Some Random Thoughts
Occasionally I get the urge to just riff on things. You see it a lot in my columns. I veer off into some place and I completely forget where I started. I call it “My Digression”.
I digress a lot.
That’s why I periodically write a Random Thoughts column now and again. Just so I can digress without having to apologize.
Here Goes:
First things first. President Biden announced that he is going to run for another term as President. He has “work to do” to “finish the job”. While right wing media makes fun of the statements let’s be honest here, every president that has tried to get re elected has said those very same words so I don’t take points away from President Biden for using them.
He has lost points for:
1. Mishandling the Afghan withdrawal
For opening up our borders.
For completely Fu-baring our economy with his open checkbook policies
For being possibly the most corrupt President in history
For showing zero backbone against the far left in his party
For showing total disrespect to the families of those killed in Nashville
The last one may seem like a minor blemish on a National scale but it is just indicative of the tone this administration has set. It cares more about appeasing a small minority of it’s constituents instead of doing the right thing. The administration’s disregard to the majority is well documented and if anyone wants me to go off on this pandering to certain groups, I will.
I am guessing the party is happy because they have a malleable puppet who as he gets older and more doddering will just be easier to manipulate if he wins the next election. Plus, in all honesty, the Democrats have a horrible bench and they have spent zero time grooming anyone in the next generation to be the chief executive of this country. Shame on them.
I like the two party system. I don’t mind having both houses of Congress split. I think it promotes dialogue and provides the environment for effective negotiation. We went through two years where the Democrats controlled everything (except the Supreme Court, thank you Donald Trump) and look what happened. We went into the crapper faster than anytime in recent memory. Was it the Democrats fault? They didn’t start Covid. They didn’t make this the greatest melting pot in history. No, but they had a major hand in messing things up for sure. “Blame the Power” I say. One last thing, you can be pretty damn sure if the Republicans had both houses of Congress and The White House, they would have done an equally as good a job of messing things up as well.
Next on my agenda. Cable wars take it on the chin. To start this segment I will fess up. I don’t watch CNN or Fox News on a regular basis. I think, like the NYTimes, Washington Post and NYPost, they have a decided agenda that I really could care less about. I want straight news and they don’t provide it.
The only thing CNN is good for is breaking news. They do it well and they try to keep it straight forward and factual. At first. Fox does not do live reporting well. They never have.
Seeing Don Lemon get axed was no surprise, Tucker Carlson was a bit of a surprise. Don Lemon was a jerk. He was a narcissist and minsogynst and every other -ist on the spectrum. He made no effort to hide his dislike for women and was a diva to boot. He’s gone, the network is better off without him.
Carlson is a bird of a different color. I have watched him a few times and I thought he was easier to watch but his take on things left me a little unsettled. His testimony and the uncovered texts at the Fox News/Dominion trial turned the chiefs at the network against him. To put in writing your inner feelings about your boss and the President (who generated huge ratings for you and the network) wasn’t really too smart. It’s like using your corporate email to set up a date with your married coworker who is a subordinate. Not smart. Maybe he wanted to get canned. maybe there is something out there that is bigger and better.
I don’t know but you have opinions as a high profile television personality you express them on your show, writing texts or emails expressing something disparaging about the guys that sign your very lucrative paycheck just seems stupid.
I am not really sure that this was one of the brighter moves by the Murdoch family either. He was the highest rated anchor you had. Love him or hate him, 3.5 million people watched him every night. Forget the fact that he alienated every major sponsor and had Ron Popiell and his Popomatic doing spots along with the MY Pillow guy. He was a strong lead in to the 10pm slot which is typically important but very hard to do. His viewership was loyal and I can tell you from personal experience, his viewership watched his show, watched The Ingraham Angle for ten minutes, went to bed, turned on Fox News and left it on all day. You may laugh but I can tell you 10 people right off the top of my head that do that very thing. Now? Not sure what rotating anchors means and I also am not sure if Sean Hannity can bring the viewers like Tucker Carlson. Do they bring back Bill O’Reilly? Does Carlson go back to CNN? Or Newnation, Newsmax, or maybe a syndicated radio show? Lot’s of interesting angles here.
Lastly. Since I failed to write a business column this week, I am going to wet my beak a little.
I think we are in an unusual spot as far as the markets are concerned. I will call it Quarterly Doldrums. It’s that space in the trading calendar where the markets do absolutely nothing. They show no bias either way. Is it risk on or is it risk off? Don’t let the pundits weave a story for either. It’s like we are on vacation and things are pretty much where they were when you left. Has there been news to move markets? Not so much. You already knew that First Republic was going to have a difficult couple of weeks while you were gone You knew there was a less than 25% chance that there was going to be another small to midsize bank facing external and internal pressures (that hasn’t happened yet). You were expecting modestly lower earnings thru the economy (pretty much happened like you expected). You were waiting on some other signs from the Fed (Never happened) about their next policy decision.
What I find a little remarkable is the fact that we are in such a tight trading range when there are bonfires everywhere. There are potential tsunamis around every corner and yet, we are stuck in a range unlike any period in the last few years.
I don’t mind this however. I think it says a couple of things: We are in a sweet spot for investors. They like what they have, they like where their investments are going. Also, investors are not skittish. They aren’t bailing on the markets because of bad news in a few stocks.
Secondly, investors view of the next six to nine months hasn’t changed all that much. Earnings will be consistent and the PE’s will remain in a solid position going forward.
Ah, you ask the big question: If the markets are in a good position, why isn’t more money being put to work. There still are trillions on the sidelines and that could easily catapult the S&P back into record territory. Simple. While the status quo is nice, the trepidation is centered around those possible bonfires. Keep your powder dry as they say because there may be an opportunity somewhere you don’t want to miss or you don’t want to be fully invested when the World goes to hell. I know, fence sitting again.
Sometimes the view from the top of the fence is pretty good.