The Least Worst — and Six Trends For 2018

One way to think about the market: were you more or less confident in the country’s prospects and prosperity when Obama was President than you are now?

> If you were more confident then — when the Debt was finally again shrinking relative to the economy as a whole — why should the Dow be much higher now?  (The Dow was 18,000 or so the day of Trump’s surprise win.)

> If you are more now than then — with the tax cuts, deregulation, and giant deficit juicing the economy, but departed Trump advisor Omarosa Manigault Newman opining “it’s not going to be okay” — that could justify at least part of last night’s 24,000 or so close.

I didn’t think the market was undervalued then at 18,000.  And I doubt it’s a steal here at 24,000.  Though what do I know.

Monday, I hope to post “Pre-empting the October Surprise.”  Still working on that one.

But for now, three links:

Bruce Bartlett tweeted this link to a Ben Carson profile, with the comment: “I can’t think of a single Trump cabinet secretary who isn’t the worst person ever to hold that position in departmental history.”  Bartlett, a Republican, served in the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations.  Housing Secretary Carson, this profile makes clear, is one of the least-worst of the bunch.

Here, from the kind of global consultancy CEOs pay huge bucks to hear from, are Six Trends for 2018.

Following up on yesterday’s book-plug, watch this 45-second trailer.  More compelling than the blurb I posted.

Have a great week-end!