1/ Here's my 2022 and beyond #investing outlook (mostly covering #stocks) and general thoughts on the #macro backdrop, #markets, #valuations and #risk. Lot's of good analysis is publicly available, so will try to keep this brief and different.
"Navigating the Low Tide"
2/ Investing 101
3/ Investing 201?
4/ How’s that Working Out Lately?...
5/ “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”
- Warren Buffet
6/ Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Investors have Benefitted from a Rising Tide of Liquidity
7/ As well as Accelerating Flows into Passive Products
8/ Which have Tilted Equity Markets Toward Majority Valuation Agnostic Ownership
9/ Price Insensitive Investing has Unsurprisingly Lifted Large-Cap U.S. Stock Valuations
10/ Flows into Products Constructed by Market Cap Lead to Market Caps Detaching from Earnings: By Design, the Big Get Bigger
36/ If Videogames are Central to the Metaverse, they Don’t Trade Like it
37/ Plenty More Examples, but Main Point is: If the Tide is Going Out, Being Passively Long the S&P 5(00) May Not Provide the Most Attractive Risk/Return Profile
38/ See more of my thoughts on the S&P 5(00) here:
1/ Some working thoughts: Much of human history is a story of tribal allegiances and conflict. For an exploration of the scientific reasons we may be hardwired for tribalism, I’d recommend renowned biologist E.O. Wilson’s The Social Conquest of Earth.
2/ The tragedy of modern America is that we are undermining the achievement of a society in which we were united by ideals instead of what are often divisive group dynamics. If we’re decreasingly bonded by our national heritage, we risk social upheaval.
3/ The US is special - and was unique for its time -
in that it was founded on ideals, and not ethnicity or religion. Despite the inherent contradictions between these ideals and the realities of early American society, the ideals are no less worthy of admiration and aspiration.
1/ News today that CPS budget will remain steady at $9.4b in FY 2024. But more notable is that CPS will use its taxing authority to increase property taxes 5% in Chicago to help funding. At this rate, CPS and the city will just own all our houses soon…
2/ In the private sector, when demand for your product or service declines 20% over a decade, you usually get some sort of restructuring that includes right-sizing costs. But in the public sector?…
3/ To be clear, I appreciate and respect teachers. My wife was once a teacher in CPS and I benefitted immensely from quality public education. But it’s fair to ask - as city tax payers - what we’re getting in return for this spending increase.
I want this post/comments to be respectful. I just read the below on crime in Chicago in which the author suggests residents' perception of crime has a racial element. While I respect the author's opinion, I would like to offer up a different perspective. chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/202…
Below is an excerpt from the author's piece. Again, I can appreciate that others in the city have had life experiences that would lead them to think this. Perhaps it is sadly true in many cases. But I can speak for myself at least that my concern about crime is not rooted in race
My concern about crime - and I think the concern of many - is that my family has been endangered as public safety has deteriorated. If you have children and those children are put in harm's way, as mine have on several occasions, I think your views/focus on public safety change.
Thread on economic and fiscal reality for Chicago. These goals are laudable. I share them. I bet most residents do. But it’s wrong to claim “the resources exist” and that a better Chicago is a matter of “political courage.” Sadly, Johnson’s plans would mean political calamity.
Let’s start with city resources. As I’ve highlighted, we pay an obscene amount to our underfunded pension plans, which state law prevents reforming (short of a constitutional amendment). The $2.6b for FY 2023 is over 20% of city expenditures.
Pensions are a “fixed cost” - meaning they have to be paid. It’s not a discretionary spending item like most city services. And when you add in other fixed costs (like interest payments on debt) Chicago is at 43.4% of the budget (per S&P Global). spglobal.com/ratings/en/res…
Something I want to return to… Brandon Johnson saying his tax plans won’t drive people out of the city. Aside from lacking in economic common sense, it reveals that he’s unaware of the real economic problem Chicago faces.
While we should worry about driving residents / businesses out of the city, we need to focus on bringing people back in. Higher taxes (including on commuters) won’t do that. Here’s how Chicago ranks per a Berkeley study in downtown recovery. 50% vs 2019. downtownrecovery.com
And here are Chicago Metra and CTA commuter statistics courtesy of @biancoresearch. Not great! People aren’t coming downtown for work or entertainment. That’s a lot of lost economic activity.
So if we’re gonna have a convo about the company you keep… Brandon Johnson’s biggest backer is the Chicago Teachers Union. Yes, wouldn’t it be great if the CTU had more of a say in city policy? We’d enter a new dawn of socialist nirvana where we don’t need police or finance.
Do we really want a candidate beholden to the CTU? They’ve spent close to $2.5m backing him. He’s their man.
I love teachers - so much that I even married a former teacher! But the Union? Not so much. It’s done wonders for the city… Thanks to their noble work, most public school students are years behind in their educational development. School stopped, but pensions for sure didn’t.