Workplace Rumours

Uninterested in politics, global espionage or other topical news topics, colleagues of mine in the investment community want me to get back on track to help them find the next great thing in monetary growth.

We have often joked that water cooler discussions lead to more water cooler discussions and rarely to riches.

We have also joked about how to make money after an economic downturn - scare up the crowd and start a war - but want something more interesting than military brouhaha to fill the holes in the backyard where we store our peanut butter jars full of pocket change.

Video game producers and movie theatre owners point their investors to the testosterone-filled crowds that buy into the gaming/entertainment sales techniques.

Post-depression/recession responses by the populace tend toward conservative tastes.

Prosperous or poor, people generally view "green" technology with suspicion, too impatient to pay extra to get payoffs later on.

The Internet has shortened our attention spans considerably, turning all of us into city dwellers, operating 24 hours a day.

Information-based economies of scale have proven productive as long as both data mines and rare earth mines continue to open veins and shafts built to last.

Can you make money turning desert into farmland, feeding the starving, clothing the destitute, housing the homeless, making power cheap on or off the grid, and creating limitless amounts of fresh water?  Can you do all that with a smile on your face and a sense of humour during the worst setbacks?

Are you still pining for the easy money days of sub-prime mortgage derivatives?  Keeping out-of-work physicists on staff - modern-day alchemists - to help create magic formulas to pull gold out of thin air?  Scraping by on scrapping the euro, yen and dollar exchange rate in quick succession?

Have you hedged the marijuana crops, looking for any kind of profit to pay your yacht docking fees this year, saving a little loot to fund lobbying efforts for legalisation of one of the world's largest cash crops?

Still not sure about talk of a world currency and where to stash your holdings?

Wondering if global health care coverage is next, assuming governments find a way to resolve profit-sharing with private companies from universal medical coverage for "the people," giving new legal status to the class of global office workers who don't care about national citizenship?

Diversify when times are tough.  Dive into deep waters when tides are high.  Unless risk is your theme - in that case, keep skimming off the top and move on to the next butter churn before anyone misses the missing cream.