I Remember Gasoline At 18 Cents A Gallon

It’s worth noting how low some commodity prices can plunge. I remember 18 cent gasoline prices at the pump. It was back in 1938 when the Great Depression had grabbed nearly everybody by the throat. You’d fill it up for around 2 bucks. 

Back then, we lived at the top of a long winding hill in Mt. Airy, New York. Motoring to work, Pop would turn off the ignition key in his 1937 Dodge sedan and coast down to the hill’s bottom. This was a poignant lesson as the Great Depression touched everyone.  Mother had to plead with pop for food money. She’d need to wait until day's end for a couple of crumpled dollar bills Pop made in his tailor shop in Harlem, 128th Street and Convent Avenue. 

My job was to bring pop his hot supper, nightly. Mom ruled the house like a drill sergeant. When I brought home a stray hound dog from the local swimming hole, mom raged “I can’t afford to feed a dog. Get rid of her.” In those days the ASPCA came with a leash and took “Wanda” to the pound. The regulation read strays were kept for 3 days and then euthanized by gas. I never saw Wanda again. To this day, my wife and I take in strays. Presently, we’ve got a cross between a toy poodle and a miniature. It’s working out great, but to this day, 85 years later, I long for Wanda, an innocent victim in our Depression years. 

Mayor LaGuardia saved me with his special schools. The High School of Music and Art and City College of New York. Without them, I’d have been like Wanda, a pitiful discard. My mother attended CCNY,  same time as me and went on to a fulfilling career as a child psychologist. 

Today, what is a well-healed but passive investor supposed to do with his broadly based big capitalization properties like Apple, Microsoft et al? When I pulled up the 5-year chart on Microsoft, I noted that the past couple of years haven’t benefitted shareholders. The stock is lower today than it was a couple of years ago.  The Apple chart is not too dissimilar. 

But using 2020 as the base year, Apple has delivered plenty, up from $50 to $250. The market is saying on several prime growth stocks “nothing is forever.” For good 5-year performance you need a viable entry point or you’ll show flat to down numbers. 

How can you operate in a stop-and-go market setting vulnerable to Trump’s every whim? I’ve taken up my market exposure but not a lot. My goal is to reach a 50% long position from the present 25%. I’ve bought more Amazon, Apple and Goldman Sachs, but no industrials, energy or even financials as yet. More hair needs to be torn out. 

The price tag on oil futures, fluctuating $10 a barrel daily, suggests the entire western world acts like a banana republic subject to Trump’s whims. 

I’ve never seen a harder time to capitalize on what the western world has to offer. Or, for an easier time to chop off 5% or more overnight on the whims of a politician who can’t be trusted to do what’s right and proper.