Viraj Sanghavi interviews Edwin Dorsey and me / The bull case for the markets / 11th anniversary of Facebook's IPO / Help a Ukrainian refugee find a job and buy a used car

1) Viraj Sanghavi, a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota, reached out to me last month.

He asked for advice on getting a job in the money management industry, so I sent him links to my two dailies on this topic, which I published on March 6 and March 7.

He then asked if he could interview me for the new podcast he's started. I said yes and we had an enjoyable almost-two-hour-long conversation, covering a wide range of topics, which he's just posted on YouTube here.

On Wednesday, he posted his first interview with another scrappy young investor, Edwin Dorsey, founder of The Bear Cave, an excellent service I subscribe to that tracks activist short sellers.

2) In Monday's and yesterday's e-mails, I shared Stan Druckenmiller's and Doug Kass' bearish views, but I'm more bullish than they are, for reasons I cited in Monday's e-mail:

My moderately bullish outlook for stocks over the rest of this year [is] driven by a more-resilient-than-expected economy (likely a brief and mild recession), two Fed rate cuts later this year, and an early end to the war in Ukraine...

Here's CNBC's Carl Quintanilla with further bullish indicators:

Regarding Quintanilla's last point that corporate "leverage metrics are just off all-time lows," here's a tweet about this:

Here are two more bullish signs about the job market:

Lastly, here’s a funny – but perhaps also insightful – market indicator:

3) In Monday's e-mail, I noted that it was the 26th anniversary of Amazon's (AMZN) IPO.

Today, it's the 11th anniversary of Meta Platform's (META) public debut. As Jon Erlichman's tweet highlights, it's astonishing how much its profits have grown!

4) Two of my readers, Nancy and Cliff Schoenberg, have taken in a Ukrainian family in their home in Baldwin, Long Island (about an hour outside of Manhattan). Here's a picture of Vadym (31), his wife Veronika (almost 23), and their adorable daughter, Uliana, (2.5):

The Schoenbergs are providing housing and meals, but Vadym needs a job and they need a used car. (Veronika would also like to work – she has experience as a travel agent – but that'll be harder as she can only work part-time from home, as she needs to take care of Uliana.)

Regarding finding Vadym a job, his resume is posted here, which begins with this personal statement:

My wife, 2½-year-old daughter and I are Ukrainian refugees who are immensely grateful to have been authorized by the U.S. government to live and work here under the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program. We are privileged to be able to live with our sponsors under that program in their home in Baldwin, Long Island.

My main goal is to get on my feet and take full advantage of the incredible opportunity this country has afforded me. I am willing to do work of any kind to support my family and ensure that we don't become a financial drain on U.S. taxpayers or impose on the tremendous goodwill Americans have shown my family and me.

Ideally, I would like to find a job that takes advantage of my skill set and educational background. I established and grew my own successful retail business, a hardware store, developing a range of skills. I also have a Master of Science degree in Accounting and Auditing, so could help an organization with bookkeeping/accounting.

If you have any job leads, please e-mail Vadym at ppvadimzhuk@gmail.com or Cliff at cnschoenberg@gmail.com.

Regarding the used car, the Schoenbergs have set up a GoFundMe page here, which has raised $10,320 toward the $15,000 goal.

Below is the e-mail Cliff sent me with more on this story.

Kudos, Cliff and Nancy, good luck, Vadym and Veronika, and thank you for your help!

Dear Whitney,

Nancy and I are sponsoring a Ukrainian refugee family of three through United for Ukraine under the federal Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program. We are responsible for the financial support of this family for up to two years. Since they are living with us in our Baldwin, Long Island home, we have fulfilled our duty to help them find adequate housing (it feels strange to refer to this as a duty since, in just the few days the family arrived in the US, we are convinced that the experience will be an enormously gratifying one for Nancy and me).

We have also helped them apply for Social Security numbers and health insurance under a Medicaid program; we have purchased, and will continue to purchase, groceries for them and share meals with them; and we have already reached out to various organizations and individuals to help them connect with fellow Ukrainians living in the area. The critical next steps are: a) to help the parents find jobs; and b) get them a safe and reliable used car. We were hoping that you and your legion of readers and contacts might help with the job searches and with the donation of or toward a used car.

