Sense on Cents

What do you get when you put five Irish guys involved in finance around a table?

1. A lot of laughs.
2. Varied opinions.
3. Interesting insights.
4. A mix of plenty BS and zero BS depending on the topic.
5. Real bonding and true friendship.
6. ‘Sense on cents.’
7. All of the above.

Well, last evening 4 of my 7 siblings (6 brothers) and I got together with our respective families, including 16 nieces and nephews, for some Doyle holiday cheer. We covered all of the points highlighted above, plus some. Having experienced many of these get togethers over the years, I often wish that a tape recorder were running to capture the material and bantering.

Some of the best material is the well worn stories of old which still evoke a lot of laughs. While the truth is definitely stretched on many of these stories, the beauty of the tales is as much in the delivery as in the stories themselves. The ‘ball-breaking’ is relentless, but the spirit and camaraderie of true brotherly relationships are very genuine. Our better halves will periodically shake their heads in various degrees of bewilderment at the tales, but they realize how fortunate they are to be married to “one of the Doyle boys!!” I kid, I kid! The fact is, we are far luckier to be married to these beautiful women.

What topics did we address last evening? Aside from good naturedly ribbing the few Yankee fans in the crowd, we touched upon an array of financial topics, including:

1. Wall Street and Washington may vilify short-sellers, but the fact is the frauds and financial malfeasance running through our markets and economy need the discipline imposed by those willing to sell short and state their case for doing so.

2. Impending disasters within the municipal markets will likely be a 2011 event. The ‘battle royales’ between bondholders and unions will be classic. Look for these engagements to be described as a “Wall Street vs. Main Street” standoff despite the fact that many municipal bondholders are retired citizens and ordinary American citizens.

3. The Fed controls the markets within the Western hemisphere. Can Ron Paul control the Fed? Not in my opinion.

4. Washington specifically and America at large lack the discipline to create the necessary changes to ‘right our ship.’ Regrettably, more than two full years since our market and economy self-imploded, far too many of our citizens — including our politicians — are seemingly more interested in who gets voted off “Dancing with the Stars” than addressing the real fundamental and structural problems within our society.

Too cynical, perhaps? I do not think so. There is no doubt that the failures within our nation are numerous. The reasons for those failures are even more numerous. We can and should point toward these failures and the reasons behind them if we care to move forward. As we do so, however, we can not simply rely on the system to provide answers, support, and results. Ultimately, on an individual basis we need to be the masters of our own destinies. That is a core tenet of real ‘sense on cents.’

Larry Doyle

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I have no affiliation or business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own and not those of Greenwich Investment Management. As President of Greenwich Investment Management, an SEC regulated privately held registered investment adviser, I am merely a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 7:58 AM and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.