Perki

How Low Can Gasoline Prices Go?

Probably the fastest boost to consumer spending comes from gas price reductions. US sales of gasoline are about 9 ml bbls per day. Every dollar of gas price reduction puts $11.3 billion dollars per month in disposable income directly and instantly in the hands of the consumers --tax free!

So a $3 per gallon reduction in gasoline pump prices is a $34 bln monthly increase in disposable income. Doesn't sound like much but the billions spent on brokerage firm and bank rescues have resulted in almost NO EFFECT on disposable funds at the consumer level.

Is the Microsoft Empire Cracking?

Ouch. Billions dude!

Chris, when you are still netting $Billions on the Windows O/S every year, it is a little early to throw it out. When you have the most profitable and popular operating system in the world, you stick with it until it it only as profitable as say, Mac's OSx. Based on current trends, that will be 2017 or 2018 at the earliest.

I am a programmer that prefers a Mac, but I still bought a Windows XP license for it to run under VMware for all of the Windows software I need to use on occasion. Many people have. Many will continue to do so because of the huge selection of application software still being developed under Windows.

Wyndham (WYN) to eliminate 4,000 positions as part of its plan to shrink its timeshare business.

The press release is nonsensical. I assume they were making a profit by selling timeshare interests. Now, they say they can save money by just keeping them? Like a real estate developer makes more money by just holding on to all those empty, but completed homes?

Has the room revenue at these resorts suddenly increased during a recession?

As to the rest of the release -- the doublespeak is beyond my level of comprehension.

Microsoft Hires Lu, Commences Project Granola

I think this is a confirmation they remain committed to search, not a major change in strategy.

Microsoft has had a vacuum at the top of their search division for some time, this is just simply filling that spot with someone qualified for a change; nothing more.

As far as getting the good Doctor because of his involvement with project Panama -- umm, no. Project Panama is a failure which is why YHOO is in trouble with no where to go but down.

This move also highlights the fact that acquiring Yahoo would be acquiring a hollow shell. You can "rent" the main asset, search marketing share, without assuming the overhead, through management agreements.

Salesforce.com Shows Strength

Salesforce has a long lag for revenue contraction. Client companies sign a 12 month contract, so even after you layoff half of your sales staff, you still pay the full amount until your contract expires.

The effects of the massive layoffs in the last 90 days will be hitting Salesforce's revenue next year. Additionally, with the high fixed costs of SaaS infrastructure, revenue reduction has a disproportional impact on gross margins.

Given the 93% institutional ownership and the herd mentality of same, when Salesforce's price does fall it will be fast and furious.

Drop in Gas Price = $300B Savings

jcrash,

I think the IRS sets the mileage rate for employee personal use. So don't hate the Pharma Co too much.

The IRS increased it, along with the business mileage deduction rate in June, for July through December. perrygambrell.com/news...

The Senate begins a probe into the causes of the financial crisis, with a partial focus on whether 'inherent conflict clouded the judgment' of bond-ratings firms. The bond-ratings industry is also under investigation by the SEC and NY AG.

I wonder, has anything useful ever come out of a "Senate Probe"?

General Electric: Genuine Risk of Collapse?

Your data does not support your conclusions. Granted they blew the earnings target. Granted, refinancing may be more expensive.

The balance sheet shows good liquidity. Looks like a smart company preparing for hard times ahead. As for Gov Guarantees, you have to get them if you can, because you will be competing for capital against companies that have it. Gov guaranteed AAA debt will cost you much less that AAA debt alone. As you correctly pointed out, the ratings are useless now!

WSJ: A Frightening Indictment of Our Society

Well, acting in the best interests of their shareholders is the bank's mission. If this act was not clearly illegal, the banks may have a fudciary responsibility to do this to maximize shareholder value.

A less glaring example of this would be not passing on interest rate reductions and availability of reserves freed by the Fed loaning against marginal mortgages, when that was specifically the intention of the generosity of the Treasury/Fed.

Clearly, the banking system is now a less useful instrument of monetary policy, and congress should investigate the possibility of revoking the guarantee of deposits, which is noting more that a big subsidy for the banking industry.

Yahoo Destroying Shareholder Value, Internet Balance of Power

Though there is some duplication, an AOL + Yahoo ( Yaol? , Yahaol? ) merger would appear to be the only course of action for growth. Absent that, Yahoo has a good technical group, lots of Internet assets and traffic. They just need to identify a few good strategic niche areas from those assets and focus on them, they could remain profitable.

MSFT/Yahoo would have been a disaster from a business point of view, but would have bailed out those shareholders that made an untimely investment in the company.

How Microsoft Could Kill Google on the Web

Well, a radio station in town with a 10% listener market share gives away all of the advertising, but that hasn't changed the income of the top stations in the market. Have you really thought this through?