How did an investment advisory firm in obscure Elkhart, Indiana, find the antidote to remain rational in the highly contagious speculative pandemic of the late 1990s? At that time the crowd of true believers, in what was to become the Great Bubble, was swelling exponentially to number in the millions as irrational exuberance reached full flower. From the ill-equipped wage earners on the factory floor deluded by slick pitches evoking images of 401(k) financial independence to the institutional investors, the fate was often the same-except for the parasites who were knowingly complicit. When the Great Bubble inevitably imploded, few were spared the financial fallout. Speculative Contagion is an insider's riveting real-time and real-money account of the inflating Bubble, accented with the genuine suspense to be found only in real-life drama. The epidemic of tech-driven lunacy gradually affected more and more feverish investors all too prone to be infected by the insidious absurdity of the times. In the midst of it all, Frank Martin found sanctuary in the treasure trove of history. As he reflected on the unremitting succession of other departures from reality in the past, along with the madness of crowds, he was able to grasp shreds of sanity, at least partially muting the Sirens' call of speculative contagion. Spared the emotional devastation and accompanying paralysis that shocking losses inevitably and cruelly visit upon the unprepared, Martin commanded the capital and the conviction to be able to step up to the plate and lay wood to the fat pitches that at last came floating his firm's way. While the path to investment success is arduous at best and assured for no one, the eye-strained yet battle-hardened reader-from student to amateur or seasoned investor to rattled professional-is forearmed by this book to face the future with a short list of foundational antidotes. Rationality is their common thread. We can thus combat the ill effects of whatever may yet come at us from the perilously unorthodox and persistently unrepentant current episode, as well as those that lie in wait beyond the horizon. With both colorful anecdotes and timely antidotes coming as thick and fast as baseballs to a hitter in batting practice, the reader is in for a delightful and eye-opening romp through an extraordinary era in U.S. financial history.

"What separates men from each other is not measured by physical distance; it is measured by the thoughts in their minds." The Author In this fictional version of a 1968 civil rights murder trial in Southwest Georgia, SOWEGA, Robert Lee "Jackpot" Jest, an uneducated young black man, is defended by an equally young white indigent defense lawyer. They come from entirely different worlds in Georgia. Attorney Clay Garland accepts the pro bono case when no other defense lawyer in Southwest Georgia would agree to defend him. Jackpot is charged with the murder of the local sheriff's grandson and is detained for over a year to avoid the real possibility of a lynching, an act not unknown to the political and racial heritage in Forrest County, Georgia. The pretrial events and the trial itself take the reader down what appears to be an obvious path to conclusion, only to be jolted in another direction. Clay encounters a retired army sergeant with connections to civil rights leaders in Atlanta, a voodoo Root Doctor, white supremacists, and the mafia-all of whose actions affect the outcome of the trial, a trial which gains national publicity and symbolizes as a microcosm the various opposing political and legal forces of the 1960s civil rights era in Georgia. Robert Lee Jest-a pawn on the chessboard of hate, prejudice, and Southern politics-emerges as an inspiration to Clay Garland. This is the story of how these two disparate young men come together in a common cause and the judicial proceedings that ultimately produced celebrity for one and Southern Justice for the other.

The proven strategies rational investors require for success in an irrational market

When the dot-com and real estate bubbles of the 1990s and 2000s burst, few were spared the financial fallout. So, how did an investment advisory firm located in Elkhart, Indiana--one of the cities hit hardest by the economic downturns--not only survive, but also thrive during the highly contagious speculative pandemics. By remaining rational. In "A Decade of Delusions: From Speculative Contagion to the Great Recession," Frank Martin founder of Elkhart, Indiana's Martin Capital Management offers a riveting and real-time insider's look at the two bubbles, and reflects on how investors can remain rational even when markets are anything but.Outlines strategies the average investor can use to wade through the endless news, information, and investment advice that bombards themDescribes the epidemic of market speculation that gradually infects feverish investorsDetails how investors can spare themselves the emotional devastation and accompanying paralysis resulting from shocking financial losses

Investors are still reeling from the instability in the market. "A Decade of Delusions: From Speculative Contagion to the Great Recession" provides the information investors need to achieve safety, liquidity, and yield.

"What separates men from each other is not measured by physical distance; it is measured by the thoughts in their minds." The Author In this fictional version of a 1968 civil rights murder trial in Southwest Georgia, SOWEGA, Robert Lee "Jackpot" Jest, an uneducated young black man, is defended by an equally young white indigent defense lawyer. They come from entirely different worlds in Georgia. Attorney Clay Garland accepts the pro bono case when no other defense lawyer in Southwest Georgia would agree to defend him. Jackpot is charged with the murder of the local sheriff's grandson and is detained for over a year to avoid the real possibility of a lynching, an act not unknown to the political and racial heritage in Forrest County, Georgia. The pretrial events and the trial itself take the reader down what appears to be an obvious path to conclusion, only to be jolted in another direction. Clay encounters a retired army sergeant with connections to civil rights leaders in Atlanta, a voodoo Root Doctor, white supremacists, and the mafia-all of whose actions affect the outcome of the trial, a trial which gains national publicity and symbolizes as a microcosm the various opposing political and legal forces of the 1960s civil rights era in Georgia. Robert Lee Jest-a pawn on the chessboard of hate, prejudice, and Southern politics-emerges as an inspiration to Clay Garland. This is the story of how these two disparate young men come together in a common cause and the judicial proceedings that ultimately produced celebrity for one and Southern Justice for the other.