Philly Jim

Is Sideline Cash Headed Back into Stocks?

Nice chart. Some say Dow 14,000 could take another 10 years, I think it will happen rapidly and a lot of investors will be kicking themselves for not getting in before.

U.S. Government Move Will Push Russia and China Toward Economic Matrimony

China will want to keep Russians poor and undereducated as long as they depend on them for their energy supplies. You will see a lot espionage and manipulation of political decisions between the two nations which could eventually cause a silent war between the two behemoths; Japan will not want to participate beyond normal trade relations, as they realize these two rising giants pose the greatest threat to their long-term security. A Southeast Asian Union is likely to emerge in which Japan will more actively participate to counter Chinese strength. African nations can easily do what the Chinese do now, low-tech manufacturing. If the U.S. wanted to play nasty, they could send U.S. companies to set-up shop in Africa with full support of the African Union and activate an anti-Chinese propaganda program.

Raw Material: Who Is Benefiting from China's Rising Demand?

Meanwhile, U.S. corporate executives lavish themselves with tens of millions while the Congress takes their vacations and concentrates on their own reelection campaigns. It's apparent that China will become much more powerful than the U.S. if Americans continue to tolerate a "do nothing" Congress and corporate pirates.
As for the article, inflation is coming!


On Mar 12 05:00 AM expat in China wrote:

> The war is an economic one and make no mistake about it, the China
> stimulus comes from the same pot as the military spending and it
> is for China domestics material needs and its exporters!
>
> An example is the part of the stimulus that will provide direct electrical
> power to the Chinese aluminum producers. Yes, not through the pricing
> grid or in the power usage reports but direct from the mother to
> the child to beat its western rivals.
>
> Long term planning to consume one industry after another.
>

Every Day Brings a New Plan for Banks: Here's Another

I have a plan: ACCOUNTABILITY

When someone steals $50 billion and they aren't seen in handcuffs or kept in a jail cell, the public loses faith in the system - even more so when they bail themselves out with the very money they are accused of stealing. Albeit the prosecutors need time to make their case and bail is part of our constitutional rights as well as the presumption of innocence. The public needs to see people fall for this catastrophic event. After 9/11 we took over a country, after this we bail out the guys that caused it!

Let's define what a toxic asset is... Is it the home your neighbor bought when it was bank valued at 500k and now only goes for 250k? Is it the CDO the bank valued at 500m that is now only worth 250m?

Let's define loss. Has the bank actually lost the asset or experienced a significant loss in the asset's value as this disastrous market currently values it?

The bottom line is the government during the past eight years was asleep at the wheel, the "trouble makers" like Harry Markopolos were shunned.

Let's give Obama and Geithner a chance to correct the situation. There are so many ideas out there, surely they will adopt a working model soon. Hopefully, we will see some accountability first, that should boost the public's sentiment.

Bank of America: A Risky Bet That May Be Worth It - Barron's

All the corporations that are getting government bailouts and giving the government shares for pennies are going to take care of entitlement costs in another 10-15 years. All those preferred shares the government is getting will eventually be converted into common when the share price goes up, which it eventually will. Consider it a superb long-term investment where taxpayers are going to make a killing! Other companies may go bankrupt in this economy, but those with the government's backing will survive, which bet is safer?

The FDIC Is Broke...Or Will Be Soon

Great conspiracy theory! lol

CDS and the Looting of AIG

The issue needs to be sensationalized by the media, then the government will act.

The Economy, And Why It's Taking So Long to Fix It

I have a theory why: it's not getting well because there is ZERO accountability. Of course there were poor choices made, but there was also a lot of criminal activity and blatant economic debauchery on part of irresponsible and delusional corporate executives who lavished themselves with other people's money. They, are not capitalists according to the American Dream, they are well-dressed criminals with silver tongues and white wings, only there to serve themselves. We also have politicians and political hacks who were more concerned with their own image than the duties they were charged with. Now, we have a socialist regime in power with no idea how to run a free-market economy and its bleeding through the bandages they are throwing over it.

