According to the US Labor Department, U.S. inflation hit a 39-year high of 6.8% last month. Meanwhile, in Washington, Democrats are scrambling to pass their $2 trillion “Build Back Better” spending bill before Christmas. While these two issues may not be directly related, they do offer either an opportunity or perhaps some urgency to act today.
Q3 2021 Market Review
World stock markets were flat to down in Q3, but it can be argued that they had a better summer than Joe Biden. Unlike Washington DC where spinsters sold the debacle in Kabul as a “tactical success” or the $3.5 trillion price tag of turning the US into a EU style social welfare utopia as “free”, equity investors weren’t quite as willing to rebrand slowing growth and inflation any differently than they were in the 1970’s when the “Stagflation” term was originally coined.
Can You Beat a Hamster?
The catchy headline of the week had to go to the New York Post’s “Crypto-investing hamster beats performance of Warren Buffett”. The story describes how two German gentlemen have designed an enclosure for the rodent, named Mr. Goxx, that triggers buys and sells based on what tunnel he chooses to take to his hamster wheel.
Since June, Mr. Goxx has logged better returns trading cryptocurrencies than Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway (or even the S&P 500 for that matter) has returned in the same timeframe. Surprising?
Not at all. But investors can learn something from this.