Probably the former. Reading the economic tea leaves, I suspect the USA has ZERO chance of a "genuine, economic bull market economy" until the Boomers die off. Sure, we can have "manipulated, money-print" up-swings... but the world will eventually see through all of that.
I agree, the economy as a whole is going to tank, but the thing I am trying to gauge is how much is going to be pushed into inflation instead of the market going down. On the macro scale, I see it as a kind of balancing act. We can push the effects into rising inflation or a sinking market. The US seems as intent as possible to do the former.
Supposedly these moves are made to instill confidence. The only confidence that matters in any market is that the market is FREE and FAIR. The only confidence that I have is that IDIOT politicians and IDIOT bureaucrats will TINKER with the market. If you cannot short 799 stocks, the price of the those stocks do reflect NOT a free market. Basically, those stocks become government protected private entities, which means they use gubmint accounting standards which means no accounting standards and therefore no accountability as well. Short term fixes are what makes junkies, junkies. The only long term fix for a junkie is NO short term fixes. Washington be the dealer, Wall Street be the junkie.