Here's some background on the family: Vadym is 31, Veronika is almost 23, and their adorable daughter, Uliana, is 2½. Vadym received an undergraduate degree in Auditing and Accounting in 2011 from the University of Trade and Economics in Kyiv, and a Master's degree in Auditing and Accounting from the same institution in 2013. While studying for his undergraduate degree, Vadym founded and ran a small hardware store, and, before fleeing the war, he devoted his full energies to running and growing his store. He is thus well-suited to handle almost any job in a hardware store. Attached is Vadym's resume. 

Veronika received an undergraduate degree in International Economics from the University of Trade and Economics in 2022, just days before Russia's invasion. She worked full-time in the travel agency business, selling and booking customized trips, while attending the University and stopped working only after giving birth to Uliana. Unlike Vadym, Veronika, as the parent principally responsible for child care, would only be able to work virtually, as day care in Long Island is prohibitively expensive.

Their personal saga, upon Putin's unleashing unspeakable terror and cruelty on Ukraine, is perhaps all too typical, and very difficult for those, like Nancy and me, who lead comfortable and privileged lives, to fully comprehend. On the first day of the war, they were awakened in their flat in an eastern suburb of Kyiv by a series of massive explosions a short distance away. They were terrified, not knowing whether the next missile would spell their doom. And that terror was a constant as the Russian missile attacks continued relentlessly, especially at night, in the Kyiv area for two months, not knowing whether the life of their daughter would be snuffed out in her infancy, whether Ukraine would fall and they would thus be forced to live under Putin's tyrannical rule or, worse, be tortured by the Russian military. Veronika and Uliana slept in the bathroom during that entire two month period, with Veronika lucky if she was able to sleep more than one or two hours per night, as every blast filled her with dread. Their family faced the same supply shortages as everyone else living in the Kyiv region, with almost every shop closed and excruciating long lines in the few shops that remained open. With an infant, the absence of diapers and medicines was particularly problematic.

Finally, Vadym and Veronika, whose principal concern was the welfare of their daughter, decided that Veronika and Uliana must flee first to western Ukraine and ultimately to Spain, while Vadym would stay to ensure his hardware store remained open for the sake of his town and so he had the income to allow him to make donations of money and supplies to the Ukrainian military (which he did). Their initial efforts to drive to western Ukraine were stymied by seemingly endless traffic caused by the exodus of thousands of other panicked Ukrainians. Finally, they made it to a family friend's flat near the Romanian border.

There, Veronika and Vadym had the worst fight of their marriage, as Vadym expressed his intention to join the army, though he was eligible for an exemption due to his father's disability and the fact that he is an only child. (Vadym's father was partially disabled after being shot in the leg by a drunken supporter of Russia who was enraged by Vadym's father's support of Georgia after Russia attacked that nation.) Veronika begged him to reconsider, impressing upon him that his primary obligation should be to his young wife and infant daughter who, if Vadym were killed, would be stranded in a foreign country where they did not speak the language and Veronika would be unable to work; and his secondary obligation should be to his parents and her parents (she, too, is an only child). After both sets of parents weighed in, Vadym relented and continued to operate his store.

Because there were no attacks in the Kyiv region during the summer, and believing there was no danger in the Kyiv region, Veronika and Uliana returned home after many lonely months in Spain. Tragically, Russia's brutal assaults in their area resumed with a vengeance on October 10, 2022 with a barrage of missile (and later drone) strikes against Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure. During the next few months, Vadym, Veronika and Uliana were forced to live without electricity, heat or water for large portions of every day. With each explosion, Veronika and Vadym feared for their lives and, even more, for Uliana's. When a Ukrainian helicopter carrying government officials crashed into a kindergarten near their flat, their anxiety became unbearable, and Veronika and Uliana left again in late January for Spain. Vadym, still torn about whether to join the army, was once again pushed by his father and in-laws to focus on his immediate family and join them in Spain. He did so in February.

Both Vadym and Veronika have profound respect for America's major role in supporting Ukraine and bringing an end to the Soviet Union, and, because of their good English-speaking skills, they were convinced that America offered the best opportunity to find gainful employment. Accordingly, they decided to come to America under the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole Program, and Nancy and I could not be happier to welcome them.

Sincerely yours,

Cliff Schoenberg