Stocks And Asylum March 17, 2021March 16, 2021 An oft-failed promoter recently predicted stock market disaster if Biden won . . . yet somehow the market keeps hitting new highs. The Dow is up about 14% since the election. (You can see here how the market’s done under each recent president: up 228% under Clinton, down 26% under George W. Bush, up 148% under Obama, up 54% under Trump. Better under blue presidents than red; though to be fair, of the four above, all but Trump had eight years to strut their stuff. In their first terms, only Clinton and Obama did better than Trump.) Disaster will of course one day strike. Panics — otherwise known as “massive buying opportunities” — come along every so often, as do bear markets. Whether this next happens Thursday or a year from now — or five or ten — I have no idea. The cause certainly won’t be that competence and integrity have been restored to our government. Nor will it be the bump in the number of young immigrants flowing north. The number may seem huge — and there is certainly a legitimate debate to be had about when asylum should be granted and when not — but consider that we’ve lost an extra 600,000 people to Covid in the past year, the preponderance of whom were past their productive years. So, purely in economic terms, if we had a bump of 300,000 young people eager to work hard at jobs most Americans are unwilling to do . . . paying Social Security taxes into the system rather than withdrawing checks . . . it would be barely noticeable in a country of 330 million. And if anything, in a small way, an economic plus. (See: Immigrants Contribute Greatly to U.S. Economy.) The leader of the Republican party relentlessly downplayed the Covid crisis, which misled a lot of good people, with tragic consequences. So, too, has he relentlessly misled a lot of good people about immigrants. Those seeking asylum are not rapists and murderers; they are mostly God-fearing Christians seeking to work hard for a better life. Economically, they are, if anything, as I say, a plus. See also: Biden Chose Prosperity Over Vengeance. BONUS: REOPEN THE SCHOOLS NOW Yep. BONUS: CNF Yep. The company seems to have regained its footing. In case it can keep growing at this pace — China is a big country — the stock, at four or five times annualized earnings, could become the winner I have long hoped. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!