Confessions of a Compulsive Scribbler

Posted on December 17, 2013 by MN Gordon

The annual company holiday party was held over the weekend at Steak ‘n Stein.  As President and Founder, we were compelled to offer some remarks.  What follows is an extract of our impractical ramblings…

To begin, 2013 was another dreadful year for our humble business.  All successes we had were radically overwhelmed by our relentless flaws.  Any opportunities we stumbled upon we promptly tripped over…always landing flat on our face.  But we don’t let it get us down…

We weren’t looking to build a better mousetrap when we started this publishing business back in 2006.  We thought selling newsletters would be like selling bagels with cream cheese.  Offer a bargain, like buy five and you get the sixth free, and the world would beat a path to our door.

This, of course, was the first of our many miscalculations.  For selling newsletters has been like selling ice cubes to Eskimos…we can hardly give them away for free.  Even worse, the paid publications we offer have been welcomed by the marketplace with a silence so deafening it has popped our eardrums. Continue reading →

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Fantasy Stocks for a Fantasy Market

Posted on December 13, 2013 by MN Gordon

Fantasy Stocks for a Fantasy Market
By Doug French, Contributing Editor, Casey Research

They don’t ring bells at the top, but when a company called Fantex Holdings plans to sell shares in professional athletes and possibly actors and musicians, a chill should race up the spine of investors.

You know this isn’t your grandfather’s market when a company pushing chicken wings (Buffalo Wild Wings) sells at over 40 times earnings.  And when a company that dominates retail but doesn’t make any money (Amazon) trades for $350 a share.  And when a company that pumps old movies, TV shows, and a sliver of new content to subscribers trades at 280 times earnings (Netflix).

Let’s just say that American industry ain’t what it used to be.

“As General Motors goes, so goes the nation,” was relevant a long time ago.  Today’s nation is gaga for something different: fantasy football.  Adults lining up players against each other like toy soldiers is a billion-dollar business for the companies facilitating the fun and games. Continue reading →

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Fed Policy Reduction

Posted on December 10, 2013 by MN Gordon

To sharpen the mind and calibrate the senses we begin with an old paradox…

“A man says that he is lying,” posited fourth century BC Greek philosopher Eubulides of Miletus.  “Is what he says true or false?”

You tell us…  For if the man’s claim he is lying is true, then he is lying; the statement is false.  If the man’s claim he is lying is not true, then he is not actually lying; the statement is true.

Obviously, answering the question using logic, leads to a logical contradiction.  It ties the mind into a giant knot.  How can it be possible that what the man says is true or what he says is false?  It can’t.  Thus we’re left with unsolvable impasse, the Liar Paradox.

Naturally, recounting this paradox is not without motive.  For one thing, it allows us to do something people rarely do these days…think.  Plus, it’s a good warm up for contemplating contemporary monetary policy… Continue reading →

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Buck Butler’s Doggone Miracle

Posted on December 6, 2013 by MN Gordon

Not long ago, about the time of the financial crisis in 2008, the U.S. faced grim prospects of an interminable energy crisis.  U.S. oil production had peaked in 1970 at about 9.6 million barrels per day.  It had been in long, slow decline ever since.

Even worse, increasing reliance on Middle East oil had put the U.S. in a delicate geopolitical predicament over the years.  Greater and greater military action was needed to secure energy supplies.  Dependence on foreign oil was becoming more and more precarious.

But then something remarkable and completely unexpected happened.  After a 28 year slide down to about 5 million barrels per day in 2008, U.S. oil production reversed.  Instead of production decreasing…suddenly, it was increasing.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), domestic crude production totaled 7.8 million barrels a day in the week ending October 18, the highest mark in nearly a quarter of a century.  This turn of events and its ramifications are quite astounding. Continue reading →

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