But his main thesis of the lean years to come, if I can paraphrase it well, had a lot of insight. In the last 50 odd years there have been 3 main investment regimes. The first, 1949 - 1966, was the growth of US hegemony due mainly to that country being the only one with the infrastructure still up and running. But then America became lazy, leading to the second regime - the Rust Bowl, 1967 - 1981. This was the time of OPEC, political scandal and 350% cumulative inflation. It was the Age of the Wimps, according to Woody. He always added a rhetorical "Correct?" after startling us with his more outrageous opinions
1982 saw the beginning of the 3rd investment regime, which lasted until 1997. It was rebirth and transformation, with Fed chairman Paul Volker bringing inflation down to 1.5%. Net US household wealth went up 150%. The stock market shot up 700%, and the US creamed about 85% of the global profit from the post-industrial material science revolution.