” views of climatologists.
Fizzle Follows Bezzle
What happens after the boom and the bezzle, as history shows us? They all eventually fizzle out, as they must. Markets then crash spectacularly. While the catalyst to the boom may have been real—at least in part—once hordes of greedy and uninformed investors descend upon the mania, the fate is sealed. Wild-eyed expectations of future profits can no longer be supported.
In the final Part 2, we will conclude with the question: Are any more new technologies required before the onset of the Tribulation period?
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Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.
Do you have questions or other perspectives? You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com. Please note that for reasons of volume and investment securities regulation, he cannot give financial advice.