Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

It's been just a couple weeks that the Director of the FBI testified that a) they make about the same amount of domestic terror arrests as international terror now and b) white supremacists make up the vast majority (75%) of domestic terror cases. Also that the threat is growing.

Last night Tucker Carlson ran a segment declaring that the white supremacy is a hoax and not a real problem.

Jonah Goldberg said if Tucker's talking points are adopted by Trump it'll be awful for the country and for Trump's Presidency.

[Ghengis Jon]

I also have the first published memoir of Presidential years, written by James Buchanan. Excruciatingly verbose, the entire volume is a simpering "The civil war is not my fault !!" While our beloved forum member never simpers, I wonder if there is something about the surname that lends itself to a propensity of vernacular amplification...

[Jeff Buchanan]

Summary

• Like it or not, Trump's actions will determine the value of your portfolio in the next year.
• Your portfolio should be positioned for the specific risks and opportunity that the current situation entails.
• To analyze a range of probable scenarios, you don't need to agree with Trump, you need to understand the world as he sees it.
• Trump's trade strategy toward China is not driven primarily by economic concerns, it's driven by electoral politics, his personal world view and his desire for historical legacy.

Given the magnitude of negative fundamental events, I expect this support region* to be broken, setting up a momentous technical test of the critical key intermediate-term support region which begins around 2600. Indeed, it's my view that from a technical perspective, the continuity of the current bull market will probably hinge on a successful test of this region. Conclusion

If the above-mentioned critical test of intermediate-term support does, indeed, transpire, the team at Successful Portfolio Strategy will be ready to take the appropriate portfolio management steps in accordance with a combination of fundamental and technical conditions at that time. In particular, at that time, it will be critical to evaluate the strategic state of the US stock market cycle, an asset price cycle which tends to be primarily determined fundamentally by the prospective state of the US business cycle...... IOW, at the point where the S&P 500 breaks below 2600, take a good look at your portfolio allocation and favor cash and income producing investments over equities.

*In formulating positions for investors who follow market timing principals, the markets, in this case the the S&P 500, the market timing theory holds that there are key support regions that when they are broken, the market is dragged either up or down to the next one.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jon, It's in the Buchanan DNA. Mark it down........ now STFU.

[Ghengis Jon]

Heh. Right on cue Jeff.

[Hannibal]

And the extent to which we're willing to accept illiberal "solutions" to that problem is politically transferable to other issues.

Well there's the rub, eh? Liberals aren't willing to let those solutions be transferable to other issues. Restrictions on freedom need only apply to you, bigot, because you have privilege. Now STFU and sit in the corner for a while as you ponder the ancestral guilt that you have inherited.

[froot loops]

• Trump's trade strategy toward China is not driven primarily by economic concerns, it's driven by electoral politics, his personal world view and his desire for historical legacy.

This is probably 100 percent true and why it has been a bad idea from the start. It is a curse of the US Presidency and leaders in general to make decisions based on historical legacy. It is a bad idea, but these guys want to be remembered in the history books 100 years from now for their own vanity. Its much better for the country to take over a smooth sailing ship and keep it smooth sailing, but that doesn't get you a chapter in a history book.

[Hannibal]

Trump's attitudes on tariffs are driven by his old fashioned ideas on what it means to have a great economy. "Remember when we used to manufacture stuff"? When Trump was growing up, that was a source of American pride. It's not really an economic argument.

[Whitley]

Just thinking about these shootings. And maybe that has been addressed in previous pages.



The sad fact is that there will be absolutely nothing done about these shootings as far as trying to address the problem(s). If this country was going to do something it would have happened way back in Sandy Hook. America made a decision that day that we were okay with people coming in and shooting up elementary age kids in their school.

[Hannibal]

Democrat Joaquin Castro tweets out an enemies list of Trump donors and their places of employment.

When asked about it, he said that he wants to make people "think twice" before donating to Trump. Why would having your name Tweeted out by a Congressman make you think twice about something? What consequence is said Congressman hoping these Trump donors will experience that will make people think twice about donating to Donald Trump? What value does listing their employer contribute to good political discourse?

Gee whiz -- if I didn't know better, I would think that this guy was inviting harassment against these individuals. (I have little doubt that the mere thought of this is disgusting to Democrats).

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Since we have now firmly established that rhetoric = violence, what does it mean to actually name specific targets?

[iam416]

[Whitley]

Defense for what? This is public knowledge anyone can look this up on the federal level. Now, people might choose not to do business with some of this people (if possible) but there is nothing wrong with that. People can choose to do business with whoever they want.

Also, nowhere does Joaquin Castro say to do violence to any of these people.

[iam416]

[Dr. Strangelove]

Crash, how many Islamic terrorists have you personally met? None?

Does that mean they probably don't exist?

And just anecdotally, sometimes wackjobs are obvious and sometimes they aren't.

[Dr. Strangelove]

First words out of Trump's mouth (not counting tweets) are to tell the American people about the respect and love he received while visiting patients

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