epeon

U.S. Handling of Financial Crisis - A Less Optimistic View

I must admit that I am very disappointed by Obama. Since the US government owns several banks what I don't understand is why the administration doesn't break these up into smaller pieces. Pieces that are not "too big to fail." What Obama is doing is just giving tax money away. Very disappointing.

Looking for Out-of-Favor Stocks

I have owned ARLP for some time. Granted, it has been out of favor and I have not made a lot of money. However, it has paid a steady 8% dividend and I have written covered calls against it. For example, I wrote a covered call at 40 for December. Between the covered calls and the divy I have managed to eak out a steady 12 to 14%. So, I will probably keep it and write another covered call in December. It will be at 40 and out a few months.

Is Crude Oil Headed Lower?

Two things support the price of crude. First, there is a 5% depeletion going on continously. This means that crude production is going down unless we build new oil production infrastructure. It has been estimated to maintain current capacity that the world needs to spend $1 Trillion/year. We are not doing that. Secondly, the US dollar is going down in dollar. So, a lot of the price increase is merely inflation.

Senator Schumer Misses the Full Picture on A-Power's Joint Texas Wind Farm

When windpower is described as the new ethanol, you are being generous. Windpower derived electricity is priced at $.18/kwhr. It is not competitive. For the US government to spend my money supporting this boondoggle is the heighth of stupidity. But, then again, its government money.

If windpower makes sense it would not need subsidies.

Cisco: Becoming Too Big and Too Acquisitive for Its Own Good?

I basically agree. Cisco has been "dead money" for a decade. Not only has the stock price done nothing, it pays no dividend. It is a bad investment and has been for a long time.

Buffett's BNI Purchase: Bearish Bet on the Economy?

I am a bit puzzled by Buffet's bet, too. He waited till BNI went up from March and then put on top of that another 30% premium. It seems to me, that the US economy has to come around big for him to make out well.

Buffet did this last year when he bought COP at the top. He also bought GE at 20. Of course, in the GE case he got a 10% preferred dividend to tide him over. With the Obama policies, I think we could see several years of low growth. It may take him some time for this to work out. Again, just like COP.

Riding the Rails: Why BNI Was Berkshire's Best Bet - And Vintage Buffett

I wonder about this one. Is this just another cop buy? First, he paid a substantial premium for BNI. And, he paid that premium after the stock price had risen substantially since March. Secondly, with current government macro policies, the US could be entering a "lost" decade like Japan. I am not optimistic about the US economy over the next five years. We shal see.

Hydrogen-Fueled Cars Become a Thing of the Present

I hate repeating myself, but no one apparently listens. The problem with hydrogen as a fuel supply is two fold. The first is how to generate it. The only practical approach is nuclear power but we really don't have enough nukes. However, I concede that this could be done.

Secondly, how do you store and handle it? Hydrogen is stored a cryogenic temperatures. Are you really proposing a cryogenic tank for an auto? That, frankly, is not practical nor economic. No one has solved this issue. There has been research on metal hydride technology but, as of this date, nothing has happened to make it practical or economic. Until this last problem is solved, hydrogen is a pipedream.

'Too Big to Fail' Is Too Hot to Handle

Any bank that received TARP money should be viewed as a fail institution. Therefore, as part of the "workout", the goal should be to reduce its size so that it is not "too big to fail." Thus citigroup and bank of america should be broken up into smaller banks that can be allowed to fail.

Bemused by GDP Figures

Sure doesn't seem like happy days to me. I live in Houston and we are just getting by. The big engineering firms talk about new projects, but they keep getting delayed. I just don't see a turnaround here, yet.

Cap and Trade Would Sink the U.S. Economy

On a more serious note, passing Cap and Trade would be the deathknell of the democratic party. Consider the following scenario: we pass this trash and the result is 10 to 12% unemployment for the next decade, industry does a mass migration to China and India. The democrats go to the electorate which is suffering and says, "Hey, in a century the earth might be cooler by a degree!" Yes, that will be a good sell. I don't see how a republican could loose in that scenario.

Cap and Trade Would Sink the U.S. Economy

Hey, if you don't like cap and trade then leave the country. Go to some place like......China, or India. Yeah, that's it. Take your money, your stinking jobs, your economic future. We don't need it. We got Hope and Change. Yeah, that's the story.

You know this is the same sort of stuff they said about California a few years ago. They said that all that regulation, taxation, greenie economics would cause the state budget to implode and the economy to stink. And, we know that never happened. Right??

Fixing GMAC: Paging JPM

We deserve this debacle. We voted in fools to run the government and they do what fools do: foolish things. This makes over $100 billion we have poured into the GM rathole.

BP Income Statement Analysis for September 2009 Quarter

As I have said many times, I believe oil is a great longterm investment. Its price is determine by worldwide demand, not just US. So, it is somewhat immune to the shenanigans of US politicians. Secondly, BP is a major that pays a good dividend. So, you get paid while you wait for the next oil spike. All good. So, I keep a big part of my portfolio in BP.

Chrysler: The View from the White House

Well, the conclusion that everyone ended up better with Rattner's solution is obviously wrong. I am a taxpayer. Did I end up better? I think not, I got stuck with the tab for all the job Rattner doled out.