Richard Russell snippet dateline 23 April 2008

April 23, 2008 — I just finished John Bollinger’s always valuable Capital Growth Letter– and I really got a laugh out of this report. John starts by listing “a few” of the bearish worries now circulating in the media. So (thanks John) I’m going to borrow your worry list and add a few of my own. Here goes –

The dollar will go to zero.
It doesn’t matter, because nobody wants dollars anyway.
The US (the world) is entering a depression.
The international finance system is melting down.
The US is dying.
There will be a huge derivative explosion that will bankrupt all concerned.
We have too much domestic debt.
We have too much external debt.
We have no savings.
Our public education system is a disaster.
Our horrendous high school drop-out rate will lead to the US falling behind the Chinese and Indians.
The US is becoming a nation of obese and out-of-shape diabetics.
We don’t make anything any more.
China will conquer the world.
The Russian will control all of Europe with their near-monopoly of oil and gas.
We’ve become the world’s banker — a bad idea.
We’ve become the world’s policemen — a bad idea.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are bankrupting us.
The Fed is pushing on a string.
Bernanke doesn’t know what he’s doing.
The boomers are becoming net sellers of assets to fund their retirement.
We are being overrun by immigrants.
Foreigners are buying up America.
Our children can’t read or write.
We are morally bankrupt.
We are too dependent on imported oil.
Gas is heading for five dollars a gallon.
The western US is running out of water.
Social Security will implode.
There is not enough food to go around.
Global warming = global disaster.
Inflation.
Hyper-inflation.
Stagflation.
Deflation.
Depression.
Armageddon!

I go down the list, and my eyes become moist. What’s happening to our country? What have “they” done to us? And here’s a better question — in view of all the above, what’s holding the market together? And how in God’s name can the Dow and the Transports and the Utilities all be where they are? Am I going mad? Is the stock market insane? Has Wall Street lost its mind?

Edna Parker celebrated her 115 birthday last Sunday. She was born in 1893 in Shelbyville, Indiana. Edna is the oldest known living person. Nobody really knows why Edna’s lived this long. Her grandson says that she’s lived through a lot of stress, and they she’s good at handling stress.

I was reading an interview with Warren Buffett in this week’s Fortune magazine. Buffett delivered newspapers when he was a boy in Omaha. Fortune asked Buffett about his old job. The “Omaha Oracle” replied, “Well, I worked for my grandfather, which was really tough, in the family grocery store. But if you gave me my choice of being CEO of General Electric or IBM or General Motors, you name it, or delivering papers, I would deliver papers. I would, I enjoyed doing that. I can think what I want to think. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. It might be wonderful to be head of GE, and Jeff Immelt is a friend of mine. And he’s a great guy. But think of all the things he has to do whether he wants to do them or not.”

It’s obvious that Buffett’s doing what he loves, and that he avoids stress. Buffett lives in the same house he bought back in 1956, he lives in the town where he was born. He married his housekeeper. And he drives an old Cadillac. Warren loves to read and think and stroll around Omaha where everybody knows and loves him — and that’s exactly what he does, that’s his life. It’s obvious that Edna Parker and Warren Buffett have both learned to avoid stress and deal with it if it arrives.

I’ve always believed that stress is a killer. If I’m faced with something that I know will be stressful, I try to avoid it if I can. I think most people live rather stressful lives, but after a while they lose touch with their stress. They believe stress is normal. Nevertheless, stress takes it toll. Stress will gradually wear you out. And too much stress can literally kill you.

The greatest stress I’ve ever lived through was in combat during World War II. I’ve seen grown men, tough men, fall apart under stress. War takes a fearful toll in terms of stress. I’ve never seen anyone emerge as the same person after he’s come through combat, wounded or not.

Thoreau wrote that “men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Thoreau was really talking about stressful lives. My advice — become aware of stress in you own life, and avoid stress if you can. If you do that, you’ll live a longer, happier life.

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