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.

A Charted Viewpoint

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(Note: This is an abbreviated version of the original article on MarkStCyr.com)

Well It didn’t take long (a new all time never before seen in the history of mankind always fuels this) before not only did I once again begin receiving smirks from others in regards to my thoughts on the financial markets, but a few thought they would jab a few elbows my way adding that maybe I should not have been so forth coming, or so quick to write my thoughts on what Tony Robbins had been expressing. For as one person said to me “You seem to have a little egg on your face.” (more…)

Let Them Eat – Student Debt!

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This past Friday I like many others were waiting for my comedic coffee break to be broadcast over the financial media outlets. When the set up was told I grinned in amusement and expectation. When the punchline was delivered I almost fell off my chair as I buckled in uncontrollable laughter. That punchline? The unemployment rate now stands at 5.8% Now that’s comedy!

Just when I felt my sides couldn’t take any more unbeknownst to me the preceding line of comedic humor unleashed by the so-called “smart crowd” was one line of ridiculous humor laced drivel after another. (more…)

Is Wall St. Now Just A Form Of Legal Gambling?

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It’s really hard to tell the difference when one looks at the markets today to see any real difference from that of the floor of any casino.

For all intents and purposes financial shows seem to be more concerned with showing great legs on-screen as much as some sports broadcasts are pushing to have their female equivalent commentating from the side lines. What’s next – a cheer-leading squad of scantily dressed talking heads waving pom-poms every-time the camera pans? Sorry, I forgot…That’s CNBC™.

I find it almost uncanny in just how the once bastions of free market capitalism are morphing into both the look and feel of today’s casino. If you look at the myriad of assorted slot machines on a casino floor one can’t help but notice that all the lights and sounds with their inner entangled games within games seem to have all the color pallets and changing graphics of most trading screens. (more…)

A Thought For Today’s Entrepreneur

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The more thing change, the more things stay the same is the line we’ve all heard thousands of times. The problem is that sometimes we really need to remember the reasons why we’ve heard it so much.

More often than not it’s because – it’s true. And it happens far more often but exactly; how it happens, is where many fail to see the bigger picture behind the snapshot of the time.

Today I would like to draw your attention to someone as well as something that has implications far more broad and far more sweeping than what anyone now even considers, let alone “thinks.”

Today it was announced via many media channels that Taylor Swift pulled her entire catalog off of the streaming music titan Spotify™. Whether you like her, don’t know her music, (she’s today 25-year-old pop sensation) or anything else about her, what you can not do – is not pay attention to this action by her in the bigger picture if: you consider yourself a serious entrepreneur. (more…)

Keynesian Shangri-La From Myth To Reality

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In less than the time it takes for a chrysalis to release one of life’s remarkable transformations, many once called “capitalists” woke to find the world they once knew changed into something only dreamed or told in folklore.

Where business models resembling unicorns abounded along with rainbows in their resembling equivalent of over-arching ETF’s. All available in a multitude of hues and proportions so plentiful: It was hard for one not to well up when contemplating. For in this new fairytale land there must certainly be a pot of gold at the end of every “rainbow.” However, one would be mistaken. For one must remember this is a “Keynesian Shangr-la” and gold here is useless. (insert choir music here) (more…)

Putting The Fallacy Of QE Into Perspective

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You can’t turn on a financial news program without being bombarded by panelists as well as the hosts ready-at-the-draw to pounce on anyone with an opposing view as to the “effectiveness” of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program (QE).

Once again this played out just the other day on CNBC™ where this time it was Peter Schiff who found himself in the cross hairs of today’s version of “ambush the guest.”

You can agree or disagree with anyone’s viewpoint and I even encourage people to question mine if they see fit. However, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to watch many of these anchors to witness for yourself what now has turned into all the appearances of – an ambush. (more…)

F.T.W.S.I.J.D.G.I.G.T.

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NOTE from Tim: off to my weekly recording session for my Panic book. I’ll be back this evening! Thanks, Mark……….

(For those who say I just don’t get it…Get this!)

Nothing brings on the chance for people to point fingers, or sing like schoolchildren the old, “Nah, nah, na, nah nahhhh!” when you’re in the public eye faster than saying one thing – and having the opposite happen.

I can not begin to count just how many people I know, (let alone only vaguely familiar with) that are looking at the financial markets today as they rocket higher wanting me to explain myself. My initial response almost to a person was, “What do you mean me? Ask your financial adviser!” That’s when I could see (if not feel through an email) the absolute frustration many are having.

All kidding aside, it is with good reason they’re upset. In actuality many are coming around to an all too frightening idea that many of the people they’ve listened to (or been advised by) as well as the explanations they have relied on as “fact” is dissolving right before their eyes. They are beginning to see for themselves 1+1 is not adding up to what they’ve been told. (more…)