Author: A.T.

Was the Convention only last week?

Khizr Khan was so powerful — as were Michelle, Bernie, Bill — Hillary herself — and so many others (did you see Reverend Barber?).

But really, this clip of Trump may be all we need to have shown. Just under six minutes.

With prominent Republicans now vowing to vote for Hillary, it has sparked more than one Facebook post paraphrasing Hamilton. You know the song where he’s deciding between presidential candidates Jefferson and Burr?  “I have never agreed with Jefferson once. We have fought on like seventy-five different fronts. But when all is said and all is done, Jefferson has beliefs. Burr” — Trump — “has none.”

The difference of course being that Burr hid whatever beliefs he had out of an abundance of caution and decorum, whereas Trump, the loosest of loose cannons, fires off contradictory pronouncements left and right out of an abundance of thuggish self-regard.

He may even be a little crazy, Argues Linda Stasi in yesterday’s Daily News:

. . . Donald’s suffering from what I call dangerous dictator disorder, but what the shrinks call narcissistic personality disorder. Truth be told, however, The Donald’s not actually “suffering” from this malady, he’s reveling in it. . . .

Certified clinical psychologist Dr. Larry Arann pointed out that the International Classification of Diseases definition of narcissistic personality disorder, and it reads like Trump’s résumé.

It is defined as an “enduring pattern of grandiose beliefs and arrogant behavior together with an overwhelming need for admiration and a lack of empathy for (and even exploitation of) others . . . excessive self-love, egocentrism, grandiosity, exhibitionism, excessive needs for attention, and sensitivity to criticism.”

Ya think? . . .

Meanwhile, according to Joe Scarborough, a Republican, Trump asked a foreign policy adviser three times in the course of an hour’s briefing, “If we have nukes, why can’t we use them?”

Click here.

There’s so much she’s already done, so many lives she’s fought to improve — not least the 8 million children she got covered by health insurance.  Eight million.  Who has Trump helped?

And why has he been sued so much? Not least for fraud?

He stiffs people left and right . . . like a prominent lawyer and a prominent accountant that a friend of mine knows.  (“Can you get them to come forward?” I ask. “Nah — you know how cautious people like that are.”)

But at this point, what clients would they lose by speaking up?

Certainly not “establishment” Republican clients.

Here is the latest Republican to defect: Top Jeb Bush adviser leaves GOP, will vote for Clinton if Florida close.

Oh, and here’s a Republican Congressman voting for Hillary.

Here‘s a lawyer who did find the courage to come forward. (“Donald Trump Hired Me As An Attorney. Please Don’t Support Him For President.”) Read this one — fun!

(And what about his autobiographer, Tony Schwartz, who wrote The Art of the Deal? If he could, he says he’d re-title it The Sociopath.)

Here he is on his relationship with Putin — three minutes of Trump contradicting himself.

(And here: Trump And Putin. Yes, It’s Really A Thing.)

Here is Warren Buffett challenging Trump to release his tax returns. As always with Buffett: an enlightening perspective.

Here is “How The Stupid Party Created Donald Trump.”

So much to read! So much to watch!

Save the world: click here.

Ours.

Theirs.

Have a nice day.

What a Convention.

Before I highlight one piece of it, I want to elaborate on last week’s post because it could have a profound positive impact on your life or the life of a loved one:

I occasionally tout Brain HQ, the offering of a private company I have a small interest in. And how — unlike crossword puzzles and such — it really can sharpen older folks’ mental acuity . . . with more than 100 peer-reviewed studies to back up that claim. Now comes a much bigger study, of such import it’s made the NBC Nightly News and much else.  Here it is in a 4-minute nutshell, courtesy of the “Today Show.” Yes, it could set you or your grandmama back $14 a month.  But you don’t have to do these exercises forever — the study showed improved results 10 years after stopping.  And isn’t avoiding dementia worth a few bucks? Anyway (he says, with considerable self-interest): take a look.

Did you find time?  The 10-year study divided 2,800 participants into four groups.  Little benefit was found among the other three groups, but among those who did just 14 hours of Brain HQ training, the incidence of dementia was lower by 48%.

• Imagine if you did 14 hours each year!  We don’t know, but common sense suggests the risk of dementia would decrease further still.
• Participants reported less depression, greater acuity. Yikes! You don’t even have to sweat to do these exercises. Everyone beyond a certain age (it seems to me), should tone up her or his brain muscles this way, just as they should walk briskly several times a week, eat sensibly, and floss.
• BrainHQ exercises cut car crashes. Sharper seniors behind the wheel are safer drivers — good for them and those they’d otherwise crash into.

