 No one ever thinks they've gotten older, or in my case, just plain old. So when I go to conferences, like I did earlier this week delivering alpha, that's CNBC conference, and talk to portfolio managers, I'm deluged with negativity. And I find their arguments compelling. They present them so well. Until I think back on all the years of investing that I've been through. And I realize that most of the people that I'm listening to have never experienced buying a stock when treasuries were yielding 14%. When the consumer price index is jumping mid-single digits, or even when the feds at war with the stock market almost seeming to wish it would go down. It's that lack of perspective that I think ales so many other money managers put simply when things were bad in the investing world and they haven't been bad for so much of my life, even though the Dow has been a monster overall. I used to dream, dream there would be periods where there would be little to no inflation, where I wouldn't have to worry that every government bond auction might send interest rates up dramatically, or that there would be synchronized global growth or a president who'd be so pro-business that he wouldn't dream of hurting the stock market. Much to the chagrin of the endless hedge fund managers who somehow think it is against the religion to make money on what we call the long side, so they think each day is terrible. I am comforted by the fact that ex-North Korea. We had the situation that I have always dreamed about. Think about it. Got a 10-year treasury that earns a measly 2%. I remember investing in a period where long rates were seven times that and only an idiot would buy stocks. Even the best of the best of the stocks back then were not competitive. That remains the single most positive part of the investing story right now. Interest rates are just too low. I remember periods where the stock market would be inundated with new issues and secondaries, despite the fact that there are literally thousands of companies that would like to come public right now in Silicon Valley alone. This market is so unforgiving to private companies that lose money. Think about the disaster that is blue apron. Oh, I saw today they're going to have some sort of cheeseburger that should get people excited. Please. Well, there's just not that much new supply of stock out there. Meanwhile, the dividends keep getting boosted. Stocks keep getting bought back, maybe not at the rate that they were before. I mean, a lot of companies that wanted to buy back stock lower are less inclined to do so up here. That makes sense. But certainly at an emphatic pace. Now look, the Fed would love to raise rates, normalized rates so to speak, but it doesn't want to derail an economy that's been stalled by not one but two natural disasters that really have resulted in a short term decline in economic growth. They don't want to appear heartless or stupid if the rebuild takes too long. So there won't be any new competition to existing stocks coming from more equity issuance or higher bond rates. Even at December rate hike, once I thought would happen, a given seems off the table, which is why we've had to cut back our bank exposure. After all though, it's not like we will run away inflation. If anything, the numbers just reported are anemic. They shouldn't trigger any reaction from Janet Yellen and company. Yet that doesn't mean there's no economic growth, far from it. Yesterday a real smart guy in May of Monies, a fellow named Brad Jacobs, used to see you have an up and coming transport company, XPO Logistics. And he's talking about the industrial recovery in this country that he can't believe has snuck up on everyone. Business and the industrial heartline, he says, is very strong. Well, the stocking caterpillar test and that, doesn't it? Again, thinking back on my career, we've never gotten a really strong economy without inflation, meant the Fed would always be against us, never. If you haven't been around for a long enough time, you may not know how special this moment really is. Plus, it's not just our economy. We do have synchronized global growth. Europe's been so strong that the central bankers haven't been able to keep the euro from flying, making it less competitive. I think the euro can still go much higher. It's one of the reasons why we own the ECU. Countries in Southeast Asia are putting up amazing numbers. China is no longer stumbling. Japan has a legitimate expansion. The yen is so strong, that's another reason why a lot of the industrials are doing well. Russia is much better, so is India. Of the markets I follow, only Brazil's weaker. And as Brazil goes, well, nothing else goes. It's suing generous, as they would say in law school. Now, upon all of that comes the natural disasters that, while slowing growth now, will no doubt raise growth later, as the insurance checks come in and the states do their best to rebuild infrastructure. Both Texas and Florida are flush, and they will do what they can for the poultry aid to offset the poultry aid I expect from the U.S. government. I don't like to speak positively about sad events that have caused people their lives, but the hundreds of thousands of cars that need to be bought in Texas post Harvey, and the tremendous infrastructure damage that is caused by Irma will require tens of billions of dollars to fix, and the insurers will have no problem meeting these promises. By the way, that's why GM's on fire. They are flush from having so few disasters in the last decade that they can pay. They can pay without worry, and they can raise rates. Then there's the currents. Our dollars being hammered worldwide. As we're just a few weeks away from earnings, I think the narrative is going to change for our international companies that are based here. For years now, for years, they have had to talk about what their numbers would have been, had the dollar not gone so high, not this time, which is why I expect some very strong year-over-year comparisons. The impact, when we see these earnings reports, I believe we will realize that the whole market may be cheaper than we think, at least on a price journey's basis. The very public bears will dismiss this whole scenario as some sort of weak dollar fantasy. But when numbers were getting hurt by a strong dollar, oh boy, they embraced the reality of the currency, and they did it in a very negative way. They can't have their cake and eat it too. Hey, we won't allow it. Then there's employment. It's robust. And we'll only grow more robust once the rebuild starts occurring. Florida and Texas are so big for this economy. I'm sure there'll be a moment where some economists will say, hey, that's a real slowdown, and not adjust for the storms. But I would say hiring remains on track, better than expected. And that will fuel continued home buying and auto sales. Those cycles, given up on by so many, turn out to be very alive. Hence why I don't know if you've seen the Illinois Toolworks at 144 today, but that's all about auto cycle. Now, we had seen a pause in takeovers as corporations tried to figure out what the tax regimen would be for 2017. But now that there's been so much convolution in Washington, no one is waiting. I expect several mega deals before the year's over. Given how cheap money is, that will take out even more supply of stock. Finally, there's the president who, like him or hate him, has taken regarding the Dow and the S&P as his indicators of how well he's doing on the job. Hey, that's not unlike how he viewed the Nielsen's for the apprentice, something I saw acutely when I was serving as a judge on a bunch of episodes. What a contrast from virtually every other president. Most of them were hoping never to be linked to the material beast that is the market. Now, the president's not been able to get much done with Congress, and as you know, I've been very skeptical about anything coming out of Washington this year. Again, though, that's a positive, because it'll still put out all the possible good stuff in 2018. As long as it can ultimately happen, I am sanguine about the timeframe. We don't need it in 2017 for stocks to keep going higher. And those that think that there's a day of reckoning coming because nothing gets done, I think they will be sorely remiss. The fact that the president is still calling for reform of taxes is enough for me, especially as he remains steadfastly anti-regulation. Sure, he may not be rolling back regulation that hurts business at the pace you may want if you're a bull, but it is the lack of promulgation that really matters. That's why I believe that the small business person's index remains as abjectly positive as it has been, and that's good for more hiring too, because we know that more than 50% of hiring comes from small and medium-sized business. Now, there are always going to be negatives. You saw how far we bounced this week, simply in the news that there was nothing out of North Korea over the weekend. Of course, last night there was something, that's why the market opened lower. Now, I get it. I think North Korea is the single greatest risk to the market right now. But if you want to look at it another way, if there's any change in the policy by dear leader, the market could explode to the upside.