What “Report from Iron Mountain” missed.  “Report from Iron Mountain on the Accessibility and Desirability of Peace” was long-rumored to have been a parody of “think-tank” style contingency planning prevalent during the Cold War and during Vietnam, as well. Alhough controversial at the time, the core idea of the book was that using capitalism, humans … Read More

Interesting headline in the Case-Shiller (et al) Housing report just out:  The headline: “CHARLOTTE JOINS TOP THREE CITIES IN ANNUAL HOME PRICE GAINS ACCORDING TO S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER INDEX ” Followed by details which are really a bout housing slowing down: “S&P Dow Jones Indices today released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller … Read More

Before the “short run through the snews” a word, or two, about history.  There are places where it  rhymes.  And, if you hear the [historical]  sound of music right, it can keep you from making stupid investment decisions.  Which is why understanding any period in its historical context is so important for living a ‘good … Read More

Not much of a day shaping up in markets:  Europe is down, and since ALL markets are linked (and have been for years) we would not be surprised should the US follow-suit later on, but as always that’s neither advice nor prediction.  More, like a head-up while watching sports, being able to ‘know where to … Read More

You can’t live aboard a 40-foot sailboat, sailing everything from the NW tip of Vancouver Island to Mexico (except for the middle part of Oregon, due to trucking the boat from Seattle to Alameda…) without learning a few things about “the weather.” More than once, weather knowledge has paid-off many times over. Yet, most wannabe … Read More

Down to the “Concept Corral” as we model the future this week. Our approach, as with all research, is to review what is known and then construct a filtering process on several levels. This is a useful exercise because it can turn into a wellspring of good ideas.  Or, in the case of coming up … Read More

Do MBA’s have heroes?  You bet. Two of mine are Tom Peters and Robert Waterman whose 1982 book In search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies” more than any other single factor are what “turned the corner for me.   Led me out of chasing down the news and chasing management skills.  It was … Read More

Our future could fall apart next week.  Other than Summer ending on Monday, the 23rd being a bit later this year, the other key date will be the close of trading one week from now.  That’s because current markets have some similarities to the 1929 blow-off period. To derive this view, we built an equal-dollar … Read More

Despite all the “Fed losing it” hysteria, we are awed by how nicely the market opened and promptly moved back into its “trend channel” within minutes of today’s open: So, for those playing the home version of  Replaying 1929, we continue to look forward to next Thursday which would be the modern-era approximation of the 82-trading … Read More

Reader Note:  We will be posting this morning in pieces because of a power outage here in “the outback.”  When storms roll through this part of East Texas, we will occasionally get power outages as tree limbs fall and so forth.  While people like to decry the use of “smart meters” there is an upside … Read More

Ever have a good idea? One you longed to patent and implement but it would take just too much effort at precisely the wrong time? An interesting tale today of a novel idea presented in a couple of 2013 and 2014 Peoplenomics articles and how (I can’t make this up) the idea shows up in … Read More

Moving pieces.  Whether it’s a chessboard, monopoly, Texas Hold-Em Poker…there’s just a ton of “moving data” in the news today, so we will approach things as though back in the boardroom trying to keep a meeting on track with an agenda… We should mention the Fed is being channeled as lowering rates, 2PM tomorrow afternoon … Read More

There I was Sunday: Online shopping.  Odd assortment of things, too:  An old-style clothesline kit with pulleys and 150 feet of line, a 1″X30″ belt sander with assorted silicon carbide blades for knife-making, brass rod for fasteners.  Overall, an eclectic mix but nothing out of the ordinary for a well-prepped, non-urban, survival-oriented fellow who sees … Read More