Response to Eric on his "alarmist" critique: I have always appreciated your detailed and thoughtful treatment of every subject you chose to discuss. Your sensible tone, calming influence and rational aura add a great deal to these discussions.
I do not contribute any of the above -- nor do I want to. I believe that the general audience for these posts is somebody "playing the market", sometimes (perhaps often) on margin. These people are not easily alarmed -- and sometimes they should be. Now is one of those times.
My contribution, from time-to-time, is to say something alarming about a factor not otherwise well considered -- foreign money, the current account deficit, interest rates, valuation models, and now oil. But make no mistake, if you do not find my posts on oil alarming, you either don't agree, which is fine, or you don't understand. Before you agree or disagree you must understand -- and I do not always bother with more than the framework -- that is true.
What I ask you to do is look to the left and then look to the right before you cross the road. If I see a truck that you do not see, I will shout "Eric, watch out you day-dreaming nerd", and I hope to alarm you. I do not say "Eric, have you recently considered the implications of being struck by a truck travelling 50 mph?" And I don't do that partly because I don't have the time or even ability to answer all questions such as "GST, what color is the truck and what State is it from?"....... |
