Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
I just discovered my daughter left Santa his treat early (we typically leave this out before going to bed). It consists of:
I think we'll replace this with hot chocolate before Santa gets the wrong idea.
OK, folks, let's face facts: it's Christmas Eve, it's a shortened session, and it's time to stop looking at charts. I'll see you here on Boxing Day morning. Merry Christmas!
I know that facing a YouTube icon is rarely tempting, but honestly, this will be the funniest ten minutes of your life (if you're an MST3K-type, at least…………)
It occurred to me today that, of all the "losses" that have taken place in 2008, the greatest loss of all is probably trust. That is a calamitous loss, because unlike financial assets, it can take decades to fully be restored. Consider………..
If you thought your bank was safe, you were wrong (some were, at least………)
……or that American Capitalism was alive and well, you were wrong
…….or that your hedge fund manager was honest, especially if you assumed a shared religion would somehow ensure integrity, you were wrong
……….or that being hired by Facebook, the single hottest startup in the world, was a ticket to instant wealth, you were wrong.
……………..or that a world-famous, widely-recognized stock market guru had good stock picks, you were wrong
…………………..or that the Republican Party stood for small government and fiscal responsibility, you were wrong
…………………………or that the charlatans that run the investment banks would actually muster up some shame, you were wrong
This isn't really about you being wrong, though; it's about the world being wrong, and your perception being misguided. The expectations listed above were all reasonable. Unfortunately, the humans didn't cooperate.
Before the collapse started, people would come to this blog and giggle, "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." If anything sums up the sheer hubris of the pre-collapse world, that statement can. It shows the lunatics were running the asylum, and 2008, as the year where rationality triumphed, has laid waste the trust of millions. It will be a long time any semblance of that faith will be restored.
