One byproduct of blogging that I generally enjoy is the occasional personal e-mail in response to a post. People have sent notes to me about posts that stink, posts they enjoyed, posts where mistakes were made, and news stories that I should think about blogging about in the future. For example, here are some of the things I've received e-mails about lately:
(1) My post about the NABE from a couple weeks ago led a reader to ask me about "Dr. Doom" (a.k.a., Noriel Roubini) and Mark Zandi. He asked whether or not I thought these guys are better forecasters than the rest.
I don't know. From what I've seen of him, Zandi is all over the place. I saw him on ABC News a couple of nights ago saying stimulus "saved" us from a prolonged recession. Of course, he failed to mention that, to date, just 15-20% of stimulus money has been spent. CNBC's great bulldog, Rick Santelli, has called Zandi out a number of times.
Dr. Doom strikes me more as a case of a broken clock getting the time right twice per day.
(2) Have I seen the story about three people dying in the Detroit Marathon?
Of course. It's sad and tragic. But, it's worth noting that these were the first deaths in the Detroit half/full marathon in 15 years. That's a lot of runners crossing the finish line in between deaths.
The odds of dying in a marathon remain somewhere between 1 in 60,000 and 1 in 125,000. The far greater risk to runners is not race day, but, rather training days. Sad exhibits here and here.
(3) Human-created "financial terrorism" is supposed to hit markets on Wednesday, November 4th. Of course, the whack job who sent me that e-mail recommended I call him before taking any action with my portfolio!