@Hakunayourtatas:
The Myth of "High" Rates: Why Structural Growth and Options Cash Flow Dominate a Normalized Macro Era 1. Introduction: The Anxiety of "Higher for Longer" Across financial media and retail trading forums, the phrase "higher for longer" is routinely treated as a harbinger of market stagnation. Investors who began their journey during the post-2008 bull run have spent years operating under a specific mental model: cheap debt, endless liquidity, and near-zero interest rates as the default background setting for asset appreciation. As central banks maintained elevated baseline interest rates to manage persistent structural inflation, a pervasive anxiety took hold. The dominant fear suggests that elevated cost of capital will permanently compress equity valuations, crush growth stocks, and force