The differences over how to resolve the "fiscal cliff" narrowed significantly on Monday night when the White House proposed leaving lower tax rates in place for everyone earning under $400,000.

That was a change of position for President Barack Obama who has been pushing for a $250,000 threshold although it is still far from Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's preference of $1 million.

"Overnight news on the fiscal cliff has been taken positively by the markets here in Europe after underperforming the U.S. recently," Securequity sales trader Jawaid Afsar said.

But others point out, that even if Obama and Boehner come to an agreement, they will have to "sell it" to their respective parties. This, like any other bill would have to be approved by the House and Senate when it is finalized. Some of the things coming out of this escapade show just how narrow minded some of these people in Washington are. Some of the Republicans are refusing to agree to anything that will raise taxes, however if they don't agree and we go over the cliff, taxes will go up for every single working person in the country, which they admit will make the economy worse:

"I won't support a deal that raises taxes because it makes the economy worse," Steve Scalise (R., La.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, made up of conservative House Republicans, "But I have yet to see any formal plan."

Many Democrats oppose the Social Security idea Mr. Obama has agreed to include. "The Republican plan to cut the Social Security benefits of millions of seniors in order to protect tax breaks for the richest 2% in America is neither fair nor balanced,'' said California Rep. Xavier Becerra, a member of the House Democratic leadership.

And to take money from millions of low income seniors to protect the rich will not bode well with anyone, except maybe some of the very most greedy. It reminds me of the old saying "Pigs get fat, and Hogs get slaughtered". Hopefully public pressure will shed some light on some of these idiotic ideas that are causing a roadblock to prosperity for this country. Because we are getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff now. As a side note, I will admit that I am a moderate Republican, but not to a fault.

These new fiscal talks have the entire market breathing a whiff of fresh air, and (as noted above), it was a positive impact on foreign markets overnight.

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirius XM Radio today announced that it plans to release third quarter 2012 financial and operating results on Thursday, November 1, 2012. SiriusXM will hold a conference call at 8:00 am ET on Thursday, November 1, 2012 to discuss these results.

This was a very prudent decision due to the fact that millions of investors will be without electricity for quite some time. And because of this, trading stocks will be put on the back burner as East Coast residents concentrate on survival. Just trying to stay warm, and find food and water without power will be first and foremost on everyone's minds. CNN is reporting that many major cities will be without power for weeks, and an estimated 60 million people may be affected:

Forecasters said Sandy was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a "superstorm" that could generate flash floods, snowstorms and massive power outages from North Carolina to Maine.

The National Grid, which provides power to millions of customers, said 60 million people could be affected.

"It could be bad," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Rattior, "or it could be devastation."

Ironically, for those who have a subscription to Sirius XM radio, they will be able to get information about the storm that their neighbors don't have with regular radio. When phone, power and internet are wiped out, satellite radios reign supreme. Because the satellites cover the entire country, residents in the middle of the storm can listen to where the storm is, along with the latest news on major road and tunnel closures, storm surge, etc. And friends and relatives around the country can also listen in. Right now Sirius XM is providing continuous coverage of the storm in all of the affected states:

The Weather Channel will air nonstop on Sirius channel 184 and XM channel 1 throughout the course of the storm, offering millions of listeners across the country in-depth, expert coverage including evacuation and safety tips, an explanation of the winds and pressure of the storm, its projected path and landfall expectations, tips on how to deal with severe storms and flooding and more.

Advisories with extended coverage and local updates from The Weather Channel are airing hourly on SiriusXM's First Traffic and Weather, channels 132 to 140.

In addition, SiriusXM's Road Dog Trucking Radio (channel 106) will keep the nation's truckers updated with information on highway closures and weather.

Due to the massive size and severity of this storm which is projected to dramatically affect at least eight states it has been dubbed Frankenstorm. It may be the biggest storm to ever hit the United States. Because residents could be without any way to communicate with the outside world for days or weeks, I expect Sirius Subs to jump dramatically. These new subs will make Q4 hit new record highs. Even though it may be too late for some people to get the service during this storm, the effect of being homebound for days without any information about what is going on will be a motivation to get the satellite service in the future.

(click to enlarge)

Subscriptions make up 87% of the revenue at Sirius, and most of the listeners that want the service for this type of emergency will also buy a battery operated portable satellite radio. So each new sub that is added because of this type of emergency will equate to $400 in additional unexpected revenue for the year.

