I'm old enough to know that I don't have any answers, but that won't stop me talking
I have always considered myself, ever since I replaced my innate conservatism with more well reasoned libertarian views, a supporter of economic rationalism. I still do, for the most part, as it is both the most morally appropriate and effective model for economic thinking. But, as I get older, I see it simply as a …
Continue reading “Spock and Kirk – why Economic Man is not rational”
At one point today, the losses which I avoided by bailing out of the share market 20 days ago were up to $90,000. Right now, they only stand at $85,000. In other words, the one decision to get out of the share market has saved me more losses than I have made from a series …
Continue reading “Looking to ‘Leeward’ – a eulogy for share traders”
I am not exactly enamoured of Frequent Flyer programs. The collapse of Ansett Airlines in mid 2001 cost me almost 60,000 points, which had been earned mostly through spending on my linked credit card. Ever since then, I have made sure to cash out my credit card reward points regularly, originally as gift cards, but …
Continue reading “Qantas Frequent Flyer spams during the Corona-crisis”
Whilst it flew off before I could take a photo of it, I saw an owl in my gum tree in my backyard last night. Cool. I have never seen an owl in the wild before – if you can call my backyard the wild. Aside from my surprise owl visitor, I get bats and …
Whilst I am well stocked for toilet paper, and have been for many years, I am troubled by the predicament that may be faced by some of my family and friends and colleagues, so I have been sharing from my stash in the past week. I decided that, rather than hope that supermarkets replenish their …
Continue reading “Despatches from the trenches in the Toilet Paper Apocalypse”
It’s now about 11 days since I visited the supermarket and saw that it was almost completely out of toilet paper rolls. Last night, there was no meat, and no bread. And there is very little pasta or pasta sauce left. I think it is safe to say, as Dorothy did to Toto, that we …
Right now, I am 95% of the way through Dorothy Must Die, the first of a series of dystopian novels about Oz, by Danielle Paige. In short, it imagines what if Dorothy and her trio of henchmen had turned to evil and tyrannised Oz, through the eyes of a modern day Kansas girl the tornado …
Continue reading “We’re not in Kansas, but we keep writing about it”
When the Australian Stock Exchange closed this afternoon, it was officially down 20% from the record high in February. A 20% decline from a peak is officially regarded as a bear market. How long will this last? I think the distance in the GFC from peak to bottom was about 16 months – November 2007 …
Continue reading “Which will end first – the Bear Market or my toilet paper supply?”
My share portfolio took a big hit a couple of weeks ago, but nothing compared to what I would have lost if I had not headed for the exit last Tuesday. According to the watch list which I just recreated on my newly reinstalled Bloomberg app on my iPhone, I am now $25,000 better off …
As I have indicated before, I consider that all the paranoia about the Coronavirus stems from the hard wiring we have from the 1600 plus years of eschatological conditioning from the time when Christianity become compulsory in the Roman Empire. However, I cannot help but notice the effect on my share portfolio. Is someone who …
Lost For Words!