Market & Economic Commentary – October 31, 2015
Hard to believe Thanksgiving is already staring us in the face already. Below please find my latest commentary. The markets continue their trendless but volatile path. Now positive for the year, they rebounded from deep declines in August and September. The first part of this month’s commentary focuses on conflicting views of where we might be headed from here. Major economic clues are then offered to help us make some common sense assumptions about likely drivers of market direction. Remember, no one knows with any certainty where markets will go. Investing is an exercise in putting probabilities on your side and sizing appropriately where your first priority is protecting your capital.
I also spent a lot of time recapping both the Democrat and Republican debates that occurred since my last commentary. The contrasts between the two were telling and goes back to a long term issue of bias in the media that I regularly write about in this forum. A discussion of some issues found their way through the chaos, but probably more noticeable were the issues that were not or could not be addressed. I believe that the entire debate process and framework is severely flawed and needs to be reengineered to allow the candidates on both sides to clearly articulate their platforms and allow their challengers the opportunity to argue against the their opponents positions and let the viewer decide who they support. Instead, the candidates are pushed into making personal attacks and defending irresponsible premises. Those major issues that are addressed receive only simple talking points. We are not provided with substantive detail on their views. Everyone loses in the current form, and dreadfully uninformed Americans are kept even more in the dark. Media agendas control the process as they distort and mislead instead of research and inform.
This month’s piece is a little long, but hopefully entertaining and informative.
Enjoy,
Commentary: October 31, 2015
A collection of today’s economic, market, political, geo-political, and human interest news, thoughts, and analysis.
In This Month’s edition
- Who Do You Believe?
- Economic Clues
- The Debates
- The Brotherhood