The Deep Woods: Thoughts on Kamala the Lotus

You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive our free e-letter The Deep Woods, or you purchased a product or service from its publisher, Eagle Financial Publications. [The Deep Woods] [Successful Investing]( [Bullseye Stock Trader]( [About Jim]( In This Issue: • Thoughts on Kamala the Lotus • ETF Talk: Sow Your Seeds for a New Harvest with This Fund • This. Is. Not. Funny. • On the Wall of Death Thoughts on Kamala the Lotus by Jim Woods Editor, [Successful Investing]( and [Bullseye Stock Trader]( 07/24/2024 Sponsored Content [7 Stocks That Could Be Bigger Than Tesla, Nvidia, and Google]( This FREE investing research report looks at potential winners for 2024 and the next stocks, which could be the biggest companies in their markets. And we've got the next 7 upcoming superstars that fit the bill. This proprietary, exclusive list is absolutely FREE. [Get Your FREE Copy of "7 Stocks That Could Be Bigger Than Tesla, Nvidia, and Google" Here.]( It only took about 48 hours after President Biden announced the end of his candidacy for Vice President Kamala Harris to capture enough pledged delegates to be considered the new presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. The rush to anoint VP Harris as the new torchbearer for the party is, in my view, a pretty smart move politically. And judging by the record campaign donations over those 48 hours of roughly $100 million, the Democratic base is certainly excited about the new life Harris gives the party. Now, while I don’t think Harris is the best candidate the Democrats could put up, I do think (and the markets think) that she has a far greater chance of beating former President Trump than the enfeebled President Biden had. So, who is Kamala Harris? Despite her reign as vice president, there are still a lot of questions about her from the public now that she is vying for the top spot as de facto leader of the free world. Almost exactly four years ago, when then-Senator Harris was picked as Biden’s running mate, I wrote a piece titled, “Kamala Means Lotus.” Given her meteoric rise to the top of the ticket since Sunday, I decided to review what I wrote in that piece. Well, as it turned out, my thoughts on Kamala Harris are still very much applicable. Four years ago, I told you that in Greek mythology, a lotus is a legendary plant whose fruit induces a dreamy forgetfulness and a sort of indolent stupor reminiscent of paralytic intoxication. That sense of intoxication (albeit infused with excitement of the “new blood”) is what many Democrats are feeling today, as they know that a “lotus” has become the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. You see, “Kamala” means “lotus” in Sanskrit. Perhaps she was the obvious choice in this most unusual election year. I mean, Democrats would have come under some serious racial, gender and prejudice fire from their own if the first black female vice president had been passed over for, say, “another basic white male.” Here’s what I said about Harris four years ago: Kamala Devi Harris is… - An experienced politico - A graduate of the historically Black Howard University - Proud of her prosecution of business, particularly the “Big Banks” - “The best-looking attorney general,” [according to President Obama]( - A bold and vocal critic of President Trump and other administration officials - A woman - A woman of color Indeed, in the identity-politics matrix of the Democratic Party, this lotus is an intoxicating mix of all things “good.” Of course, she isn’t immune to criticism from her own, and particularly from progressives. In fact, some in the far extremes of the progressive movement have called her a “phony progressive” and have [criticized Joe Biden for selecting a “top cop” like Harris]( in the midst of the then protests against what they call “excessive policing.” Perhaps the greatest take-down of this sort involving Harris was delivered during the 2020 Democratic primary debates, and by the most interesting Democrat to seek the nomination, my friend and fellow U.S. Army veteran [Tulsi Gabbard](. During a debate in July 2019, Gabbard criticized Harris’ aggressive record as a “drug warrior” and essentially called her a hypocrite. Of Harris, [Gabbard said]( she “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.” Gabbard went on to express her deep concerns about Harris’ prosecutorial record, saying, “There are too many examples to cite, but… she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California. And she fought to keep the cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.” Ouch! Yet, despite the critics on her own team, Democrats of all stripes have understandably coalesced in support of “the Lotus.” Why? Because the Lotus offers up the promise of the one thing that unites all Democrats -- the need to keep what they perceive as the “existential threat” of Donald Trump as far from the