Chickens and eggs

Think about this: Someone plants some seeds that yield plants that yield grain. The grain is fed to some chickens. The chickens lay eggs and have little chicks. Someone eats the eggs and a few of the chickens when they grow up and become plump and edible. Chickens are domestic animals, good for food. Many different dishes can be prepared from chicken meat - some more fancy than others. The chicken is not in control. Someone is in control. Yet, nobody told the seed how to sprout or how to grow - all it needed was soil and water - but someone had to plant it. Nobody had to teach the chicken to eat grain or how to lay eggs but someone had to gather the grain and give it to the chicken. Millions of people believe in the fairy tale known as evolution. The fairy tale says that fish turned into frogs then into birds then into pigs and roosters and chickens and horses and monkeys and lions and tigers and bears and finally into humans. The fairy tale says that one plant magically turned into trees that yield apples, and oranges, and avocados, and mangoes, and coconuts, and bananas, and pears, and peaches, and figs, and nuts; and stalks that yield tomatos, and corn, and rice, and wheat, and beans, and chili peppers, and sugar cane, and barley, and peanuts, and oats; and vines that yield grapes. We know how to turn good grapes into good wine. How odd.

Joe Paterno and stress

Many years ago, a candidate for president of Mexico, Donaldo Colosio, was assassinated. His widow died a year later. It was tragic because both of them were in their prime. Later, the guy who used to play Superman, Christopher Reeve, died after battling paralysis for years. His widow died a year later. She was in her prime. Now, Joe Paterno is ill. People say it is as a result of stress induced by the investigation into his handling of the Sandusky child abuse case. That is probably true. Stress and worry and depression kill people. Avoid them like the plague.

P.S. Five minutes after I posted this, Paterno died. Sad but true. He was the fall guy for others who should have reported what they knew. He trusted their judgment and they let him down.

Experiment

I am today conducting an experiment in blogging. I cannot disclose what it is because it might spoil things. In fact, it WILL spoil things so I will just keep quiet about it. I will tell the secret in a few days. I'm sure it will be interesting - at least to me it will.  It is not even necessary to post a picture with this blog - the words will be sufficient.

Ambrose Bierce said: "The properties of ink are peculiar and contradictory: it may be used to make reputations and unmake them; to blacken them and to make them white; but it is most generally and acceptably employed as a mortar to bind together the stones of an edifice of fame, and as a whitewash to conceal afterward the rascal quality of the material."

I like the phrase "...edifice of fame."

Who likes to fail?

They say Abraham Lincoln, the greatest American President, failed at many enterprises he tried before going into politics and public service. The failures obviously prepared him for the great challenge that lay ahead - the Civil War. Failure is not nice, but if you recognize it for what it is - a challenge to your ingenuity and perseverance - you can learn to manage it. It soon loses its control over you.

Debt and Futures

A couple of guys just won the Nobel for Economics. We still have very high unemployment and these guys don't have a clue how to create jobs. One of them said he would sit on his money for a while. Sitting on money will not create a single job. Spending it will. The problem is two-fold: too much debt and the futures market. Futures are like the gambling aspect of the economy, really meant only for speculators, which means it creates nothing - no products, no services. When losses occur, someone is left holding the bag which then means a debt that goes unpaid and is written off. That takes money out of the economy without giving anything back in return. I'm only guessing, of course. Have a nice day.

Santa Anna Bonds

We had a client recently to whom we offered 600 million for one Santa Anna bond he owned and he DECLINED the offer. Figure that one out if you can. He came back later to accept the deal but it was too late - our buyer had gone elsewhere. Live and learn.

Silver

Financial advisors and promoters have been pushing investors and even normal people to buy lots of gold. Now they are pushing them to buy silver as well. Silver is cheaper and more affordable. You can't eat it or drink it or build homes with it or sew it into a garment or use it as a towel but it has value because people want it (for some strange reason.) Figure that one out.