In Search of the Perfect Investment

When markets crater, the press looks for bears.

Yesterday Time Money published this story:

The five “famous” investors are David Stockman, Scott Minerd, Paul Tudor Jones, Ray Dalio and John Hussman.

You can read the entire silly piece here.

Here’s NASDAQ for the last ten days until mid-morning when it turned around and skyrocketed. Not predictably. No one can predict timing. But if you had faith and stayed with our tech stocks, you knew it was going to happen.

Meantime Business Insider also published nonsense:

Here’s Business Insider’s nonsense:

In the equity market, when the bad news rains, it often pours. And if one troubling signal is to be believed, the biggest companies in tech may soon be finding that out the hard way.

Facebook’s earnings were stupendous. This morning Cramer said FB was the cheapest stock in the S&P 500.

Amazon and Microsoft report after the close of trading today. Earnings will be great . Square reports next week.

I’m on a cleanup roll.

I’m sick of the mess in my office. I got sick of schlepping to bank branches in search of my errant safety deposit box, traveling around after my bank closed many branches.

There are two elements to my new strategy. On  the left is a ten gallon trash can. I now have two of them. On the  right a 1.2 cubic safe.

The safe costs $80.99 and is bone easy to install. Click here. The trash can costs $21. Click here. 

The most amazing skiing movie you’ve ever seen. Courtesy Audi.

Skiing and surfing. But not one skerrick of snow. Click here.

I get phone calls

“You remember me?”

“No.”

“I’m not sure the name rings a bell.”

“It doesn’t.”

“I spoke to you about Square when it was $50. It went to $58.”

“But it’s now $45.”

“Just start with 100 shares.”

“No.”

Actual conversation. I can’t make this up.

Why do I think this is funny?

The gorgeous blonde U.S. Tech Editor for the Economist is on CNBC TV wearing braces on her teeth.

You have to be that young to understand tech?

While she has braces, I have implants.

Buy shares in a dental practice! You get them young and old.

Why do I think this is funny?

What would be the consequences if Trump pardons Michael Cohen?

From Quora (which I like  — but for amusement, not for investing)

by Alex Denethorn, British, but heavily interested in US Politics

Few minor things to note:

First off, Cohen isn’t currently being charged with federal crimes, which are the only kind that can be covered by a Presidential Pardon. He is likely to be indicted by the State of New York, and the President has no power to offer a pardon to anyone under those circumstances, even if convicted. A Presidential Pardon may not be applicable to Cohen.

If Cohen were to be charged on the federal level, a Presidential Pardon would be applicable. However, it would also remove the ability to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Put bluntly, the Fifth protects you from being compelled to answer if doing so might incriminate you and place you at risk of prosecution. A pardon removes that risk, and therefore enables you to be compelled to testify. Cohen’s acceptance of a Presidential Pardon in that instance would guarantee that he’d be called up for testimony in any investigation of Trump. This would not benefit Trump in the slightest.

However, there are wider consequences beyond merely the legal ones: Trump pardoning his `fixer’ would invariably point to the notion that there’s some form of quid-pro-quo in play, and that Cohen expects Trump to bail him out of any legal trouble – and that Trump will have done this. That raises some serious questions as to why Trump is so inclined to protect Cohen – noting that narcissists do not stick their necks out for anybody unless there’s a good reason. Put bluntly: Cohen being in need of protection is one thing, but getting that protection from Trump is quite another.

This will, of course, serve as further evidence that Trump is willing to play fast-and-loose with the justice system: wielding the Presidential Pardon nepotistically, to save those close to him from being in trouble. How is he protecting the United States when he subverts the justice system to protect his friends and allies? It would be a simple declaration: “My friends are above the law, even when convicted by it”. Is that a President anyone can truly have faith in?

Of course, we also have to consider blackmail implications: why would Trump pardon Cohen? What does Cohen have that could be damning against Trump? Does he know something about Trump that might jeopardise his Presidency, his marriage, his business interests? A pardon would send a signal that Cohen has some hold over Trump.

It’s also worth noting that acceptance of a Presidential Pardon is often taken as admission of guilt. If Cohen is guilty of wrongdoing, that’s a real problem for Donald Trump, because Cohen only has three clients, one of whom is none other than Donald Trump. If Cohen has been engaged in criminal activities, were they done on behalf of, at the behest of, or in the interests of Donald Trump?

That observed, it’s highly unlikely that a Presidential Pardon even applies to Cohen: he’s being prosecuted by New York State, and Trump has no power over those convictions. Chances are that Trump won’t do anything for Cohen beyond tweeting his usual self-interested outrage.

You do then have to wonder: will Cohen feel betrayed by the man he’s being protected? And, thus betrayed, what will he do to save his own ass? Suffice it to say, Trump’s in a serious bind no matter what happens here. The next few months will be interesting!

From the Chicago Tribune

A woman won $25,000 after  entering a sweepstakes at an Illinois gambling parlor. Good for her except that she happens to be a prominent anti-gambling crusader, having gone after casinos, a VFW raffle, and even the parent company of the gambling parlor where she won. Still, she insists she’s not a hypocrite: Her winnings are a result of her crusade. “It’s God showing his grace on me.”

Harry Newton. I’m watching ads for Prevagen, the “best-selling” dietary supplement for your brain. Please don’t buy Prevagen. You’re wasting your money. No one has any idea what harm it may or may not do to you.