1. Let the poorly managed banks fail
2. Prop up the best managed banks by giving the assets of the failures to them for pennies.
3. Let the market price things
4. Manage the tax payer dollars, don't dole them out to non tax payers like candy
5. Don't repave the roads a million times and call it infrastructure improvements

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

A friend of mine works for General Motors and says they throw away/waste tens of millions of dollars a day in throwing away perfectly good parts, lavish executive meetings, ridiculous accommodations for incorrigible employees and highly unproductive employees that are protected by the Union.

U.S. Rejects Nationalization of Citi and BAC

How about we just put responsible adults in supervisory positions, rather than political cohorts! The Bush administration was the greatest destructive force to our government in our nation's history. They systematically placed "know nothing" cronies in critical positions to govern and regulate the marketplace, not to mention almost every other aspect of our government. It was basically eight years of get-rich-quick scams on a massive scale, both in the public and private sectors!


On Feb 21 04:34 PM apppro wrote:

> What your headline should have read is:
> "US Rejects Short Sellers of Citi & BoA"
>
> This is what we need. Just stop the Shorting of America and things
> will work themselves out in a normal - rational - timely basis. Nothing
> will recover, nor will as they put it allow investors BACK into this
> market, as long as the rules are so bent by short sellers and no
> one is seeing the reality of it. All they can do is blame the CEO's
> and all those good people who are just trying to get things back
> to normal, so to speak.
>
> The 4 Golden Rules
>
> 1. Reinstate the Up-tick rule
>
> 2. Crack down on naked short selling
>
> 3. Institute some rules on what should be said on National TV to
> prevent rumor-mongering
>
> 4. Pass a Wind-Fall Capital Gains Tax of 65% on ALL short sales retroactive
> to 01/01/08.

How U.S. Government Can Create Road to Recovery

Open infrastructure projects to international bids. If a company is good at what it does, why reject it because its foreign? If they add the "buy American" provision to the stimulus bill, it will make U.S. companies lazy and less innovative/competitive...

Also, let's not build any more F-CKING roads please! I'm so sick of all these white heads in congress thinking that we need to either a.) repave our roads a million times or b.) build more roads in order to upgrade our infrastructure to keep up with the rest of the world. WRONG, we need to start building world-class mass transit systems like underground rapid transit systems, magnetic levitation systems, inner city tram systems, skyways to unclog "bottlenecks" on existing highway systems, etc... Please, vote out the useless whiteheads in congress and get some new blood in there!

GM and Chrysler Buyout Offers: Should Taxpayers Be Angry?

Where did you get the 50k figure? First, It's 20k + 25k car voucher and you have to have 30 years or more of service to qualify for the GM offer. Second, GM could save money by cleaning out the "old wood" and paying young workers half of what they pay the older workers as well as an increase in productivity from their workers. So, as a taxpayer, it sounds sensible for GM to want to do this. Next, with workers making increasingly lower wages, who has money to buy a new car anymore? These $14 per hour GM workers are going shopping for a used Honda, not a new GM vehicle. So, they are actually doing themselves harm in the long-run.

GM's Biggest Growth Market Is Now China

GM is unloading all of their junk on America and offering up state-of-the-art technology in their drivetrains being sold in China. I don't blame them, the U.S. is run by thieves and liars who waste and steal tax dollars rather than put them to good, thoughtful use. While the Chinese build magnetic levitation rail lines across the country, each state's mafia seizes infrastructure funds and paves the roads fifty times over as it's the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to STEAL taxpayer dollars. Madison is probably rolling in his grave.

Is GM's Worker Buyout Offer Insulting?

The last offer on the table was not available to any employee John and each package they offer comes with different strings attached according to how long the employee has worked for General Motors. Some are offered large amounts of cash for taking ZERO health care benefits and others thousands of dollars with guaranteed health benefits. This latest offer will not clean out the "old wood" as GM is hoping it will. Many people with over 25 years will opt to stay on for another 5 or more years, remaining legally protected from being fired and accomplishing next to nothing in terms of productivity and costing the company more than if it offered the "old wood" $500,000 each to resign. So, yes, this offer is quite insulting and stupid, but I guess they are just seeing if there are any desperate fish who will bite in "desperate times."

Turning Japanese: The Audacity of Reality (Part 3 of 3)

Getting rid of the bad banks by letting them fail will cost taxpayers more than letting them survive and repaying their debts.