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Why I like tech stocks and why you should too.

Here’s why I like tech stocks: This year-to-date of Nasdaq compared with the Dow and the S&P 500. Nasdaq is the top blue line.

This growth has happened despite the virus, despite the protests, despite the many unemployeds, despite the uncertainty of another Fed stimulus, and tdespite he upcoming election — which will cause riots in the streets — irrespective of who wins — according to my “learned” friends.

I have received prophecies that predict everything from mayhem to nirvana, and everything in between.

Nicholas Kristof of the ultra-left wing rag called the New York Times wrote a piece yesterday:

We Interrupt This Gloom to Offer … Hope
Yes, America is suffering needlessly. That may save us.

Just one in six Americans in a poll last month was “proud” of the state of the country, and about two out of three were actually “fearful” about it. So let me introduce a new thought: “hope.”

Yes, our nation is a mess, but overlapping catastrophes have also created conditions that may finally let us extricate ourselves from the mire. The grim awareness of national failures – on the coronavirus, racism, health care and jobs – may be a necessary prelude to fixing our country.

The last time our economy was this troubled, Herbert Hoover’s failures led to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election with a mandate to revitalize the nation. The result was the New Deal, Social Security, rural electrification, government jobs programs and a 35-year burst of inclusive growth that built the modern middle class and arguably made the United States the richest and most powerful country in the history of the world.

I don’t believe the New York Times is an ultra-left wing rag, though many of my friends do. Sadly, for them, the New York Times must be doing something right (at least in their terms). It’s done better this year than even Nasdaq. It’s the top blue line.

Some of my friends are going to sell all their stock when Biden is elected in November.

Some of my other friends are going to sell all their stock when Trump is elected in November.

Here’s what I’m going to do (and what you should also): Don’t listen to the prophecies. Stick to your knitting. Stick to what you understand. Stick to what you’re good at.

If you’re good at real estate, find and buy cheap property. Maybe someone has to sell good stuff cheap because of other reasons?

If you’re good at understanding technology — I think I am — then keep looking for new hot technology. Start your own company. Buy some of the technology stocks in our portfolio (right hand column — here). I’ve just added a few new ones.

Above all, avoid the New York Times and Fox News. You don’t need the agita. Though if do you get it, buy shares in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). They make Tums.

If all this is too hard,  I suggest a regular tennis game.

This early morning, Mark Johnson and I played our 128th consecutive game of tennis. That’s over four months of playing singles tennis every day.

By the way, you don’t need to look. But our portfolio is up handsomely today. I’m sure there’s a reason.

These 2 inch AC caps tell a story

You use these plastic caps to plug the small round holes in the central air conditioning systems in your home. The moron who “designed” your AC system didn’t ask you if you really wanted your mudroom air conditioned. Or your bathtub. Or your hall.

While you’re at it, it’s a good idea to check that your electrician included switches to turn on the lights he so diligently installed in your walls and ceiling.

I don’t make this up. I hold tours every Thursday afternoon.

Sound advice

+ Don’t sign up to anything. No matter what. Especially politicians. They’ll pass your email address onto all their friends and you’ll be inundated with begging emails from politicians you never heard of in places you’ve never been. (Or want to go.)

If you have to sign up, there is only one solution: Get yourself a nonsense email address and kill it every sixty days.

+ Don’t use Webex. Zoom is much better. Zoom deals with audio and video much much better. If you are forced to use Webex, be aware that Webex spews files all over your PC. It took me ten minutes to get rid of all the Webex garbage last night.

+ Laptops are better for Zoom calls — for only one reason. Laptops have their camera in the middle. iPads have their cameras on the side. That makes for awkward viewing.

+ Peacock TV is a waste of time. Even though it’s free. You get what you pay for.

+ Never try to replace the seat on your Toto toilet. You’ll never get the old one off. I’m still trying. It’s been two weeks. Being on-hold with Toto Customer “Service” gives excitement a whole new meaning.

Tasteless cartoons

Tomorrow 

If I don’t get bogged down with all the depressing news, I’ll see you tomorrow. For now, a nap is in order. — Harry Newton

 

3 Comments

  1. Scooter says:

    Harry, you said: “I don’t believe the New York Times is an ultra-left wing rag”

    Have you read the resignation letter from Bari Weiss? She’s a leftist who says the NYT has gone off the rails. Journalism be damned, she thinks the NTY is catering to Twitter, who’s political machine is mostly bots.

  2. Carl A. Wright says:

    Ted,

    Re; the toilet seat, I haven’t seen that toilet seat, but I’ve done amazing things with the help of others on the Internet(YouTube, etc.). I looked a little bit and I’m guessing that you can’t find the bolts on the underside of the toilet to unscrew the seat. One posting described how to gently open two little covers below the seat that give you access to the bolt heads. After you get to the bolts, it is easy-peasy.

    Also, I spend a lot of my time in retirement going to technical classes in HVAC. The 2 inch covers you show in your posting couldn’t possibly be involved in moving cooling to places in your house. On 99% of homes the cooling is moved as air in ducts or as refrigerant from outside to an evaporator coil in the ducts.

    The other 1% of homes are moving cool water to places with under floor grids to absorb heat. Your house sounds fancy enough to have in-floor cooling, but you have to run the water to the rooms and have the grids in the floor.

    I have seen openings on the main heater/cooler that might use caps like you show, but they to allow water to drain from the furnace if it installed horizontally vs. vertically. If you don’t cover them then air blows our of the heating/cooling unit. It would just affect your furnace room.

    • harrynewton says:

      Carl, please send me an email so we can discuss this further..harry at harrynewton dot com