Palpable irony

Here’s an interesting (albeit sad) chart depicting the impact to small businesses over the last year:

And here are some interesting charts on the impact of COVID on kids:

Yet here is the current state of schools:

Bill Miller was also in the news this week. He’s the former manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust that got annihilated in 2008 due to levered bets on a lot of financial companies that didn’t get bailed out by the government. That and a divorce around the same time apparently wiped out 90% of his net worth.

But he’s back baby. Mr. Miller is now a billionaire due to only two holdings – Amazon stock that he’s held forever and a bunch of bitcoins that he bought for under $300. The palpable irony of one of the more legendary value investors making a killing off a high growth stock and speculative bets in funny money added an extra spring in my step this week.

Moving to more relevant news, earnings continue to be strong across the board, and real GDP (that’s economic growth after stripping out inflation) came in at 6.4% for 1Q2021. That’s a really big number, and the second quarter almost certainly will be higher. In fact, we’re about to see sustained growth numbers that haven’t happened since post WWII. 

Lastly, speaking of large numbers, here’s a graphic depicting the proposed government spending:

Enjoy the weekend…