richpee

Airlines: Some Costs They Can't - And Shouldn't - Cut

All I know about airlines, is that their management officers, their organization and structure can be put in a thimble. What I do know and am smart enough to do is stay away from any investments in such a stupid historical money losing industry.
One of my lifetime best friends was a pilot for United Airlines and what I know about him is that he was screwed tattoo and put out to pasture in the harshest way a man going into retirement could every be treated. He lost $$millions$$ of dollars in his lifetime pension annuity retirement income benefits to the stupid management decisions and failure to put enough monies away to fund promised pension payments for his and his fellow United Airline pilots pension plan. So much so it was forfeited over to GPBC (Guaranty Pension Benefits Pension)and reduced to 1/4 of it's required payments for life. Sadly GPBC itself is being overloaded with GM,C, and many other banks and hundreds of to come bankruptcies and failures in corporate America. So these lifetime faithful employees, Flight attendants, tarmac workers will ultimately see GPBC go busted as it's now almost in default by billions of dollars to end with up all of these wokers losing everything th ey saved and after a dedicated lifetime of working?? FAIR? NO...a disaster for all of these retirees.
Who in the hell is crazy enough to INVEST in these AIrlines.Companies starting out losing money going thorough their entire existence losing money??Daaaa Something's wrong with that picture./ This article as good as it is only points out a small part of the horrible outcomes for all of these employees.

As a financial planner, investment consultant all my working life I had the privilege of working with many old Piedmont Airlines and US Air pilots etc and actually talking them into taking early retirement and demanding a lump sum payout settlement on every possible penny that they could get and putting their fund in Section 72 IRA Roll Over plans and diversify their entire retirement program. Lucky for them my advise to them, they are all happy campers now with their full boat withdrawals setting in their own self managed plans. Because of their decision to take early retirement and a lump sum settlement rather than a paid monthly pension payout.They've had the sad privilege of watching their fellow airline employees who choose not to do that see their invested funds, pension funds plans get destroyed like so many of the United Airline pilots have in the last 8..9 years.

Sadly I couldn't convince my dear friend to do the same with his United Airline Funds and UAL stock back then. He like his fellow retirees have somewhat lost it all..no lump sums..the airlines stopped allow that years ago. What has happened is he's had him monthly pension reduced to 1/4 of what he should be getting. He now stands to even lose that payment option when we will end up seeing the GPBC go the way all of us will see Medicare and Social Security crash around our heads!! Sad Sad state of future affairs!

NO AIRLINE STOCK INVESTMENTS FOR ME EVER!!!
AIRLINE MANAGEMENT SUCKS!!! IRLINE stocks are worthless fancy paper after all said and done!

Death Industry Revival Expected in 2013

This article points out some interesting facts to consider about the future benefits of dying in the next few years. Most importantly not to be political in any manner, but the current administration's hell bent attitude towards raising taxation to the highest levels ever seem in America's economic history would provide most Baby Boomers a good exit time before they were "taxed to death".
Or finding themselves actually able to die cheaper than to live the normal life style they were accustomed to, and pay the higher increased tax rate. This is probably the only way to beat the "taxes and Death" syndrome you speak herein too.

But you have to remember that people are dying to get into the cemeteries and that's possibly a good way to capitalized on a currently discounted funeral plot while real estate market is at it's low ebb. In years to come we 've all heard that they aren't making any more ground..dirt..real estate. It's here to stay as they say. SO check your local newspapers and look for adds like," To young to die I need money the Democratic are killing me but won't let me die. (They need my tax money)..selling cemetery lots dirt cheap!"

But beware of those people/business selling casket at discount wholesale prices on the internet you get what you pay for. Recent surveys of the deposited sublimed interned bodies have all stated the liners were cheap, uncomfortable and lumpy and hard to sleep on Plus they all leaked water after 30 days when the warranty was over with!

My last bit of advice is go into your local funeral homes and inspect their office, chapels etc and find out their connection if they are local or a franchise operation or a national firm. See for yourself if you'd be comfortable with these people..they will be the last ones to let you down!

