We were talking about Recipes this week in our Millennial’s Missing Manual (Coping section Thursday) and we have a dandy discussion this morning of Modern Monetary Theory and how it works and what does it mean. The short answer is:  Formulas cloud thinking.  But it’s a kind of turf war between the math-leaning quants on … Read More

Hot off the press release – Employment through Government-colored Glasses: “The unemployment rate, at 4.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.5 million, changed little in December. However, both measures edged down in the fourth quarter, after showing little net change earlier in the year. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, … Read More

UHD 4K monitors for the Home Office and Cold Weather Gunnery in a second, but first the odd dream about disruptive technology. Terribly interesting dream awoke me this morning a little after 3:30 AM. I was not me – rather someone else, a woman I think – and the dream took place in another time … Read More

In a second, we’ll get to the ADP and Challenger job numbers. But first, a discussion of context is in order. For those too young to remember, the term “drink the Kool-Aid” arose from the tragic events at Guyana in 1978. From Wikipedia: “”Jonestown” was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project formed … Read More

There is a Recipe to EVERYTHING we do in this Life. Very little – if anything – you do over the course of your life will be truly original and a product of your own creativity. Instead, we learn from other people. We collect “concepts” and “ideas” but the simplest way to lump concept, ideas, … Read More

Although we’re fairly sure that the all-time market peak will arrive as early as March or as late at September, there are certain “stars” we can steer by. We look at Housing, Gold, and Bitcoin prices this morning and make some observations about where these could head, and in turn, may drag the rest of … Read More

For about the eight-millionth time I’m going to remember you what week this is: June 27, 1929. The Hoover Rhyme will take office. The market will scream higher. Those left behind will stare in disbelief. Things will seem to be oh-so-good. And then it will happen: Then last damn fool will toss money into the … Read More

A word or two about how society goes through mood shifts is in order. As I scanned the news sources today I was struck by several stories that are demonstrating just how much of a reversal there has been over the holidays. A few examples? Sure… The Financial Times reports that Airbnb is facing $400 … Read More

(A one-piece report this morning due to holiday and markets being closed.) While many media outlets use the end-of-year period to go through too-many replays of last year’s news, we prefer to look “the other way.” That’s because once something sails by the ever-present Now, it’s gone and you’re left – as in golf – … Read More

By three cents! I know – why would you celebrate a victory of 3-cents over a buy/hold on the S&P?  Well because it was done using a process that is coded and which back-tested actually rocks it in times of uncertainty like 2009. In that year, the model doubled the return over a buy and … Read More

With markets set to open about flat this morning, we can help but notice the huge increase in level-of-play between the U.S. and Russia over cyber security. As you may have read, president Obama has imposed sanctions on Russia for the alleged hacking efforts this past fall. The report, GRIZZLY STEP (here) outlines why the … Read More

In response to the first part (*Intro) to our book for Millennials, reader Perry offered this which is spot-on: “I spent 44 years working in a steel mill as a machinist. They need SKILLED WORKERS. The company will not train you. You must go to a trade school. You must pass a hands on test. … Read More

Before we get into details, let me advise you up front that this is not financial – or tax – advice. You need to go with professional advice here. To the discussion point: There are two ways to look at year-end tax selling in the market. One school of thought says that the selling ought … Read More