Fernandina Beach Librarian library director, Julie Cannavino, admitted to local author Pat Keogh earlier this week that she and her staff had never experienced anyone younger than 60 requesting to look at Value Line, a comprehensive investment research and analysis stock market report.

So the librarians were stunned when 13-year-old Rory McCready, who was visiting Fernandina from Virginia with his family, showed up and asked to do just that.

While most kids Rory’s age are idly staring at their screens with glazed eyes as they peck away on gaming sites, Rory is checking stock market indexes while browsing the investment research and financial service site.

What’s up with that? How would a 13-year old kid even know what Value Line was or know that he could skip the almost $600 annual subscription fee by accessing it free at the local library?

It turns out that 13-year-old Rory, has become a student of the “Make Your Family Rich System” local author Pat Keogh espouses in his investment books.  On a recent visit the McCreadys, who now live in Virginia, got together for pizza at Townies with Pat. The families were neighbors when they lived here. Local folks may remember the Mom and Dad, Liane, and Jason, as the owners of the Lock Doctor business.

In advance of the meeting, Rory visited the Fernandina library to review their copy of Value Line. The youngster had latched onto Pat’s book: “Hey Kid! Wanna Own Great American Businesses?” a guide to investments for youngsters Rory’s  age, and he took the advice to heart. In addition the kid also read Pat’s primer for adult investors: “Make Your Family Rich; Why to Replace Retirement Planning with Succession Planning”. Both books are available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The young Mr. McCrady did his research and discovered that Value Line, Inc. is an independent investment research and financial publishing firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 Value Line is one of the most respected investment research firms. Its performance record has been extremely strong.

The Value Line predicts stock price movements over a three to six month time period.

Rory, dad Jason, mom Liane, and daughter Molly.

Pat warned Rory that Value Line is “the exclusive province of old guys and any teen requesting it would become an instant celebrity among the librarians”.

Pat says: “In all my years of visiting many libraries to read Value Line I have never seen anyone other than old guys like me reading this investment tool.”  And sure enough, when Rory asked to read the Value Line volume the local librarians turned him down.  He is too young to have a driver’s license and didn’t have his library card with him.

“I visited the other day with Ms. Cannavino, and we laughed about it,” says Pat. “Julie took Rory’s name and spread the word that next time they will put out their READ carpet for him.

Ratings & Reports is the core of The Value Line Investment Survey with one-page reports on approximately 1,700 companies and 90 industries.

Unlike many adults, the frugal Master McCready knows that a subscription to the service costs $598 annually and that most libraries offer it free to their members.

Rory joins Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Peter Lynch, three of the world’s most successful and influential investors who value it and have publicly said how much they admire it. It’s an excellent option for those who don’t want to shell out cash for the service but still want to conduct investment research.

Folks can run stock screens or put together your own collection of summary sheets to print out and take home.

There’s no need to tell Rory, he already knows all about that.

***

Karl Marx Would Be Proud: Based on his August 4 Fernandina News Leader column (“Brother, can you paradigm?), Chuck Oliva would be comfortable waving from the Kremlin balcony overlooking Red Square during a 1960s era Moscow May Day parade.

Oliva, who is possibly auditioning to replace admitted socialist Ron Sapp as the paper’s resident liberal scribbler, may even be too far left for Nassau County even with its recent influx of far-left finger waggers from New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, etc.

The far-left extremist held nothing back as he blamed all the country’s woes on capitalism and Republicans while praising Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, saying it tried to “empower the workingman and check runaway corporate power.” He’s a big fan of government centralized planning, a Marxist concept that resulted in mass starvation, unemployment, and misery everywhere on earth it has ever been tried.

I can’t recall ever reading about anyone pining for the New Deal. Oliva fantasizes about New Deal policies that he says not only “created a stable and prosperous middle class” but also expanded the size and scope of the federal government.” The more government the better says Mr. Oliva.

He goes to extremes to justify Biden administration programs and enthusiastically applauds “Bidenomics”.

He conveniently overlooks how badly the government is run, and the gross incompetence and irresponsibility of the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats.

How bad is it? Revenues for the government are down 11% so far this year and expenditures are up 8%. How long does anyone who can add expect that can continue? Yet Biden and his group of fiscal failures keep the mint’s printing presses going day and night to fund their madcap spending sprees in an obvious effort to buy votes. Oliva didn’t notice.

