logicalthought

Is It Time for Capital Preservation Mode?

>>When I saw indoor ski resorts and saw that they were building man made islands, I thought that these were crazy things, as I always thought that Las Vegas was a crazy place to invest.<<

The funny thing is, at least Las Vegas has the attraction of GAMBLING... What does Dubai have? I kind of suspect that anyone who could afford to stay at one of those "seven-star" hotels and likes to ski could probably afford a side trip to, say, Killington.

Time for the U.S. Economy to Reindustrialize

On Nov 15 08:19 AM Michael Clark wrote:

>>We need more than the 'bottom line' philosophy. Enhancing shareholder value is NOT the only viable creed for business. Japan has a 'employee for life' philosophy.<<

And Japan has economically stagnated (or worse) for the last 20 or so years. No system is perfect, but "bottom line/enhancing shareholder value" capitalism (accompanied by reasonable safety and environmental regulation and, for the financials, leverage regulation) is the "continually reinvigorating" best of them.

Consumer Credit Decline Continues

>>The stock market, of course, could care less<<...

...until it *does*... Markets are funny that way.

Cut Ken Lewis Some Slack - For Now

>>Ken Lewis is likely nothing more than a run of the mill banker who made it to the top through driving ambition and probably a lot of luck.<<

This (along with Nocera's column in today's NY Times) strikes me as an excellent assessment of the guy-- i.e., a classic incarnation of "The Peter Principle". However, I'm not sure why we should "climb down off his back" when he's an arrogant ("I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking") liar (note his contradictory testimony in Washington) who has personally made tens of millions of dollars by incompetently building a "too big to fail" institution that-- because of his buying sprees-- has drained away billions of our tax dollars. Lewis looks to me like a classically phony, insecure, back-stabbing CEO (not, as Nocera notes, a "true leader"), and as far as I'm concerned, the press-- as long at it sticks to the facts-- can have a field day with him. (And, lol, even though it may sound like it, I swear I've never worked for-- nor was fired by-- the guy!)

Five Reasons the Market Could Crash This Fall

>>I am officially going on record now and stating that IF the S&P 500 hits 1,000, we will see a full-blown Crash like last year.<<

LOL... Fortunately, when you wrote this, you followed Rule #1 of economic predicting: If you give them the price, don't give them the timing!

How Was March a Bad Month?

They had probably shorted their own stock!

Credit Card Crunch: Creating a New Generation of Subprime

Credit card borrowers can't pay? Hey, no problem-- the U.S. government can guarantee THOSE receivables, too... I mean, it's only money!

Slow Down Mr. Roubini

"the White House has publicly announced it will not nationalize banks and has taken action to prop up Citigroup."

Uh, excuse me, but owning somewhere between 25% and 40% of the common equity in something (which is the latest rumor about what the government is doing with Citi) isn't at least PARTIAL "nationalization"??? It looks to me as if you're wrong and Roubini's right, and we didn't have to wait until August to find this out.