Today on Trend Following Radio Michael Covel discusses three topics: the idea of two Americas, crowds, and his recent Barry Ritholtz interview. Michael starts off reading from an article titled “Two Americas.” The article focuses on people who contribute, and those who do not. People who work and those who do not. The article disagrees with the notion that all incomes should be equal. Different choices lead to different consequences. Those who choose wisely have a greater degree of success and should not have their success taken from them because others chose unwisely. The article goes on to say, “Entitlement has replaced effort in American society.” Just because you went to college doesn’t mean you are entitled to a certain level of income. On the other hand, those that do not have an education or work hard to make something happen are also not entitled to a certain level of income. Achievers do not want a pat on the head or a fake handout. Free money doesn’t work. You need passionate effort for there to be a desirable end result. If the drive is not there then the result is there.Michael then reads from a blog post by Seth Godin titled “The crowd, your work, and a choice.” Seth dives into crowd mentality. He says that the public would rather, “Watch a movie than read a book, stand in lines for the popular attractions…likes explosions, resolved plots and ample lighting…Crowds only care about fast, easy, cheap, fun, now and simple.” Crowds demand that they are told how much they will make and in what markets. When it comes to investing and trading there are no deadlines. Trends come and go, there is no timeline.Michael moves on to discuss his recent interview in New York with Barry Ritholtz. He talks about himself and Barry as a piece of media and how media is becoming more individualized with the help of social media. There are so many outlets to get your name out whether it be your blog, podcast, or news column. All these places are just distribution outlets. Places like twitter and Instagram give you a platform to contribute value and feedback to people. It is now easier than ever to build a one man media conglomerate.
In this episode of Trend Following Radio:

Two Americas
Crowd behavior
Marketing yourself