Sirius will make money, while many companies suffer dramatically from this storm. Estimates range from $2 to $100 billion. One analyst thinks it will cost around $10 billion per day:

Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics, says Sandy would be a costly storm but one that would have little impact on fourth quarter gross domestic product.

"It's much more a regional story…[Sandy] will not have significant U.S. macro economic implications," he says in a phone interview. Sweet estimates the lost economic output between Washington, D.C. and New York City would equal at least $10 billion a day.

The fourth quarter is already projected to be huge for Sirius, with projected earnings to hit 3 cents per share. And revenue is projected to be a mind boggling $893 million for Q4 with a high target of $908 million. This storm should push that revenue even higher with the new subs added:

Chatter on the financial sites had already been predicting very low trading this week in anticipation of the Presidential election next week. Due to the diverse opinions of the two candidates regarding the economy and tax laws, the market will take a different turn depending who the winner is. And there is a lot riding on who the Congressional winners are.

Whenever there is a major disaster, a lot of investors will sell. So now we have the low volume from people who will be unable to communicate with the outside world, combined with the uncertainty of the election, and a huge national disaster. As most seasoned investors know, this is a good time to take advantage of lower prices caused by this type of uncertainty. Because the market will recover. This is a good time to take advantage of these upcoming dips and buy Sirius before the golden quarter sends the price way up.

Disclosure: I am long [[SIRI]]. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I may buy Sirius XM stock in the next 72 hours.

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Microsoft Week: No More Mr. Softy

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And Little Apple remains 3rd as an Opinion Leader this month for Seeking Alpha:

Top 5 Services Opinion Leaders in August

• Stephen Faulkner 247,026 page views
• Spencer Osborne 195,132 page views
• Little Apple 156,040 page views
• Valuentum 143,220 page views
• Crunching Numbers 137,606 page views

I could not have done this without all of my loyal readers that follow me on the various financial websites, and on Facebook and Twitter! Thank you all so much!!!

High profile Right Wing "Friends of Chick-Fil-A" retaliated and posted a Chick-Fil-A Facebook invitation page which invited people who supported Christian values to eat at the restaurants on August 1. That Facebook page was somehow suddenly taken down, or deleted from Facebook:

The Chick-fil-A day Facebook invitation page set up by Fox radio and TV host Mike Huckabee disappeared for 12 hours starting late afternoon Tuesday, causing some to fear that Facebook had intentionally deleted the page because of contents related to the gay marriage debate.

Chick-Fil-A however was not part of the planning of this Facebook page, and it released the following statement concerning the appreciation day:

Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was not created by Chick-fil-A. We appreciate all of our customers and are glad to serve them at any time. Our goal is simple: to provide great food, genuine hospitality and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A. As a privately held company Chick-fil-A does not comment publicly about our sales figures or volume.

Several mayors got involved, and joined the ban against the company. The mayor of Chicago said they will block another Chick-Fil-A being built in their city. "Chick-Fil-A values are not our values he said". And the mayor of Boston suddenly banned Chick Fil A from that city (see link above):

While the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day page has been restored (by Facebook), Huckabee posted a new statement today about the controversy: "The Mayor of Boston says he won't allow Chick-Fil-A in Boston. Amazing that a mayor now has the power to stop commerce because he personally disagrees with the PERSONAL views of the CEO of a company."

Facebook has not denied that they deleted the page. Which brings into question their subjective manner in deciding what is posted on Facebook and what is not. Most of us know people personally, who have posted political statements, usually anti-liberal comments, that have been removed from their Facebook pages:

And a Facebook representative told the FOTF (Focus on the Family) advocacy arm that if the company had deleted the page it was because the "content violated our policies not because of public sentiment."

In another instance, conservative Christian author Dr. Michael Brown wrote a book documenting the Gay movement in the US. His page was also suddenly deleted, and was not restored until Dr Brown took decisive action:

.....(his book page) was deleted for allegedly violating Facebook's 'Community Standards.' But Facebook pages like 'Hitler Fetus is our Jesus,' 'Zombie Jesus,' and a host of other grossly offensive pages apparently do not violate these standards."

Readers might ask what does this have to do with Facebook stock? The big problem with all of this is that Facebook is now publicly owned. Yet they are operating as if they were still a private company. You can say and do a whole lot more in a private company than you can a publicly owned one. As an investor in Facebook, this mess is your mess. If I owned the stock, I would have sold the minute this started. And the situation still continues to escalate.

