There are a few things that are very scary to MBA students in their last year… The scariest is probably economic downturn which will tighten company expenditures and make them less likely to hire new grads. Here’s the S&P500 (from finance.google.com):
It gets worse when you zoom in to recent data:
Of course just looking at a chart isn’t enough. You need things like a housing crash, company profits down across the board, confused regulators changing their minds, and trading stoppages and the like. Yes this is state-side but we’re in Canada and the TSX is doing the same thing… Might be time to run for the hills and make signs like “will 5-forces for food.”*
*Ok, yeah, I’m probably jumping the gun here. We have a long way to go before all this hits the fan but we’re taking some good first steps
Update: I found this detailed and compelling argument about why housing is pooched in the states. In addition there’s a great graph of inflation adjusted housing prices from the NY Times. Does this really look sustainable if income isn’t increasing?
[...] I’ve got a post over at my Rotman blog that has a “we’re all going to die” type of feel to it. I thought I’d promote the kill joy post. [...]
markets go up, markets go down, markets go up again!
I think you should instill a sense of fear into this year’s incoming class so they become less critical and easily molded. You can promote a U.S. style “culture of fear”. Then you can get them all to invest in the Tunerds pyramid scam and run off with mmmmmmillions of dollars ..
Shhhhhh! Don’t spill the beans! I’ll give you 5%.
That’s a hell of a graph, man. Personally, I’m waiting for the market to crash like a deflated zeppelin… then the Timothy Eaton estate in Forest Hill will be mine!