Gadflies & Glasswings

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
­—most often credited to Mark Twain (although scholars have found no proof of that)

If you grew up in Portland, you likely remember Marko Haggard—news commentator, professor at PSU, Oregon’s first ombudsman, and a character profiled in a 1982 local press piece “Gadfly or Guru?” He was both and spoke colorfully.

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Madeleine Budnick
"Enough is a Feast"

There is an oft-used metaphor of an iceberg where the mass above the water is only about 13% of the total size. What is seen on the surface is only part of a much larger story. 

We rounded out the year with a seemingly strong US stock market, evidenced with an S & P 500 returning 16% for the year.* Some might surmise that this means that our economy and consumers are in good shape… Let’s dive in.

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Madeleine Budnick
Rule Number 1

“Rule number 1: Never lose money. Rule number 2: Never forget rule number 1.” —Warren Buffett

It’s a funny witticism of Warren Buffett’s when you consider that no one has a crystal ball and it seems to conflict with another investment understanding: “the greater the risk, the greater potential reward.”

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Madeleine Budnick