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I will avoid libel by saying, there is a man who runs a company who is deceptive and uses faulty logic and rationalizations to write up large reports that have slammed scores of companies over the years at the behest of large short-selling clients. That man and his company are a gun for hire to create the illusion of arms-length between short selling traders and their shameless bashing in furtherance of manipulating stock prices downward.

That man is unscrupulous.

There is an old saying - “don’t fight the fed”. Or “don’t fight the tape”. Today they are basically the same thing. Short sellers have been crushed. Frankly, on some matters I don’t disagree with them. I see no real future for GameStop, or Bed Bath Beyond for that matter as a going concern unless they change their business models. But I am not in the business of investing in destruction and like to see the little guys and gals rise up against destructive forces.

I am personally out of the market entirely, but still watch it. It has, as some here said yesterday, been decoupled from reality. Stock valuations are mostly nutso in nearly all the big names that get thrown around. Main street is suffering. Unemployment is near the highest in decades. Evictions would be widespread if the states hadn’t enacted anti-eviction laws. GDP, though up last quarter, is way down vs the previous year. And we’re in a pandemic. And the market hits new all time highs? Makes no sense, except because Congress and the Fed have been pumping trillions of dollars into the economy. You can’t fight the fed, and you shouldn’t bet against the tape. The trend is your friend, until it isn’t. And short sellers have been totally crushed. Only a few shrewd players, also scummy manipulative types, can flip sides on a dime because they keep their eye on the bottom line, not on their investment thesis. They are in it for the money to be made by trading; and some of them have enough clout to move the markets in one stock or on sector just by speaking publicly. But this guy who recently quit selling his research was a tool used mostly by big players who didn’t want the spotlight on themselves while they looted the markets.

And the little guy doesn’t know it quite yet, but will by the time 2021 ends - inflation is going to rise big time. I wear many hats in my line of work, and the cost of everything from raw materials to source components to transportation is going up double digits percent. And energy prices will rise too with the new Administration. 6 months ago, getting a shipping container moved out of Asia to North America was cheap. Cheapest it had been in a while mostly due to the pandemic closures and lack of demand. As we reopen and demand increases, there is a massive shortage of containers. What used to cost $1500 now costs $5000 as exporters are paying top dollar to move their goods across the oceans. While you can fit a lot of goods into a container, it’s just another cost that will be passed along to end users. And the really sad part is that most of these containers come here full, and then sit as scrap because we do not export much back, and few want to pay the expense to ship an empty container across the Pacific. But maybe now they will given the increased demand and prices for them.