jimmy46

A Look at George Soros's Recent Trades

he is a smart guy who uhhh... admittedly plays the gray side of the rule book at times, but Goldman Sachs (GS) is worshiped for the same behavior."""""""

Behind every great fortune there lies a crime...

Two More Myths About Business in China

Savings is more than what individuals sock away.

When workers are underpaid,
either the employer or the government is "saving".

GDP minus consumption is a better indicator.
And by that measure, China is saving a lot.

China ETFs: High Growth Potential but Watch for Country's Internal Issues

It’s a country with tremendous growth potential,""""""

Everybody says that, but where will future growth come from?
The gutting of US manufacturing gave them growth for the last 25 years.
But that was a one time event,

Are americans going to consume twice as much 20 years from now?
Don't think so.

And I wouldn't count on internal consumption to be anything like the export market for growth.

Four Risks to Las Vegas Sands' Shareholders

Good blog, it's ballsy for you to take such an unambigous stand just before the asian IPO, which went very well for WYNN.

For those tooting WYNN's horn, he's a crook too,
he has many bennies "comped".
He admitted it to reporters who asked about one extravagance.

Like several of the others, I'm curious about MGM too.

My Visit to the U.S. Treasury

"Throughout human history “middle classes” have been abnormal. """"

The rich life the masses in amerika have had the last 70 years has been due to cheap energy.
As we see an end of that, it'll be dog eat dog as the rich resume their oppression of everyone else.

Municipal Bonds: A Clear Case of Buyer Beware

Of course Muni's are having problems,

These prime slime people are reneging on their property taxes at the same time they chisel on their mortgages.

Thornburg Is a Great Buy on This Dip

AND a year latter we can see Mr Mortgage made the insightful call.

FDIC, FHA, Fannie and Freddie Real Estate Exposure Killing Home Values in Georgia

We know that the biggest source of default in the current cycle is that borrowers are so far underwater they have no economic incentive to pay. So they don’t.""""

That's like saying those people who had stock losses last March should have sold at the bottom of the market.
RE will rebound, just like stocks have, and those that hang on will be glad they did.

Anyone who defaults now won't be able to buy another house for at least 10 years.
What kind of idiot wants to put himself in that position?

ConocoPhillips Plans Two Year Makeover

Hello Tom
Zacks has a blog about COP today:

"ConocoPhillips’ earnings from its LUKOIL Investment segment came in at $545 million as against $438 million in the prior-year quarter.
The year-over-year increase came primarily from refinery throughput.
LUKOIL’s estimated contribution to the company’s quarterly E&P volumes was 424,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The Chemicals unit reported earnings of $104 million as against earnings of $46 million a year ago.

I assume the "Chemicals" isn't related to Lukoil,
but zack's editing made it hard to be sure.

I also assume that the $545,000,000 earnings they got from Lukoil is a bookkeeping entry and that they got no cash from them.

finance.yahoo.com/news...

How to Play the Gold / Silver Ratio

Fussing about the ratio is silly, times change.

Today so much silver is a by product of copper mining that holds the price down.
And the copper miners aren't going to reduce mining just because silver isn't selling "up to it's ratio".

Future or No Future: Siblings Molybdenum and Nickel

That doesn't exist in the world of moly, a mineral that lacks a futures market yet has world wide applications.""""""

If anyone doubts that it is speculators that have doubled the price of oil this year, look here.

Goldman Stockholders - What Chumps

I knew that the day they had their IPO,

The wonder is that so many people still don't get it.

A sucker is still born every minute.

Why a Gold Bug Isn't Buying Gold Now

The one thing we know is that at no point in history have we ever seen such a snap back in equity prices in such a short period of time""""""

And the fed government has never printed money like they have in the last year.
What's the surprise?

Ackman Shorts Realty Income, But Is It a Good Idea?

"more amazingly, offer stock in lieu of cash dividends (imagine cash income investors voluntarily accepting more of a stock as a dividend of a company that can't afford to pay the cash dividend that you invested in the company for):"

REIT's are required by law to distribute 90% of net income every year. Because the credit markets weren't working well this year,
the IRS made the decision to let them pay 90% of the dividend in stock.
This allows them to maintain their status as a tax favored REIT.

For the last 20 years the FED has bailed out the stock market after every crisis, now that so many people are underwater with their home mortgages, I believe gov. policy is to inflate real estate prices so people won't walk away from their houses.

This inflationary policy is evidenced by the stock market going up in an extraordinary manner the last 7 months.

Also in inflation in metal & oil prices.
Gold over $1,000, copper over $3, oil over $80

Companies with real assets and a lot of debt will benefit from this trash the dollar policy.

As long as interest rates are low, this will continue.
When the FED starts raising rates, it'll be time to reevaluate.

The Importance of Volcker

What a stupid idea,
The cost of capital is a cost of business.
Just like labor or materials.

The error is in taxing dividend payments.
Debt & equity should have the same tax treatment.

As for low tax receipts from corporations,
that's because of all the tax loopholes the lobbyist's have gotten from a corrupt congress.