Because the year and decade is winding to a close, and because I am more than just a studly stock picker (I also have a softer side that comes out around the holidays), here’s a poem I put together … a decade in review. Hope you enjoy!
When we review the decade past,
Since Y2K came storming through,
We see 10 years of trouble, which
Boils still, like a witch’s brew.
Truth, the decade’s been so rife
With scams and major market troubles
History should face the facts
And call it just “The Age of Bubbles.”
Bubble One (The Rise of Tech)
Was bursting at the Decade’s birth
With dot.com billionaires brought low
As soaring stocks crashed back to earth.
Bubble Two (The Housing Craze)
Grabbed home investors like a fever.
Buy ‘em! Flip ‘em! Buy some more!
It’s safe–they’ll go up forever!
Decade One has also featured
Folks whose greed offends our senses.
Some of them have time to ponder
Behind walls and barbed-wire fences.
Some investors kept on thriving.
‘Gainst the odds they were all paid off,
Till the day they saw the perp walk,
Cops escorting Bernie Madoff.
Companies we’ve known and loved have
Disappeared like mists in summer
Lehman Brothers? Just a memory.
G.M.’s bankrupt? What a bummer!
Bright spots? Sure there were aplenty:
Ugly shoes made Crocs a treasure,
iPod polished up the Apple,
Taser profits shocked with pleasure.
We’ve swapped Greenspan for Bernanke,
Put in “O” for “W,”
Watched emerging markets rising-
Now what will investors do?
We’re as blind as anybody
Can’t see through the future’s fog.
Yet we know this brand new decade’s
Stocks will leave us all agog.
Farewell to the Naughty Noughties.
Welcome the second decade’s reign!
We at Cabot wish our readers
Health and Happiness (and Gain!).
P.S.
Those who rated mortgage bonds
By any mark have dropped a rock.
I hope a wad of worthless bonds
Shows up with coal in their Christmas sock.