Waiting For A Lot More Than Godot December 12, 2021December 13, 2021 If anticipation is half the fun, how can I not be giddy? I’ll get to the important, world-changing, democracy-saving stuff in a second, but first, on the investment front . . . > I’ve been waiting for Borealis since before some of you were born! Here’s WheelTug’s latest. It’s taken SO much longer than hoped — yet from what I can tell, they continue to inch forward. So I wait. Will our payday ever come? I don’t know. But with the company valued at $30 million, less than half the cost of a single Gulfstream G700 or Beeple’s NFT*, I have to think the risk/reward ratio remains good, real though the risk is. So I wait. > Likewise, PRKR. We’ve paid as little as a dime for these shares (most recently 99 cents), and in some cases more than a dollar. I’ve been with this one for just three years — a speck in the eye of time — and I keep waiting for trial dates that get postponed. But, again, I think the risk/reward is good. So I wait.** And there so many others, including a slew of private start-ups I’ve placed bets on — like BrainHQ and Pearl Certification and Trusty.Care — I’ve plugged here more than once, the way I used to flog Honest Tea. Honest Tea took 14 years from the first check I wrote to the last check I received (thank you, Coca Cola). But it was worth the wait. Remember “silt accumulates”? It took forever, but GLDD, suggested as low as $2.33 a share a dozen years ago, closed at $15.61 Friday. Patience, Jackass, patience. In the forthcoming edition of my investment guide (while I’m plugging things), I list a score of start-ups-turned-wipe-outs and how much I lost in each. So whether it be in BOREF or PRKR or any of the other things I suggest here from time to time, we must only invest money we can truly afford to lose. Yet for those of us fortunate enough to have such money, it sure keeps things interesting. *Beeple was at a friend’s beautiful home for a dinner last week and discovered there was no mirror in the guest bathroom. “You have no mirror in there!” he announced to the host (or words to that effect). The host admitted it was true. “Have you got a Magic Marker?” Beeple asked. One was procured. Beeple proceeded to draw a large mirror on the blank white bathroom wall, wrote MIRROR in the middle, and signed it. My friend’s home, already valuable, may now be worth $1 million more. **Sometimes, justice is eventually done. Many years ago, I put a bunch of dough into a friend’s deal that was so safe it could only go badly wrong if he were Bernie Madoffing us and would ultimately go to federal prison. And this lovely guy, with his lovely kids, was definitely not prison material. After years of waiting . . . Cut to the September 16 sentencing date! Hallelujah! Oh, wait. Postponed to November. Cut to the November sentencing date! Hallelujah! Oh wait, postponed again, to December 2. Waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. But December 2 arrived. Five years plus probation, forfeiture, and restitution. Will “December 2” arrive for PRKR? And now . . . I’m waiting for: > Reconciliation to pass, paid for in part by . . . > An income tax hike on billionaires and billionheirs (and corporations), many of whom (and which) pay none at all. > People to notice how much better things are getting. (It’s a Biden Boom—and No One Has Noticed Yet, writes Rob Shapiro. “If the current high levels of economic, job, and income growth continue, the 2022 midterms could look different than most are predicting.”) Did you notice that the number of jobless claims for the week of December 4 was the lowest in 52 years? > Our messaging to become sharp and relentless, so people know Democrats have delivered. Know we’re fixing their potholes and getting them rural broadband and strengthening their electric grid — all of which Republicans tried to block. Know we slashed the cost of insulin and the cost of child care and helped them get hearing aids — all of which Republicans tried to block. > More 30-second spots like this one. Democrats have consistently tried to deliver for the average American. Republicans have consistently voted no. No on Medicare. No on Medicaid Expansion. No on family medical leave. No on the minimum wage. No on universal background checks. No on women’s rights. No on LGBTQ rights. No on voting rights. But yes on tax cuts for those billionaires, billionheirs. and corporations (many of whom and which, I would stress, are fine people and terrific companies, abiding by the law . . . which is why the law needs to be changed). > Messaging that’s short and sweet, like this one on inflation my pal Paul Abrams suggests (feel free to tweet; no need for attribution): Fifty-six Leading economists have concluded that Build Back Better will help tame inflation. Any Republican who votes NO is pro-inflation. > The pandemic to subside. Did you know that even as Florida’s governor decries mandates and demagogues about “medical authoritarianism,” his state requires that all children receive vaccines protecting against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and other diseases for child care center or school attendance? It’s a mandate! And mandates the wearing of seatbelts? Florida is a virtual police state! (Like every other red state in the country, all of which, like the blue states, require these same sensible things.) > Trump to be indicted. And so many others around him to be brought to justice, as a few were before he pardoned them. > The spell to be broken, so tens of millions of Trumpers break free. Like Fred B., who wrote me this week: “I was a Republican, Conservative and gave you grief some years ago. I have to say, I’m sorry for that. Since then, I have had a change of heart. This past year, I found that DT was a truly a horrible person. I even voted for Joe, and made a few calls to folks for the Democratic Party. What a freaking trip that was. I haven’t crossed the line and become a Dem, but I think of that often.” No need to become a Dem! We just need people to stop drinking the Kool-Aid (or bleach) and return to sensible, fact-based, spirited-but-civil discourse. > The filibuster carve out needed to pass election protection legislation to thwart the ongoing coup. Yes, it was a coup attempt. And it remains underway: TRUMP’S NEXT COUP HAS ALREADY BEGUN. January 6 was practice. I’m not sure how much of this will happen — the last item being ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL. But just because it takes so much longer than it should doesn’t mean it won’t. So far this year, we rescued the American economy; we passed the infrastructure bill, something we’ve waited decades for; and, hey! Broadway is back! Yet to be a anything less than alarmed and engaged would be a terrible mistake, because this really is show time for America. If you missed Brian Williams’ final hour Friday — after 28 years on NBC– watch it in full if you have the time; or start here for Carville’s prescription — “we gotta stop this namby-pamby”; or skip all that and start here, with two of the great historians of our time. Have a great week. Help if you can. Early money is much more powerful than the exact same money next Fall.