Good morning.

Forgive me in advance … it is a Friday and my mind is racing with things to write about. Only some things have to do with the economy.  My view is, and always has been, that if you want pure solid (yet limited) economic discussion there are so many sources other than what is found in my writing. And, shockingly, some of these people are probably better informed than I am. But even amid the typos I try to include stories of everyday life as this is intended to be entertaining … as much as informative.  My readership has been fairly solid over the years, but I love seeing it grow … so if you want to include friends (or enemies) in the jottings, feel free to invite them to sign up and jump on board.

Meanwhile, investors seem to continue to be hopping on board the enthusiasm train as, once more, new records have been reached for the S&P and Nasdaq, while the Dow is not far behind. Helping today was a Goldilocks type of jobs report (not too hot, not too cold), keeping optimists smiling as we all tiptoe toward the December Fed decision.

I don’t know if you caught this, but one of the items in today’s news is in the second-to-last story included below … where the Fed is issuing warnings about hackers able to access text messages between iPhones and Androids. I want to read more into what exactly what it is to which they have access … as what I normally send people will put many with prying eyes to sleep.

One even more fascinating story in the news has to do with Brian Thompson, formerly of UnitedHealthcare.

When Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow first started robbing banks, they were seen by many as heroes … as idealists … doing battle with banks which were very much hated in the early days of the Depression era.  It was only after (according to Biography.com) their exploits resulted in murder, did public opinion move against them.

So today we see the CEO of a major healthcare provider gunned down on a Manhattan street and quite a few comments seem to address how, under his guidance, insured individuals were denied coverage (“deny” “defend” “depose”) with some (bravely hiding behind the anonymity of social media) implying this assassination might somehow be justified.

Ignoring that this is a life that was extinguished, a few are portraying the suspect as the victim. It all just seems so incredibly fascinating.

On a final note, an interesting article below calls into question the effect on the grid with so many (too many?) EV owners collectively charging their vehicles overnight.

While costs for charging these vehicles are rising, they are still quite cheap to operate … but even combustion engine cars are not so expensive to run when compared to one of other thing.

For what do studies show to be the most expensive vehicle to operate?

… a Costco shopping cart.

Have a great day,

Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA

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