Are Tech Giants’ New Buildings Signs of the Top? by Charles Hugh Smith

Ultra-fancy new digs for corporations, record setting skyscrapers, short skirts, upbeat popular music, treaties of friendship, burying the hatchet, and cooperation among nations, and high Presidential approval ratings go with long bull markets in stocks. They are all signs of elevated social mood (see the Robert Prechter Elliott Wave International link on the SLL Blogroll if you want to learn more about social mood and markets). Charles Hugh Smith takes note of gleaming new buildings for the high-tech elite and concludes the party must be just about over. From Smith at oftwominds.com:

If pouring billions of dollars into outrageous “look at me” buildings isn’t tempting the gods, what is it?

When banks build new gleaming headquarters, that generally marks the top of the bank’s fortunes. There appears to be some sort of hubris in constructing a monumental new headquarters that shouts “we’re rich beyond all conception” that angers the stock market gods.

For this reason, we should ponder the glamorous new headquarters Facebook just completed and Apple’s “spaceship” campus that is under construction. Google’s plans for an ultra-modernist headquarters were recently tabled by the city of Mountain View, but the grandiose plans themselves may count as hubris to the stock market gods.

Here is an interior view of Facebook’s new digs: note that it’s literally dripping with arty decor:

To see the pictures and continue reading: Signs of the Top?