As the author suggests, it's hard to say anything definitive because pirates really predate the Republic, but then again, on a Grand Supercycle basis, social mood has been rising for as long as the United States has been around. There is other reasons to suspect that piracy is a bear market activity. In early history of New York City, for instance, we noticed that the city depended on various pirate phases to generate much of its wealth. While there was stock market in the 17th Century, there is the fact that each episode of sanctioned thievery on the high seas was associated with other bear market results, like a faltering economy on Manhattan. Particularly telling were episodes in which the pirates went out in what appeared to be a bear market and came back in a bull. Invariably, they were hailed on the way out and jailed or run off upon their return. Of course, an interest in pirate books and movies is not the same thing as outright piracy. Still, it makes sense that a higher level of social acceptance would precede a rising incidence of the real thing. If it is, the uptick in software and intellectual property piracy over the last few years should be the start of a bull market for plunder. |
