Phil Grossfield's Blog

Louisville’s Song Finishes In Glory.  If you love sports and a good story about overcoming adversity, then you’ll love this story.  “There are shining moments that have the shelf life of a video, and there are life moments that never die, shared by a group of players thrown together to form a team but that, if they’re lucky, become something more. Louisville’s Song Finishes In Glory. What a great game, eh?

My post yesterday on how the top 1% of wealthy Americans have a disproportionate amount of money attracted a fair number of interesting comments. Most comments were negative and supported the 1% of Americans with an exorbitant amount of wealth.  Never mind the point of my post which was to call out the unbelievable disconnect between what Americans think is the disparity of wealth to the reality of the same.  But as long as we’re on the topic of whether its right or wrong for 1% of Americans to have so much wealth, I have to say the numbers are startling to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a bona fide believer in open markets and the American Dream, but how much is enough?  Why is it necessary for one person to have a billion dollars?  At some point a business person should be able to declare a win, no?  Maybe when you reach $150 million you get a big button that says “I Won!” And you get to where it wherever you go, and you don’t have to pay any more taxes, and you get to live the rest of your life in luxury, yes?  Then the rest of your income, meaning income above $150m, must go to the greater good, no? Can anybody explain to me why $150 million is not enough? Oh boy I can’t wait for the comments…bring it on baby!  Here’s a link to my post yesterday:  Actual Versus Reality

My Market Watch:

The market is flat. Yesterday was a perfect example of traders taking gains with little reports or news to affect trading. Today there is a bond auction which might affect trading, but I doubt it. Tomorrow the Fed releases the minutes from its latest meeting and this could shake things up.  Traders read the minutes looking for tidbits of information that wasn’t already disclosed…it might give them some insight on whether to invest in stocks or bonds. If they find something that can be interpreted as a weak economy, then they will invest in bonds rather than stocks and our pricing should improve.  On the other hand, if they find something that can be interpreted as strength for the economy, then they will sell off bonds and buy stocks which should worsen our pricing. Again, this information would need to be something above and beyond what we already know about the Fed meeting.   My Disclaimer

My Schedule:

I am traveling to L.A. today but will be working along the way…please be patient with replies…. Please note, I rarely answer my phone before 10:30a as I use this time to catch up on yesterday’s business and prepare for the day.