Lessons From The Los Angeles Fires

Lessons From The Los Angeles Fires

There are a number of specific lessons we can draw from the Los Angeles fires, but the over-arching one is that Democrats are no longer capable of governing. Let's look at some of the specific lessons first, and then let Bernie Sanders demonstrate why he and his party should never be put in charge of anything again. And then we'll close with a couple of brief market notes. 

Lesson #1

In matters of life and death, hire based solely on merit, not DEI. 

In a clip widely shared on X, the assistant fire chief pictured above, Kristine Larson, admits she isn't physically capable enough for the job. 

Lesson #2

If you are the mayor of Los Angeles, don't go to Africa when you have been warned that your city is at risk of disaster. 

Lesson #3 

This is related to Lesson #2: elect people based on competency, not DEI. It's worth noting that conservatives fall prey to this thinking sometimes too. 

Lesson #4

Especially if you are in an arid climate, fill your reservoirs when you have the opportunity. 

Lesson #5

Again, especially if you are in an arid climate, clear underbrush in your forests (often, the most practical way to do this is with controlled burns, burning off the kindling before it piles up). 

Lesson #6

Enforce laws against vagrancy. There are many reasons to do this, starting with making cities more pleasant, but there's also a safety factor, as bums often set fires. 

The Over-Arching Lesson

Democrats are no longer capable of governing, because they refuse to learn any of the lessons above, or to enact effective solutions. Instead they hand-waive about insoluble things like "climate change", as Bernie Sanders does here. 

They do this on every issue: ignore the time-tested solutions, and talk about addressing impossible tasks first. 

It's time to stop electing them or appointing them to positions where they can continue to cause such damage. 

Market Note #1

If you own California municipal bonds, consider hedging. There are a couple of California municipal bond funds with options traded on them:

• iShares California Muni Bond ETF (CMF)
• Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF (PWZ)

You can enter those tickers in the Portfolio Armor hedging app to scan for the optimal hedges to give you the level of protection you want. Enter a number of shares roughly equivalent to your California municipal bond exposure. You can download our optimal hedging app by aiming your iPhone camera at the QR code below (or by tapping here, if you're reading this on your phone). 

Market Note #2

In yesterday's post, we mentioned we had a trade teed up for today on a company that uses a bitcoin balance sheet like MicroStrategy (MSTR)--but, unlike MicroStrategy--also has a profitable core business. If you'd like a heads up when we place it, you can subscribe to your trading Substack/occasional email list below. 

If you'd like to stay in touch

You can scan for optimal hedges for individual securities, find our current top ten names, and create hedged portfolios on our website. You can also follow Portfolio Armor on X here, or become a free subscriber to our trading Substack using the link below (we're using that for our occasional emails now).