More Crime Ridden Than the US? You Wouldn’t Guess!

I’ve done a lot of writing about the surge of violent crime in the US in recent years. It’s bad. But there is a country in Europe where things are actually worse.

Before I saw the report that TS sent me, I never could have guessed which country it is. It’s a country I visited just a few years ago. And although I felt mostly safe and welcome, there were moments when I felt like I was in a marginal neighborhood in New York, Chicago, or LA.

I’m talking about Sweden.

Since 2000, Sweden has gone from being one of the safest countries in the world to being one of the most dangerous in Europe. It has one of the world’s worst recorded rape rates, and one of the highest rates of gun killings in Europe. And the violent crime is no longer confined to Sweden’s major cities. It is spreading to smaller towns and even rural areas.

What’s going on?

Sweden will hold general elections on September 11. For the first time in recent history, crime will be at the top of voters’ minds.

Learn more about all this here and here.

Meme Mania Is Back

I’m not taking this advice, because I don’t speculate. But if I were a speculator, I’d be tempted by this strategy presented by the Oxford Club’s Mathew Carr:

Now, we know these meme stocks are destined to crash and burn. It’s inevitable. And that steep pullback is a moneymaking opportunity.

Be warned: Trying to fight the meme stock so-called “apes” is more dangerous than trying to fight the Fed.

Here’s my advice: Rock the VROC.

Ignore the relative strength index, moving average convergence divergence, Bollinger Bands, the money flow index, or any other indicator you believe is going to give you an edge. When dealing with meme mania, we’re talking about the madness of crowds, and you want to watch the volume rate of change (VROC). This tells us whether volume is in an uptrend (a positive number) or a downtrend (a negative number) and whether the current price trend has conviction.

Here are my rules of thumb…

* If price is moving higher and the VROC is positive, DO NOT SHORT!

* If price is surging and the VROC is over 100, go with the flow… don’t try to fight against it.

* Buy calls.

* Be patient. Wait for the VROC to roll over and pocket profits on puts with the inevitable slide.