The Joy of Schadenfreude

In the age of Trump and Musk consolations must be found even when they are expensive pleasures too.

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Schadenfreude is not an especially ennobling sentiment but it remains irresistible. The tanking of the American stock market, spooked by the new president’s bone-headed enthusiasm for tariffs, is an expensive pleasure for many of us. Expensive because many of our pensions are to one extent or another keenly interested in the Dow Jones Index; a pleasure because comeuppance is a dish to be enjoyed at any temperature.

Within this market correction - itself a pricing of future expectations - Tesla’s collapsing share price is especially pleasing. It has lost 40 percent of its market value since the turn of the year. Admittedly, …