The Market And Energy Page, T+9 -- March 9, 2018

Trade war? What trade war? Ya gotta love Trump. He knows how to play the game. I'm sure "The Apprentice" helped. He learned how to "stage" cliff-hangers -- not just at the end of the season; or, at the end of an episode; but, every 12 - 15 minutes, at the end of each segment of that television show. He's carried that over to the Oval Office.

He announces something that seems extreme -- or at least the press releases something he supposedly said that seems extreme -- and then when you hear it directly from him, it's not so extreme; and then, when it's finally "pen to paper" it's even less extreme.

That "30% tariff on steel; 10% tariff on aluminum"?

Turns out that:

• it's 25% tariff on steel -- not as bad as advertised
• 10% tariff on aluminum -- anyone complaining about a half-cent on a can of beer is ...
• some countries were exempt at the "signing"
• all countries can negotiate better terms -- all countries can negotiate better terms
• Gary Cohn exposed Trump for what he is: a friend of Main Street; an enemy of Wall Street; remember, Donald Trump was a registered Democrat from 2001 to 2009

What's the problem? Where's the trade war.

Boeing: the only company that might have had a legitimate gripe. Share price for one year and for one morning (today):

Give me a break. Gary Cohn truly showed his colors. Good riddance.

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Notes To The Granddaughters

The three books I'm looking at today:

Mary Shelley, Miranda Seymour, c. 2000.

Yesterday, I read much of the following book and took notes:

Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, Emily W. Sunstein, c. 1989.

Author says this if the first complete or definitive biography of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley -- the only stellar English Romantic author for whom there is no complete or definitive biography.

So, we can now compare the two biographies.

The Trojan War, Barry Strauss, c. 2006. Wow, I never get tired of reading and re-reading about Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

And finally, Octopus: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea, Katherine Harmon Courage, c. 2013.

It's possible I've read these books (or parts of them) before, but I do not recall.

By the way, Sophia and I attended a college/high school play last night: "James and the Giant Peach." It was the first play that her older sister, a freshman in high school, had ever participated in. She played one of the actors.

It was incredible. We will go back and watch it again tonight.

Sophia, age 3.6 years old, appeared to be enthralled and actually paid close attention to the play. For those who don't know the play, there is a scene in which James is instructed to find a magic potion from a book and then cast a spell.

When we got home, on her own, my wife was lucky enough to get three photos of Sophia doing the same and explaining to May what she was doing. Until this morning when I told her, May did not know there was a scene in "James and the Giant Peach" that involved making a potion and casting a magic spell.

Here are the photos:

This is at Sophia's house. Not ours. Sophia is fortunate enough to live in a real house, a house big enough to play "tag" and/or "hide and seek." We live in a small two-bedroom apartment -- big enough to play "hide and seek" with a four-year-old, but not big enough to do so with a five-year-old.