Hi Maurice, a taunt from you in New Zealand to me in Trinidad?!
Trinidad Vacation Chronicles: I visited a 100-year old lady yesterday. She is lucid and living in the house of a nurse a few blocks away from her 55-year old daughter. She lived in her own house until 5 years ago. She remembers my grandmother and grandfather. She said several times, ‘it is nice to have family … I am so happy to see you, grandson of Alphonse’. We threw a party last night for about 30 relatives, the senior most couple of various branches of the clan, of whom I had met only one once before, 18 years ago. Of the remaining, I only knew about one other, my paternal uncle’s first son.
Most of the relatives knew each other, but enough did not until I gathered them together, even though they had gone to school together or had done business together in the past 80 plus years.
Many people had first homes elsewhere in the world, stretching from Canada to England, America to Venezuela, and many had first homes in Trinidad.
The French claim to fame is a great estate founded based on the principle of “first-in, finders-keepers”, originally from France, by way of Martinique.
The leading Chinese business clan claim to fame is the chain of retail stores across the islands, founded on the largess of oil soaked land and a British royal decree that allowed the family to issue legal tender (square metal coin with a round hole in the center, opposite to traditional Chinese coin, a circular metallic coin with a square hole in the middle) acceptable throughout the island, redeemable for internationally recognized money. This was done as the start of the island’s banking system. Maurice, this bunch sure acts as if they know about money, cash and natural resources, including the oil that you believe should sell for USD 1:0)
The leading Chinese academic clan claim to fame is a bunch of professionals and educators, with one being the very first Chinese naturalized US citizen upon repeal of the Exclusion Act.
There were many other last names, counting plantation owners, financiers of oil exploration, athletes, smugglers, political agitators, manufacturers, merchants, lawyers, bankers, and whatnot in the grand scheme of things. And yes, there were some Chens as well.
The next three days will be spent on some follow-on gatherings, road trips, and conversations.
Please remember to cheer for my grandmother’s cousin’s great great grandson George Bovell, swimmer, during the coming Summer Olympics. His mother, a Bishop, competed in the 1972 Munich Olympic. Young George will visit Moscow in April, and I have set him up to meet my Russian niece, Yolanda Chen (eh, Iolanda Yevgenievna Chen), world triple jump champion 1993-95, daughter of my half-brother Danny (Eugeniy Bernardovich Chen), world record holder during the 50s. Nature vs. Nurture debate still not settled.
No, I am not athletic. I just run extremely fast in a financial sense, pretending to be an investor.
OK, enough sentimentality.
I think CB and Mike ACF are probably wrong.
In the case of CB, she is holding tight to her cash, and thus in no danger from the gathering financial tsunami, and as her business is divorce, a thriving countercyclical activity, is therefore at no risk to the impending economic stagnation.
In the case of Mike ACF, he believes he can afford to lose it all and make it back, via globalization of rivets and fasteners, and so will do OK, regardless of how many others will drown in the quicksand of debt, reduced income, and devolution of NAV, as long as he does not read his mutual fund statements.
Now, Maurice, in your case, you are simply having fun, cheering for what you know cannot be.
Japan will probably not recover anytime soon, and may lock many other countries in a ‘debtly’ embrace, soon to rip the twin catheters of trade liquidity and investment savings from the world’s remaining still not bankrupted debtors. Upon the withdraw of Japanese money, the printing of various indigenous currencies will get underway in earnest, leaving soon-to-be pensioners in Everyland free to fend for themselves.
I do agree with your observations that the Hong Kong government did make a lot of money within a 30 months period by intervention. The Japanese government, having been at it for nearly one half of 30 years may not do as well.
I also agree with you that the FED, together with gold-selling German and other cohort central banks, has a lot more magical illus ional tricks up its sleeve, making announcements of pending probable moves, denying rumors previously spread, retiring bonds, rescuing stocks, and nearing the end, changing personnel. Will any of the acts do substantive good? Who claims to know.
Argentina’s head is rapidly sinking below the mud-line, grasping onto Brazil, Venezuela, and other neighbors. Columbian war is expanding. The world war is expanding. The average aggregate leading global consumer is borrowing and/or liquidating to pay interest on debt, pensions are disappearing, investments are destroyed, money is being stolen, ratings are dropping, bankruptcies are rising, more folks are not working, many folks stopped looking for work, new graduates are idle, trade volume is declining.
Yup, Jay has long written off his 0.55% NAV allocated to GX bonds. You are adding?! Why, because you think there is nothing else to speculate on?
On you enthusiasm for a rising Nikkei, don’t. The Nikkei rises every year into March 31st, and then … oh, well, you know.
If you think all this volatility and downward bias is fun, we then are about to visit Disneyland.
Surely you are able to see from New Zealand what I am able to sense to Trinidad.
Chugs, Jay |
