J. B. Wulff

Holman Jenkins's Errors, Part 1

Nicely done. I continue to believe that the biggest culprits in this mess are the rating agencies. They worked with the creators and annointed the securities with triple A ratings. Early in 2007 they began to discover their error and changed the ratings. The "Bear" took the first big hit and we all know what followed. When will this group get hit with lawsuits based on the losses suffered by those who trusted their ratings?

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

By "bailing out" first the "Bear" and then the "Mac's" our dear, somewhat panic striken government is doing its best to avoid a financial collapse like 1929. Sadly, the financial people on Wall Street want to become addicted to the Washington printing press - the one that makes money out of thin air - instead of stepping up to the plate and working together to fix this mess. We need a repeat of the probably mythical banker who was able to stem a run on his bank by visibly wheeling a wheelbarrow full of money into the bank through the front door, repeatedly. It was always the same wheelbarrow. He went out the back door, circled around and came in again and again. The panic ended for his bank and it survived. Congress is no help whatsoever. Frank & Rangle are living proof of the Peter Principle. Our much maligned President, nervous about his legacy, does not want to be Hoover II. The titans of Wall Street need to simply announce that they believe Lehman Brothers will survive and that they will continue to trade with the firm and stand ready to help if necessary, period. Then the game will be over and the players will have to close out their bets/positions the best they can. Still, giving up cocaine is not easy.

Year to Date Performance of Dow 30 Members

Long term investments in JNJ and XOM among others are especially rewarding when the dividend is considered. Currently my JNJ is yielding 8% and XOM is 6.5%. They are both in dividend reinvesting plans so my holdings are growing at that rate. What's not to like?

Why Morningstar Doesn't Understand JPMorgan

The current difficulty in the financial world stems from the initial failure of the ratings gurus to correctly rate the risk of "new" investment vehicles. This situation has only been touched on briefly so far. Until confidence in the financial system is restored in the collective mind of the investing public - now a world wide entity - we will not begin to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. JPM is doing its best to stand as an anchor for the financial system as its namesake founder did a century ago. This is one of those "If not here, where? If not now, when?" moments. (In the interest of accuracy, I have owned JPM for many years. I recently increased my investment. I am 66 years old, retired, and far from independently wealthy.)