John Hussman has spent the past decade betting against the stock market, with a mutual fund down more than 50% to show for it, writes Morgan Housel at Collaborative Fund. "What’s struck me about Hussman is that he is not an end-of-the-world doomer. He backs up his bearishness with data and charts, which are compelling even to people who’ve been bullish. But the pseudonymous blogger Jesse Livermore dug through Hussman’s data, tore it apart and showed that most of Hussman’s arguments are based on random anomalies that cancelled each other out. "If you want the market to fall because you’ve positioned your portfolio that way, you might stop digging as soon as you hit data that validates your views," warns Housel. "What does the future hold for the US economy and the US corporate sector? How are investors going to allocate their wealth in light of that future, as it unfolds? Those are the questions we need to focus on as investors; the curve-fits don’t help us answer them," argues Liver...
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