Alongside the epic electric vehicles bubble, investor interest has also steadily grown in hydrogen-powered vehicles. Volkswagen's CEO, Herbert Diess, put a pin in that idea in a recent interview with the Financial Times. FT's Joe Miller writes: Europe’s two biggest industrial and economic powers are laying billions on the table in an attempt to take on China in developing a “green” hydrogen sector to replace fossil fuels — but the continent’s top motor groups are wary of going along for the ride. “You won’t see any hydrogen usage in cars,” said Volkswagen chief executive Herbert … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2021
Secession: Northern Californians Dream of Charting Their Own Destiny
You learned last week about American Secession, a new book by F.H. Buckley, a Foundation Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University. Buckley believes America is "ripe for secession," and that "the bitterness, the gridlock, the growing tolerance of violence invite us to think that we’d be happier were we two different countries." One area of America desperate to chart its own course is Northern California. In The Washington Examiner, Mica Soellner reports: Mark Baird is a third-generation Californian who hopes to one day be a first-generation … [Read more...]
Are EV Investors Just Delusional?
Are electric vehicle investors delusional? That's what Research Affiliates chairman Rob Arnott thinks. Justina Lee reports at Bloomberg: The electric-vehicle craze is a classic sign of a “big market delusion” that has entrapped investors throughout history, according to quant pioneer Rob Arnott. The 600% rally in a year that sent the combined value of eight manufacturers to $1 trillion is pricing every firm as a major winner in the clean-energy boom. Yet just as the once-highly valued PalmPilot lost in the smartphone revolution, not all of them will succeed in the EV age, the Research … [Read more...]
Food Security: The Amazing Story of How Frozen Food Got Its Start
A client/friend shared this story with me about how frozen food got its start by Elizabeth Nix. From packages of waffles to bags of peas, the myriad items found in the frozen-food section of grocery stores today owe their existence, in part, to Clarence Birdseye, who in the 1920s developed a quick-freezing process that launched the modern frozen-food industry. Between 1912 and 1917, Birdseye, a Brooklyn native, lived in chilly Labrador, Canada, where he worked briefly on a hospital ship before started a fox-breeding venture. It was during this period that he learned about the customs of … [Read more...]
Big Data: T-Mobile Will Sell Your Data in April
After April 26, T-Mobile customers will be automatically enrolled in the company's advertising program. Drew FitzGerald reports at the WSJ: T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS +0.67% will automatically enroll its phone subscribers in an advertising program informed by their online activity, testing businesses’ appetite for information that other companies have restricted. The No. 2 U.S. carrier by subscribers said in a recent privacy-policy update that unless they opt out it will share customers’ web and mobile-app data with advertisers starting April 26. For example, the program could help advertisers … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Meet A Modern Day Ski Warrior
OK, so he’s not retired yet but he’s certainly living the F.I.R.E lifestyle. You’ll love this Saturday Boston Globe feature about a modern-day ski bum. Meet Brooks Curran who earns his turns the old-fashioned way—hiking up the mountain. In talking with you, my skiing clientele, you’re telling me the skiing’s been excellent all over the country, whether you’re taking the chair or hiking the backcountry. Enjoy! STOWE, Vt. — We’d left the boundaries of the Stowe Mountain Resort shortly after we got off the gondola, and were trudging up a mountain road buried under 4 feet of snowpack toward … [Read more...]
How Bull Bashes End
Andy Kessler reminders readers that stocks do go down even stocks where the business may have years of growth ahead of it. He writes in The Wall Street Journal: How do these bull bashes end? When the last skeptical buyer finally sees the light and buys into the dream that every car will be electric, that crypto replaces gold and banks, that we overindulge on vertically farmed “plant-based steaks” while streaming “Bridgerton” Season 5 before we hop on an air taxi for our flight to Mars. Those last skeptics (maybe already) convince themselves there’s no longer any downside. And then boom, it’s … [Read more...]
Your Social Life During the Pandemic and MORE
A few thoughts for you as a client/friend tells me life is good. Life hasn’t changed too much in retirement during the pandemic, he tells me. He laughed and commented that according to Clint Eastwood, you know you didn’t have much of a social life if the pandemic didn’t change it much. You read Amazon will stream NFL games. Yippee. What happens when your internet gets overloaded, and you miss the game-winning TD? Cash is king? Not buying it? Good. When was the last time the government created anything of value? I like high-quality short-term bonds mixed in with some high yield junk … [Read more...]
Good Timing? Virgin Galactic Shares Tumble After Chairman Sells Shares
Does Chamath Palihapitiya have great timing? He sold $213 million in Virgin Galactic shares just before their prices cratered. Bloomberg reports: Palihapitiya, the investor who has helped drive the frenzied growth of blank-check companies, disposed of 6.2 million shares at an average price of $34.32 this week, based on a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He still owns 15.8 million shares with his partner Ian Osborne through investment firm Social Capital Hedosophia, amounting to about a 6.5% stake. Palihapitiya previously sold shares worth almost $100 million in … [Read more...]
Do You Remember When You Purchased Your First Home?
Do you remember when you purchased your first home? If you’re old enough, you remember when interest rates were as high as 12 3/4%, as a client friend reminded me yesterday. “I didn’t worry too much about the interest rate because, in relative terms, it was reflected in the price.” The price was always the main driver of value. Still is. What’s always worth remembering, he reminded me, is you can negotiate the terms. But you can’t revisit the purchase price. And if banks aren’t interested in renegotiating the terms, you can do it yourself through the back door by doubling or tripling your … [Read more...]