"The current stocks/bonds game is for all the marbles, by which I mean the status quo now depends on valuations and interest rates remaining near their current levels for the system to function. If interest rates soar and/or stocks plummet, the game is over: pension funds collapse, tax revenues drop, debt based on high asset valuations defaults, employment craters and the much-lauded 'wealth effect' reverses into a 'negative wealth effect' (i.e. everyone looking at their IRA or 401K statement feels poorer every month)."