Look, I get it. I understand the anger. I can feel the passion. But, as an American, I think we all need to dial things down a notch. We need to create positive change and defend our freedoms without denying those to others.
I may not be the first person to mention this, but 2020 was not a good year. No one is happy with the way things went down last year, but we need to move on.
In my view, the roots of our problems lie with our media, but we are the ones who consume it.
As you probably know, there are several outlets I'm not a fan of. However, one stands out to me and is a stock I could never own: Twitter (TWTR) .
The actions of Twitter throughout the presidential campaign and up to yesterday were, in my view, quite simply horrifying. To me, Twitter is a cesspool. The company actively filters tweets to form a narrative. So, delete your account. I just got rid of mine. I have never "tweeted" anything, but it is in my best interests to have my articles read by as many folks as possible, and my LinkedIn was set to issue a Tweet every time I posted. I fixed that. My Twitter account has been deleted. By me.
But this isn't about cancel culture. I represent a segment of the population that reviles the smug, woke ideologues that created that terrible ideology and been enabled by others.
I am not asking you to "cancel" anything. Just to do the right thing. And that includes your portfolio. It is far nobler to take out your frustrations by trading.
We need to form our own ESG. We need to recognize that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and, despite the many terrible things we human beings have done to it, we are not killing it.
Covid-19 has exposed the world's leaders for who they really are. From the folks in China that let Covid-19 grow from a "wet market" (does anyone really believe that?) to state and local officials, we are learning that we can't trust anyone.
When it comes to your money, you probably shouldn't do that, anyway.
So, do it yourself. DIY. Read the great content on Real Money and remember that markets exist because people disagree. Don't own companies that you don't believe in and don't ignore the fundamentals. Cash flow never lies.
We are going to build our own ESG. What Jack Dorsey at Twitter is foisting on planet Earth is 100x worse than the emissions from the hydrocarbons produced by Darren Woods' Exxon Mobil (XOM) . So, we need to cast a wide net to find investment opportunities that are both underappreciated AND undervalued.
This week I found two ETFs from a small provider named Teucrium that own Soybean and Corn futures. (SOYB) and (CORN) . Oh, yeah, baby! That's off the beaten path...and that is what I am looking for.
Futures for both corn and soybeans are trading at 6.5 year-highs and the world is about to see a wave of inflation the likes of which has not been seen in recent memory. There is too much free money floating around and throughout human history that has ALWAYS led to above-trend inflation. Lockdowns and other ill-advised government mandates have made it harder to produce the basic commodities that the global populace needs.
So, keep an eye on commodity prices, and, yes, that includes oil. Know that the central bankers of the world are unleashing a flood of devalued fiat money including the U.S. dollar, whose continuing decline will support prices for the many commodities delineated in it, again including oil.
Be positive. Let's not be drawn into a spiral of destruction. It's dumb and it accomplishes nothing.
We win by being positive. Always. So, stay tuned for a list of my next ESG picks column. Let's channel our anger, however justifiable, into making some Real Money.
