January 1, 2021
This year marks the 50th anniversary of my first newsletter. It is truly a Golden Oldie.
It is thus fitting that I commence my Substack publishing venture by not only reproducing it here but providing some history and background.
For this exercise it helps to call up a major brokerage firm such as Charles Schwab on the telephone and be placed on hold where you will experience what they do best. Rather than the usual elevator music you should hear a pre-recorded market report. Listen to it for a while (you will be the first) and it will take on a somewhat sterile and generic tone. You get the feeling the guy could be reading his grocery list and be just as excited. As you could be on hold for several hours, the recording is a loop which will repeat after a few minutes. After hearing it for the 9th time you might readily ask: Why do we need two of these?
In 1971, that is just what I asked. I had been in the business about two years and knew everything. I got lots of market letters. In those days they came in the mail. After a while I noticed a sameness about them. Much later when I returned to graduate school and studied the market carefully, I learned just how absurd these communications really are. In the meantime, thought I, what the World needed was an All-Purpose Market Letter that would be perfectly fitting for any market at any time. Such a thing would save countless and pointless hours preparing these things, and in the days of printing and mailing costs it would also save a lot of money.
I had a wonderful relationship for several decades with a local business paper, now sadly out of business. About 30 years ago they decided to run my old newsletter to see if it had held up. I offer it up here again, perhaps for the last time, and ask you: How close did I get?
RJB
OK, since I only have one GMAT Buddy, I am pretty sure I know who this is.
What I don't know, because I am learning this whole blog thing from scratch, is what the "forum"" is. I presume it is a substack feedback channel since it has substack in the address. I shall try to respond and see what happens
Still pertinent, except that jaywalking is no longer "criminal." Perhaps neither is fraud?