Tentativeness is everywhere.

Strapped consumers buying iPads and $4 coffees. Again.

One trader who is a must-read in this tape.

Castles and naturally defensive geography are valuable, too. Even if they’ve been forgotten as an asset class.

Cue violins.

So this happened.

Yet another Mistake by the Lake. Oh, Cleveland!

You know how when your favorite underground band hits it big you almost can’t help but hate that band? This weird revulsion to the sudden widespread popularity of something you had to yourself can also occur in your stock portfolio. And it feels just as weird.

Imagine if, instead of Earnings Season for the S&P 500, we had a 4 week stretch in which we heard from a different sector of Small Business each night on a series of conference calls.

The Great Recession, that began sometime in 2007 and has not necessarily ended for most of us, is now producing its own set of folk heroes.