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John T. Reed’s news blog

Wall Street Journal writers do not understand risk

Posted by John T. Reed on

WSJ today said demand for stocks and commodities being up proves Americans have faith in the economy because they are buying "riskier" assets. . Written by Amrith Ramkumar and Hardika Singh. . Folks, there is no such thing as generic risk. All risk requires an adjective describing WHICH risk you are talking about, e.g., political risk, market risk, fidelity risk, counterparty risk, credit risk, exchange risk, currency risk, inflation risk, etc. . There is no such thing as riskier investments. . I know what these probably Ivy League idiots mean. They think bonds are non-risky and stocks and commodities are...

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Champlain Towers engineers warned like like Wall Street Journal on hyperinflation

Posted by John T. Reed on

Here is the first paragraph of the front-page story on the Champlain Towers collapse. . "When warning signals flashed about structural and maintenance problems at Champlain Towers South, the information was muted and confusing signaling that the condo owners didn't need to remedy the situation urgently..." . That is exactly what the WSJ has been doing for more than a year regarding the danger of hyperinflation. I called it whispering "fire" in a crowded theater that is, in fact, on fire. . I have been telling you that you "need to remedy the situation urgently." . There is a pertinent...

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Quit whining about how tough the home market is. GET IT DONE!

Posted by John T. Reed on

Today’s WSJ has an article on the housing market. Titled “Would-Be Home Buyers Shut Out Of Homes,” it basically says that prices are rising fast with almost all homes selling for more than asking price and that down payments are either 100% or at least bigger than normal with many first-time buyers doing what our son Mike just did: getting down payment money from parents. . Low down payment loans like the VA nothing down, FHA 2%, and PMI 5% are still doable, but are at a big disadvantage. . The parental down payment help is described as a “gift”...

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Jason Zweig say ‘value investors’ are the only real investors. Index funds beat them all.

Posted by John T. Reed on

Rare column by Jason Zweig in this weekend’s WSJ. . It starts, “I’ve had it. The Wall Street Journal is wrong and has remained wrong for decades about one of the most basic distinctions in finance.” . And what is that? Sounds like Zweig is a Benjamin Graham follower, a “value investor.” His column has the same title as one of Graham’s books: The Intelligent Investor. And he believes that anyone else in the stock market is NOT an “investor” worthy of that name. (One of my books is title Best Practices for The Intelligent Real Estate Investor.. . The...

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John T. Reed’s review of The Premonition by Michael Lewis

Posted by John T. Reed on

I had great expectations for Michel Lewis’s new book: The Premonition. It’s about the pandemic. . I just finished it. . It says government at all levels is congenitally incompetent at managing a pandemic. Risks must be taken. Outcomes are uncertain. Politicians are at the top of the chain of command. All they care about is taking credit for everything good and blaming their opponents for everything bad. It is a disaster. . He identifies a collection of smart people some inside the bureaucracy, most outside in informal groups of people who are good at diagnosing the problem and know...

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