Sit down and strap yourself in. You are about to embark on a journey back in time that will teach you more about making money in the future than just about any source anywhere in the firmament. You are about to see what the market really looks like through the eyes of one of the greatest financial whizzes and wits of our generation, the one and only Doug Kass.
I have had the privilege of working side by cyber-side with Doug in our writing cave, TheStreet.com, for almost 20 years. In that time, I have come to respect and covet his views and his insights as I know you will as you read his real-time journal detailing the ecstasy, agony, and just plain madness of the world we call Wall Street. That's why I feel so honored to pen this foreword for a book that will stand the test of time for all sorts of markets—bull, bear, sideways, upside down, and the one we are in at the moment you read this, whatever it may be.
Doug's fond of lists, and you'll read many prescient ones in the pages ahead. They are filled with observations that only someone with as keen an eye toward making money as Doug could ever give you. Therefore, I think it is only fitting that I offer my top 10 reasons why you will love, laugh, and, of course, profit from my colleague's unique and remarkable insights.
Reason number one: Essentiality. If someone asks me what's the most essential voice I need to hear on Wall Street, I'd say one name without hesitation: Doug Kass. You need to know where he stands because so often he represents the view opposite you, the variant view, the one you most need to worry about before you place your bets on these pieces of paper we call stocks. How can you not want to know why you may be wrong? That's the essentiality of this man's unique commentary.
Reason number two: Fearlessness. So many people are cowed on Wall Street. They fear the powerful, they fear the retribution, they worry about what happens if they tell the truth. Doug Kass is the antidote to that fear. Whether it be a gentle yet still withering riposte against Warren Buffett—face to face, mind you, all detailed here—or the outright castigation of the rapacious bankers and pseudo regulators who are supposed to protect us from their machinations, Kass goes where pretty much everyone else fears to tread.
Reason number three: Self-effacement. Sure, Doug's gathered many of the best of his more than 50,000 entries since he started writing for TheStreet back in 1997, but some of my favorites here are the ones filled with humility, as the market, bull or bear, is a most humbling of animals. Doug doesn't have to be always right to learn from; sometimes it's the dissection of his own mistakes that makes for the most profitable of insights.
Reason number four: Insider's insider. If you are reading this book, chances are you have heard of a lot of big-name investors and always wanted to know what they are really like. By virtue of his successes and his knowledge, Doug knows the best and brightest personally and extols them in ways that give you the context that's invariably absent when we hear their utterances. Doug, as they say, is “in the room”—a room that you may never get to be in but will certainly come to feel comfortable with because of his candid observations about those with whom he surrounds himself.
Reason number five: He's not afraid to stick his neck out. At the beginning of each year, Doug lays out some predictions that may seem outlandish—that is, until they come true. It's uncanny that so many pan out, and the pan can be filled with gold. Oh, and no one is more brutal about the prognostications that didn't work out than Doug himself. No free passes for anyone, including himself.
Reason number six: You never know where he's going to come out. Some think Doug's a perma-bear. I say wait until you get to the entry entitled “Bottoms Up, Mr. Market,” where Doug began an astounding series of articles that nailed the exact bottom of the worst stock market decline in our lifetime. Oh, and because each piece here is dated in real time, including those fabled March 2009 time-to-buy postings, there's no denying Kass his due. When a man who has been correctly bearish for thousands of points on the Dow suddenly and convincingly goes bullish, you want that judgment. Doug's generational bottom call will always stand the test of time. Thank heavens I listened to him in those darkest-before-dawn days and my viewers and readers rode his coattails to tremendous profits.
Reason number seven: Expertise. Doug's an old housing analyst by nature, and that expertise helped nail the subprime issue, the proximate cause of the great recession, well ahead of when the downturn snowballed. His subprime articles written on the cusp of the Great Recession are warily prescient; if only the Fed had subscribed! His expertise goes well beyond housing, of course, but Doug's musings about all of the accoutrements of the industry—consumer sentiment, retail, interest rates, the Fed's role—make for some indispensable reading.
Reason number eight: Education into short-selling. Most people, including many hedge fund managers, think they know how to profit from the downside. They actually don't have a clue. I don't think anyone knows the tactic and strategies of successful short-selling better than Doug. It's a wonder, and a life-saver, or at least a portfolio saver, that he's willing to give them to you. And he does so in a clear, no-nonsense way.
Reason number nine: Impact. When Doug takes a variant view on a stock, particularly a loved stock, look out: there are going to be fireworks. Doug's insights, as you will see here, quickly turn into actionable ideas that can make for a very profitable trade or investment. Put simply, Doug can and does move markets. You need to know which way he is moving them.
Finally, and perhaps most important for these columns' longevity, Doug's a brilliant wordsmith. His writing is suffused with irony, mirth, outrageous story-telling, including the always hilarious insights from Grandma Koufax—yep, that Koufax—and genuine warmth. Even if you aren't a stock junkie like I am, you'll most certainly get a kick out of the trenchant way he makes his points. He tells a terrific yarn.
For all of these reasons and many more, you will come to share the joy I have of cracking open the browser each morning to my favorite columnist to learn what I didn't think would happen before it actually occurs.
James J. Cramer, markets columnist, TheStreet.com,
co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk on the Street,
and host of CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer