YOU NEED TO

I have a way of starting sentences with "You need to...." as if I am trying to tell the other person what to do when I'm not. It's a bad habit. But we all at times need to do something not because you or I or anyone else says it.

W. B.Yeats, the great Irish poet, warned against "hitching our Pegasus to a plow" trying to "please every knave and dolt."

Pegasus you recall was the winged horse in Greek mythology that could fly. In more modern times he was the image for years for Mobil Oil now known as Exxon Mobil.

Yeats concluded by saying: "I swear before the dawn comes 'round again, I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt."  In other words, free up his creative self after years of writing to please others that proved most unsatisfying.

Most of us are taught not to be selfish, not to pound our own drums or sing our own praises. Don't know if that's Christian-Judea or what. I do know, as Yeats was pointing out, it's a recipe at best for mediocrity if not worse.

So here's the point. Never be afraid of finding that stable and dislodging that bolt.

And the same holds true for investing. Sometimes following the herd works as in the trend is your friend or, as the late Marty Zweig use to say, not fighting the tape.

The tape today seems to be Federal Reserve controlled, at least for the nonce. Some, however, believe a structural shift is afoot based on better fundamentals caused by all the easy money these past few years. These people cite an improved housing market, the so-called lack of inflation, a moot point if ever there was one, and improved consumer confidence.

The SM is supposed to be a leading not a lagging indicator of what's ahead. It could just be if these folks are correct that when these positives become accepted fact, the market might just head south again, anticipating the next economic down turn.

Forget death and taxes. With the politicians and bureaucrats running this charade, there will most certainly be another one playing at a venue near you in the not too distant future.
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