Today (as I’m typing this, Monday) was quite a good day for me. I’ve been bullish on interest rates all year (and my Premium members in particular know of my obsession with the Most Important Chart in the World ™ ) and that’s moving As God Intended. One down day isn’t going to solve our problems, of course, but I’ve got to say, if Tuesday is a decent down day, there’s going to be some interesting damage happening. Take a look at the broad Dow Composite, for example:
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.
SNAP’s Latest Dorky Idea
Long-time readers know that one of my more shameless joys is to urinate all over the company Snap (“a camera company“) and its beleaguered stock. Here, as an update, is this miserable piece of crap:
Heads, They Win. Tails, You Lose.
Back in the very early 1990s, there was a lot of resentment toward high-level executives pulling down millions of dollars in salary. Congress passed a law that eliminated the deductibility of executive salaries greater than $1 million in order to quell public unrest on this topic. Companies decided to reward their executives instead of stock options and grants in order to “align the interests” of shareholders and the executives.
The theory was the executives would work super-duper hard for their Ma & Pa Kettle shareholders so that they could all get rich together.
As the chart below illustrates, this entire notion is a giant, stinking pile of horseshit. The way it works in America couldn’t be more plain. If you do a fantastic job of building shareholder wealth, you will be given Tons and Tons and Tons of compensation (see: Jeff Bezos). If you utterly screw up and provide ruinous losses for the little guy, you will be severely penalized by only making Tons of compensation (see: every executive at General Electric).
Financials Flip
It’s quite a good day – – one thing helping is that the entire financial sector is re-weakening. Just take a look at the broker/dealer index. It has been stumbling and fumbling all year long, and a clean break of that horizontal would really get this party started.
Not Funny Anymore, Maryland
Wow, this is just sad to see. Honestly. If you have any interest in the old Saturday Night Live, Chevy Chase, or – – frankly – – what it’s like to be disappointed in your autumn years – – just watch this.
