tallguy

Macy's and Whole Foods - Thesis Versus Fact

The challenge may be obtaining shares to short, I have been unable to short WFMI, HOG, WY, and BWLD.

"Currently, there are no shares available for shorting"

This has never happened to me in fifteen years of investing. I think there may be more to this run up in the market than meets the eye.

I suspect market manipulation in a big way, with the institutions pulling their shares in and making them unavailable to borrow.

Gold / Silver Ratio at Code Yellow

Interesting article.

There is another refinement that may be underway, and that is the default to one standard, gold rather than silver as the default currency in preparation for the inflation that is to come.

Gold is easier to store, weighs much less / $, takes up less space, more universally has been a currency, doesn't tarnish, is easier to ship, etc.

Silver may be relegated to the commodities pile, with gold in the currency pile. China for example is classifying gold as a monetary asset.

Unemployment Claims Point to a Better Economy

Remember, the numbers are different now, we are actually at 15% or more unemployment if the same calculations were used as in the past.

One of two scenarios will develop out of this crisis, not necessarily in this order.

1. We will have a real recovery that is jobs based. Highly unlikely since companies continue to outsource at accelerating rates.

2. We will have a highly inflationary bubble recovery as the new money floods the economy, and prices surge, which will cause another collapse. Highly likely, high gas prices last year proved the consumer is under extreme pressure, higher prices overall will have devastating effects on consumer spending, as wages will seriously lag.

PF Chang's: Inside a Junk Rally Stock

I have seen "currently there are no shares available for shorting" so many times lately, on several different stocks, I am getting suspicious there is something fishy underfoot. These are on stocks where the short interest is relatively low.

Does anyone know what is going on?

I have never seen so many times where I haven't been able to short a stock.

Bear Market Over? Not So Fast

Good article Andy, and Obi-Wan nailed it.

Banking and real estate finance can't possibly sustain a market, as we have outsourced our jobs continuously and cut our manufacturing base, we have set the stage for the future.

The only way out of this mess that is sustainable is real job creation, not gov jobs, but real manufacturing jobs.

By the way, unemployment is already way over 10 percent, business owners who have lost their businesses, any contract labor, any consultant or 1099 filing previously working person does not show up in the unemployment numbers, only those who have a w-2 get that honor.

Eric in IL gets it, shuffling money around in banking and stocks can't sustain the world, and again, I repeat myself as none of the talking heads on TV or the rest of the media mention this other than in passing, real job creation is the ONLY sustainable way to fix this mess long term. It is called production.

Oh, and abolish the FED, the biggest scam in the history of the world.

Meet the Top 10 Low Carbon Footprint Vehicles of 2009

Good posts, food for thought, the Ford fiesta diesel has a lower carbon footprint than the Prius, gets 63+ mpg now, and is not available here in the wonderful USA, yet exceeds emission standards for all 50 states.

Can anyone offer a clue as to why?

NYT Butchers HOG

Honey, I know our stock portfolio has lost 60% this last two years, and I didn't expect to get laid off either, but I think now would be a great time to buy a new Harley, especially since I am only 10-15 years from retirement, and we aren't that far behind on our mortgate yet........

Disclosure Short and own a BMW, you know, the ones you see people actually riding.

Li-ion Batteries and How Cheap Beat Cool in the Chevy Volt

Ford Fiesta diesel, 63+ mpg, available now in Europe but not here, less greenhouse gas emissions than a Toyota Prius.

Reliable and safe.

What is wrong with this picture?????

The 'Real' Unemployment Numbers

Another segment of the employed that has been completely missed in all of the unemployment numbers are the self employed. Contractors, consultants, anyone working that receives a 1099 instead of a W-2 is not eligible for unemployment assistance.

Will China Continue to Buy U.S. Debt?

Your agenda and lack of clarity is astonishing even if some of your conclusions have merit.

A quote from last year, the president of the national association of realtors under the republican administration.

"Nobody saw this coming"

This quote left me, and still leaves me speachless.

Republican administration leaders (Phil Graham)restructuring the SEC and allowing naked shorting and changing the leverage ratio's for the investment banks.

What an absolute sure recipe for disaster.

I was a republican at one point, but am not any longer. This is not a political forum, but is intrinsically linked to politics, when the politicians and leaders are either this incredibly incompetent or self serving at the expense of the best interest of this country.

