curley55

6 Ways to Short the Obama Health Plan

Obama is a lot like Hugo Chavez. He is willing to sell out Isreal, say it is OK for Iran to have a nuke. Trying to take over the health care system is a very bad idea. I only see 3 ways to cus healthcare costs.
1. Tell the doctors they will get paid less
2. Tell the drug companies they will get less and
3. Tell the consumer they will get less.

Telling an 80 year old that needs a hip replacement that he will go on a list for 3 years before he gets the procedure is scary. The govt will hope he dies before his procedure is done. Perhaps Obama can send a Dr. Kavorkian type to anyone over 59. That would cut costs and fix Medicare and Social Security.

60 Buy Write ETF Option Strategies

A lot of the 2x and 3x long and short ETF's lose money both ways. It would appear you should short both the 3x long and 3x shorts and have 2 winners.

Year to Date Performance of Leveraged ETFs

The problem with FAZ and FAS is they are like options and they are consistantly in at the wrong strike price. Both have declined this year. There is something wrong here. They are definitely not long term investments. Looking at the numbers it would have been good to short both FAZ and FAS on January 1.

The banking problem is one of lax regulation. Regulators failed to require the banks to cut back on their 30 to 1 leverage. The regulators, and Congress especially the banking committee are at fault. Instead of fixing the problem our government has shifted the leverage to the tax payer and have told us this is a good investment and we should make a profit. Lies, lies and more lies. Where is the promised transparentcy? Keep the public in a state of fear and panic and a corrupt administration can fleece us even more because they claim they have the answers to fix the problem. The truth is they failed to regulate and are unable to fix the problem and will make it worse. Vote them out of office!

Exxon Mobil: Rationale for Being Short

XOM is more than an oil company. It has refinery operations which currently have high refining margins. Look at other refineries like TSO, SUN, VLO and see what they have done. Look at the crack spread and note they are currently at a very high level. The argument for a selloff based on the price of oil is too simplistic.

The Housing Problem: What Inning is It?

To determine the inning lets look at some of the facts. The sub prime mess started a long time ago. Last August it came to a head when a lot of lenders and their funding dried up for sub prime mortgages. Most sub prime mortgages are 3 year notes. A lot of the sub prime people will default on their mortgages in the first 12 months. The ones who pay will have to refinance when their notes mature. Either you pay and refianace or you do not pay and go into default. Pretty simple.

Since very few new sub prime mortgages are being made I suspect the sub prime mess will be over by August 2008. Foreclosures will linger a little longer and perhaps by spring 2009 we will see declining foreclosures and a more stable real estate market. Some states that are not growing jobs and population will still have problems but most of the country should be ok.

SubPrime Crisis Offers Opportunities in Small Banks

Loans secured by real estate can lead to trouble in states with declining values such as California. Farmers growing wheat, corn and soybeans at record prices are most likely seeing their real estate prices stying stable or increasing. Banks in states like Iowa or Kansas may be a better place to search for a small bank.