Oval Office as possible. Finally, there’s one very “Deep Woodsish” observation of note here about Kamala the Lotus -- she does indeed seem to have been aptly named. You see, the lotus flower has an interesting life cycle. Its roots are based in mud. And in the marsh lands of its native India and Vietnam, the lotus is submerged each night into the murky rivers it calls home. In the morning, the lotus blooms again without a hint of muddy residue on its petals. It seems like a fitting metaphor for a life cycle spent in the Washington swamp. [China’s Global Conspiracy to Destroy the American Dollar]( China is nearing the end of its 40-year plan to dominate the world’s economy. Only one obstacle remains: The U.S. dollar. But not for long... because China has enlisted many co-conspirators to sink the dollar: Russia, India, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and even Canada. And – no surprise – the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants to jump in to help China win. This means China now has the power to crush the dollar almost overnight... and bankrupt America. But there’s still time to protect the money and retirement of investors. [Click here now to find out how... before it’s too late.]( ETF Talk: Sow Your Seeds for a New Harvest with This Fund Seasons don’t fear the reaper Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain We can be like they are Come on, baby (don’t fear the reaper) --Blue Oyster Cult, “[(Don’t Fear) The Reaper]( The year is half over. As we look forward to reaping our seasonal food harvests and to cooler weather in the coming months, we are also looking for cooler inflation to sow the seeds for reaping of another sort. I am, of course, referring to investing in long-term bonds. While the bond market has suffered notably over the past few years, a renewed optimism has emerged this year with a budding positive outlook. With near certainty of the first Federal Reserve rate cut taking place in September since the last one in March 2020, the very likely possibility of a second rate cut in December and yields trending higher, long-term bonds are looking like an attractive way to add stability to a portfolio without giving up returns. So, if you are looking for fertile loam in which to plant your future harvest, look no further than this fund: PIMCO Long-Term Credit Bond (NASDAQ: PTCIX). PTCIX invests in long-duration, investment-grade corporate and sovereign bonds, with at least 80% of its assets in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income instruments of varying maturities and up to 20% of its assets in high-yield securities, or junk bonds. The fund includes bonds, debt securities and other similar instruments issued by various U.S. and non-U.S. public- or private-sector entities and offers exposure to emerging-market countries. The fund allocates heavily to corporate bonds, which outperformed Treasuries in the first half of the year. This is important to note as corporate bonds have remained attractive even in a suffering bond market due to the characteristic lower risk and higher yield, bolstered by strong corporate balance sheets. PTCIX has $3.36 billion in net assets and an annual expense ratio of 0.99%, which is average compared to funds in the same category. PTCIX offers a dividend yield of 4.86%, paid monthly. Its last ex-dividend date was June 28, 2024. As of today, the fund is up 0.86% in the last month, down 0.96% over the last three months and down 1.86% for the year to date. Chart Courtesy of [StockCharts.com](. As you can see from the chart, PTCIX shot up in late 2023 and has maintained this upswing throughout the first half of 2024. As we head into the second half of the year and a high likelihood of Fed rate cuts, there is an expectation that bonds will become favorable as investors will be keen to lock in yields. Now, as with the sowing of seeds, investing is about the future. Bonds can be like a staple crop, a strong root stabilizing the field that is your portfolio in uncertain political and economic weather. Without the gift of perpetual prescience, we must choose our seeds -- or, in this case, our long-term bond funds -- wisely. Be aware, however, that long-term bonds are susceptible to credit risk and short-term price swings when interest rates rise and fall. Investors should always do their due diligence before adding any stock, fund or ETF to their portfolio. As always, I’m happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to [email me](mailto:askjim@successfuletfinvesting.com). You may see your question answered in a future ETF Talk. [It's hot gains season]( Exciting trades are exploding. With Nvidia's record-breaking surge making it the world's most valuable public company, the market is heating up with opportunities. The excitement around A.I.'s potential is creating waves that elite Options traders are riding to big wins. Want to know how top Options traders leverage A.I. for these gains?  