I know I have a tendency to get carried away in my enthusiasms, but really! If we could somehow extend the methods of Success Academy’s 41 public schools nationwide, we could largely break the cycle of inner-city poverty, crime and despair over the next generation. And if seniors routinely did their brain exercises, we could greatly reduce the incidence of dementia and depression among the elderly . . . which would lift huge financial and emotional costs from society and loved ones.

Not to mention how much more efficient air travel will be once WheelTug deploys.

But none of that will matter if we have a trade war that leads to a global depression that leads to a world war as the last depression did. Because although we’d win that war in half an hour, the resulting nuclear winter would wipe out most life on Earth.

Not buying it? Fine. (Though: why not?)

Then how about just losing the Supreme Court of the next 30 years?

However you look at it, this election is somewhere between crucially and existentially important.

Which leads me to Khizr Khan’s speech at the Convention that I’m pretty sure you’ve already seen. (But did you see Hillary’s three-minute set-up?). In case you haven’t, watch it here.

Trump’s response is definitely worth your time as well.

Have a great week.

Click here to save mankind.

There was a lot of booing from a minority of Bernie delegates Monday — amazing how loud 400 people out of 1,836 can be. (I’m wild-guessing that number from the vantage point I had on the podium.) But whatever side of this you’re on . . . even if you’re on no side and just enjoy laughing . . . don’t miss these three minutes!

If you know someone thinking of throwing his or her vote away “to make a statement,” send him this, by columnist Dan Savage . . . with a warning that it’s unbleeped.  Most of Dan’s words have F’s and C’s and K’s in them.

And while we have the Not Suitable For Work light flashing, here is a parody of what someone imagines Hillary is really thinking.

So sharp.

So funny.

(Did you see the case President Clinton made for her? If you’re not a Hillary fan, I wish you’d find the time to watch. We did have eight years of peace and prosperity under Bill Clinton. His perspective is worth considering.)

Finally, of course: if you’re not for Trump, please click here.

Fortunately, I’ve been spared from giving one this year (thank you, Jesus!) so let me just update the last one, with none of the stress of trying to read it from a Teleprompter:

This is the fifth time I’ve had the honor to address you, and each time, I speak about the same two things: money and equality. 

First, equality.  The Democratic Party has dramatically improved the lives of millions of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual Americans.  And at no cost to anyone else. 

Second, money.  The Democratic Party is the party of Social Security, Federally Insured bank accounts, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, unions, the minimum wage, Pell grants — and so much more that’s helped lift the American middle class.  

The economy does significantly better under Democrats.  And so do investors.  The stock market tripled under Bill Clinton and has more than doubled since Barack Obama took office.  And listen to this: If you had started in 1921 with $10,000 and invested it in the market only in the 48 years that REPUBLICANS held the White House, it would have grown – not counting dividends — to less than $50,000.  But to more than $600,000 in the 48 years Democrats held the White House!  

I favor the Party that invests in the future and boosts the middle class and those aspiring to join it.   I favor the Party under whose leadership $10,000 grows to SIX HUNDRED thousand instead of fifty.

The party under whose last 16 years of leadership – Clinton and Obama – more than 30 million net new private sector jobs were added.  Compared with fewer than ONE million net new jobs under the last two REPUBLICANS in the White House.

I favor the party under whose leadership the economy grows FASTER than our debt – as it did under President Clinton and is now again under President Obama – but did NOT under Presidents Reagan, Bush or Bush.  Under Democrats, the National Debt gradually SHRINKS relative to the economy as a whole.

But money isn’t everything.  The freedom to be who you are and love who you love without fear or oppression are even more important.

In 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton let the world know that the President of the United States and First Lady had a vision of America that included equality for gays and lesbians.  It’s easy to forget what a huge deal this was.  How unprecedented it was.  It gave space for governors and mayors and university presidents and CEO’s to come out openly in favor of equality, too.  It gave space for moms and dads and celebrities and friends and neighbors and co-workers and enlightened clergy to embrace their fellow Americans.  Love is love.  We are stronger together. 

In the years since 1993, we have made almost unimaginable progress — with Republicans fighting us every step of the way.

Vote for equality, my friends.  Vote for prosperity.  Vote for my amazing friend Hillary.

(And click here.)

