Stock Updates December 2, 2016December 1, 2016 I don’t want to shock you, but I’m going to write something about money. Specifically, four stocks I’ve discussed in the past. But first, by way of thanks for your subscription, free tickets to an off-Broadway show that I’ve also discussed, “Buyer and Cellar” (“Delicious and wickedly funny!” — New York Times) . . . which I’m able to provide because it’s being broadcast and live-streamed Monday at ten, as explained here. Enjoy! Also: the Nick Confessore piece everyone is reading, in case you might one day want to hide $400 million from your spouse. It’s one more window into the ever-increasing wealth inequality Ronald Reagan set in motion and that Donald Trump — whose Cabinet picks’ net worth so far averages about $200 million and whose proposed tax cut is 14% for the top 1% but 2% for the middle class — has persuaded millions of voters he will reverse. That those voters may be disappointed is a pretty good bet. Chris Brown shares this quote from Chrystia Freeland’s 2012 book, Plutocrats, writing about how they make policy: “You don’t do this in a kind of chortling, smoking your cigar, conspiratorial thinking way. You do it by persuading yourself that whatever is in your own personal self-interest is in the interests of everybody else. So you persuade yourself that, actually, government services, things like spending on education . . . need to be cut so that the deficit will shrink, so that your tax bill doesn’t go up . . .” I expect we’ll find other passages to quote as the Trump years unfold. Okay. Four stocks: Our PRMRF closed at $13.97 yesterday, up from under $5 when last mentioned, in March. That’s mainly because people expect stronger oil prices: good for wealthy people who own shares in oil stocks; not good for those who merely buy it to heat their homes and power their cars. The other two stocks mentioned that day, GLDD and BOREF, remain under $5. They could hardly be more different. GLDD has been a boring disappointment for a long time now, but remains, I hope, a stodgy but solid “infrastructure play” — the nation’s largest dredging company. Silt accumulates. I hope someday better management will appear, perhaps because the company is acquired, and we will (finally) make our modest profit on the position. BOREF remains, in my view, an amazing lottery ticket. But who knew the drawing wouldn’t be for 20 years? In addition to owning a ridiculous amount the stock (if I were married, it could be grounds for divorce), I’ve tried to be helpful to the company more directly. If you invested with cash you can truly afford to lose, hang on. But be prepared to wait a lot longer (television was invented in 1926, no one made a dime from it, to my knowledge, until 1950 or so); and for the possibility that, as sometimes happens with lottery tickets, we’ll lose. GEC was until recently the new symbol for UPIP that I last wrote about here. “It’s complicated,” but if you own any, you were just offered a chance to buy more at $3.285. You have until December 23 to name the number of shares you want. I loaded up. The stock closed at $3.75 last night, and may trend down toward that $3.285 offer price; but (famous last words) I’m pretty confident it will then rise. So shares bought at $3.285 could represent a good value. Albeit, only with money you can truly afford to lose. Have a great weekend!