There are shortages of everything — from semi-conductors to stoves, from refrigerators to paper.
Don’t get me started on paper. I spent the last five nights and days updating my dictionary — only to find that paper mills discovered that making paper for books was stupid. Nobody reads any more. The mills are now making toilet paper and diapers. This morning, my paper salesman suggested I perforate the dictionary.
Not funny.
Prices are rising. Oil is up 18% this year. Bitcoin is up 3.7 times in the last year. Gold is up 20%. Nasdaq is up nearly 50%. Even GameStop has doubled.
Blind Freddie is making money in something.
I look at my portfolio: It’s too large. Too many stocks. But it’s really hard to predict the fortunes of individual stocks.
I bet more people than ever are using Zoom. But the “thinking” on Wall Street is that as the economy comes back to “normal,” we’ll use less Zoom. Hence:
Too many stocks. I don’t know the intricacies of all of them. I stick to areas I know. I put more money into leaders, like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, Facebook, Google and Shopify. But I’m crazy keen to find stocks that appear to be in the right place — Tesla, Generac, Moderna, TelaDoc, Taiwan Semi, Logitech, Enphase, Hubspot, Disney, etc. Often I start small, read a little more, feel better, than nibble a bit more.
This works in a bull market, like what we have at present. But it’s changing. Here’s a super-hot stock that did well when nobody could go anywhere. Soon we’ll be able to to gym and nobody will buy an overpriced Peloton. Maybe?
So, should I sell my Peloton which is up 89%. Or be greedy and hold on for more?
Meantime, I’m being super smart. I buy this Peloton knockoff for $385. Click here.
Bargains! Bargains. …First, the bicycle sits in the back of my Subaru Outback. I can’t lift it. It weighs 85 lbs. It has a sign on the box “Team Lift.” That’s not the worst part. I gather the girl is not part of the package.
I own Alibaba. It’s had a run-in with the Chinese authorities. It’s bounced back a little. But is now going nowhere. Time to sell? Who can predict this one? jack Ma versus the Communist capitalist regulators?
This should not happen, but when it does — hoorah!
The time it happened to Jeff Bezos and Amazon, he went semi-ballistic….. and Bezos solved the problem for itself — and everyone else by creating Amazon Web Services — the cloud part of Amazon that’s the best and biggest (and I’m guessing the most profitable) cloud provider on the planet — surpassing Google, IBM and Microsoft.
I love Bezos becoming exec chairman. He’s got more creativity in his little finger than all of us combined. Now he’ll have a little more time to think up The Next Big Idea.
Puts Mar-a-Lago to shame
This $2 billion house occupies more land than some small Europe countries.
The London Sunday Times says “Online film about alleged Putin’s ‘palace’ watched over 100 million times.”
Things I’ve learned:
+ There’s no solution (to any problem) you can’t find on the Internet, most likely on YouTube.
+ Moisturizer is the greatest invention since sliced bread. I like Gold Bond (it’s cheap), but any brand seems to work, including the expensive ones. Estee Lauder’s CEO says “skin care” is his fastest-growing segment.
+ The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the best phone Apple has ever made — the best cameras and the fastest speed. My son Michael just got one and can’t stop raving about his new iPhone.
+ I’m giving up sugar. The stuff is poison. I already gave up salt. Now everything tastes too salty. Funny how that happens.
+ I’ve become a big fat pig. Well, not really, But I’ve put on weight. Now even my pajamas — my daily executive attire — feel too tight.
+ Don’t buy a laptop with a glossy screen.
Tennis
+ It’s a running game. Get to the ball fast, you can get it back.
+ It’s a psychology game. Get depressed by losing a point. You’ll lose all the next ones.
+ In a hard-fought match, you’ll win or lose by two or three points. It’s that close.
+ Don’t think and try to hit the ball. You’ll get confused and hit the ball into the net. Yogi Berra was right: You can’ think and hit the ball at the same time.
+ There’s no better game for your old age. You get “free” exercise. And it’s so much more fun than visiting the gym.
Favorite cartoons
What the tide brought in:
Good advice:
My God… what’s wrong?
Romantic art in the snow
Nice video
Revenge of the oppressor
Leo Rosten, the great Jewish writer and authority on Jewish humor, listed as one of the characteristics of Jewish humor, revenge over the oppressor by the use of guile or circumstance.
This is such a story:
Moshe was sitting at the bar staring at his drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to him, grabs his drink and gulps it down in one swig and menacingly says, “Thanks Jew Boy, whatcha going to do about it?”
Moshe burst into tears.
“Come on, man,” the biker says, “I didn’t think you’d CRY. I can’t stand to see a man crying. What’s your problem?”
“This is the worst day of my life,” Moshe says. “I’m a complete failure.
I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me.
When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don’t have any insurance.
I left my wallet in the cab I took home.
I found my wife in bed with the postman and then my dog bit me.
So I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all.
I buy a drink; drop a capsule in and sit here watching the poison dissolve; then you show up and drink the whole thing!
But enough about me, how’s your day going?
Monday morning horrors
I’ve chunked on 7 pounds since we fled New York City mid-March last year.
I updated our portfolio. Percentagewise, it’s put on more weight. Small mercy.
See you tomorrow. — Harry Newton
