I suffer earthquakes, forest fires, floods, dubious neighbors, high taxes, corrupt politicians, and a bankrupt state government to live in California. It is all worth it just to run the Bay to Breakers every year, a five mile run from the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, which has evolved into the world?s most
It was with an enormous sense of pride and relief that I watched the last of my kids graduate from the University of California at Berkeley. Clutching his hard fought degree in political economics in hand, Robert posed for photos among friends, with thousands of beaming parents looking on. His mother died ten years ago,
Global Market Comments May 14, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (REPORT ON THE SKYBRIDGE ALTERNATIVES CONFERENCE) (REPORT FROM LAS VEGAS)
I am writing to you from the poolside cabana number B-2 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. It is an unseasonably cool 70 degrees in the shade and the air is bone- dry, so I?m on my third banana daiquiri for the day. The days when I risked getting my hands broken with a
As with all of my visits to Sin City, I made a beeline to my inside guy ? a blackjack dealer at Caesar?s Palace. It?s been a slow summer and an even slower fall. With global warming delivering the hottest summer in history, the last place tourists wanted to visit was the desert. Midwesterners have
Global Market Comments May 13, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (MAY 15 GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR), (JAPAN IS JUST GETTING STARTED), (THE PASSING OF A GREAT MAN)
Constantly chained to my MacBook Pro at home writing this letter, it is not often that I am in the room when a major market-moving event occurs. That is what happened at the SkyBridge Alternatives Asset Conference (SALT) in Las Vegas on Thursday (click here for the link at http://www.saltconference.com/). I was listening to one
Global Market Comments May 10, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE REAL ESTATE MARKET IN 2030) (BREAKFAST WITH FED GOVERNOR BOB MCTEER), (TAKE A RIDE IN THE NEW SHORT JUNK ETF), (SJB), (JNK), (CORN) ProShares Short High Yield (SJB) SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond (JNK) Teucrium Corn (CORN)
Long time readers of this letter know too well that I have been hugely negative on the sector since late 2005, when I unloaded all of my holdings (click here for ?The Hard Truth About Residential Real Estate?).? However, I believe that ?forever? may be on the extreme side. Personally, I believe there will be
No one can explain the most complex economic and monetary issues in a simpler, more homespun fashion than former governor of the Federal Reserve, Bob McTeer. He is known for carrying around two yardsticks, one slightly longer than the other, to demonstrate to your average guy the monthly changes in employment. Bob argues that the
When you look at the profusion of new ETF?s being launched today, you find that they almost always correspond with market tops. The higher the market, the greater the demand for the underlying, and the more leverage traders bay for it. The resulting returns for investors are disastrous. But occasionally a blind squirrel finds an
Global Market Comments May 9, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE RECEPTION THAT THE STARS FELL UPON), (NLR), (CCJ), (CORN), (WEAT), (SOYB), (DBA), (EUROPEAN STYLE HOMELAND SECURITY) Market Vectors Uranium+Nuclear Enrgy ETF (NLR) Cameco Corporation (CCJ) Teucrium Corn (CORN) Teucrium Wheat (WEAT) Teucrium Soybean (SOYB) PowerShares DB Agriculture (DBA)
My friend was having a hard time finding someone to attend a reception who was knowledgeable about financial markets, White House intrigue, international politics, and nuclear weapons. I asked who was coming. She said Reagan?s Treasury Secretary, George Shultz, Clinton?s Defense Secretary, William Perry, and Senate Armed Services Chairman, Sam Nunn. I said I?d be
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya, and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940, when tea
Global Market Comments May 8, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (JULY 16 BERLIN STRATEGY LUNCHEON), (WHY BEN BERNANKE HATES ME)
Come join John Thomas for lunch at the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s Global Strategy Update, which I will be conducting in Berlin, Germany, at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, July 16, 2013. A three-course lunch will be followed by a PowerPoint presentation and an extended question and answer period. I?ll be giving you my up to
I don?t just think he hates me. He truly despises me. In fact, he does everything he can to put me out of business. Take last Wednesday, for example, when the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee gave me and my views a complete thrashing. Additional quantitative easing was the last thing in the world I
Global Market Comments May 7, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (I?M OFF TO THE SALT CONFERENCE), (JULY 12 AMSTERDAM STRATEGY LUNCHEON), (BE CAREFUL! YOUR PC IS WATCHING), (TESTIMONIAL)
I will spend the rest of the week attending the 5th annual SALT conference at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. This is the preeminent get together of the major players in the hedge fund industry. There, I will hook up with readers, consulting clients, old pals, and former staff, many of whom now run
Come join John Thomas for lunch at the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s Global Strategy Update, which I will be conducting in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on Friday, July 12, 2013. A three-course lunch will be followed by a PowerPoint presentation and an extended question and answer period. I?ll be giving you my up to date view