Scott Colbert, chief economist at Commerce Trust Company in St. Louis, rejoins the Contrarian Investor Podcast to discuss the state of the economy on the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. 

In Colbert's view, the economic recovery is "square root" shaped, with a quick bounce from the bottom followed by "the lazy L that comes after the easy V-part." Politically, he anticipates a Biden victory and return of the Senate to democratic control. This will eventually lead to a higher tax rate for corporations, which together with a coronavirus vaccine will cause a rotation into value stocks.

Special announcement:

The first-ever Contrarian Stock Talks webinar takes place Nov. 10 at 1pm ET. Two stock ideas will be presented exclusively to the audience. Attendance is limited to 100 individuals, but as a premium subscriber a spot is reserved for you. All you have to do is register (it's free).

Four presenters provided exclusive "best idea" short stock picks at the fourth Contrarian Investor Virtual Conference on Oct. 22, 2020. This recording is being made available to premium subscribers only.

David Hunter of Contrarian Macro Advisors rejoins the podcast in this special episode released a whole week early for premium subscribers.

Hunter in April predicted a dramatic rebound in risk assets. This was deemed outlandish in light of COVID, but has largely come to pass -- though a bit short of his original target (4000 for the S&P 500 by Labor Day).

Now Hunter updates his view, with a rather shocking call: what we've seen so far was not the real "melt-up." Most of the gains are still ahead, in fact the coming months should see the final stage of a parabolic "melt-up." Then things get ugly.

James Altucher needs to introduction. For several decades he has been an outspoken contrarian on matters ranging from investing to politics, society, entrepreneurialism, and all points in between.

We planned to limit this conversation to investing. That didn't happen. Instead Altucher spoke on a wide range of issues -- including investing -- and introduced some items that he hadn't discussed before publicly.

If you do want to skip to the investing content, it starts at 19:05.

Gabriel Grego of Quintessential Capital joins the podcast to discuss his short activist strategy.

Grego finds three or four "high conviction" ideas to trade a year. His process is exhaustive but straightforward, though few managers have the stomach to replicate it. The reasons for this are discussed in the second half of the podcast.