Seems like the entire premise has circled around the basic disconnect between the numbers (shell) game and, well, reality as most of us know it.
I see the two things as parts of a larger whole, but maybe that is just me.
Dude's commentary re: hedge fund management seems quite a striking example of the phenomenon, actually, as does Jon's assertion of credit extension not reflective of reality.
Bubbles result from this kind of disconnect. That's my hypothesis, anyway. Well, probably not "mine" in any sense that is novel-- pretty sure that people with more expertise than I have also feel that way.
The implications for the original topic of the thread are interesting in light of that, though. Must ponder.
Much of the problem in modern education is quantifying something that doesn't lend itself well to being addressed in that way in the first place.
