There Are Real Ramifications From People Not Taking Covid-19 Seriously

“Alas, how terrible is wisdom
when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!
This I knew well, but had forgotten it,
else I would not have come here.” ― Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

I am saddened by the way that wearing a mask and taking the risks of infecting loved ones with Covid-19 seriously has become a partisan issue. It seems to me that the smart approach to the risk/reward for President Trump with regards to mask wearing, testing, and opening back up the economy would have been to do as quickly but as safely as possible. Wouldn’t it have been best to say, “Yes, open back up your state, city, business as quickly as possible, but please wear a mask, socially distance yourselves and let’s let industries/companies set their own safety standards but let’s set some nationwide safety standards. Oh, and instead of wearing a MAGA hat, be sure to get your MAGA facemask.”

And to be clear, I’m not just worried about the risks of Covid-19 because I have a daughter who is already intubated and breathes with the assistance of oxygen, but because I’m a hedge fund manager and investment analyst, I’m also concerned about the ramifications of a national lapse of taking the risks of Covid-19 seriously to our economy and our investments.

We’re already seeing an increase in cases in Texas and Florida and across the country and the coronavirus doesn’t care if we’re just eating at a restaurant, going to a protest, going to a political rally, going to a party, going to an airplane ride or whatever, it’s a risk and it’s real and because people aren’t wearing masks, whatever their reasons, we’re likely to have a resurgence of cases in this country. Maybe we’ll get through it and maybe, hopefully, I’m wrong about flagging the risks here of Covid-19 and the Coronavirus Crisis like I did back in February, the last time I wrote about how I thought people weren’t taking it seriously enough.

But even if some of the bullish analysis about how profit margins might increase in coming years because of changes that have been driven by the Coronavirus Crisis is correct longer-term, I sure would be more excited about stocks, valuations and the potential for more big upside near-term/mid-term if I wasn’t so concerned about the Coronavirus Crisis getting flared up because so many people aren’t taking it seriously anymore. We can either take the risks of Covid-19 seriously now and all wear masks and be socially-distant now, or we’ll all be taking the risks of Covid-19 seriously and be wearing and socially-distancing ourselves a few weeks from now. I hope I’m wrong about that.

As for stocks, I’m not changing much here of course. I’m hard at work trying to find some good investments and new Revolutionary theme for us to get in front of, but frankly, it’s hard to find a good undiscovered stock that’s not through the roof already right now. There will be more pitches and I’ll be ready for them. Let’s continue to ride our longs for now. We’ve also had some of the stocks that we bought puts on get slammed lately and I continue to find more stocks that I’d rather short than I want to buy right now.

The non-Tesla electric vehicle stocks like NKLA, WKHS, PLUG and so many other stocks in other sectors too look like to me like they’re going to crash at some point, probably sooner rather than later. Be careful out there.

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