Right out of the gate, I want to say I have feelings I want to share. Relax. Just go with it.

Believe it or not, I have feelings about the Greek drama unfolding, and those feelings stem from the reality the Greeks have a long, dramatic history (think Euripides and Homer), and I have a graduate degree in Literature, so I know a thing or two about that history.

Watching the current drama unfold, it occurs to me Tsipras is a good student of Greek literature, specifically Greek drama, and he is using the techniques of dramatic theory to wring as many concessions as he can out of the EU negotiations, which are getting down to yet another artificial deadline.  Good luck, dude.

  • Tsipras played down the gravity of the situation. “All those who are betting on crisis and terror scenarios will be proven wrong,” he said in a statement. “There will be a solution based on respecting EU rules and democracy which would allow Greece to return to growth in the euro.”

Within the conflict, create sympathy for the main character, beleaguered, harried, picked on by the gods, perhaps. If possible, create a space for the audience to imagine empathy. Then, raise the conflict level to ensure the audience identifies with the unfairness of the character’s plight, tamp it down a bit to bring a measure of relief for the audience, and then raise it again incrementally just before resolution. The important thing is to get the audience on the right side of the good versus bad plot.

My feeling and my point is this – the drama is always resolved, and, like Odysseus’ 10-year drama, resolution unfolds as it should unfold, in the only way it can unfold. Tsipras knows the end, as we all do – this is not a tragedy. In fact, it is an opportunity.

  • Beyond short-term risks linked to Greek debt talks, rebounding profit margins in Europe could help the region’s stocks outpace equities in the U.S., where margins may be peaking.

Currently, Europe’s leading market index (Stoxx 600) has a combined profit margin of 5.9%. In 2007, before the walls came tumbling down, the number was 10.7%. As you can see, a margin gap exists here, and there will be equity movement in that margin gap as the margin gap closes. Just sayin’ …

I read an article this morning about the winery business here on the Central Coast. The article was rather depressing in that its focus was water (or lack thereof), and how many local vineyards are not good community members because they are sucking all the aquifers dry in this most recent drought. Now that in itself is depressing, as I live here and I would like us all to be good neighbors, but more than that, the idea that the now-severe drought could continue is even more depressing.

  • Last month was the hottest May on record, and the past five months were the warmest start to a year on record, according to new data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s a continuation of trends that made 2014 the most blistering year for the surface of the planet, in records going back to 1880. 

Okay, I am not truly depressed, as I have written about the innovative nature of humans in times of crisis, and this drought is no exception – technology will save us all, even as it dramatically delivers the bad with the good (think smartphones).

Speaking of technology …

My wife Nando and I are Uber drivers now. It is an interesting way to meet up with myriad facets of humanity, and, I must admit, it is somewhat exciting to get the ping and head off down the road to meet who you will meet. However, as you might know, Uber is living a good portion of its current existence in court or in front of regulatory bodies.

Righter here in California, Uber is facing the possibility that its “independent contractors” might actually be employees. If this becomes the case, it is questionable if Uber will remain in California, as it will become quite costly to treat us drivers as employees.

  • The company recently announced its ambition to reach a valuation of $50bn, but it is unclear how much Uber is worth if it has to start picking up expenses it has up to now pushed on to the shoulders of its drivers.

My feeling on this is mixed, as I believe, on the one hand, if people choose to drive for Uber, they accept the terms and they do not gripe. Quit, if you do not like how Uber treats you.

On the other hand, there are natural market forces at work, and one of those is the constant struggle between the creators of production and the producers, the front-line workers who actually make the idea work. In that struggle, the creators keep as much as they can and the workers vie for as much as they can get in compensation for the work they do.

Me? I just like to drive and meet people, and if I make more money doing that from the efforts of others, so be it, but if I don’t, I will have to decide if the intrigue factor is worth the money I make now. That is my feeling.

Trade in the day; invest in your life …

Trader Ed