There is a certain kind of investor who doesn’t need spreadsheets, valuation models, or macroeconomic forecasts. They need a windshield. These are the people who invest the way early humans hunted: by sight, proximity, and gut instinct. They don’t ask, “What’s the CAGR?” They ask, “Is that place always busy?” They don’t read earnings transcripts. They notice parking lots. They don’t care about discounted cash flows. They care whether the drive-thru line wraps around the building at 11:37 a.m. on a Tuesday. And frankly, they may be onto something. The Windshield Index Most investing advice assumes you live your financial life in Excel. But some people live it at stoplights. For them, the market isn’t abstract—it’s concrete, literal, and frequently visible from the left turn lane. This is the Windshield Index : How many cars are there? How fast are they moving? How irritated do the customers look? Is the place expanding sideways into what used to be a gas stat...
Every era gets the economic indicators it deserves. The 1970s had inflation and oil shocks. The 1990s had consumer confidence indexes. The 2000s had housing starts and subprime spreads. The 2010s had vibes, tweets, and whatever the Federal Reserve chair looked like while answering questions. And now—now we have microwave popcorn. Not because anyone sat down and intentionally designed it as a macroeconomic signal. But because, in the grand tradition of capitalism accidentally revealing its secrets, microwave popcorn sales quietly tell you more about quarterly margins than half the spreadsheets on Wall Street. This is not a theory born in a think tank. It’s born in break rooms, grocery aisles, and the uncanny way consumer behavior changes right before earnings calls start getting defensive. Welcome to a predictive framework nobody asked for, nobody commissioned, and nobody will formally acknowledge—yet somehow keeps working. The Accidental Indicator Economy Macroeconomics l...