Since all of this happened, Facebook shares have tumbled. Was it due to this controversy? Only the investors involved in the sales can answer that for sure. But judging from the millions of people that jammed US roadways in support of Chick-Fil- A on August 1, I would say it had a major impact. Regardless of which way a person feels on the gay issue, this has become a freedom of speech issue. And there is a campaign being mounted against Facebook in support of the first amendment. Some writers even think that Facebook is manipulating information on the site by design. This was something most analysts did not see coming. And it only adds to all of the other problems plaguing the company.

For instance, Facebook is currently losing a lot of talent. A "post-IPO exodus" from the social networking company continued Wednesday when two senior executives announced they were leaving the company. Is it possible these two had anything to do with the Chick Fil A incident? The timing is certainly questionable in my opinion. But Facebook has not commented. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Ethan Beard, director, platform partnerships, and Katie Mitic, director of partnership marketing, both took to their Facebook pages to announce their departures. Mr. Beard ran the company's relationships with developers since 2008. Ms. Mitic has only been at the company for two years.

They both cited a desire to take part in other entrepreneurial activities. Mr. Beard said that after eight years in the industry, he was ready to take time off to figure out what he wants to do next.

"One of the things I've done is working closely with a lot of the start-ups and I expect my next move will likely bring me closer to this world," he said in an interview.

Still, the departures underscore one of the challenges Facebook continues to face in retaining top talent after its initial public offering in May. Once employees can liquidate their holdings in an IPO, companies frequently experience a "brain drain" in talent.

But there is more. Any investor who can get past all of the problems I just listed above will have to deal with other more severe issues. According to another Seeking Alpha writer, there will be millions of new shares added to the float in the next several months:

Facebook's stock is burdened with billions of shares poised to be released from lockup in 2012. Facebook's share lock-up expiration begins in August and will increase Facebook's float by 276% by November. On August 15th 268 million shares will be released from lock-up more than half the shares offered in May. This will be followed by 247 million released on Oct 14th, 1.33 billion on November 13th and 124 million on December 13th.

When Facebook was first released, I was really exited about it. I have a few different Facebook accounts for my "aliases" that I write under, and I am always checking them daily. But when I first saw the P/E, I remember thinking this stock is only worth $10 a share. But now the price of the stock is down to $20.88 and the P/E is still 72.25. With the threat of millions of new shares being dumped into the market, I think it may go lower than $10. If you love the stock, and really want to own it, wait until next January when all of the shares have been absorbed, and then there will be some stability in the price. But personally I would not touch it right now.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

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The latest wrinkle in the ongoing controversy is the cancellation of all national commercials during "The Rush Limbaugh Show" by its syndicator, Premiere Networks. This comes after nearly a hundred national advertisers and dozens more have dropped Limbaugh and other conservative commentators like a political hot potato.

Have you ever used a contraceptive? Then talk show host Rush Limbaugh probably thinks you're a 'slut' or a 'prostitute,' too. That's what he called Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke because she wants the college's health insurance to cover contraceptives!

Rush told Sandra that he would personally pay for the "aspirin" for Georgetown University students to "hold between their knees" as contraception. He accused Sandra Fluke of having so much pre-marital sex that she was "going broke." He said that if Sandra or other female Georgetown University students want their contraceptives to be paid for by health insurance companies that they should pay us (i.e. Rush Limbaugh) back by videotaping themselves having sex and then posting the videos, so he could see them.

Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday laughed at Democrats for having tried to use the radio host's now-infamous "slut" comment to their political advantage, gloating about recent polls showing President Barack Obama's approval numbers tanking while taunting, "They thought I was finished."

"Rush's use of degrading language is an attempt to silence the voices of women and other marginalized groups. He's done it to individuals like Sandra Fluke and groups of people that span nearly all women, people of color, immigrants, gays, the disabled, Muslims, Jews, veterans, environmentalists, take your pick." The #BulliedByRush campaign is collecting stories and accounts from anyone who has ever felt bullied by Rush Limbaugh.

But we have to consider all of the costs. Would there be an equal number of subscribers lost due to the vile nature of his show now? I mean this is a new low in program content. And what would his contract cost Sirius? According to the New York Times (July 2008) he currently makes $50 million a year:

The radio host will be paid about $400 million to continue serving up his daily dose of conservative patter through 2016. His $50 million a year paycheck represents a raise of about $14.4 million a year over his current contract, which was paying him $285 million over eight years and was set to expire in 2009.

Disclosure: I am long [[SIRI]].