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.
It was all going so well for the bulls. Just two days ago, we were hitting multi-year lows. Thanks to the shameless whores in Washington, and their desire to bail out their rich buddies, they were ready to throw $6 trillion at the billionaires (and a few shekels for common people, just to throw them off the scent). But Bernie came along and pissed all over it shortly before the close. The nearly 4,000 point rally got paused.
Many of you know the name David Stockman. He was Ronald Reagan’s famous budget director for the “Reagan Revolution” , a Congressman, a money manager, and author of what I consider the greatest business book ever written, The Great Deformation. He is, incidentally, a paying member of the Slope of Hope, and I have had the pleasure of corresponding with him.
As my over-the-top review of his book suggests, I consider Mr. Stockman a stunningly superb writer. Besides his excellent books, he also writes a five-times-a-week missive called Contra Corner, of which I am a dues-paying member. He wrote me about a week ago and suggested Slopers might find it appealing, as I do, so he suggested (unprompted by me) promoting Contra Corner here on Slope. I readily agreed.
Here is his “pitch” below. I am, let’s just say, a thrifty soul, and Contra Corner is the ONLY thing I subscribe to. I’d urge you to consider signing up, since he offers a vantage point I don’t think you can get anywhere else. So here’s David……………
(more…)We are living in a singularly bizarre time. And it just seems to me the stage is set for things to go from bizarre to outright surreal.
It feels like the world is slowly shutting down, day by day. Schools are closing. Events, both big and small, are being cancelled. Travel is collapsing. People are scared.
The only ones who should be grateful are the 18,000 (!) employees drawing salaries from the Federal Reserve. Even though the financial cataclysm at hand is entirely and utterly their fault, they will get a pass thanks to an invisible virus that strolled onto the scene. Jerome Powell will be seen as impotent, but he probably won’t get the wrath he so richly deserves.
(more…)The feverish purchasing of stocks since January 31st has been predicated on one absolutely laughable notion: that the government of China is well-intentioned, honest, and is fully-disclosing what’s going on with its pandemic. Allow me to remind you that this is the same government that has killed tens of millions of its own people without a second thought.
In ten months, the election of 2020 will be over. All the Representatives will have been elected. Thirty-three Senate races will be done. And, of course, the Big Kahuna, the Presidential Race will be over. We’ll have have the current occupant another four years or his replacement.
I have a lifelong interest in politics, but some months ago, for a variety of reasons, I decided to engage in a self-imposed gag order on my own political talk. I’d say I’ve been rather successful at it. Except for an occasional outburst here or there, I rarely comment on politics here on Slope, and I certainly don’t do posts about it. (I don’t follow the same rule-set on my Twitter feed, but I consider that realm to be the wild west anyway, and not my own forum).
(more…)What a mess.
See, I really like watching politics. This is going to be an amazing year for political theater, and I’ve actually been anticipating the Iowa caucus for months. The results were supposed to be out by 5:30 p.m. my time, so I started hitting the refresh screen starting a few minutes before then.
After trying to get an update for hours, with no results presenting themselves, it was clear to me that something was seriously messed up. Turns out that the heart of the matter was a completely screwed-up app developed by a company called Shadow. The headlines have been tumbling out all morning……..
(more…)I promise, this is not a solicitation to talk politics, nor a provocation to do so. I just like charts. And I find what’s happened over the past four months to be just amazing.
Below is the chart of the odds for certain individuals to win the Democratic nomination. Four months ago, in October, Elizabeth Warren had an ungodly lead. In fact, she had a greater percentage than every other candidate combined!
