Much has been proffered about how the difficult economies and markets will perform during 2012. So much so that contrarian investors may be thinking this could be an interesting year to bet against the common consensus – or not – and if not, it’s an opportunity for the real contrarians to place their bets. I’m sure everyone has had a read at various gurus and pundits of one persuasion or another. Me – I’m sticking to my knitting with my portfolio of global income and growth equities with a bit of cash and gold in reserve. Please have a look at my forthcoming market comment and advice section focused on equities and I will be happy to discuss in due course. If there is something to keep your eye on this year it’s Professor Brian Cox and his colleagues at CERN and such places like Fermi Lab near Chicago – which I was lucky enough to visit in 1990, invited by a Phd student during a rugby tour playing against Aurora,Illinois. He had just completed a thesis on Deep Inelastic Electron Scattering – I could barely pronounce it then but 20 years later I wonder if he’s involved… I hope so.
With further predictions of austerity programmes, weak economic growth with European Sovereign debt problems and banking crises unfolding. I think that Scientific discoveries, could from 2012 and all that may follow in time, will hopefully provide both optimism and sheer revelation at the significance of their discoveries and confirmations of results such as detecting the Higgs Boson. So from that, “things can only get better” if you recall Brian Cox’s hit record from the 90’s, and if not better… certainly more interesting with Physics the best distraction from unkind economics in 2012.
In the case of the Higgs Boson or the Goddam Particle, which came to be known as the God Particle, remember the limmerick used to encapsulate George Berkley’s philosophical conclusions in the 18th Century – God always being in the Quad. It seems to me to leave a place for keeping God as the simpliest answer by use or number of words chosen to analyse the findings as it’s much shorter description for QM theory. It also fits with Occam’s razor – entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. My postulation is that Theology and Particle Physics may, from very different viewpoints of the metaphysical believe, be discovering the ultimate truth or reality by act of faith. Though preferably for me a slow gradual uncovering of the layers of reality using incredible insight and theoretical physics and then after testing them, they can be published for scrutiny of the experimental results. However every time another question or problem arises, it helps to keep God in the running as the simpliest solution and expalantion. So watch out for more news on another seven unknown dimensions instead of the four at present – all of which will have mind boggling explanations. 2012… I can’t wait to hear more from the signing Professor at CERN.
LDC