Slope of Hope Blog Posts

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.

What’s Bigger Than a Bubble?

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I spent a lot of time recently looking at the long-term index charts. We’re all familiar with the history of the Internet Bubble and the Housing Bubble. How gigantic they were, how they were fueled by puffery or outright lies, and how the housing bubble in particular was made possible through completely bogus credit ratings. Both of these prior bubbles were powered by Alan Greenspan and his multi-trillions of largesse, and they both had historic wipeouts.

But what struck me – – really, really stuck me – – was how PUNY those two bubbles were compared to the ascent we’ve seen over the past nine years. I mean……..just look at this!

oex (more…)

How to Make a Billion Bucks

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There are a couple of seemingly unrelated events approaching. First, in a few weeks, there is the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. Second, it seems nearly inevitable that Amazon will become the world’s second trillion dollar company, following in AAPL’s footsteps. I guess they are going in alphabetical order.

I was curious what the cheapest price Amazon was after the Internet bubble burst. It turns out it was on October 1, 2001. I was struck by that date, because it was so soon after the attacks. I decided to look at what Amazon did when the market reopened after the attacks, and I’ve tinted it below. As you can see, it’s pretty much a blip. Within a couple of weeks, it got down to $5.51, and it hasn’t looked back since. (It’s approaching $2,000 now).

buyamzn (more…)