I occasionally tout Brain HQ, the offering of a private company I have a small interest in. And how — unlike crossword puzzles and such — it really can sharpen older folks’ mental acuity . . . with more than 100 peer-reviewed studies to back up that claim.

Now comes a much bigger study, of such import it’s made the NBC Nightly News and much else.  Here it is in a 4-minute nutshell, courtesy of the “Today Show.”

Yes, it could set you or your grandmama back $14 a month.  But you don’t have to do these exercises forever — the study showed improved results 10 years after stopping the exercises.  And isn’t delaying dementia worth a few bucks a month for a few months?

Anyway (he says, with considerable self-interest): take a look.

Did you see Michelle’s speech? What a First Lady. (What a First Family!) Boy, is she ever worth listening to.

And Bernie? He did exactly what Ted Cruz did not. (Go figure.) He presented a positive vision for America — and whole-heartedly endorsed his primary opponent.

Hillary must win if we are to make progress toward Bernie’s political revolution and the goals he and Hillary share: college affordable to all and lower student-loan costs; a higher minimum wage; serious action on climate change — all of it. (The one place they are both wrong and the President is right, in my view: TPP. Which among other things replaces NAFTA with something stronger on worker and environmental rights. Isn’t that something we want to do?  But I digress.)

So one of our jobs in the 101 days ahead is to learn more about how terrific Hillary is — and debunk some of the myths that, repeated often enough, become common . . . but wrong . . . knowledge.

Which can have tragic consequences.

(No, Al Gore never said he invented the Internet — he championed it in Congress before anyone knew what it was and helped birth it.  Yet the common . . . but wrong . . . knowledge that he did make such a pompous boast helped Bush “win” and gave us the disastrous Iraq war and a right-wing Supreme Court.)

So here, for starters: Five Myths About Hillary’s Iraq War Vote.

Help us win. Click here.

This guy is so good.  I had the pleasure of working with him when he chaired the DNC.

If you missed Tim Kaine’s “introductory” speech in Miami, watch it here.  It will make your day.  It will lift your spirits.  It will ease your concerns.  A smarter, steadier, more decent and positive guy you will not find.

Watching will make you feel really good about Hillary’s judgment in choosing him, I think . . . and, with your help, really good about America’s future.  (Click here.)

This is Monday’s column, early. (I couldn’t contain myself: the Washington Post editorial is truly must read.)

But first:

$$$

David from Deloitte:  “Any chance you could highlight your financial posts so I can bypass the days when you talk politics?  I don’t care for politics at all and have no interest in government, but do enjoy hearing what you have to say about money.”

☞ I don’t care for politics either but care for mankind’s future (as do you) — which after 10,000 generations comes down to this one. And maybe one or two more. Either we get it right, as a species — or we hurtle off the rails.  So, with apologies: no, I can’t spare you my thoughts on this election. The potential damage is just too grave. (Read on.)

Still, Friday I did write about money — and WheelTug / Borealis (a bit more on that, just in, here) — so I hope not to lose you entirely.  Stick with me!

TRUMP’S SPEECH

Lee N: “Conservative blogger, Erick Erickson, borrowed an old Molly Ivins line — ‘It sounded better in the original German.’”

FASCISM DEFINED

Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker:

. . . It is the essence of fascism to have no single fixed form—an attenuated form of nationalism in its basic nature, it naturally takes on the colors and practices of each nation it infects. In Italy, it is bombastic and neoclassical in form; in Spain, Catholic and religious; in Germany, violent and romantic. . . .

What all forms of fascism have in common is the glorification of the nation, and the exaggeration of its humiliations, with violence promised to its enemies, at home and abroad; the worship of power wherever it appears and whoever holds it; contempt for the rule of law and for reason; unashamed employment of repeated lies as a rhetorical strategy; and a promise of vengeance for those who feel themselves disempowered by history. It promises to turn back time and take no prisoners. That it can appeal to those who do not understand its consequences is doubtless true. But the first job of those who do understand is to state what those consequences invariably are. Those who think that the underlying institutions of American government are immunized against it fail to understand history. In every historical situation where a leader of Trump’s kind comes to power, normal safeguards collapse. Ours are older and therefore stronger? Watching the rapid collapse of the Republican Party is not an encouraging rehearsal. Donald Trump has a chance to seize power.

