epeon

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.

Big Banks: The Consensus Is Cracking

I completely, totally agree. This whole concept of "too big to fail" is just disasterous. The best way to handle this is to break up these big oligopolies so that they are, indeed, small enough to fail with no systemic consequences. Why a democrat like Obama wants to defend such concentration of power is beyond me.

Private Equity, Business Flipping and Asymmetrical Outcomes

Let me make another devil's advocate. Years ago I worked for a company called Central Soya. Central Soya was a processor of soybeans. It was very good at this business. It knew how to build, modify, and run these plants very efficiently. It had an excellent engineering department. Central Soya had good cashflow. However, the management of the company insisted in investing in businessess it really knew nothing about (frozen, packaged foods). Management also had a fleet of airplanes and awesome offices.

Well, the company was bought out and the PE company that came in divested them of their frozen food operations and sold of the airfleet. It basically stripped them down to what they were good at. This, of course, enhanced cash flow. They then sold the company at a tidy profit.

Now, did this PE company add much? Well, in a way, they did. They focused the company on what it was good at and it stripped it of non-performing assets. Could the company's management have done this? Sure, but the never did.

What a Portfolio Approach to Climate Policy Means for Your Stock Portfolio

From an economic perspective, investing in alternative energy sources is generally foolish. For example, the cost of electricity generated via wind is about $.18/kwhr which is easily three to four times the cost of electricity generated by coal. There are exceptions, of course, nuclear power being one.

All of these alternate energy scenarios are based upon the premise that government policies will be implemented and maintained while they punish citizens (i.e. voters). Is this really plausible? If you believe this, then alternate energy longterm makes sense. However, if you believe this, why not just invest in China ETFs? They are not about to drink this climate change kool-aid and they will make out like bandits as industry shifts there to avoid this nonsense. Even if the west comes to its senses, China is still a pretty good longterm investment. So, I say, the best alternative play is China ETFs.

Hudson City Bancorp: Yielding Total Returns for Option Writers

You are too slick for me. I just buy and write covered calls on this one. have for some time. doing ok

Ford: Popular Fiesta Hatchback Coming to the U.S.

I bought a Ford escape about six months ago. I must say, it is a surprizingly good car. My wife has a Lexus and I can truthfully say I prefer the Escape. It is comfortable, convenient, and (so far) the quality is excellent. It has the small engine and six speed transmission so I get 26 mpg. Oh, the Escape is about half the price of the Lexus.

Ford is really making nice automobiles and they are inexpensive.

Private Equity, Business Flipping and Asymmetrical Outcomes

Let me play the devil's advocate here. Many of the companies that were bought out by PE were bought out on the cheap because their stock price was low. It was low because the management of said companies never properly rewarded their stockholders. These companies were run as private little fiefdoms by the management and the stockholders were, at best, an afterthought. Consequently, the stock's value languished. This made them cheap and an easy buyout target. PE then raped them.

Was PE wrong? Sure. But,these companies made themselves such easy targets by allowing their stock price to be very low in relation to their value. I guess what I am saying is that there is wrong on both sides of that buyout.