{"id":33913,"date":"2016-02-19T15:06:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T20:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=33913"},"modified":"2016-02-19T15:52:14","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T20:52:14","slug":"achieving-tranquility-in-a-blizzard-of-bad-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=33913","title":{"rendered":"Achieving tranquility in a blizzard of bad news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exhibit One:<\/strong> Today’s Economist:<\/p>\n

\"OutofAmmo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Exhibit Two: <\/strong>This morning’s MarketWatch (from the Wall Street Journal):
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ChillingWays\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The photo’s caption reads: Huge crowds outside the Sub Treasury Building (now Federal Hall National Memorial) and the statue of George Washington, opposite the New York Stock Exchange at the time of the Wall Street Crash, October 1929. (Photo by Keystone\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n

The MarketWatch article begins:<\/p>\n

One view of what caused the Great Depression in the 1930s is that the Federal Reserve failed to prevent a collapse in the money supply.<\/p>\n

This is the famous thesis of Milton Friedman\u2019s and Anna Schwartz\u2019s A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960<\/a>, and it was, more or less, the view of Ben Bernanke when he was chairman of the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n

The global economy today resembles that of the 1930s in several ominous ways.<\/p>\n

Blood is running in the streets (or at least in the media).<\/p>\n

I get no pleasure reading the endless “gloom and doom” stories. I’ve explained their gist to my readers a zillion times: China. Tightening earnings. Oil and commodities bankruptcies. Emerging countries no longer emerging. And now many of the Sovereign Wealth Funds of places like Norway and Saudi are being denuded.<\/p>\n

I’d be in buying equities big-time if I could find bargains — single digit P\/Es on big, solid, leading American companies. But I don’t see them. I see too many high P\/E companies whose earnings are slowing. Where are the bargains of early 2009?<\/p>\n

Normally I’d be freaking. But I feel calm, if not positively tranquil.<\/p>\n

I’m largely out of the market. If it decides to crash some more, so be it. I’ll be playing tennis, enjoying my grandkids, and saying NO to a lot of really stupid ideas I’ve seen recently.<\/p>\n

Some people are tranquil if they ignore their portfolio’s gyrations, eyeing them maybe once a year. I did that once when I went to Africa. My portfolio plummeted, then bounced back. By the time I was on the Internet again, my portfolio was back where it had started before the vacation.<\/p>\n

If you have a day job, do dollar cost averaging. Buy more stock or more index funds every month — irrespective of the prices. When you’re old and crabby (like me), you’ll have more money.<\/p>\n

Stock prices always rise over long — very long periods. So you’re in good shape, if you’re young. You can ignore today’s madness.<\/p>\n

If you’re old, you’re worried. You’re probably out of the market and scrounging around looking for things that pay a dividend. I like syndicated residential real estate. But finding honest capable conservative syndicators is not easy.<\/p>\n

Suffice, there is still too much money for the decent investment opportunities around. This drives up the price of everything and encourages Ponzi schemes — be careful. (I’ve seen several recently.)<\/p>\n

Cash is not king. But it sure beats losing it on crappy stocks.<\/p>\n

A beautiful new black and white laser printer.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I bought my last two printers 15 years ago. They’re HP. They are still working flawlessly. I needed a black and white printer in my California house. I bought this machine.<\/p>\n

\"HPLaserJetPro\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It has a catchy name — the HP LaserJet Pro M402n Monochrome Printer. I paid $190. It’s now $170. It’s worth every penny. It’s faster, crisper, clearer, smaller and (obviously) better than my old HP printers which cost at least five times as much.<\/p>\n

The new one’s only drawback is the HP installation software which (like all HP installation software) is awful. Here’s my “solution:”<\/p>\n

Put the HP disc in your Windows PC and tell Windows to “add a printer.” Fiddle for a few minutes and it will magically print a “test page. If not successful first time, fiddle again.<\/p>\n

To buy the printer from Amazon, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Tales of the Apple Watch.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve still got mine. Friends have returned theirs. They didn’t like having to charge it every night.<\/p>\n

Unlike an Apple iPhone, the Apple Watch is not a “must have.” The thing has many features. You need to figure which ones you like and whether those features are worth the few hundred bucks the watch costs. The good news is that places like Walmart and Best Buy are selling the watch for $100 less than Apple. This is a new Apple marketing strategy which makes sense on some level.<\/p>\n

