One summer, I interned with my local Congressman at his constituent support office in St. Louis County.
And one week in that same summer, I received a call from a frustrated man who wanted to talk my ear off for hours at a time.
He was a cross-state trucker. He would call me from the cab of his semi, yell at me with fluctuating volume for 60–90 minutes, and then the call would drop when he reached the high hill on Interstate 70, which he creatively called “High Hill.”
For a whole week, I spoke to this man. Well, listened much more than spoke. I heard his complaints. I took notes. If I’m honest, I rolled my eyes sometimes, too. But it was my job to stay on the phone with him, so I did.
This was in 2011, and the Congressman I interned for was a Republican (there weren’t many other options in Western St. Louis County). The man on the phone didn’t care for Republicans.
But the President was a Democrat. The Senate Majority was Democratic. There wasn’t much that my one Congressman could do to address the issues that my trucker friend wanted fixed.
But he called every day nonetheless.
Now, I don’t know that guy’s story, I don’t know his name, I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing today.
But even at 19 or 20, however old I was as the pimply intern at this Congressional office, I had a palpable sense that what the guy was doing was kind of sad.
Spending several hours a day berating a college student about your problems? Probably not the best way to spend your time.
Because some people just want somebody to blame.
In my opinion, though, the guy’s mistake wasn’t bullying the congressional staff of a mild-mannered congressman.
The guy’s mistake was expecting the government to solve his problems in the first place.
If you do a quick Google Search right now, I’m confident you can find articles blaming all of these people and more for the ongoing economic maelstrom:
- Donald Trump
- Howard Lutnick
- Peter Navarro
- Jerome Powell
- Joe Biden
- Janet Yellen
- Alan Greenspan
- Bill Clinton
- Abraham Lincoln
- Alexander Hamilton
I know for certain about the first eight, and I’m sure somebody’s railing at Lincoln for the expansion of the Federal Government, and somebody somewhere is blaming Hamilton that a National Treasury exists at all.
For me, it’s not really worth buying into the blame game or spinning conspiracy theories.
My honest, and possibly over-simplified belief is that almost all of these people want what’s best for the American people, and they all have different ideas on how to get there. But none of them are as smart as they think they are, there is no policy without consequences, and through a series of errors they’ve created an unworkable system.
Blame them if you want.
But the better approach is to cut them out of your thinking entirely.
Yes, we are bound to trade in the markets and use the currency that is available to us. So there are certain ways in which we will always be affected by these people and their policies.
But as much as we can, we need to take responsibility for our own wealth and financial security.
That’s the only way in my opinion — unless you want to be a truck driver yelling at some poor kid daydreaming about where he’ll get lunch from that day (it was usually Subway. Oh, the indiscretions of youth.)
As I write this, the markets are having their most mixed day of the week, and it’s practically impossible to predict how they’ll close:
But there is opportunity now.
Follow Kane’s advice to trade smaller trade sizes and let big volatility do the work for you.
Follow Jack’s advice to generate huge premiums from the unreal volatility spike we’re seeing right now.
Follow Nate or Geof’s pairs trades, or Graham’s wrap orders.
Or simply listen to Roger: “keep a helmet on and keep your powder dry.”
But don’t wait on Washington or Wall Street for answers. Because they’re the ones who keep changing the questions.
To your prosperity,
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