Charles Delvalle

Everyone that follows my writing knows that I love music and being creative. So that’s one of the big reasons why I stepped outside the box and wrote a poem about Ben Bernanke.

Now I knew I’d get some responses. But I had no idea that a simple poem would garner so much. About a third of the responses I got said the same thing. I think Robert S wraps it up when he said…

“Charles; Don't quit your day job ;-)”
Bob

Thanks for the honesty and most importantly, the smiley face. If it weren’t for that I’d think you were just being rude!

But not everyone was as nice as Bob. Nick decided to say…

“Sharing poetry is fine and honorable.  Sharing awful poetry is merely distressing.   I suppose the subject matter can be blamed.”
 Nick

Nick – Harsh! My poem is distressing! I’m sure even Edgar Allan Poe had critics, so I’m not offended. One e-mail even went so far as to criticize the structure of my poem. I guess people will always criticize, even when other readers are saying…

“I love your poem, please keep it up. Please write some more.”  
 Veronika

“That was a great poem on how are economy is at this time. I enjoyed it. Thanks Charles.”
Darryl H

“Ahhh.... you are so talented in so many areas. Not only are you a smart investor, but you are also a musician and a poem writer. Maybe there is another hidden talent in you? The poem was great and straight to the point. You should write more stuff like that. Thanks, Charles!”
Julia.

“You tell it like it is bra. Way to go. No sugar coating for the grain of salt he's forced down America's throat. And thanks for calling the bankers the criminals they are too. You're keeping things in perspective, no matter how artsy poetry can be. Way to go bro.”
Vaughn M

“Excellent. Cute, and precise. Balances comedy with tragedy. Should be mandatory for college profs to have posted on every Econ 101 chalkboard.”
 William C.

Another reader, Tom H. even said that I didn’t take the poem far enough. He said…

“Kudos on the poem.  The only problem is it didn’t go far enough.  For one thing, I’m sure you know that Bernanke is just a puppet of the money cartel which operates behind the scene.  It’s time for all you writers who know this to be true start educating the masses before it’s too late.  Also, time to start exposing the criminals in congress (that’s almost all of them except for Ron Paul and a few others) who understand that the “Federal Reserve” is a rip-off of every American, and yet perpetuate it for their own rewards.”

But my favorite response was from a reader who responded by writing a poem…

I bet you didn't know it, but your quite a poet,
this short ode to Ben, I'd have to give it a ten,
It covers it all, both great and small, 
the issues it brings out, it makes me really doubt,
if our Ben is sane, or his ideas just inane,
time will only tell, if everything goes well,
our if this country goes to hell.
Aaron B.

In the end, the reason why I wrote the poem was to try to take a typically boring subject (finance) and turn it into something more interesting. I’m not a poet, I think it’s obvious. But by reading and taking in what the poem said, readers could easily understand that Bernanke is trying to fix the economy with the wrong tools. Instead of inflating the economy to avoid a recession, why not let things unwind a bit to get rid of some of the excesses? It’s far too logical of an answer to be implemented. And let’s not forget that no one wants to slow the economy – it’s far too unpopular.

Perhaps the most striking thing about this particular batch of feedback was that about 85% of it came from our female audience. I found this interesting because it’s never really happened before.

Typically, about 90% of our feedback comes from men. So I’m glad to see the women writing in. And keep it coming!

Not Everything Is About Poems…

In last week’s Unplugged article I talked about how late the mainstream media was in bashing the gas-tax holiday idea.

Funny enough, I got a great bit of feedback from Tom S. who probably hates me, my long hair, and everything I stand for. He wrote in with…

Charles, it seems now you spend more time talking politics than giving advice about investing. You do have experience in that area, Don't you? After the last few months I begin to wonder. Are you tap dancing to hide your inexperience or lack of knowledge? How about doing a series about your favorite investing topic? I would really like to begin liking your articles and maybe even eventually liking you.(you never know!) Get off your soapbox, please!!!
Tom

First things first, the subject line of your e-mail was “What has gas got to do with the economy?” Tom, even Rick Pendergraft’s seventh grade son knows how gas affects the economy. When his civics teacher asked the question, he was the only one to realize that higher gas prices meant his parents would spend less money on eating out, or buying him toys.

Second, I’ve only talked politics twice since February. Here is the list of topics I’ve spoken about in IDE in the past month…

05/16/08 - Green is in… But Why?
05/09/08 – An ode to Ben Bernanke
05/02/08 – Chinese car manufacturers
04/25/08 – Microsoft’s attempt at taking over Yahoo
04/18/08 – The affects of the gas tax holiday on the economy
04/11/08 – The necessity of trying again and again to investing success
04/04/08 – Is the bull run in gold over?
03/28/08 – The Fed bailout of Bear Stearns
03/21/08 – Are precious metals a sell?
03/14/08 – How recessions affect the market.
03/07/08 – The LED revolution
02/29/08 – When are taxes too high?

Tom, you asked for me to do a series talking about my favorite investing topic… well here you have ten (not counting the two political ones you hate so much) you can go through to enjoy.

Most people who’ve read my articles understand that I look at politics in search of triggers that could make us all some money. That includes looking at decisions that would adversely affect our economy. In the end, if the government makes decisions that will push up the price of food, wouldn’t you want to know? Or would you simply look at who made the law – Republican or Democrat – and just go with the flow?

Listen, Republicans have made some bad decisions as of late (ethanol pushing up food prices. Had you looked at that one objectively you’d STILL be making a killing) and Democrats want to make bad decisions (windfall profits tax, just to name one). For you and me to be successful at investing, we have to look past political affiliation and instead look towards the opportunity.

I don’t care who’s in office – Hillary, McCain, or Obama –all three are going to make some good and bad decisions which will give everyone amazing opportunities to make money. So let’s stop thinking ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat’.

Instead let’s think OPPORTUNITY.

To your success,

Charles

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