Hillary Clinton is an ordinary liberal politician. She has her faults, easily described, often documented—though, for the most part, the worst accusations against her have turned out to be fiction. No reasonable person, no matter how opposed to her politics, can believe for a second that Clinton’s accession to power would be a threat to the Constitution or the continuation of American democracy. No reasonable person can believe that Trump’s accession to power would not be. . . .

The Washington Post editorial board sees Donald Trump as “a unique threat to American democracy.”

. . . DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America’s problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump’s politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation’s two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew.

Any one of these characteristics would be disqualifying; together, they make Mr. Trump a peril. . . .

Read the whole thing.  Post it to your Facebook page.  Send it to everyone you know.

And then . . .

Click here.

Jason Zweig, blogging intelligently for the Wall Street Journal:

. . . Measured before inflation, rates have never been so low in so much of the world.

On July 5, the day after the United States’ 240th birthday, the yield on 10-year Treasury debt fell below 1.4% for the first time in the nation’s history.

Worldwide, $13 trillion in debt yields less than zero . . .

However, this is far from the first time that interest rates have gone negative — once you account for inflation to measure what economists call “real” rates. Adjusted for changes in the cost of living, the yield on Treasury bills was negative in 18 out of the 27 years between 1933 and 1959. Over the same period, intermediate-term Treasuries had negative real yields in 15 years. In the 1940s and again in the 1970s, negative real rates were common worldwide.

Nor is this the first time stocks have hit record highs amid negative rates. In 1958, short-term Treasury bills yielded minus 0.2% after inflation. Stocks nevertheless rose 43.4% that year to reach what then were all-time highs.

None of this means there’s nothing to worry about. Returns on stocks and bonds are almost certain to shrink, and investors all around you are likely to take reckless risks as they become increasingly desperate for income. In a world turned upside down, sanity will be your most valuable asset as an investor.

. . .

Rates probably won’t rise until almost no one on earth is expecting them to. When that happens, it will hurt.

Since 1913, U.S. stocks have gained an annual average of 9.3% when interest rates fall, but only 2.3% in periods of rising rates, according to finance researchers Elroy Dimson of Cambridge Judge Business School and Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton of London Business School. Bonds have returned an average of 3.6% annually in periods of falling rates, but only 0.3% when rates rise, the researchers calculate. The results include the effects of inflation.

Nevertheless, even at today’s emaciated yields, bonds remain a powerful hedge against declines in the stock market, says Fran Kinniry, an investment strategist at Vanguard Group. Treasury bonds rose 1% on June 24, when the British vote to exit the European Union knocked U.S. stocks down almost 4%.

With such slim prospective returns on offer, you will have to lower your expectations and raise the amount you save. . . .

Write to Jason Zweig at intelligentinvestor@wsj.com, and follow him on Twitter at @jasonzweigwsj.

Today’s low rates and buoyant stock market are the reason that — blessed with a little money I can truly afford to lose — I look for out-sized returns in speculative situations that will not be much affected by low, and eventually rising, interest rates — many of them not yet public companies.

I actually do have a bridge to sell you. And rectal applicators!* And training for Certified Nursing Assistants! And purpose for your employees! And home energy-efficiency certification!  And a transcription tool! And a clot-removal device. And an aquablast treatment for your prostate!

Lucky you.

And, of course, a system that will allow pilots to back out from the gate without waiting for a tug, cutting five or ten minutes — or eventually in some cases twenty (by allowing boarding and deplaning from both front and rear doors) — off the time passengers are stuck waiting to take off.  Which in turn will unlock billions of dollars of efficiency for airlines and airports (and please passengers).

In that regard, one of you asked me recently whether — its having been such a long time that we’ve waited on Borealis, majority owner of WheelTug — it is not time to sell and look for something else. I continue to believe BOREF is a spectacular lottery ticket. (Bought only with money you can truly afford to lose, and only with “limit” orders, lest your 1000-share order for this currently-$5 stock be executed at $10.  Though even at $10, the entire thing would be valued at $50 million; less than one fifth the value placed on this lovely Cezanne.)

The commitments WheelTug has from 20 airlines to lease the systems — if they can win FAA approval and be successfully produced — suggest the demand is there.  The recent decision by Honeywell/Safran to discontinue their effort confirms what WheelTug believed: that their approach — three times the weight and hugging the main landing gear wheels that house the super-hot brakes — simply wouldn’t fly.

WheelTug may never fly, either. But a lot of smart people are working hard in the belief that it will.

See you in Philadelphia!

*Yech! Though if you suffer from Crohn’s Disease, not so “yech” at all.