Walk Like an Egyptian

Futures globally are fairly flat right now, after being lower overnight. The conventional wisdom is that the market is overdue for a correction (over 80% of stocks are above their 200 day moving average), and that the unrest on the Middle East is the excuse for the sell-off, and not the reason. James Paulsen of Wells Capital Management had this to say: “The situation in Egypt is the catalyst for a downturn. We have a market that is vulnerable to a technical correction. There’s an investor mindset that’s been expecting that to happen for a while now, given where the market is and how fast it’s come up.”

Be that as it may, our government wants our citizens out. Hosni Mubarak already sent his son and family out. And aristocrats have been flying out of the country to Dubai on private planes. Severe poverty, a middle-class that has dried up, and a huge disparity between the nation’s richest and poorest has been the result of a horrific foundation that has been laid for the last 30 years. With such a weak foundation, and rumblings that have been growing louder for at least a decade, it takes “little” to bring a nation to the brink. Price spikes on food and essentials qualify as that “little.” If you want to read a really good article to give you an understanding of the Egypt Crisis, click on this Stratfor Global Intelligence piece here:

Stratfor Egypt

The world is watching, and developed nations are nervous. The Middle East is built on a foundation of sand (no pun) to begin with, and a strained peace. When sub-foundations, like Egypt, in this larger weak foundation crumble, everyone wonders if Saudi Arabia will be next. And everyone wonders what Israel will do. And everyone hopes that selfish and corrupt leaders will not try to channel the angst of a nation of desperate and poor people into a dumb military strike against a neighbor, or historical enemy, in an attempt to deflect their desperation against the cause.

We all wish the people of Egypt peace and safety. As we do the people Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. Most of all, we wish our own citizens and armed forces safety, as well as the hand of grace.

Please, all take note of how important a moderate and thriving middle class is to civil peace and prosperity.

Let us change directions, if you don’t mind. We don’t want to leave you to take on a tough earnings week without a positive story to nourish you. And there is a great story right out of Jersey.

 

Coach Bop Hurley Sr. will win his 1,000th game this coming week, against perhaps 110 losses. His St. Anthony’s High School Basketball team is ranked second in the nation. And still, even with 25 state parochial titles, the victories are a small part of what he has accomplished. Hurley, 63, has been a father figure for hundreds of inner-city teenagers over the past four decades. He has placed nearly all of them in four-year colleges, most on scholarships. Some are doctors and businessmen now. Others are lawyers and police captains. One owns a popular restaurant in Jersey City and once held a seat on the city’s board of education. Hurley makes $6500 for his coaching efforts.

Hurley almost actually went to coach college level at Xavier, but rescinded his acceptance after his son wrote him a latter asking him to stay home and coach him instead. He is a legend of a basketball coach, and a man of epic proportions.

Oh yeah, and Bobby Hurley helped turn another coach into a legend, too. Krzyzewski has won four national championships at Duke, including two when Bobby Hurley was his point guard. He was the presenter on August 13 when Hurley Sr. was inducted into the Hall of Fame, standing proudly over his shoulder as the high school lifer joined the most exclusive club. “Bob has a passion to help young men get the opportunities they would never have gotten unless he and basketball entered their lives,” Krzyzewski said. “He should be in the Hall of Fame not for the number of wins, but for the number of lives he’s changed.”

The story is here: Bob Hurley Sr.

Have a great week.