John B. Lounsbury Ph.D., CFP is a financial planner and investment advisor in Clayton, NC. John Lounsbury http://seekingalpha.com http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/41226-humor-for-the-week?source=feed 41226

The following two cartoons are from The New York Times here.
 





The following comes from The Denver Post here.




Finally, four cartoons from The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal  here. 









Disclosure: No stocks mentoned.]]> Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:16:24 -0500

The following two cartoons are from The New York Times here.
 





The following comes from The Denver Post here.




Finally, four cartoons from The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal  here. 









Disclosure: No stocks mentoned.]]> humor cartoons http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/41113-2010-outlook?source=feed 41113 here.

Disclosure: No stocks mentioned.]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:12:05 -0500 here.

Disclosure: No stocks mentioned.]]> 2010 predictions projections outlook http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/41091-merry-christmas-to-all-and-to-all-a-good-night?source=feed 41091
Disclosure: No stocks mentioned.]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:29:49 -0500
Disclosure: No stocks mentioned.]]> Christmas http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/41090-goldman-grinch-sachs?source=feed 41090 The New York Times (here), describing the egregiuos practices of investment banks selling CDO's and then placing bets that the same CDO instruments would fail.  The Grinch was stealing more than Christmas - he was stealing money from pension funds, widows and orphans.  GS was not the only bank that engaged in this practice, but they may have been among the most successful. 

There is a very descriptive graphic accompanying the article.

Click on image to enlarge


Felix Salmon has an article that offers a defense of GS in this matter (here).  If you read his comment stream, you'll see his readers do not agree with his position.  He does present his a case well, but I will side with the commenters.


Disclosure: No positions in GS.]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:27:29 -0500 The New York Times (here), describing the egregiuos practices of investment banks selling CDO's and then placing bets that the same CDO instruments would fail.  The Grinch was stealing more than Christmas - he was stealing money from pension funds, widows and orphans.  GS was not the only bank that engaged in this practice, but they may have been among the most successful. 

There is a very descriptive graphic accompanying the article.

Click on image to enlarge


Felix Salmon has an article that offers a defense of GS in this matter (here).  If you read his comment stream, you'll see his readers do not agree with his position.  He does present his a case well, but I will side with the commenters.


Disclosure: No positions in GS.]]> gs CDO http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/41029-lloyd-blankfein-financial-times-man-of-the-year?source=feed 41029 here), has been recognized for his successful shepherding of his firm to the strongest position in the world of finance.  Of course, the possibility that GS might not even have been in existence today (here) if the too big to fail oligarchy had been left to their own devices in the fall of 2008 is not even a footnote in the article announcing the award by John Gapper at ft.com (here).

I am imagining that Matt Taibbi is at his key board right now ripping off a note opining that this award will probably qualify Blankfein for the Giant Vampire Squid Hall of Fame.  Earlier this year Taibbi called Goldman "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity" in an article in Rolling Stone (here).  

Disclosure: No positions in GS.]]> Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:34:43 -0500 here), has been recognized for his successful shepherding of his firm to the strongest position in the world of finance.  Of course, the possibility that GS might not even have been in existence today (here) if the too big to fail oligarchy had been left to their own devices in the fall of 2008 is not even a footnote in the article announcing the award by John Gapper at ft.com (here).

I am imagining that Matt Taibbi is at his key board right now ripping off a note opining that this award will probably qualify Blankfein for the Giant Vampire Squid Hall of Fame.  Earlier this year Taibbi called Goldman "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity" in an article in Rolling Stone (here).  

Disclosure: No positions in GS.]]> gs Blankfein Taibbi http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/40906-another-mortgage-horror-story?source=feed 40906 here).  Now here is another video (from Huffington Post here) of an individual story exemplifying how far we went wrong in the housing bubble.

Disclosure: No stocks mentioned.]]> Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:02:01 -0500 here).  Now here is another video (from Huffington Post here) of an individual story exemplifying how far we went wrong in the housing bubble.

Disclosure: No stocks mentioned.]]> housing bubble sub prime mortgage