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.

Pro Cras

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Just to show how content creation is always on my mind, here’s this anecdote: last night, I had a dream about meeting famed comedian Patton Oswalt at a bar (yes, normal men have dreams of meeting beautiful supermodels; me, I dream of meeting comedians). In the dream, I persuaded a reluctant Patton to take a photo with me. He was a relatively good sport about it, even though this request happened to him constantly.

The dream was so vivid, that when I woke up, I was relieved to have an easy post for the blog, since I had this really cool picture of me and Patton Oswalt. After a few moments, I realized – – whoops – – there was no meeting, and there is no picture, so……..no post. Aww, screw it, here’s a bad fake:

0807-OSWALT

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Status Queasy

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I want to quote something I penned back in the (much happier) days of January 9, 2016 about the presidential election: “Hillary Clinton will win the election if things more or less, kinda sorta stay the same. In other words, the status quo begets the status quo…………….It’s as simple as that. Status Quo means Hillary. Financial Mayhem means Bernie. Fear means Trump. The events above will determine the winner. You heard it here first.”

Well, look around. You’ve got a VIX that was just yesterday at $12. You’ve got a Wall Street which runs with impunity. You’ve got the Clintons, who have squeezed countless tens of millions out of the corrupt system, all the while espousing the virtues of the lower classes (while wearing $13,000 Armani jackets). And you’ve got a market which is applauding this apathy by way of charts that look just like they do every day……..the S&P……..

0608-esp

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World’s Most Exclusive Club

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Today I received in the mail the State of California Primary Voter’s Guide, which the Secretary of State prints up by the millions and sends to every blessed citizen. I was expecting a few boring candidate statements of the U.S. Senate – AKA the World’s Most Exclusive Club – but, boy, was I wrong. Just take a look at some of these gems.

First off is a chap named Tim (I like him already………) who, understandably, doesn’t associate himself with any particular party. It seems what matters to him most is good old J.C., and he comes right to the point:

0428-jesus

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“Bearing” in Mind (by Bob Kudla)

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We are ready to enter into a 7 week weak period if you give credence to the cycles of the market.  Presidential election years have a rhythm, and it is telling us to short this market until mid June.  Take some summer profits and short this sucker again, and this year could be a doozy (spell check wanted me to replace with boozy, hmm) as it is the weakest start of a presidential cycle in a long time.

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