INSIGHTS
JAN
24
COSTA’S CORNER
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
From the early 70’s rock anthem, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, Pete Townsend forcefully expresses his generations’ frustration with how things seem to never change.
While the World seems to be in such disarray, what with Venezuela on the brink of some sort of coup, China sneaking about, trying to rule the World, the US government in shutdown mode and the President blinking on something that is required by the Constitution, Dictatorial regimes around the World looking for more. It’s a World of confusion and yet if you look back in time and slice that time open to reveal what was going on back 30 years or 50 years, you would see eerie similarities and after those periods of uncertainty, the ship was righted and we moved on.
Some people try and look at the whole and it frightens them. The big picture just doesn’t seem like it will end well. Wars, economic conflicts, social upheavals, they have been around forever and will continue to be part of the fabric of human existence.
The overarching sentiment is that there is no clear-cut solution to all this upheaval and that may be partially right. I think if you break down each situation and treat them separately, they become a little easier to manage and maybe even come up with a workable solution.
I do believe over time, solutions are found and problems resolved. Typically, these solutions have some amount of bloodshed and there will always be some unsatisfied party that may want to continue the fight. A perfect example is Northern Ireland. While most of the World felt that “The Troubles” had ended with the peace agreement signed in
October of 1973, there are still factions in Northern Ireland that believe nothing was settled and still plan on disrupting daily life.
Compartmentalize these situations and determine how does it affect you in your daily life, what if it escalates, will it still have little or no impact on me and what do I do if it does.
I know millennials tend to look at the ills of the World and want to try and do something to change them and that’s very noble but unfortunately, we can only impact things so far and we have to accept our limitations. We can have input into the national discourse about global problems but again, we are putting faith in organizations that have limited impact on events and the frustrations continue.
This has been going on for decades, so we should be used to it by now.
Cynicism aside, we still need to voice our feelings in a constructive way and hope the voices are loud enough for those in power to hear.
The one area where I do think voices are heard is in corporate governance. If you are a shareholder, you have every right to voice your opinion about a company you partially own and expect an answer. I have had an ownership stakes in several different companies and while my stake was small, I always felt if I had a question or concern, that company’s management would address it.
Did it ever change the way a company does business? Perhaps. However, shareholders do get a chance to vote and a “no” vote to a corporate resolution does speak loudly.
The final “no” vote, of course, is selling that company’s stock.
The point is, while the World seems to keep on this repeat cycle of
catastrophe, the business world, for the most part, keeps disaster at a minimum and responds when needed fairly quickly.
Still in a lull between moves so no change.
50% Stocks
25% Fixed Income
25% Cash
From the early 70’s rock anthem, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, Pete Townsend forcefully expresses his generations’ frustration with how things seem to never change.
While the World seems to be in such disarray, what with Venezuela on the brink of some sort of coup, China sneaking about, trying to rule the World, the US government in shutdown mode and the President blinking on something that is required by the Constitution, Dictatorial regimes around the World looking for more. It’s a World of confusion and yet if you look back in time and slice that time open to reveal what was going on back 30 years or 50 years, you would see eerie similarities and after those periods of uncertainty, the ship was righted and we moved on.
Some people try and look at the whole and it frightens them. The big picture just doesn’t seem like it will end well. Wars, economic conflicts, social upheavals, they have been around forever and will continue to be part of the fabric of human existence.
The overarching sentiment is that there is no clear-cut solution to all this upheaval and that may be partially right. I think if you break down each situation and treat them separately, they become a little easier to manage and maybe even come up with a workable solution.
I do believe over time, solutions are found and problems resolved. Typically, these solutions have some amount of bloodshed and there will always be some unsatisfied party that may want to continue the fight. A perfect example is Northern Ireland. While most of the World felt that “The Troubles” had ended with the peace agreement signed in
October of 1973, there are still factions in Northern Ireland that believe nothing was settled and still plan on disrupting daily life.
Compartmentalize these situations and determine how does it affect you in your daily life, what if it escalates, will it still have little or no impact on me and what do I do if it does.
I know millennials tend to look at the ills of the World and want to try and do something to change them and that’s very noble but unfortunately, we can only impact things so far and we have to accept our limitations. We can have input into the national discourse about global problems but again, we are putting faith in organizations that have limited impact on events and the frustrations continue.
This has been going on for decades, so we should be used to it by now.
Cynicism aside, we still need to voice our feelings in a constructive way and hope the voices are loud enough for those in power to hear.
The one area where I do think voices are heard is in corporate governance. If you are a shareholder, you have every right to voice your opinion about a company you partially own and expect an answer. I have had an ownership stakes in several different companies and while my stake was small, I always felt if I had a question or concern, that company’s management would address it.
Did it ever change the way a company does business? Perhaps. However, shareholders do get a chance to vote and a “no” vote to a corporate resolution does speak loudly.
The final “no” vote, of course, is selling that company’s stock.
The point is, while the World seems to keep on this repeat cycle of
catastrophe, the business world, for the most part, keeps disaster at a minimum and responds when needed fairly quickly.
Still in a lull between moves so no change.
50% Stocks
25% Fixed Income
25% Cash