When I became a broker years ago, my very first appointment was with a widow named Alice. Alice was in her 80’s back then. I was a little nervous as I had gotten the appointment through a cold call, yet felt very assured of my immense knowledge of stocks and markets. I learned within the first 2 minutes of that meeting that Alice had a net worth of over 30 million dollars. I knew right away that there was absolutely nothing I could teach this woman about money, so I decided instead to allow myself to be the student.

It seemed Alice grew up during the depression, stealing bread off of bread trucks as a child to help feed her family. She came from absolutely nothing. Her husband, then deceased had been a factory worker. I had to know how it could be that this seemingly average person attained such wealth.

The answer is surprisingly simple. Alice and her generation knew the value of a dollar. They began by investing small amounts into companies who’s products they used. They bought a lot of light bulbs, so they bought GE. They drank coca-cola, so they bought coke. They saw cash registers in every store and bought IBM. They also invested in the electric company for the dividend, to guarantee some income should another depression era ever arise again. These were not blue chip stocks at the time. And they systematically would invest sometimes just a dollar or less at a time.

As the years passed, those stocks split, and split, and split. Over and over again. In the end, fortunes were amassed. In the years since I’ve met many Alice’s. You probably know of at least one yourself. The rich old lady in your family who complains that they don’t have any money! My Aunt Mary was one such person.

She opened an account with me that day, and invested 10,000 dollars in a “Dog’s of the Dow portfolio.” I think Alice would have liked Sirius XM, being a staple in just about every car and truck sold in America. Much like a cash register in a store or a light-bulb in a home. 

The government backed pyramid schemes that have landed us on the brink of a new depression have now revealed themselves. Mortgage defaults and liar loans. Average Americans (and illegal aliens for that matter) were forced to take on more debt than any human could reasonably handle. Where were the states Attorneys General when all of this was going on. Oh yes, opposing a merger of Sirius and XM!

Pro and con are opposites. Nipsey Russell made that statement in a prelude of a poetic joke back in the 1970’s:

“The opposite of ‘pro’ is ‘con’
This fact is clearly seen
But if ‘progress’ means move forward
What does ‘Congress’ mean? “

I am so disgusted at the current state of affairs of American Government, that I say “screw it!” Let the chips fall where they may. Thanks to Alice, I know what’s on the other side of a depression.

Positions: Long SIRI, KO