Our complimentary live session will reveal the strategies and tools they use to stay ahead. Join over 100,000 traders who have already attended and benefited from this training and [Discover how top Options traders leverage A.I. in July for big wins](. In case you missed it… This. Is. Not. Funny. “Jim, where were you when former President Trump was nearly assassinated?” That’s the question a friend asked recently. Interestingly, the answer is quite memorable, as I was about to go on stage to deliver a talk on how to be a successful investor at FreedomFest in Las Vegas. In fact, I heard about the shooting, and Trump’s narrow escape from finality, a few minutes before taking the stage. Feeling as though I had to address the orange elephant in the room, I told the crowd about the incident. At first, there was incredulity, and a sense that perhaps I had initiated a bad joke. But there was nothing funny about this incident, and I don’t jest about matters of this nature. Fortunately for the entire world, the assassination attempt failed, with an obviously incompetent shooter missing his target from 140 meters away. And speaking as a U.S. Army-trained expert marksman, a shot with an AR-style rifle from an elevated position at this distance is about as easy as it gets. I mean, even newbie infantry recruits have to hit multiple bullseyes at 150 meters just to make it through basic training. Yet, aside from observation, and relief, that the shooter was incompetent, another reaction I had was to note the incredible presence of mind Trump displayed in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. I mean, love him or hate him, one must acknowledge that the man displayed the incredible ability to stage manage this event perfectly. By raising his fist into the air and shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, blood streaming down the side of his face, the world has been left with an indelible and iconic image of resolve and strength, and that, I suspect, has all but cemented his victory in November. Now, in the aftermath of this ghastly assassination attempt, I was corresponding with my good friend and The Deep Woods guest columnist Brandon Brison, Creative Director at advertising and marketing firm CDMG, Inc. As he always does, Brandon shared with me his insightful thoughts on this situation. In fact, the thoughts were so insightful, I wanted to share them with you today. So, here is my good friend, colleague and thoughtful human, Brandon Brison, with an insight we call… This. Is. Not. Funny. I keep a fairly politically diverse group of friends. As such, I am used to (mostly) good-natured debate and argument over politicians, principles, laws, the future of our country and so on. I was not prepared for the joy and glee with which some of my circle greeted the news of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13. And I was genuinely astonished that the only dismay they felt was that the assassin missed. When I went online to get more information on the shooting, I was almost overwhelmed with memes, jokes, twits and other social media detritus clogging up the online discourse around the attempted assassination of Trump. I shut my computer, turned off my phone and, knowing President Trump was safe for the time being, decided to abide by the 48-hour Rule of Major News. For those two days that I intentionally avoided the breathless news cycle and waited for the facts to rise above the hysteria and conspiracies, I reflected on the utter lack of seriousness with which a certain contingency was treating that civilizational inch between restless order and outright chaos. I’m not sure how we got to a point in our societal conversation where politically motivated murders are considered a laughing matter… especially in the immediate aftermath. Whether you love Donald Trump, hate him or you’re one of the vanishingly few people who are indifferent to him… if you are a rational person, you must be able to comprehend that the natural consequence of his death by an assassin’s bullet would be violence, bloody violence. The only conclusion I can come up with, for the mystery of why people are openly cheering for the assassination of a presidential candidate, is that we have been blessed by peace for so long that the consequences of political violence are too abstract for modern audiences to grasp. We have apparently become an unserious people with an inability to recognize that we live in a world with actual, real-world consequences. For too many people, their only point of reference for last Saturday’s shocking act is the latest episode of Game of Thrones… a titillation, a one-hour dopamine hit that can be turned off if it gets too real or you get too bored. Those of us who choose to live in reality are surrounded by adults who live in a world of pretending -- that assassinations don’t have consequences, that destroying the engines of