Capital Preserve

Cash for Clunkers May Cost Up to $45,354 Per Vehicle

Please read the following.

despairamerica.blogspo...

The gasoline consumption savings argument does not hold water.. The "potential savings" from the $1.0 billion C4C spend is MAYBE 54/1000 of one percent.

On Aug 04 11:08 PM omnimoeish wrote:

> Low mileage means exactly what it says, they don't have a lot of
> miles on them. I would guess 80% of those 200,000 cars in a normal
> month are trading in 3 -5 year old that are worth more than $4,000.
>
>
> With the cash for clunkers, most people are offing their old junker
> that's not worth its weigh in manure for a new car. We will know
> pretty soon how many cars are actually bought/traded in directly
> because of the cash for clunkers program, and I dare say it will
> be more than 22,000.
>
> What's cool about it is that for a lot of people trading in their
> car, it's saving 50% of the gas they would've been driving (or someone
> else who would've bought the vehicle from them). Even if the program
> saves 1% of the 400 million gallons of gas burned in the US every
> day, it will save the country 4 million gallons or approximately
> $10-12 million a day (more if gas prices go back up to where they
> are $4 a gallon). At that rate it will only take the country 3 months
> to make back the $1 billion tax dollars we spent on the CARS program.
>

Realty Income: Prudent Management, Justified Premium?

An interesting analysis. I will say that you would be hard pressed to find a "going concern" that from a "liquidation perspective" isn't overvalued. Even so, this sort of reasoned thought is refreshing compared to the sort of off-the-cuff nonsense such as Cramer's " I have got to tell you, that one is too risky for me."

"O" is currently the only REIT in any of the portfolios I manage precisely because I believe it to be less risky than other REITs I have analyzed. Management is conservative and has proven itself and the business model over the years. Moreover, the company is properly focused on ensuring, and growing distributions to its investors.

Dividend Paying Stocks: Don't Discount Them Just Yet

Generalizations always break down when applied to specific situations.

The most compelling case for dividend stocks I have read can be accessed at the following link

www.tweedy.com/library...

Well-Capitalized Regional Banks: The Bottom Is In

re: retiredbankanalysts comments

I direct you all to a very cogent piece by Anatole Karetsky (Chief Economic Correspondent for the Times of London) from July 14th, in which he states, "if this test [the slavish application of mark-to-market accounting rules] were applied with full rigor, every bank that has ever existed since the Fuggers and Medicis would have been insolvent.

I own stocks in a few banks and while I am unhappy with the trend in their share prices, I cannot say that I believe the fundamental soundness of the institutions (at least the ones I own) is in jeopardy and do not see permanent loss of capital in any of my positions as a likely outcome.

Warren Buffett on Diversification

In the words of Marty Whitman, "Diversification is a surrogate - usually a poor one - for control, knowledge, and price sensitivity."