Jersey Shore Cast Rings Bell at NYSE: Signaling a New American (Market) Low?

So, the cast of “Jersey Shore” rang the opening bell at the NYSE.

OUCH! First of all, whose idea was that? I mean, I’m from Jersey, and this is embarrassing.

But beyond that, like the August 1979 “Death of Equities” BusinessWeek cover, this just screams out for a market call and analysis.

MARKET CALL:

New American Lows: As it has throughout its history (yet, remarkably, even moreso now), America will continue to produce new anti-intellectual and least-common-denominator (LCD) lows for the foreseeable future.

What to Do: Invest in all of our societal human trainwrecks and plain old average folks who help them swirl down drains of banality and excess. Or, more accurately, in companies that feed their instant-gratification desires.

Stocks to watch — Companies in the following industries: gaming/gambling, tobacco, alcohol, fast food, fad products, brands or services, free dating services or the equivalent (Facebook/MySpace and newer, even more direct examples), inexpensive fashion/club-wear, inexpensive grooming supplies (Axe, or spray-on tan anyone?), abusable pharma manufacturers, adult/porn/playboy, payday lenders and pawn shops, money cards, “reality” TV, TMZ viewers, cheap resorts and cruises, etc.

Stocks to short — Companies that supply government and other institutions that are hurt by, or forced to clean up after, the LCD/trainwreck population with no savings and no future, including: colleges and universities, health clinics/hospitals, public or mainstream television, underfunded pension funds, insurance companies.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Lee Weinberg is an attorney, entrepreneur and investor who has founded, operated, and financed a number of businesses in entertainment, media and technology. He is a principal of the Dauntless Founders Fund and of entertainment, sports and media business-development firm Dauntless, LLC, as well as a partner with Weinberg Gonser LLP, the affiliated law firm of Dauntless. His blog is at CapitalistCounsel.com.

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