Opinion

Market gurus come and go on Wall Street, making fortunes, enjoying their 15 minutes of fame, and then fading from the spotlight. Warren Buffett is among the select few who are ranked among the best stock pickers and who have staying power, retaining this high esteem for decades. 

As a group, politicians have their own way of explaining the news.  They play down serious problems and paint a much brighter picture of the future than is warranted. 

Both 2020 and 2021 were filled with blockbuster news, and 2022 is following in step.  A story that is about to break could turn into the biggest of them all.  It’s about an agreement, of all things.

Soaring food prices and shortages are not new. They date back to Biblical times, and we hear about them all too often, but they are always out there -- never in our backyards. Now we’re being told that they can happen in America and may in fact be just around the corner.   

The years 2020 and 2021 will be remembered for the pandemic, lockdowns, and financial chaos they brought.  Will 2022 be remembered for Dustbowl conditions and a shocking shortage of food?  Three months into the year, this is starting to look increasingly likely.     

Russia has just won a Pyrrhic victory in Ukraine, and if you are not sure what that is, just ask Vladimir Putin.  Better still - ask someone else, because Putin won’t want to talk about it. 

A Pyrrhic victory is a battle where one side technically is the winner, but it has paid such a high price that in reality it suffered a major defeat.  The term comes from Pyrrhus, a king who defeated the Romans in a battle at Asculum in 279 BCE; Pyrrhus won the battle but suffered terrible losses in the process.  Russia’s attack on Ukraine brings that to mind.