In Search of the Perfect Investment

This election is wrenching. People are frozen. Nothing is getting done. 

Michael Levitt writes:

The 2016 presidential election is carving deep scars on the American soul. The country is on the cusp of a constitutional crisis after the FBI reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The reputation of virtually every individual and institution touched by this election is ruined – the media, Justice Department, FBI, the candidates, their surrogates and supporters, both political parties and those holding high office. Our so-called elites disgrace themselves on a daily basis. The nation is left to pick up the pieces after November 8th. Financial markets are starting to react to the coming turbulence but remain dangerously complacent.

George Friedman writes that American dread of social turmoil

…. has deeper roots, particularly in the 20th century. Two events, about 12 years apart, have left a permanent scar on the American psyche. One was the collapse of the stock markets in October 1929 and the following depression. The other was the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and the following war.

There was a common link between the two. Neither was expected by the public. Both were a shock that transformed everyday life for the worse. An argument can be made that both should have been expected. But they weren’t. These two events engraved a single principle on the American soul: that lurking beneath the surface of peace and prosperity are forces that break through and destroy both.

John Mauldin writes

Now, just a week before Election Day, we once again feel ourselves poised on the brink – and not just over the presidential outcome but also because of the parlous state of the economy.

Yesterday in USA Today, election rules expert Michael McDonald made the case that if the election is a tossup, it could very well “go into overtime,” and that “in this environment” an uncertain, protracted outcome could “rip this country apart.”

Trump’s odds of winning are rising. But he’s not in the lead. My friends fear a Trump win could lead to a 20% stockmarket sell-off.

In short,

+ This is a good NOT to own stock on margin.

+ This is  a good time to have lots of cash.

+ This is not a good time to panic.

We passed through the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam War, the crash of 1987, etc. We survived and prospered.

Don’t bet against America.

Go play tennis. Laugh a little. See below.

Facebook is a buying opportunity. 

It fell 8% after hours, but “only”  5% this morning.  My friends and I are buying. One friend who owns mega-Facebook, says he believes FB is worth $210.

As Seeking Alpha wrote this morning:

+ The quarterly results echo Q3 results from 2 years ago, when huge quarterly numbers were overshadowed by a high expense guide.

+ The stock sold off then as it is selling off now, but that proved to be a great long-term buying opportunity as 2015 investments rolled into 2016 results.

This is 100% scam email. Be fearful.

If I were so stupid to open the attachment, my computer would be instantly infected with a virus or, worse, ransomware.

How do I know it’s a scam? First, I haven’t bought any airline tickets recently. Second, it comes from someone I’ve don’t know. Third, the attachment is a zip file. That format is perfect for hiding ransomware. That’s the name applied to crooked software that locks your computer and demands a payment to distant crooks to unlock your computer.

Never open an attachment from someone you don’t know. OK?

Make daily backups of your working files.

Things learned:

+ When in doubt, chuck it out.

+ When in doubt, stay out. (Don’t invest in it.)

+ Never invest in startups or small companies. Most go broke. Worse, any “investment” you make is totally illiquid.

If it works, don’t mess with it. The new “improved” solution will give you agita.

Item: I’m still using Microsoft Office 2003. It works perfectly. I can’t find a single feature they’ve introduced in the past 13 years that I need or want.

Finally, a booming industry that’ s booming

The new York Marathon is on this weekend. To prepare for it, a convoy of trucks has been delivering these things.

 

Around 50,000 people will finish the race. One of them will not be me. In fact, I’m leaving town.

Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons

Comey Says F.B.I. Investigating Hillary’s Ties to Bill Clinton

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-Dropping a bombshell less than a week before the Presidential election, the F.B.I. Director James Comey revealed on Wednesday that the Bureau was investigating Hillary Clinton’s ties to Bill Clinton.

The announcement, which Comey made in a letter to members of Congress, provoked immediate howls of protest from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.

“To say that they are investigating so-called ties between Hillary and Bill Clinton while offering no specifics about what those ties might be is unconscionable this close to an election,” Podesta told CNN.

Comey, however, stood his ground, telling reporters that there was no way the F.B.I. could divulge the results of its Clinton-Clinton probe before Election Day.

“We have reason to believe that the ties between these two individuals go back to the nineteen-seventies,” he said. “This is going to take some time.”

Harry Newton, who prays he finally got his software problems solved. I repeat: If it’s working, don’t “upgrade.”