I read Monday on retailtrafficmag.com a provocative article: When the Landlord Can’t Pay the Mortgage.

There are discussions among economists about the “crowding out” phenomena. It occurs when the government is required to issue so much debt that it crowds out the private sector. This is happening all over the developed world where governments have stepped in to avoid a more severe recession and now are not paying the price, they are financing it. This can drive up interest rates to attract investors and make investors scarce. It is more acutely experienced by the smaller private sector firms that are not accustomed to periodically raising money. Landlords that need to refinance or create an investment vehicle for their properties are running into headwinds. The article is a set up for a discussion by two very qualified professionals in the form of a podcast from the retailer’s perspective. They present their set up eloquently.

There has been a lot of press and buzz this year first announcing, then explaining to the world that several countries are graduating from Emerging to Emerged. The exact definition differs between economists and analysts. One measure is for an economy to move from being predominantly based on exports to an economy that includes internal consumption. I wrote earlier this week about China, and now about South Korea. China is proving itself as a fast moving global player, and South Korea is boarding that same bus. Best known for exports, its domestic economy is once again showing its strength. I am sharing an article originally posted on Reuters.

Sales at South Korea's top three department stores in October grew at the fastest pace in 14 months, data showed on Tuesday, adding to evidence of a sustained recovery in domestic demand.

Stimulus plans have been executed in most developed and emerging countries this year. The results include many exporting nations searching for additional growth inside their own boarders. US retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) and Coach (NYSE: COH), are either forming joint ventures or with government approval opening their own stores in these faster growing markets. One of the fastest growing domestic markets is no surprise: China.

I was enlightened of the revenue potential for US companies by a simple analogy about the growth of basketball in China. At this very moment, there are more people playing basketball in China then there are people in all of the US. Now that is a visual that lends itself to understanding scale and why as its population earns money beyond basic needs that Chinese domestic retail can grow exponentially.

Friday in The Tech Generation Daily I picked up a story by Emma Woollacott about Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS: AAPL) planning to open 50 new stores. I immediately was not pleased. This country is over-stored in general and I do not want Apple going the way of other specialty retailers by opening too many stores and diluting their brand.

Note to Steve: keep it special while selling millions of units.

As an active manager, I am always seeking a new and persuasive investment thesis with a good long-term strategy or a strong catalyst. Our discovery process is rigorous with a deep checklist which satisfies sound business and investing principals. These include: differentiation in the marketplace (so not to be riding with the heard); the ability to out-perform major indexes (as an alpha enhancing satellite or core investment); easy to explain (I do not want a herd and do not want to be alone either); and scalable (so serious money can be put to work). One that crossed my desk a couple of years ago has been brought to fruition. It is rules-based and is more passive a strategy than most of our offerings.

It is the Beacon Spin-Off Index (^CLRSO) which is tracked by the Claymore/Beacon Spin-Off ETF (NYSEArca: CSD). The basic premise is that spin-offs; companies which have recently been spun-off from larger corporations, have the opportunity to better focus on their core market segment, better align management compensation with performance, will ultimately outperform.

I have to admit, when a firm represents almost 10% of all retail in the US, there is going to be a major spot light on every move the firm makes. Frankly, I need to take the Vito Corleone approach when following Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) meaning “I cannot judge what someone does for a living” as the Don would say, even if it seems predatory.

This week WMT announced that they are predicting that the 2009 holiday season would come late and it would progressively add discounts. It read to me like everyone should wait to shop until 12/18 and then go into a discount feeding frenzy at Wal-Mart.

Growth at a Reasonable Price or GARP investing began a long time ago. One of the early spotlight managers was Peter Lynch. He was an innovator and leader as he sought out growth companies that were fairly priced. Sounds like a simple plan, but good growth companies that are not already expensive can be hard to find in any market condition.

First, the attributes of GARP investing are typically firms with low PEG (price to earnings to growth) ratios and in many cases are undiscovered. Once discovered their multiples can perhaps be worth their growth potential to many investors, but not to GARP investors. We prefer to find the growing companies that are assigned a multiple based closer to today’s earnings, rather than a high PEG based on future expected growth.

In my firm the investment team discusses a variety of economic issues and fixed income strategies. As an equities manager, I am pleased to learn from my associate's experience and wisdom. Some of what they say sounds so simple, but is not always so easy to execute.

Right now interest rates are near zero. It is a good time to borrow money if there is a strategy behind the borrow. The strategy is key and it can be as simple as retiring old debt, refinancing to lower payouts and stretching payments for the long-term at very favorable rates.

