What do you do when you don’t know what to do?
Play tennis? Watch a movie? Go for a walk. Take a nap?
Is it legitimate to be stuck?
You can postpone, when it looks “too hard.” But it always isn’t as hard as you think. Just push ahead. YouTube has a zillion videos on how to do it.
In my investing today, I have three themes:
+ AI. Largely the magnificent seven.
+ Fat drugs. Eli Lilly makes Zepbound and Mounjaro while Novo Nordisk makes Wegovy and Ozempic. They’re both doing good today.
+ Dividend stocks — like JEPI, JEPQ, EVF, EFR and treasuries.
It’s OK to feel you were dead wrong.
I loved the presentation Ford used when it introduced the electric F-150. It had so many great features. I wanted to buy one.
But … it was way overpriced and didn’t have decent mileage on a charge.
Like me, Ford management got over-excited. They drank their own Kool-Aid.
Ford is now halving production of the electric F-150 and eating the cost of the cool new factories they built to make F-150 Lightnings.
Sad. Morals:
+ Don’t believe your own enthusiasms. Oops. Believe them. But keep something for a rainy day.
+ When you’re wrong, sell. I bought Ford stock. It didn’t move. I got out. Short fuses are useful.
+ The reality of higher prices and shorter tank mileage of electric vehicles has hit the American consumer.
+ There’s a huge space for cheap, small, simple electric vehicles. Tesla understands that. So do the Chinese.
+ I’m dubious about hybrids. They cost more and don’t have much of a range. 25-30 miles? Yuch.
+ Try some low-test (87 octane) in your car. It won’t ping. It will still work. You may lose one or two miles per gallon.
More recommendations
+ South Korea shines. We love our LG washers and dryers. My friend loves her KIA Telluride. I love the KIAs I have rented.
+ Costco is selling high-end Starlink dishes and service. Says Costco, “Works Anywhere with a Clear View of the Sky, Including Polar Regions.” $2,500. Brilliant. Click here.
+ Instagram and Quora are wonderful time-wasters. Instagram, for the animals. Quora, for the stories you don’t read anywhere else — like what it’s like to be locked up in an American prison for 20 years. My favorite podcast is Acquired for their detailed insights into leading technology companies, like Nvidia.
+ Mesh networks work better in your home than single Wi-Fi routers.
+ Cell phone service is deteriorating nationwide, under pressure of streaming video demands. Better to use your cell phone on Wi-Fi over the Internet. Don’t make an important business call on a cell connection.
+ Google’s Chrome is the best browser and getting better. It now has AI. Ask it a question. Wow. Morgan Stanley (and me) like Google’s stock.
+ Don’t buy a laptop unless it has a touch screen — like an iPad.
Many big startups are dying
From Unicorns to Zombies: Tech Start-Ups Run Out of Time and Money
After staving off collapse by cutting costs, many young tech companies are out of options, fueling a cash bonfire.
The article ends:
One area that is thriving? Companies in the business of failure.
SimpleClosure, a start-up that helps other start-ups wind down their operations, has barely been able to keep up with demand since it opened in September, said Dori Yona, the founder. Its offerings include helping prepare legal paperwork and settling obligations to investors, vendors, customers and employees.
It was sad to see so many start-ups shutting down, Mr. Yona said, but it felt special to help founders find closure — both literally and figuratively — in a difficult time. And, he added, it is all part of Silicon Valley’s circle of life.
“A lot of them are already working on their next companies,” he said.
For the full piece, click here.
Do we want a dictator?
My father and mother ran away from Hitler and Stalin. They lived in a tiny town in Romania. (Now the town is in southern Ukraine.)
They feared Hitler would kill them because they were Jews. They feared Stalin would kill them because they were capitalists.
All their neighbors were killed or sent to Siberia to work the salt and the coal mines. Including my father’s sister.
Stalin killed 3.9 million Ukrainians by starving them. It was during the Holodomor of 1932-33. That was before Hitler killed six million Jews.
The chances are strong we’ll get a dictator. His name is Donald Trump. He’s referring to people (like me) as “vermin.” That was a word Hitler used.
The definitive piece on why trump will be elected is from The Washington Post and begins:
A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.
You can read the Post’s impeccable logic here.
I’ve been reading a lot about dictators. Here are two books I recommend:
If you missed this, it’s still wonderful
The weather up here today is gorgeous. Them’s the Catskill Mountains about 40 miles away.
It’s 62° outside in the sun. Go figure.
See you soon. — Harry Newton