Bloomberg Radio has had an extraordinary, 2 hour commercial free coverage of the economic crisis unfolding today. Lehman is going bankrupt, Merrill Lynch is up for sale, Washington Mutual is likely to go under, and AIG is going through a major reorganization.

The most common comparisons are with the stock market crash of 1929.

Many institutions, such as the Glass-Stiegel act and the Federal Reserve were put into place in order to prevent another meltdown on the same scale, also FDIC to prevent bank runs.

Phil Gramm, McCain's top economic adviser, sponsored a bill that made the Glass-Stiegel act much less than it was, by making it possible for large brokerage firms to act like banks, without the Glass-Stiegel regulations, leading to the chaos we have today.

This changed the allowed leverage from 12-1 to 30/40-1. Talk about an absolute recipe for disaster.

Looking at Our Present Crisis Through the Lens of 'The Fourth Turning'

Agreed, necessity is not always the mother of invention, but often it is.

Inventions are frequently accidental by products of R&D, but often it is directed research and resource.

The United States Gov has had lots of innovations as by products of Space technologies, but also directed necessities like spending billions on chip development early on in the silicon chip race that helped develop and fund that technology for U.S. companies.

There is a current program / joint venture with the U.S. Gov and several private U.S. companies to develop advanced batteries for hybrid and other energy storage uses to recapture that portion of the technological race and market.

Coal to oil technology is here now by the way, is working in Australia.

So it goes both ways.

Looking at Our Present Crisis Through the Lens of 'The Fourth Turning'

Peak oil is a myth, based on the myth of peak demand. A hybrid diesel can easily with today's technology get 100 mpg, at very little or no additional cost over existing vehicles of like size and performance. Ford and Toyota both have the existing technology to produce this vehicle NOW.

Emerging technologies will displace the need for oil as it dwindles, extraction of diesel from coal can replace the lack of oil as supply from traditional sources goes down.

This can all happen with no advances in technology. However the advances are actually accelerating. The number of patents, the amount of $$$ being spent on alternatives is increasing, with predictable results, giving new options.

New technologies bring about great changes.

Automobiles, aircraft, nuclear fission, probably at some point nuclear fusion, solar, wind (another version of solar), geothermal, cold fusion, etc., have all changed or wil change the course of history and our future as we know it.

There is no shortage of energy, and in fact there is no shortage of technology to develop extremely efficient transportation alternatives and home energy alternatives.

There is an old saying, necessity is the mother of invention.

In fact there has been no necessity, and beyond that, financial incentives by the ones in power / control to maintain the status quo.

The status quo is changing with growing understanding that the United States can no longer outsource production and even service jobs to the rest of the world and survive as a powerful nation.

It can all be summed up by a few choice words. Greed, shortsightedness, fraud, stupidity, but mostly money, or greed.

We must legislate the end to our job losses in this great nation and refocus on innovation and a strong job infrastructure.

Walking Obama's Tightrope

Why in the world won't they give us the diesels? Ford fiesta at 62mpg +, and a whole host of other good ones. Jeep cherokee diesels getting well over 30 mpg etc, etc.

I guess it is all about buying oil so the arabs will purchase our debt. Follow the money trail.

Who's Really to Blame for High Gas Prices?

You are all missing the boat on your analysis, as is nearly everyone on the "outside" of the big money.

www.frontlinethoughts....

Will U.S. Markets Crash Now - Or Later?

What most everyone seems to be missing is two things, one, the baby boomers are beginning to start the retirement phase, and much of their money is in stocks. When it is taken out it will have a drain on the value of these companies.

Propabably the biggest one everyone is missing is the only way the U.S. can possibly ever hope to repay it's foreign debt is to inflate it away. It absolutely must have inflation, and the 12% mentioned as the real inflation number is a minimum that it must have. With all our manufacturing jobs being shipped overseas, our net imports will not decrease any time soon. Google Ford China and see what you get, or GM China, or Motorola China or ...... the list goes on.

Our government is no longer We the People, it has become so large it is a self perpetuating entity, and will remain so until some real awareness sets in on the part of the people, which will probably only happen when there is real pain. You won't hear it on CNN, or Nightly Business News, or read it in the Wall St. J.

Great show last night about the Windmill manufacturer Vestas, and the Danish Government.