Our government is shut down. In a couple of weeks Congress may fail to lift the debt ceiling. This could bring upon the United States an unprecedented crisis where we don’t pay interest on our government debt and the world thinks we’re deadbeats. The price of\u00a0 our bonds could plummet, interest rates could spike and our slumbering recovery could be turned into a rout. Our stockmarket could crater. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Do I think this is likely to happen? Well… let’s look at the debt ceiling. It needs to be lifted because Congress has already approved the spending. It’s not as though lifting the debt ceiling will lift government spending one penny. Therefore why should some Congresspeople object to raising the ceiling? Having tried 43 times to kill Obamacare, some members of Congress are latching onto the debt ceiling as their bargaining chip to kill, or at the very least amputate Obamacare. Their hatred of Obamacare is so intense they’ve already shut down much of the Federal government, throwing hundreds of thousands of people out of work and severely hurting industries like those making things for our defense, and the airlines — many of whose passengers can no longer get a passport.<\/p>\n Are we dealing with rational people? The Tea Party. Do yourself a favor, read Wikipedia on Michele Bachmann, one of the leading Tea Party lights. She wants to shut down social security and Medicare, kill abortion, stop same sex marriages, etc.<\/p>\n Comments the New York Times, “The conservatives remain resolute against compromises, even some embraced by Republican leaders. Representative John Fleming, Republican of Louisiana, said he could not accept a repeal of the health law’s tax on medical devices as a concession to reopen the government. “That could be bad because it could improve a bad bill,” he said. “And while it’s a terrible tax, removing a tax to make what is really an atrocious bill to make the economy slightly better, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” …<\/p>\n I don’t like most funds.<\/strong><\/span> Private equity funds. Distress hedge funds. Distress real estate funds. Funds are put together and sold to the likes of you and I simply because the promoters can sell them. With funds, promoters can’t lose. They typically take a management fee (typically 2%) every year — no matter how good the fund’s investments do. Which means they have a huge incentive to never end the fund, especially if it’s doing poorly — as most recently have.<\/p>\n The promoters will receive an incentive fee of the profits after return of your capital. But these days are not the halcyon days of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when there were few funds and oodles of great startup investments — like Staples, Home Depot, Pizza Hut — that were\u00a0 about the change the American economy’s landscape.\u00a0 These days these investments are few and far between — with the exception of a handful of great Internet companies — like Google, Amazon, Priceline, eBay, LinkedIn, etc.<\/p>\n Here’s a chart of one fund I’m in. Look at it. After all these years, this thing is up a miserable 36% — after six years. That used to be the annual appreciation you’d get in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
![\"Va;luationHistory\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/ValuationHistory.jpg\")
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