buyitcheap

10.2%

I largely agree with your commentary - what I do find interesting is that some (and it is definitely a small subset) kids are creating work/jobs in new areas. My niece is selling on ebay, making her own clothes, and another is writing code for iphone apps. Stuff we never would've thought of. In my day, you could get a summer job in construction but now you're competing with 20 immigrants who will work for less, so those opportunities go away, unless of course, you're the one hiring them.


On Nov 07 07:40 AM Dan in mpls wrote:

> You may think that minimum wage is for kids but that is because you
> don't know many people who live on it and do survive. In many towns
> across America one can rent a 2 bedroom apartment for $400.00 very
> easily. I know that I have not been able to raise the rents on my
> rental housing in Minneapolis for the last 8 years. Apartment rentals
> are therefore getting cheaper by the year. Across the globe families
> do live in multi generational households. This will most probably
> become the norm as families pull together to fill the Mc Mansions
> that dot the countryside sucking energy and now commonly house two
> people.
> Most of the millionaires who are reading this seem rather sure that
> our country isn't gong to be the same free spending country we have
> all grown accustomed to yet most here cannot fathom life at a five
> dollar an hour wage. It would be better for millions more people
> to be working and creating something than sitting out this great
> recession in depression and helplessness. I would expect that we
> will have to wait for inflation to lower the minimum wage before
> we will see hiring on a large scale. Vast swathes of the younger
> generations have no work ethic so they should not expect to have
> what their parents did, nor will they. At some point the free ride
> legions of the poor are getting from the government will have to
> end as America joins most other nations of the world in what we must
> call a more normal (poorer) lifestyle. We really are no longer the
> land of the free and the home of the brave. The current Administration
> is working desperately to mold the nation into one that is a lot
> more like Europe. This will have to include unemployment levels similar
> to what they have suffered unless we create a wage that matches the
> skill set of the poor and lower middle classes We need a lower
> minimum wage to help the newly employed build job skills like showing
> up to work the day after they get paid and staying sober and drug
> free.
> At the current levels of Federal deficit spending, the lower middle
> class will be basically reduced to the living on the minimum wage
> that you think is so beneath the American worker as it stands now.
> It would be far better to put people to work than to create debt
> and and wait for inflation to do the job for us.

10.2%

The fed should raise to half a point and pay less on deposits. Get the @#$*(@#* money back into the economy. I can't believe we're lending banks money at .25 and paying them 2.5%. Why the hell would you lend at all? Sign me up for that deal. Oh, wait, I don't own any politicians.

WHAT IF JOHN MCCAIN WAS PRESIDENT

Throw them all out. No incumbents need apply in 2010

Gold Transforming into a Completely Demonetized Wealth Asset

Why gold vs. the more rare and consumed platinum or even palladium? Would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Global Markets

Does anemic volume mean nothing anymore? Usually these pathetically low vol rallies portend a bigger pullback - where the hell is it?

Are Reports of the Dollar's Death Premature?

The common element here? the Fed.

Financial Greed and Christianity

I have no idea what PR whiz came up with the notion that the very Jewish (Blankfein, Friedman, Steinberg shall I go on?) GS should jump behind the robes of the Big Guy, but I think it might be a sign of the apocalypse.

Unless, ... Are they long Christianity? LOL.

Grantham. Greenblatt See Value in 'Quality': 10 Guru Strategy Stocks

I too have to vote for EZPW - I have owned it sold it, and regretted selling. I hope it will pull back a little bit on its earnings report on the 5th, but it is a very nice niche (it's competitors are interesting too), fantastic balance sheet and cash flow.

Utilities: Get Dividends Paid in Euros

Didn't Brazil JUST institute some foreign investment tax within the last month or so?


On Nov 03 01:23 AM THofler wrote:

> To Gaucho's point,
>
> My French Total (TOT) gets hit with a 15% div. withholding tax. In
> an IRA this is lost, but if it were being held in a taxable account,
> I can declare the withholding on my tax return and get it fully refunded.
>
>
> My Italian ENI (E) gets hit with a 35% withholding tax. If the total
> foreign withholding taxes I declare on my return is less than a few
> thousand dollars, then I get a full refund. If I have a much larger
> withholding to declare then I only get refunded at the 15% level.
>
>
> So Total's withholding is good (fully refunded) if I'm a rich guy,
> but ENI's is not.
>
> I believe that neither the U.K. nor Brazil has any withholding tax.
>
>
> Does anyone know the story with Germany's withholding tax??

Property Values Set to Fall 43% from Current Depressed Levels

What does this mean for insurers? 43% drop in premiums due to lower valuations? Does value equate to replacement cost?

Unresolved Financial Troubles: Three More Warning Shots

Are the current policies anticipating the damage that will be wrought by the coming tax increases?

George Soros: The Guru Outlook

Does it matter? He's totally tuned into how currencies and economies work AND how to make money from it. He knows a dumb policy move when he sees it and is very willing to take big positions to profit from such a move.

I believe from his investing style he doesn't see politics, just the "truth" of how to make money on a position. You may not like him politically, but if you learn from him, you'll have a heck of a lot more money in your pocket.

I'm still wrestling with this reflexivity idea, but the guy is a savant so I take his investing commentary quite seriously.


On Oct 29 09:29 AM p church wrote:

> If Soros is so smart, why is he a liberal?

Why Apple Is Worth $80

The author makes a good case for going long FactSet.

Inflation vs. Deflation Battle Hits Key Inflection Point

You will not see real inflation until wages pick up. given the current jobs environment, outsourcing overseas, and near 20% under/un-employment, wages will be flat for some time.

The U.S. stock market is anything but cheap, analyst Andrew Smithers asserts. According to his calculations, U.S. stocks are overpriced by about 40%. "That doesn't mean markets won't keep rising given the tsunami of liquidity unleashed by the world's central banks, but it should give investors some pause for thought, even if they keep backing the momentum trade."

I thought it was overvalued in July and went short - did NOT help the portfolio at all. Lesson learned? There are certain lessons that you relearn periodically. This one was don't sell just because you "think" the run is done. Let the market decide when to close your position by using a trailing stop.