Dr. Doom Turns Optimistic: Growth in a High-Valuation World
Brace yourselves because Dr. Doom is back!! Despite all my past write-ups that bring up movies, I promise I’m not talking about Victor von Doom of the Fantastic Four. I am referring to Nouriel Roubini, the economist that foresaw and predicted the subprime mortgage crisis, thereby earning the most foreboding, dark title of “Dr. Doom.” That has to be pretty cool on a business card, right?….
Why Inflation, Debt, and Taxes Are Aligning in 2026 & How To Prepare
Happy New Year! Our WTA Team’s theme for 2026 is Unity…When you’re talking about unity, you’re really talking about alignment and things working as one. You want to see alignment of your stocks in your portfolio in fitting in with global economic trends. You want to see that your tax planning is done with a mind to not just the current tax rates, but what the tax rates of the future will be…
10 Wild Market Predictions for 2026 Nobody Is Taking Seriously (Yet)
Since 2025 is wrapping up as I write this today, I’m imagining what shenanigans 2026 has in store for us and so I’ve come up with 9 Crazy Predictions1 for next year. As we don’t have year-end numbers just yet, I’ll hold off on scoring the year behind us until we all convene for our 2026 State of the Markets class at TopGolf in Greenville…
Coal in the Stocking: When Rates, Debt, and AI Go on the Naughty List
“His eyes – how they twinkled. His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow …
Hemingway, Hard Truths, and Today’s Market Divide
“’Listen,’ I told him. ‘Don’t be so tough so early in the morning. I’m sure you’ve cut plenty of people’s throats. I haven’t even had my coffee yet.’”
After docking his boat and entering a café in Havana, Captain Harry Morgan said this to a man trying to intimidate Harry into smuggling him and two others into the U.S. in Ernest Hemingway’s “To Have and Have Not”…
The Genesis Effect: AI at Warp Speed
“What exactly is Genesis?” Dr. Carol Marcus asks on the recording as Captain James T. Kirk watches with Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan1. “Well, put simply Genesis is life from lifelessness. It is a process whereby molecular structure is reorganized at the subatomic level into life-generating matter of equal mass …
Broken Plays & Big Bets: What College Football Teaches Us About the AI Bubble Debate
“He threw it straight to him,” Super Bowl-winning Quarterback Brad Johnson1 said from two seats to the left of me. I shook my head and repeated, “He threw it straight to him.” The former Tampa Bay Buc and I then traded a look and a smirk…
From Solar Shockwaves to Market Moats: What Really Holds Up Under Pressure
“It’s a perfect situation for a pancake.” I have to admit that this statement got me to sit up my chair on reflex as I hadn’t eaten in awhile. It came from “Cosmic Bro” geophysicist and Luke Perry look-alike Stefan Burns on YouTube Tuesday1. Burns was referring to the first CME or Coronal Mass Ejection (solar flare) on Tuesday, a 1.7 X-Class Flare, followed by a 1.2 flare and then a big 5.1 flare…
Back to the Future and Forward in Faith
“Hey Doc, we better back up!” Marty said at the end of Back to the Future. “We don’t have enough road to get up to 88.” “Roads?” Doc Brown said as he put his metallic visor down over his eye. “Where we’re going we don’t need … roads.” The wheels folded under the carriage of the DeLorean, the trumpets played and the timpani thumped loudly into a crescendo as the time machine turned and rocketed off through the air as a flying car…
The Tempest of Technology: When AI Invades the Isle of Wall Street
“I was the man in the moon when time was!1” Stephano said as he lorded over Caliban in Shakepeare’s The Tempest, not realizing the primitive islander’s acumen was far greater than he suspected. After the characters were shipwrecked on an island inhabited only by Caliban and a tree spirit, Caliban meets the drunken duo of the starry-eyed butler, Stephano and his jester-friend Trinculo…