the economy will create prosperity, that freedom can be mandated by indifferent psychopaths in a swamp on the Eastern Coast of the United States. For those pretending people who need it spelled out… when murdering your political enemies becomes acceptable, bad, BAD things are soon to follow. It doesn’t matter what you think about the personality of the person targeted. Politics exist because debate is a preferable proxy for tribal violence. As ugly as it can get “making the sausage” and finding political solutions to apparently intractable issues, using persuasion, logic and reason to lead a society works to the benefit of every single person in that society. When you remove the “proxy” aspect… when you move from the realm of the mind to the realm of raw force… the only possible outcome is warfare, oppression, genocide. And -- even if your side “wins” -- no one comes out the other side unscathed. Though I have never personally experienced war in my homeland, I once dated a Bosnian woman who, as I was getting to know her, told me a lot of stories from the civil war there. Like the story of her father’s best friend taking a bullet to the head on their doorstep. Their neighbor getting executed for informing on the wrong person. Women raped and shot in the middle of the street. Parents selling their daughters into prostitution for an MRE. This. Is. Not. Funny. To be crystal clear, I’m not the type who thinks violence is forever off the table. Many things are worth fighting for. And some things are worth dying for. But I tell you, if I ever have to pick up arms to defend my family, it will be mournfully and with a realistic idea of the world to come. Hopefully that day will never arrive, in my lifetime or my children’s lifetimes or their children’s lifetimes. I hope that we can somehow continue to muddle through the next few centuries or longer on the power of mean words, harsh rhetoric, gritty debate and ugly unity so future generations can live in relative prosperity and peace. If the weekend’s assassination attempt has any silver lining, I hope that it causes every single person in this nation to stop for a second and reflect on how close we came to a civilization-fracturing event. And I hope that the people smugly celebrating the failed assassin realize how colossally stupid their first take was and sober up to the realities of the world as it actually is -- not the “Made for TV” version. If we as a culture don’t take steps to fix this discourse, the next time those people wail “But it was just a joke!” could very well be as the communists they’re cheering on put them up against the wall, because the usefulness of their idiocy has finally worn out. ***************************************************************** On the Wall of Death Let me ride on the Wall of Death one more timeLet me ride on the Wall of Death one more timeYou can waste your time on the other ridesThis is the nearest to being aliveOh let me take my chances on the Wall of DeathOn the Wall of Death all the world is far from me On the Wall of Death it’s the nearest to being free… --Richard Thompson, “[Wall of Death]( In the world of carnivals, the Wall of Death is an attraction featuring motorcycles wheeling around a silo-shaped structure, seeming to defy gravity due to the cylindrical force. In his 1982 song, “Wall of Death,” singer/songwriter and virtuoso guitarist Richard Thompson uses the Wall of Death as a metaphor for liberty: “On the Wall of Death, all the world is far from me/On the Wall of Death, it’s the nearest to being free.” You see, in life, the most dangerous rides might cause the most tumult. Yet, ultimately, they’re the most enlivening. The most dangerous rides are also the ones that make life worth it. So, “You can waste your time on the other rides/But this is the nearest to being alive.” If you want to be truly alive, then take your chances on the Wall of Death of your choosing. And if you would like to see a clip of my version of this great song, just go to [my Instagram page](. Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. [Click here](mailto:askjim@successfuletfinvesting.com) to ask Jim. In the name of the best within us, [Jim Woods] Jim Woods Editor, Successful Investing & Bullseye Stock Trader About Jim Woods: [Jim Woods]Jim Woods has more than 25 years experience in the markets, as a stock broker, hedge fund money manager, author, speaker and independent analyst. Today Jim serves as editor and investment director of the long-running newsletters [Successful Investing](, [Bullseye Stock Trader]( and a new Live Coaching service offered exclusively to his readers. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, and many others. About Us: Eagle Financial Publications is located in Washington, D.C. – only a few blocks from the Capitol. Our products have been helping investors build their wealth for several decades. 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