TORC: No Longer We Live Like Pigs!

Welcome back everyone! It's been a long time since I've last written. Financial advice doesn't just happen, it needs to be researched and studied, data must be collected and analyzed. There is work to be done and reputations to soil. I know the other Richard Ciccarone thought I was out of the financial game, but now he must tangle with a leaner, more savvy Google adversary. For you see, I have subscribed to the Wall Street Journal and I've read two or three of the articles. That's right, this is TORC 2.0, and this time it's personal.

Bedford Falling

Today on TORC, I will dissect and analyze the film "It's a Wonderful Life". You may ask "Hey, I thought this is a financial blog?" And you'd be right to ask, my worried reader. But beneath that iconic film of American values lies a lesson in municipal bonds that can not be overlooked. If you haven't seen the film ... actually, if you haven't seen the film I'm not going to explain it here because either you live in a cave or you're too successful to watch television, in either case, you won't care. But in the film there is the town of Bedford Falls, an idyllic community complete with a pharmacy, a bank, a savings and loan, and a pond with no adult supervision in which children fall through the ice to a frozen grave. In this town we meet the inhabitants who drive cabs, act as local police, run taverns, and occasionally poison people at the pharmacy. This is the world of George Bailey, whom after he asks an angel to see the world without his existence, is then thrown mercilessly into a dystopian vision of an alternate universe. A universe in which his greedy nemesis, Henry Potter, slumlord and majority stakeholder in the local bank, finally gets his clutches on the town and renames it Pottersville.

Pottersville or Hottersville?

And here is where TORC takes a closer examination from the perspective of municipal bonds. In Bedford Falls, there is little financial opportunity. George Bailey must continually defer his dreams of going to college due to lack of finances. His father runs a flailing savings and loan and can not afford to send both George and his brother to school. There is a quaint tavern that does fair business, a taxi service which apparently only has one cab in its fleet, and a local floozy who is giving it away for free. Now, cut to the world without George Bailey: Pottersville. It is a thriving, financially booming town with an active nightlife, a moving economy, and a bustling population. The quaint tavern is a busy and profitable club, and the streets are filled with people enjoying themselves, and jazz music fills the air. The town floozy, when she's not being arrested, has secured employment as an erotic dancer and probably makes more money than she ever imagined in a world filled with George Bailey. Sure, crime has increased and it's louder, but aren't these indicators of a thriving community? The once sleepy, economically dormant hamlet is now a place you'd actually want to visit.

The sleepy town quality has been replaced, but isn't that the story of America? The small town boy or girl goes to the big city to amass their fortune and sell their talents on the open market. Isn't this what we all strive for? Even George Bailey himself complains incessantly about getting out of Bedford Falls and seeing the world. It literally takes an act of God in which he's thrown into a world without money, identity, or friends; a world where his own mother treats him like a creepy stalker and he's hounded relentlessly by the police, for him to beg to return to his own world. Who wouldn't? It's a nightmare acid trip as a result of God's wrath. But I guarantee you, if George Bailey had the stones to stick around, I bet Pottersville would be a place he'd probably never want to leave and a town where he could probably make a decent living.

As a municipal bonds analyst, this is a very telling metaphor for how to find solid investments for this market. Would you really invest in Bedford Falls with its poor infrastructure and shoddy public service? (Apparently there is no money to plow the streets after a snow storm and the police are busy serenading honeymooning couples.) For my money, you can keep Zu-Zu's petals, I'll take Nick's Bar anytime.



Stock Watch: TORC has taken a severe tumble in the market due to some poor financial decisions which I'd rather not get into. Share Price: .23