Illusory Follies

Vertical Farming is a neat, futuristic approach to producing food within urban environments. I’m not terrified of running out land and of populations booming too much nor am I running scared of global warming or cooling or whichever it is but I still think that the idea is very neat.

I think it could actually be made a cost saver in large cities. The idea is sort of similar to terracing unusable land to make it usable but instead of making land flat, you stack it. I really do think that the answer to a lot of “society’s woes” is that these things will at some point become cheaper than doing them the “old” way. I just see this one as becoming worthwhile sooner than some of the other wacky ideas. So I guess I view this as more of an investment in new technology than just philanthropy to support these projects.

The reality is that shipping and transportation is becoming more and more difficult and massively increases the price of products. I’ve not seen it mentioned, but why not have the first floor be the “fresh produce” grocery store?

So… it’s been a bad quarter for the markets. However, my emerging markets fund has still been performing relatively well. What does this mean from a market perspective? With so much supposed instability in Asian markets I would have thought that it would take a larger hit… However, here’s what I have:

Emerging Market Fund (USEMX)- QTD: 3.36% YTD: 20.43% Last 12 months: 41.87%

Cornerstone Strategy Fund (USCRX) - QTD: -0.96% YTD: 4.84% Last 12 months: 12.73%

Small Cap Stock Fund (USCAX) - QTD: -4.13% YTD: 5.49% Last 12 months: (not enough data)

I need to get into this more so that I can attempt to make good decisions (or at least feel snotty when I tell people why I’m making decisions). I don’t believe in “beating” the market, but if I can invest in such a way that I can hedge losses that may affect me in other areas I’d be interested. For example, if I’m concerned about massive outsourcing by U.S. high-tech companies (which will affect the entire industry, including my potential earnings) then where should I invest to balance this loss? That sort of thing.