To The Class of 2014

Posted on May 20, 2014 by MN Gordon

Commencement season is here.  Though no trade school or remedial academy invited us to address their graduates, we won’t let that get in the way.  What follows, free of charge, are several observations, opinions, and suggestions, we’ve prepared for this year’s graduating class…

Congratulations!  Now that you’ve successfully completed your academic studies you will begin your real world education at the school of hard knocks.  All of you are enrolled.  Some of you will be up to the challenge.

You will quickly discover that what you learned in college has ill prepared you for your next endeavor.  What’s more, the world you’ve been told you are entering – an abundance of opportunity and high paying jobs – only exists in fragments, if at all.  On top of that your elders have stacked the deck against you…you’ll be paying for their retirement and yours.

Where to begin?

First off, the school of hard knocks is not a four year program. Continue reading →

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A Symbol of Death for Stocks

Posted on May 16, 2014 by MN Gordon

We’re spoiled for material.  Each and every day we check the headlines with glee.  Not only are we eager to see what’s happening…we’re eager to discover the latest canard.

For instance, last fall something called Balloon Dog sold at a Christie’s auction for $58.4 million.  Balloon Dog, if you’ve never heard of it, is a stainless steel art project designed to look like a gigantic twisty balloon dog.  How cool is that?  And there’s meaning behind it too…

“I’ve always enjoyed balloon animals because their like us,” articulated artist and Balloon Dog creator Jeff Koons.  “We’re balloons.  You take a breath and you inhale, it’s an optimism.  You exhale, and it’s kind of a symbol of death.”

No doubt, the mania for art is inhaling with optimism.  Earlier this week, Christie’s held another auction.  Apparently, $745 million worth of paintings and sculptures were sold off…the highest total for a single Christie’s auction, not accounting for inflation.  More importantly, and demonstrating the gigantic global wealth transfer from west to east over the last decade, half the buying was done by Xin Li, deputy chairman of Christie’s Asia. Continue reading →

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How a Big Cat Started Europe’s Addiction to Oil

Posted on May 13, 2014 by MN Gordon

How a Big Cat Started Europe’s Addiction to Oil
By Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Investment Strategist

On July 1, 1911, a German gunboat named Panther sailed into the port of Agadir, Morocco, and changed history.

For the previous two decades, a faction within the British Admiralty had called for the navy to switch from coal-fired ships to ones powered by a new fuel.  Admiral John Fisher, First Sea Lord, led the charge, trumpeting oil’s numerous advantages: It had nearly twice the thermal content of coal, required less manpower to use, allowed refueling at sea, and burned with less telltale smoke.

Doesn’t matter, replied naval tradition: Britain lacks oil, and she has lots of coal.  The switch would put the greatest navy in the world at the mercy of burgeoning oil-rich countries and the oil trusts that operate in them. (It didn’t help that the navy’s first test of oil-firing in 1903 engulfed the ship in a cloud of black smoke.)

It wasn’t common knowledge at the time, but Germany had surpassed the mighty British Empire in manufacturing in the late 1800s, most notably in the production of steel. Continue reading →

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Wealth Building for Pigs

Posted on May 9, 2014 by MN Gordon

Today we close our eyes, tilt back our head, and breathe deeply.  Not only do we breathe in oxygen…we breathe in something more: Perspective.

We’ve never gutted a hog around here.  But, from what we gather, it’s a bloody mess.  Nonetheless, starring at and contemplating a ham and egg breakfast plate we find a thorough lesson on commitment.

You may’ve heard this little allegory before.  When it comes to a ham and egg breakfast, the chicken’s involved in providing for the breakfast.  It provides the eggs.  But the pig’s fully committed to it.  The pig must perish to provide the ham.

Naturally, this extended metaphor offers many rich insights.  For most endeavors there are chickens who are involved and pigs who are fully committed.  To a large extent, whether we like it or not, when it comes to schlepping and scratching for wealth, we must be pigs. Continue reading →

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