Category: Uncategorized

Marc Andreessen is right: I think the American system is incredibly well developed. I think the founding fathers were geniuses. I think the founding fathers had lived under effective ­government, and it was called King George, and they did not like it. I mean, they knew what an autocratic government was like. And so they… Continue reading Anti-Democracy, Part 2

Poor kids who do everything right don’t do better than rich kids who do everything wrong How would you explain then the rise of all these hugely successful web 2.0 companies and their employees, few if any come from wealthy families? I hate to be the bearer of good news, but the meritocracy is alive… Continue reading Optimal Allocation of Public Resources in a Meritocracy

I was wrong about Ebola…3 people in America have been infected, contrary to my prediction that there would be no further cases besides Eric Duncan. So now there is the possibility things will get worse – more infected individuals, fear and panic that will spread faster than the virus itself. The solution for investors is… Continue reading State of the Market and Playing Ebola

Liberal celebrations of falling oil and gas prices will be short lived, as history has shown that for the past five years every violent sell-off in oil is met with an equally intense surge. In the last two instances crude oil fell into the 80’s, the price rebounded vigorously: Why are oil and gasoline prices… Continue reading Crude Oil Sell-off Only Temporary

Update: The major indexes (S&P 500) is 7% off the record high of 2014, the biggest decline since the taper fears of 2013 when the market fell about 7% as well. The markets have lost 5% in the past three trading day alone – the worst 3-day drop since 2011. The ‘E-word’ is on everyone’s… Continue reading Stocks Continue Plunge

Thank the fed, the consumer, free markets, tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, defense spending, and the ivy league for America being exceptional – as much as the libs, in their war on success, want America and its great economy to fail. In America’s post-2008 hyper-meritocracy and high-IQ society, The software engineer is the most important… Continue reading The Daily View: STEM Bailout, Elizabeth Warren, James Altucher

With the exception of the recent rout in stocks, we’re still in the what is perhaps the slowest news cycle in almost a decade. Three weeks later and still no new US Ebola patients, exactly as I thought it would be. That’s why I quit listening to right wing talk radio (and all media in… Continue reading Market Update

A common belief by proponents of the legalization of insider trading is that insider trading can help expose frauds so that the ‘little guy’ doesn’t fall victim to the next Enron or Worldcom. The idea is that insiders, privy to the fraud, will sell their shares and cause the stock price to fall to its… Continue reading Flawed Argument for the Legalization of Insider Trading

This is one of those markets where you don’t want to be committed either too long or too short. Maybe 2015 will be better for stock pickers because 2014 has been awful. The problem is these hedge funds, desperate for any yield in a hard market environment, are indecisive and change their holdings on a… Continue reading We Are Not Doomed