Pre-Yule Depression

Donald Trump’s security is the grinch which stole Christmas. We went to visit the great tree in Rockefeller Center yesterday and many streets were closed to pedestrians and bus stops inactivated because of security.

They found a new Michelangelo drawing of Saint Sebastian in rural France. That is the only good news I can find to cheer me up during my last week in 2016 to be spent in NYC before I head for London and Devonshire for Chanu-Mas which totally overlaps with the Xmas-New Year festivities this year. After overlapping with Thanksgiving 3 years ago, Chanukah thanks to the Babylonian calendar’s “leap months” is back in the winter.

The rest of the news is depressing, ranging from attacks on Christians in Cairo to a murderous back and forth between ISIS and its enemies in Palmyra. Plus Mr Trump announcing that the CIA’s information about Russian interference to get him elected is “ridiculous”. While I am a proponent of a reset on US relations with Putin, we need to be aware of what his regime is capable of.

I also find upsetting the impact of the Trump win on life-begins-at conception advocates in Ohio, Texas,and Louisiana. I also find upsetting the boost he has given to climate change deniers and racists.

Let us quote a general who is not going to be a member of the Trump cabinet, Joe Shaffer, USAF-RET. Joe thinks the time has come to invest in small and mid-cap firms which do not need “to cozy up to Chinese dictators in a secret censorship agreement” (like Facebook) or “to spend countless man-hours trying to satisfy petty Brussels bureaucrats” (like Apple and Google). Joe argues for small-caps focused on US domestic markets. But I think small- and mid-caps outside the US are also in sweet spot for future growth. Like me, Joe prefers active to passive management, which applies particularly to smaller firms. Joe edits The Investors Edge and manages Sanford Wealth in Nevada.