Why Natural Gas ETFs Should See Big Gains This Week

article is good makes sense but did you also see this one?
Natural Gas Has Spiked 60% Since Labor Day. Why? 5 comments
by: Dian L. Chu September 14, 2009 | about: UNG
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Font Size: PrintEmail TweetThis As reported by Zero Hedge on Thursday, September 10, 2009, natural gas was up by about 16% on no real change in the fundamentals of the commodity. By the end of the trading day, natural gas saw its biggest one-day gain of 15% in almost five years (Fig. 1, click to enlarge). Natural gas price has spiked almost 60 % since Labor Day and prompted investors to believe a V-shaped recovery might be near for the brutally battered U.S. natural gas market. However, don’t break out the champagne just yet until you learn more about two of the major factors driving this latest spike, pipeline Operation Flow Orders and from the trader's perspective.



Operation Flow Orders (OFOs)...What?

On the surface, the Thursday gain was sparked mainly by the Energy Department’s weekly data that showed a “smaller-than-forecast” increase in U.S. stockpiles. Though the news did not really change the overall supply and demand picture, it did send traders scrambling to buy back previously sold positions.

However, according to industry insiders, the "smaller-than-expected" increase in gas storage was largely due to what the pipeline industry called Operation Flow Orders (OFOs). Pipelines may issue OFOs in the event of high or low pipeline inventory. OFOs require shippers/producers to balance their gas supply with their customers' usage on a daily basis, within a specified tolerance band. Shippers may deliver additional supply or limit their supply in order to match customers’ usage. If the supply isn’t balanced, shippers may incur noncompliance charges.

In other words, when OFO's are issued in an oversupply environment like we are in right now, shippers/producers either comply, i.e., sending less gas to pipelines & storages, or pay a penalty. As most shippers logically chose to comply with the OFOs, the volume that normally goes to storage ended up overflowing to the spot market pressuring prices to around $1.84/mmbtu on Friday, 9/4/09, just before Labor Day.

Storage facilities and pipelines typically raise their tolerance band after Labor Day to prepare for the higher winter usage season. So, the lift after Labor Day normalized the market and is a major contributing factor in the 60% rise of natural gas prices since Labor Day.

Although some producers already shut down production in response to the current OFOs, more production shut-in is expected as pipelines continue issuing new OFO's.

The Trader's Perspective

One alternative explanation, from a trader’s perspective, is that a large natural gas player saw the opportunity to make a huge profit by blowing out the stops of the large contingent of traders who were short the natgas market. For example, someone like John D. Arnold, the former Enron trader who is one of the large players in the natural gas market. To the point, the move in natural gas form $3.00 to $3.30 during late day trading on Thursday was strictly due to the pre-configured stop orders being hit.

Still a Very Short and Decoupled Market

Based on a Bloomberg report, although the number of shorts did decline 3.9% from a week earlier, speculative short positions still outnumbered long positions by 169,846 contracts on Nymex for the week ending September 1st, 2009, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In a short market, things can get extremely volatile and completely decoupled from any fundamental or technical indications.

Crude oil and equities markets, which traditionally have a negative correlation, have moved in tandem for the most part of this year. The upward momentum has some investors chasing natural gas, which theoretically should have a fair amount of correlation with oil.


However, as discussed in Oil and Natural Gas: Ratio Explodes in 2009, natural gas tends to be regional, while crude is more globally driven. If we look at the price movement of crude oil, natural gas and the S&P 500 (SPX), it is evident natural gas has completely decoupled and gone off on its own downward spiral (Fig. 2, click to enlarge). This suggests in general that commodity and equities markets will likely be irrelevant to natural gas in the near to medium term, given the fact that there is no fundamental U.S. demand.

Heading for a Sub-Zero Price Zone?

Despite the signals given by Thursday's spike, U.S. natural gas storage currently stands at 3.392 bcf, 17% higher year-over-year, and fast approaching the maximum storage capacity of about 3,900 bcf. The September 2009 EIA Short-term Energy Outlook now expects another 12% build in working natural gas inventories reaching 3,840 Bcf at the end of the 2009 injection season, i.e., October 31st (Fig. 3).

So, there will likely be a painfully lower gas price on hand in the next 6 to 10 weeks or so until winter withdrawals begin. During this period, we could have a short and sharp collapse in the spot price in the sub $2.00 range.


A colder than usual winter season as currently forecast by weather bugs is likely to boost natural gas prices higher; however, if this weather pattern fails to materialize leading to a max-out storage capacity, then we could be looking at a brief sub zero price scenario similar to one the UK experienced in 2006.

