Bad trends:

• Attention economy
• -> The rise of grifters (Trump, Musk, etc.)
• -> The fall of traditional news outlets
• The Silicon Valley, pandering-to-shareholders, bluff-based startup model

How it works (my noob understanding):

1. In the past, institutions wanting to make stable investments (banks, pension funds) would buy government bonds. These bonds paid fixed dividends, but their price was determined by the market.
2. After 2008, central banks started buying a ton of government bonds.
3. Since there were now far fewer govt. bonds in free circulation, their price went up, but the dividends they paid stayed the same. This meant that percentage-wise, they were now a far worse return on investment.
4. This forced banks and pension funds to look to other, more risky options to invest in, like stocks in start-ups and other assets (besides others land, raising its price and making it more expensive for people not on the housing ladder).
5. The central banks thought this was good because more investment in risky stocks meant more economic growth, which was needed to recover from the 2008 financial crash.
6. Unfortunately, the pension funds were now desparate to invest into anything – which gave an almost unlimited money supply (coming from investors) to companies like Netflix or Tesla which run on pure hype but have never actually been profitable.

(I will edit this as my understanding develops)

Link to the original paywalled article