Last week the Capitol was invaded by an angry mob. And this week, the president was impeached. Meanwhile, if you had been looking only at the stock market, you wouldn’t have had any idea. Not only is the market higher today than it was the day before this all started, but the VIX—the market’s “fear [...]
Lottery Tickets
Tesla founder Elon Musk is, to me, the ultimate investment Rorschach test. To his supporters, Musk is a genius without equal. As one Wall Street analyst put it, “If Thomas Edison and Henry Ford made a baby, that baby would be called Elon Musk.” But to his detractors, Musk is an erratic individual, [...]
Bitcoin mania
If you happened to turn on the financial news this week, you undoubtedly heard about bitcoin, which has been on a wild ride: On Monday, it was trading at $11,000, having gained 1,000% since January. On Wednesday, it rose to $15,000. On Thursday it topped $19,000. Then, this morning it reversed, [...]
From Las Vegas to Washington
Sometimes a joke is clearly just a joke, like this bumper sticker, which I saw recently: To be sure, every joke has a kernel of truth. But, most people who play the lottery do know, rationally, that Powerball isn't a reliable route to retirement. Sometimes, though, it's not as easy to make [...]
Irving Fisher
The name Irving Fisher is not widely known, but maybe it should be. In his day, Fisher was a renowned economist. He graduated first in his class from Yale, received the first PhD in Economics ever issued by Yale and then went on to join the school's faculty. Despite all that, however, [...]
