I got excited about jet aircraft more than 70 years ago. Actually, I lost my hearing jumping out of an aircraft during the Korean War. That was an early fifties experience. Nobody won. Just a “cease fire” in 1953 that is still in place. As a young analyst in the fifties, I called Boeing’s chief financial officer to arrange a visit to their Renton factory. They issued me a bicycle and I was free to tour the factory’s floor where they were assembling 707’s. A huddle of mechanic

Trump’s chop to American Express on limiting their card interest rate to 10% initially clipped it for a dozen or so points. But, no general market relapse on the Big Board emerged and AXP rallied some.  Meanwhile, the constant jostling of crossed swords between Trump and the  FRB goes on with no end in sight. Presidents invariably press for easement from the FRB who normally gets its way to fight inflation. I found courage to buy more AmEx, as for other tech houses,  I found

Portfolios can always be a surprise in terms of stock selection and their market weighting. First, lemme say I own Berkshire for what’s largely static,  70 percent resting in Apple, American Express, Bank of America and Coca-Cola. Some 60% of invested assets here, Apple is at 22% of investments followed by American Express at 18%.  This is a largely live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword investment construct.  I’ve reached it at times, too. But don’t boast about it. Sooner or la

1950s, I was a slow-poke in accumulating abstract expressionist art works. NYC was rocking as the center of this new movement, not Paris or London. I missed the reflowering of Renaissance work, too.  Rembrandt, Renoir, Matisse et al. But I own Matisse watercolors rather than the huge florals that you see in the Paris museums.  The art world thrives with or without you. You can catch up with work a hundred years old.  I did purchase a Rouault aquatint of Christ, “Veronica’s Ve