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Our View

Looking back on what unfolded when Covid-19 shut down most of the US economy and the world, I wonder why it had to happen at all. I’m not downplaying the amount of people that died, I just wonder why our government decided to shut down the entire economy.

Demanding the public to stay at home and wear masks was right out of a science fiction movie. Watching most stocks fall while the stay-at-home stocks soared — which we all knew would peak and fall back to earth — left a hole in the stock market that ultimately allowed 10 stocks to dominate and inflict large losses for retirees. It was clearly a time of confusion that continues today.

While the broader market did rally, overall breadth remains weak. I said many times that some stocks would never recover and I was right. As rates and inflation soared and regional banks got pummeled, oil rallied and mortgage rates climbed above 7%. While we are well past the pandemic stage, some parts of the economy have never recovered.

It's not hard to see that the world has changed since the Covid-19 pandemic and it is also not hard to see how Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran have teamed up to squeeze the US by cutting production at a time when US oil reserves are at the lowest in about 40 years. This has put the US at a huge disadvantage should a larger war break out. It’s also put the US in a tough spot, where restocking the reserve will drive prices even higher.

This is not about trying to take away the dollar's status as the reserve currency, it's about trying to change the world order where China gets to decide which ships can transit in which seas, while taking over the South China Sea. I know the US has a long history of military mistakes, but we have never tried to take over an entire continent's resources.

Someone said something about me believing everything I read on Twitter — that is 100% not the case. In fact, I don't listen to anything I read on social media. I don’t like to have the news on when I’m trading, either. After being around for every stock market crash since 1985 and taking a $10 million hit in the FLASH crash, I make my own decisions, not the word of some know-nothing person on Twitter.