Biden’s Treasury Department under the direction of the feeble and uneasy Janet Yellen, increased the government’s borrowing from July to September to $1 trillion from $733 billion. That’s only for three months.

Oliva thinks that’s the way the government is supposed to work. He blames Republicans, particularly Ronald Reagan, for:  “…cynicism and paralysis that undermined our ability to believe that government has any role in improving the lives of the people it  governs—especially after being told for 40 years that government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”

If what Oliva preaches is our economic salvation then why did the Fitch Rating downgrade U.S. debt last week, a decision that didn’t exactly instill confidence in the marketplace. As the Wall Street Journal said: “The Fitch rating reflects the unseriousness of America’s economic decision-making.”

What about mortgage rates? They’re at a 40 year high. The housing market is stagnant and rents escalating? Don’t believe it? Check it out by looking at rental and sales prices hereabouts.

Inflation may be falling, but the prices aren’t. Folks buying groceries know. The average per-gallon price of gasoline at the pump spiked by nearly 30 cents over the course of July, according to data from AAA. Sky-high prices generated by the Biden administration a little more than two years ago continue to increase due to its irresponsible fiscal programs and reckless spending and giveaways.

American credit card debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in history at the end of June as people continue to spend with plastic.  That’s an increase of 5% from last quarter, fueled by high interest rates. The average credit card annual rate hit a new record of 20.33% last week. The previous record was 19% in July 1991.

At the same time, consumer debt in general increased $18 billion from May to June, double the $9.4 billion increase the previous month. High interest rates for home sales, student loans, and car purchases were the major drivers.

The state of today’s economy is a massive no-confidence vote in the country’s leadership and in government.

In a community as conservative as Nassau County why does the News Leader engage a cranky Brooklyn liberal like Oliva whose column was a painful distortion of modern economic history written by an advocate of a centrally planned economy?

Oliva’s lengthy bio says he built a business that “uses verbatim text analysis to report on social and consumer trends”.  I assume that means that he takes other people’s work, packages it as his own and resells it. Karl Marx would be proud.

Oliva’s column photo is an image of a sad man peering downward. It’s hard to look people in the eyes when you’re spouting whoppers like the ones he spun August 4.

***

A Karma Kick In The….. The Anti-American Megan Rapinoe’s last World Cup ended on a karmic note last Sunday when she missed a penalty kick, handing Sweden a 5-4 win and taking out her team of anti-USA embarrassments in the second round — the earliest exit from a major tournament in the team’s history.

“I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart,” the Rapinoe said in May 2019. “I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again.”

Why should Americans express anything but joy over her and her woke teammates’ humiliating defeat. Hopefully we’ll never hear from this bunch of losers again or have them repeatedly embarrass the USA and disrespect the flag.

***

Summertime And The Livin’ Is HOT: The recent heat wave that has nothing whatsoever to do with the myth of climate change reminds me of one of the most beautiful songs ever written by George Gershwin and sung by the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald. American Spectator writer and friend, Larry Thornberry, sent it to me recently and it needs to shared. So here it is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bigf337aU

***

Wait! What? Illinois is proposing to make illegal immigrants cops. So someone in this country illegally, breaking the law by being here, is going to arrest a U.S. citizen? Sanctuary city New York’s Mayor Eric Adams is now proposing illegals should be taken into private homes. How many is he taking in? Both places are obviously run by the folks that were in charge of Alice’s Wonderland.

***

Hail To The Redskins: The Native American Guardians Association (NAGA) sent a letter to the NFL ‘s  Washington Commanders Monday requesting a meeting with the team’s new ownership demanding the team change its name back to the “Redskins.”

The letter is the latest step in the organization’s “Reclaim the Name” campaign, which seeks to bring back the team’s previously retired “Redskins” moniker. A petition  supporting the change contains more than 60,000 signatures as of Monday night, a figure which matches the seating capacity of the team’s FedEx Field.

In its three-page letter, NAGA cites lawsuits, polls and general sentiment supporting their argument that Native Americans do not find “Redskins” to be a derogatory term. The organization reminded the team owners of the recent Bud Light situation and threatened a push for a boycott if their request continues to go unheard.

“We think that Megan Rapinoe might be looking for a job. Perhaps the team could hire her to be their director of marketing,” said NAGA’s President of Global Impact Campaigns, Healy Baumgardner.