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.

Pre-CPI Trading Ideas

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Good evening, everyone. I figured I’d call it a day with my Salesman video, but no, I just can’t. My incessant need to create more content than other sites compels me to do another post before I turn my attention to my fictional creation. I thus present to you my favorite fourteen short ideas which I am NOT presently in, but will seriously consider getting into IF the post-CPI environment is hospitable. The first four are for everyone, and the other ten are visible only to paying members. G’nite!

slopechart A
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Just One Coke Per Person

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Some of you may recall that back in the 1970s, it was pretty much a cliché regarding China that “If we could just sell one Coke to every person over there…………” The thinking pretty much along the lines of:

  • Gee willikers, there are a BILLION freakin’ people over there;
  • The poor sumbitches don’t have access to our delicious Cola products;
  • Think of all the MONEY we could make by selling this to them, particularly since they’d probably be incredibly excited to be enjoying something from America!

The zeitgeist to all of this was that the poor, bumbling Chinese would be lucky to have a Coke (and a smile) and we’d clean up. How ironic, then, what has actually transpired, and they are kicking OUR butt all over the economic globe. Anyway, here is an interesting overview of U.S. companies that went into China and failed, Coke be damned.

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Better Laid Than Never

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As you probably know, if for any reason you’re ever interested in destroying large sums of money, just get a government involved. City, state, or federal, it doesn’t matter. The simple fact is that these power-hungry organizations are populated by people who couldn’t hack it in the world of private enterprise, so they have found solace in union-protected, high-paying government jobs where it’s impossible to be fired and there’s zero accountability. Just show up now and then, and the direct deposits will flow.

With that as a basis, I was not the least bit surprised to see this headline in the morning paper:

risingcost
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