Sunday Reads And Listens – It's Only A Point, The AI Summer and The Little Green Book Of Bagholders
I am bringing back Stocktoberfest. Come to Coronado, San Diego October 20-22
An intimate event for executives, influencers, and the most active investors in financial markets. Secure your tickets here.
Ellen and I woke up this morning in the UK to the news that Trump had been shot. He is alive which is great.
Unfortunately, a sick, angry person and an automatic rifle are a terrible combination.
The conspiracy theories will be fast and furious.
The New York Times closed at all-time highs on Friday (something I have been predicting on ‘Trends With Friends’ and Stocktwits since last November) and is grotesquely the biggest winner since Oct 7th last year and this nightmare of a 2024 election. Just Friday they penned ‘Donald Trump Is Unfit To Lead’ (I can’t bring myself to read it).
Not to be outdone, Al Jazeera is already claiming Trump was shot because he supports Israel.
Just yesterday I was reading this Vanity Fair story on the life of RFK Jr. who was 14 when he witnessed his dad being shot and killed. It is no excuse for the twisted grown man he has become but I am glad Barron Trump at 15 won’t be dealing with the same.
I am a ‘never Trumper’ and an ‘alway Israel’ person so every which way I look I am conflicted in 2024.
I logged on to Twitter desktop – bad idea – because it is important to know how Phucker Tarlson and Alex Jones think about the shooting. I got what I deserved…paranoia.
My only prediction…
Washington Post and New York Times reporting that Gaza Ministry says 75 Palestinians were killed by IDF snipers at Trump rally
— Coronado ‘Porch’ Lindzon (@howardlindzon)
6:17 AM • Jul 14, 2024
Trump is alive so I think it is ok to carry on with some links.
This weeks Trends With Friends was a great conversation with my pal Barry Ritholtz. It has been our most listened to podcast in the series so far.
We explore the current state of the markets, the impact of EU regulations on big tech and small businesses, and the debate around data ownership and fair use in the AI era. We dive into why all-time highs are bullish signals, the challenges facing small-cap companies, and how AI investments today compare to previous tech revolutions.
Please subscribe on YouTube or Spotify.
Trends With Friends is now it’s own site which is a free and easy subscribe here. Not only will you get the show and notes emailed to you weekly, you will get a Sunday wrap of my favorite market thinkers and follows.
Next up…
It’s only a point…is great. Roger Federer serves up a legendary commencement speech.
Next …
I have started to work on a short book titled ‘The Little Green Book For Bagholders‘ (title is just a placeholder for now). In a world exploding in degeneracy (gambling, trading, endless supply of grift crypto and 10,000 Cramer’s) investing will not get easier. It is and always will be hard.
I have both been a bagholder and have seen every type of bagholder in my 17 years of stream watching on Stocktwits and Twitter…not counting the 20 years pre web 2.0 and 3.0.
Finally…
I am still not using any AI products in my daily workflow (I do use portfolio company Finchat.io a lot and many of our companies are applying AI).
Ben Evans has a great piece titled AI Summer…
Hundreds of millions of people have tried ChatGPT, but most of them haven’t been back. Every big company has done a pilot, but far fewer are in deployment. Some of this is just a matter of time. But LLMs might also be a trap: they look like products and they look magic, but they aren’t. Maybe we have to go through the slow, boring hunt for product-market fit after all.
I also liked this AI meets content strategy piece – Why The Atlantic Signed A Deal With OpenAI.
Have a safe Sunday.