It can be challenging to part with a stock that has performed so well and to hold another that has lagged all year. Yet I have sold Amazon.com (NasdaqGS: AMZN) and am holding Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

Sure one stock is a Consumer Discretionary and the other a Consumer Staple so the two firms are not truly a direct comparison. Looking carefully; they are both low price retailers known for efficient back ends used to deliver products on the cheap. Yet they compete on different fields; Wal-Mart by car and Amazon by click. The world is changing as I observe these companies seeping into each other’s territories, tactics, and markets. This may accelerate direct competition.

I am an iPhone wannabe-owner. I would keep my Blackberry for work. I love the keyboard, the enterprise security and the personal privacy of two phone numbers. I am also crazy enough to carry two phones. I already carry my iTouch and Berry. It would be pretty much a straight swap from a weight/bulk perspective.

The issue as I have written about before is network coverage on the east coast. AT&T (NYSE: T) just does not have the reach or reliability to service my needs compared to Verizon (NYSE: VZ) who, I might add, could stand to add more towers in Berkshire and Hampden counties.

The Wall Street Journal published last month that Apple (AAPL) and Research in Motion (RIMM) rule the roost in smartphones when it comes to making money.

Let us start by crediting the pullouts and data to Paul McDougall at InformationWeek who published a piece back on 7/13/09. It seems everyone’s original “evil empire” is going to the web and free (kind of) model, perhaps seeking to offer bonus online features and gaining more users.

Microsoft (MSFT) on Monday outlined a host of new features that will be included in its forthcoming Office 2010 home and business productivity suite. Not surprisingly, many are geared toward users steeped in Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other popular Web 2.0 tools.

In previous posts, I cited several reasons for optimism regarding the U.S. healthcare industry. This includes new major revenue sources such as the expansion of coverage to the uninsured and aging baby boomers. We also export our expertise and the global population is swelling.

Although these developments remain strong indicators of a robust demand for the healthcare industry, they also paint a macabre picture of the future of our country, and its economic condition. In short, what is good for healthcare providers may not be good for America. Healthcare expenditures in the U.S. currently consume roughly 16-17% of our GDP and are rising at an alarming rate. From a 2008 study by the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services:

March 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was forced to recall the drug Heparin after a number of deaths were linked to the product’s use. According to the agency, the root of the problem was traced to contaminated Chinese factories that supplied the raw materials needed to manufacture the popular blood thinner. By the time the recall ended, the Heparin contamination had claimed at least 81 lives and affected more than 700 patients. Fortunately, such healthcare product deficiencies are uncommon. This was major headline news and Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) saw its stock drop significantly as well as all the additional ramifications of this event.

While the FDA insists that it’s underfunded and insufficiently staffed to be able to police such potential problems, both the responsibility for monitoring these products and the blame for any errors lie at the agency’s door. All too often, though, it is companies and their investors that take the blame. In the case of the heparin contamination, Baxter International was vilified for their role in outsourcing production of the drug’s inputs to Chinese factories and it’s been a public relations nightmare for the company ever since.

I recently did an interview with the FT discussing the healthcare sector as a good defensive sector play. I answered of course that healthcare, along with utilities and consumer staples, are the classic defensive sectors. The stocks in those sectors tend to be lower beta and many are mature companies with good cash flow that pay dividends. We own many companies within the sector.

We watch the sector closely, as the head winds to growth are many, here are a few:

Throughout the credit crisis there has been an uncertainty in the air causing unwillingness, by many, to take a firm position on whether to be bullish or bearish on the market and particularly, the financial sector. Two high profile exceptions to this silence are Bill Miller, the outspoken bull of financials who is the portfolio manager at Legg Mason’s Value Equity Fund and Meredith Whitney, the former Oppenheimer analyst who gained celebrity status after she predicted the crash of financial sector stocks and who recently started her own firm, Meredith Whitney Advisory Group. You may be wondering how I can view both a bull and a bear as being correct at the same time about the same sector. The answer is that this is not a fair game nor is there a level playing field. The game is rigged, at least for now by the effects of government intervention on a global basis.

Let’s start with the bear view: Meredith Whitney’s reputation as a financial sector oracle began in October of 2007 with her remarks concerning Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) balance sheet worries. Since her famous call the financial sector (NYSE: XLF) has declined over 60% and Citigroup has not closed above $40 per share since. Also, since her call, a total of 61 financial institutions (25 in 2008 and 36 in 2009) have failed according to the FDIC many of them banks, some followed by SPDR KBW Bank (NYSE: KBE). She has described financials as “grossly overvalued” and claims that the earnings power of these banks are “negligible.” The economic climate, the housing market, and the recent credit card reforms enacted by the Obama administration all make Whitney’s argument reasonably convincing. Housing prices have fallen 32.2% from their peak and 19.1% in the first quarter of 2009. GDP declined 2.6% in the first quarter of 2009 and the unemployment rate probably jumped from 8.9% to 9.2% according to a survey recently conducted by MarketWatch. Clearly, things could be better, but will they get any worse? Have we reached bottom yet? Whitney doesn't think so.