The Watch is best thought of as a communications device. Sort of a mini-iPhone. All the stuff that pours into your iPhone — texts, emails and phone calls — also can appear on your Watch. Middle managers find this useful because checking their Watch is less obstructive in a meeting than checking their iPhone. I don’t go to many meetings but I play tennis wearing my Watch. I can quickly check who’s calling or who wants something. These days four out of five phone calls to me are spam. Everyone wants my opinion. But no one listens. Incoming phone calls show up on my Watch. I can answer the important ones and easily ignore the spam. Yes, you can speak and hear on the Watch — like Dick Tracey. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot easier than rooting around in my tennis bag to find my iPhone.<\/p>\n

Photostream is the big for grandfathers. Your children send daily photos of their children (your grandchildren). And they appear in miniature on the Watch (and the iPhone and the iPad). That’s nice.<\/p>\n

There are many watch faces. You can fiddle endlessly. Here’s a cute one. Lay the Watch on its side and attach the charger. Bingo you have a cute bedside alarm clock. It will go dark on you — to let you sleep. Tap your side table and it wakes up.<\/p>\n

\"AppleWatchSleep\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Apple Watch is useless as a fitness tool. It doesn’t accurately record anything — steps, calories, ec. For that you need a Fitbit.<\/p>\n

The Watch can be annoying. It will interrupt my afternoon nap and tell me it’s time to\u00a0 stand. Four ladies were playing bridge out here a few days ago. In the middle of a hand, two of them suddenly jumped up from the table. The Apple Watch had told them it was time to stand! I don’t make this stuff up.<\/p>\n

Finally a way to mass delete emails on your iPhone.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Remember to do it inbox by inbox. Click here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Cuban’s Blog Maverick. <\/strong><\/span>Mark Cuban is rich and smart. Here’s his comments on the present primaries:<\/p>\n

There has not been a single instance of leadership from any of the candidates.<\/p>\n

Bitching about everyone else is not leadership. It may play to the base, but it certainly doesn’t reflect an ability to lead. This years candidates seem to want to prove to everyone that they conform to “party principles” rather than offering strategies and solutions and rallying consensus behind it. In fact, they argue with each other about who conforms to party standards more. IMHO, this is just crazy.<\/p>\n

The democrats argue about who can give away more stuff and is more progressive. The republicans argue about who is the purer conservative and how hard they will work to undo what is already done. Both sides stick purely to issues that are raised in polls and in debates. None of the candidates have moved into new territory.<\/p>\n

It’s as if there is an island for democrats and an island for republicans and no one ventures off.<\/p>\n

A leader would come up with new ideas and new solutions for issues that are outside what everyone is talking about and make people realize just how important they are to the country. It may not seem like it sometimes, but this country does want exciting new ideas. We want to know there is a positive direction for us. The future of this country can’t just be about free stuff, raising taxes on the rich or cutting taxes for everyone, keeping people out and undoing what is already done.<\/p>\n

There are new ideas in this world that matter.\u00a0 It would be nice to get one from a Presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Old, but priceless vignettes from our courts<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
\nWITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
\nATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
\nWITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I’m going with male.
\n_____________________________________<\/p>\n

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
\nWITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
\n_____________________________________<\/p>\n

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
\nWITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM
\nATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
\nWITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
\n_____________________________________<\/p>\n

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
\nWITNESS: No.
\nATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
\nWITNESS: No.
\nATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
\nWITNESS: No.
\nATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
\nWITNESS: No.
\nATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
\nWITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
\nATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
\nWITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.<\/p>\n

\"HarryNewton\"<\/a>
\nHarry Newton who has a iPhone that contains nothing of any interest to anyone, including the FBI, the NSA, Homeland Security, etc. Apple’s stand on iPhone privacy is brilliant marketing. If the government can’t open an iPhone I want one\u00a0 Great sales message. The NSA, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security can’t open an iPhone? Either they really are incompetent and all my taxes are being wasted. Or there’s something going on that I don’t know about… This is getting creepier by the moment.<\/p>\n