The Return of Feudal Markets

Under the Feudal system, most land in the Kingdom belongs to the King and some to the Church.

The U.S. has effectively moved onto an S&P standard, where policy, liquidity, and institutional incentives are increasingly optimized to prevent a meaningful drawdown in asset prices, producing a stable-looking index, and an unstable society.

You can run an economy for different outcomes
One of the most useful ideas in a conversation I had earlier was that, an economy can be “run” to maximize different objectives, low inflation, full employment, middle-class wages, export competitiveness, or asset prices.

The claim here is I’ve chosen asset prices.

Because the modern system’s feedback loops punish the alternatives:

Wage growth → inflation risk → higher rates → duration assets + real estate wobble

Equity wobble → wealth effect + tax receipts wobble → fiscal stress → policy reaction function activates

Result: “do enough so Main Street doesn’t fall off a cliff, but not enough to let it truly win.”

X: https://x.com/arndxt_xo/status/2003124113943261227

FULL Article: https://threadingontheedge.substack.com/p/the-return-of-feudal-markets