Phil Grossfield's Blog

The Travel Mama’s Guide!  My wife, the Travel Mama, has officially launched her book about Vacationing with Babies and Children AND STAYING SANE.

ENTER TO WIN a copy of the book PLUS a $250 Residence Inn by Marriott gift card. Also, save 15% off when you order here through May 31 using this coupon code: DDTFQCU2. Starting in June you can buy the book at Amazon.com. Thanks!  🙂
Natural Born Killers.  A tornado is not a natural born killer…it is not mindful of what it does…it does not have a conscience…the victims simply got in its way. My thoughts and prayers are still focused on those victims. In my visits yesterday and several phone calls throughout the day, the topic of the Oklahoma City tornadoes and victims was heart-heavily discussed. Such tragedy. One discussion I thought was particularly interesting was the concept of Mother Nature, in the form of a tornado like in Oklahoma, as a natural born killer designed to destroy. Don’t misunderstand the discussion…never was it suggested that it was by design people were killed so please don’t take offense. My colleague only analogized that Mother Nature can be a devastating destructive force, and this is a natural thing. The discussion then turned to the topic of the Quentin Tarantino movie Natural Born Killers in which a psychotic pair played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis go on a killing spree. In the movie Harrelson’s character compares himself to a lion who kills a zebra…it doesn’t feel bad about it…it’s natural. Of course, the lion is killing for food and a tornado doesn’t kill at all. Rather, it is simply a form of nature that carves out a path. What I found interesting was the argument that a child brought up in a hateful environment, like in Al Qaeda families, is trained to hate and bring violence upon the hated. Hate recycles hate. She argued that a man brought up in this environment doesn’t feel bad about killing…he is the lion or like Woody in the movie. I suppose that was the whole point of Tarantino’s movie. At least a lion kills and the death has meaning…it provides sustenance. And a tornado’s destruction has positive effects on the land over time…it is function of nature. But no such argument can be made for human killers…I argue there is nothing natural about it…it is pure weakness. As I said, my discussions yesterday were intense and heavy…but the focus was always on the victims and their families…I continue to pray for them….

My Market Watch:   LOOK OUT BELOW!  Bonds are down again. At first I thought bonds would do well this morning as they started out climbing…I was stoked. But then it started dropping fast, presumably as a result of Bernanke’s statements. From what I am digesting this morning his statements were not clear on his commitment to quantitative easing (the Fed’s policy of continued massive purchasing of bonds) and that was enough to motivate traders to sell off. So, traders that bought bonds at a low price yesterday took the profits this morning and sold at the highest price they could get. As a result of all the selling the bond price has dropped down -90bps on the day already. This in turn has moved our pricing to where it was yesterday morning…up 0.250 and now down 0.250. And the bond is continuing to drop now falling below the floors of support…I wouldn’t be surprised to see a mid-day reprice for the worse very soon…if my Mom asked if I should lock today I would say yes. We need something to turn it around…somebody throw us a bone please!

My Schedule:  I have a meeting in Carlsbad this morning at 10:30 and another meeting this afternoon.