You are a free subscriber to Me and the Money Printer. To upgrade to paid and receive the daily Capital Wave Report - which features our Red-Green market signals, subscribe here. Dear Fellow Traveler: The most important influencer on my writing career is a man named Craig Vetter. Craig was a professor at the Medill School of Journalism; he was my “magazine writing” professor in a class where I received a B minus. And that B minus is the most important badge of honor in my writing career… Here’s why. Vetter and Hunter…Craig Vetter wrote for National Geographic and Playboy Magazine. He conducted a definitive interview with embattled Beatles manager Allen Klein, and told me that John Lennon gave him an acid copy of “Imagine” - which he lost three weeks later… Craig was a wild man… He would get mad because my friend, Bahar Takhtehchian, and I wouldn’t stop talking in class, then tell me that we had to have a meeting during his office hours to discuss my commitment to writing… His office hours… with me - and me alone - were at The Keg, a dive bar in Evanston, Illinois. The conversations were incredible… he just wanted to hang out, it seemed… He told me after the first article that I wrote in his class about lacrosse goalies… that my writing reminded him of Hunter S. Thompson’s work. And he would know… because he lived with Hunter in San Francisco in the 1960s… I didn’t take that comparison well… First, I grew up as a fan of Thompson… But I am not Hunter Thompson… not personally or in editorial… I have always been more of an HL Mencken kind of writer (with thanks to Doc Fitzgerald). That said… Thompson was an influence… but I’ve never tried to write like him… It’s tempting… VERY tempting to try to emulate an author you LOVE. Finding your voice is freaking hard… it takes years… and then more… I never wanted to be pushed in that direction. Craig… pushed me to do that… He said that Hunter once told him: “Every word has to be a brick to the head…” And every single article that I wrote in that class… he gave me a B Minus. Every article was untouched… unedited… and said… “Darker…” at the bottom. It was a direction. Most students would complain to their deans… I never did. I understood what he was doing… It made me better… and it made me stop thinking too much… People ask me how I write as much as I do… I don’t torture myself… I don’t hang on every word. I don’t do what Thompson did… I just write… and then deal with the consequences… Second… I didn’t actually consider myself that good a writer at the time… I felt that he saw what I see in myself at 44… if only I had seen it and felt that confidence at 22… Now I feel that confidence… every single time that I sit down and stare at this keyboard… Anyone can talk into a camera. It takes electricity to connect your brain, to your hands… to this keyboard. It defines me now… I fully understand what it means, and there’s no pressure anymore. Craig applied a lot of pressure… I just hadn’t grown up yet… There was one last thing that I took away from my conversations with Craig. On the subject of writing… I argued (and he partially agreed) that the only time you should curse in print is when you mean it. Add it for emphasis… To really bring home a punchline… To have it be like an encore. To make people laugh… or think… On Hunter…There was an afternoon at a table at the Keg, where we talked about Hunter. He knew that Hunter’s work influenced me… but he also knew that I was more interested in finance than culture. Still, we debated the works… We both agreed that Thompson was at his best with the Wave Speech in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  Craig smiled when I said that “The Curse of Lono” - a wild but almost meaningless book about covering the Hawaiian marathon - was my favorite book of all time (images by Ralph Steadman). I keep a rare copy on my desk… three feet away… Still… there was a great moment in time… I quoted Thompson back to his friend… The line of Hunter’s that made me laugh the hardest. It goes…
That line is from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas… And that’s where I deviate from my opening… I wrote all of that… to tell you this… Welcome to the Maryland State Fair.Today, my daughter and I went to the Maryland State Fair. We did this last year, and we regretted it. But she is 8, and has a small memory. I go back to this line…
The Maryland State Fair is what the world is doing on a Sunday… because American corporations won the war… It is a cartoonish reminder of where we are at this exact moment… and I have some basic reflections. Some observations… if you will. 1. I Met the Greatest Capitalist of All TimeOne of the comedies of a State Fair is the fact that there are non-stop rigged games. From the basketball hoops that are smaller and 11-feet high… to that stupid ladder game that is impossible to ring the bell (my daughter made me pay $10 for that…) It’s a perfect example of the rigged games we live with each day… But then a man named Dante comes along… Dante ran a small booth outside the agricultural center. And instead of charging you $20 to try to win a prize from a rigged game… He sold the SAME prizes as the multiple games… for $10. Want the big stuffed animal that would cost you $40 to pop darts… This guy… was selling the same freaking prizes for 75% off. Genius. I spoke with him about it and said to him… “You’re the smartest guy here…” He replied… “You’re a winner every time at this booth…” I want to adopt this man… 2. A Day in the LifeAmerica runs on rigged games and carnival rides. While my daughter was riding this dragon, I couldn’t help but notice how utterly insane it was that this ride was up on some weird support beams… This is how the economy works… one ride at a time. And I tried to imagine what it was like to be that guy who travels from town to town… proudly owning this dragon ride… and what it meant… This is the world we don’t talk about… He’s sleeping in a trailer. He’s watching people spin around in a circle on VERY unstable support beams… I doubt he has insurance for his rides… let alone his own health insurance… What a world… 3. Diabetes Don’t Cost Nothin…Okay. So, how much fried shit can you order at the State Fair? The answer is all of it. However, there is a candy maze where you can purchase a half-pound of candy for $7.99. They give you a basket. You regret it when you get to the cash register… My daughter didn’t buy that much… but it was pretty wild to see the bait-and-switch they conducted with candy bars… etc… Anyway… so we leave, and my daughter sees a wheel she can spin… It’s the Maryland Department of Health… She spins for me… and they asked me a trivia question. The number of Marylanders who are pre-diabetic are 1 in ____? I knew the answer: Three. She said, “Pick any prize you want.” I took a lanyard and then told her that I was putting this prize into the same bag with all the sugar we just bought. 4. The Kids Aren’t Into PhishThey had a Sunday show… “The Grateful Dead and Phish… FOR KIDS.” Here’s the attendance… They were unimpressed… Me too… 5. And Finally…While buying candy, I saw that two boxes of Bazooka Joe were basically untouched. And that’s wild… I assume that all Bazooka Joe gum was made in 1963, which is why it is virtually impossible to chew… Still… I am appalled that parents aren’t using Bazooka Joe gum to teach their children the basics of life… Tell your child… Life is hard… Shouldn’t your fucking gum be harder?  Stay positive, Garrett Baldwin About Me and the Money Printer Me and the Money Printer is a daily publication covering the financial markets through three critical equations. We track liquidity (money in the financial system), momentum (where money is moving in the system), and insider buying (where Smart Money at companies is moving their money). Combining these elements with a deep understanding of central banking and how the global system works has allowed us to navigate financial cycles and boost our probability of success as investors and traders. This insight is based on roughly 17 years of intensive academic work at four universities, extensive collaboration with market experts, and the joy of trial and error in research. You can take a free look at our worldview and thesis right here. Disclaimer Nothing in this email should be considered personalized financial advice. While we may answer your general customer questions, we are not licensed under securities laws to guide your investment situation. Do not consider any communication between you and Florida Republic employees as financial advice. The communication in this letter is for information and educational purposes unless otherwise strictly worded as a recommendation. Model portfolios are tracked to showcase a variety of academic, fundamental, and technical tools, and insight is provided to help readers gain knowledge and experience. Readers should not trade if they cannot handle a loss and should not trade more than they can afford to lose. There are large amounts of risk in the equity markets. Consider consulting with a professional before making decisions with your money.
|
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 Response to "Fear and Loathing at the Maryland State Fair..."
Post a Comment