The Buffett Indicator Screams Collapse—Will Anyone Listen This Time?

Wall Street’s Favorite Metric Just Flashed Code Red The stock market is surging to dizzying heights, but Warren Buffett’s favorite warning gauge is blinking like a siren in a hurricane. The Buffett Indicator—the ratio of the total market capitalization of U.S. stocks to the nation’s GDP—just smashed through 230%, a level that makes the dot-com bubble’s peak of 175% look quaint. In the year 2000, when the tech bubble burst, wiping out trillions, this metric was screaming at Wall Street gamblers to take cover. They didn’t listen then, and they aren’t listening now. But this time, the excesses are even more grotesque, the risks even greater, and the global economic conditions far less forgiving. We’re not just in overvalued territory—we’re…