Crystal Ball into 2010 & Beyond

Natural gas prices are down about 42% so far this year as demand has been sluggish during the economic downturn, while production from onshore gas fields has remained robust. The EIA now estimates that total domestic natural gas consumption will likely decline by 2.4% in 2009 and remain flat in 2010. As the economy starts to recover and production cuts kick in on a larger scale, natural gas prices should rebound averaging close to the $5.00-$6.00 range in 2010 and gradually ramp up from there. Investors and traders should brace themselves for quite possibly the darkest days in the next 2 months for the natural gas market in over a decade before the dawn finally breaks.

Disclosure: No Positions

First Trust Community Banks ETF Set to Launch July 1

Lower risk! Lower Return? Wy would -should be be a success as cpompare dot the larger ETF's?

Storage: The Best Renewable Energy Integration Strategy?

Still no one is wworking on the Natutal gas conversion of cars vs trying to go to battriesd forcing the barrey upon cionsurmers..when ooooooAmerica Gas companie shave just reported 2 new gas discoveries one larger than 100 year saplus to serve all of America's convirted oil useage for heating cars trasportation etc. if America woudl just convirt to gas..WHY ISN"T OBAMA doig that whjy aren't we as a country and our businesses smart enought to do this>>WQHY WHY??

Can We Bank on a Financial ETF Rebound?

When you can buy an EFT like UYG for $1.37 a shares and sell it one weeklater for $3.01 it works good. FAS went from $3.50 area to over $7.00 in that same time period. Nice return ? yes!

This to me is an excellent opportunity to buy into a diverse portfolio of banks,finacial service industry at deep discounts to true value.

Look at XLF FAS IYG KBW UYG RKH beware--some of these are triple leveraged and double leveraged higher risk-higher reward but read-study them before you buy. Time the market and watch your investments. Nothing wrong with trading the trend in this volitle market either.

It's probabaly time for a retrenchment on this run up back down 7 to 8% and then we're in for a good ride, Hopefully, these financail investmetn ETF's will help you make soem back

How About Adjustable Principal Mortgages Instead?

I'm confused? Alex Trais seems to be talking about personal adjustable Principal home mortgages??But User 366653 seems to be talking about the entire bailout program on sub-prime mortgages...where's the match here?
Am I missing something?

I've also written number of letters..no answers of course..who cares what I think...it seems.

But to me there's something about granting a reduction in a delinquent home mortgage to someone who's failed to properly pay in the first place and not get into delinquent situation on their mortgage seems like playing Russian Roulette with 6 bullets filling all the open cylinders of the gun..no chance for survival and not shooting yourself!!!

Guys what about something so simple....

If our government is set to reward delinquent home owners ready to go into foreclosure..

Then let the banking/mortgager company who is holding the loan..not give the homeowner any reductions on their mortgages..

"WHY DO THEY DESERVE ONE?" but to lower the mortgage rate of interest to 2.5 to 3% extend the loan over a 40 year period which would lower the house payment substantially..the


1.home owner gets to stay in the house
2. The mortgage company is not forced into losing more money and interest
3. The government isn't having to"come up with " piles of money for the bail out..we keep our nations debt down!
4. American citizen don't feel raped by dead beats as they are thinking now...na d if it's a real person who's gotten into harms way by lsoing their job-being fired etc..then they have an aditonal optin to stay in their homes..

We have a win win for everyone..the owner gets a 2nd chance to prove their mettle....the loan gets extended..
The house if it was going "under or is under water" the owner will have time to come back with the return of house values. If they fail to keep up their payments the loan company can then justifiably take -reposes the home and resale it for the adjusted market value and then take the loss justifiably.

Nationalization the Ayn Rand Way

Ayn Rand ahead of her time...yes...plus a women in the times of men to boot!

Herein, in this article and comments I see a bunch of ninnies balling their personal stupid words as if they mean something. Negative-Positive make no difference.

One truth be known, America was built on the premises of the land of the free the home of the brave. Here we are at the altar of scafice-and we're prisoners of our own greed,corruption, and dishonesty. It prevails from the depths of politicians to the highest ranking officer in our corporations. Government agencies lying their way i.e., Fannie Mae/ Genie Mae while the politicians took contributions from them for their election races granting favors however requested to build the blow out we face.Blame laid to Wall Street-Bankers by politicians-vs. politician corruption said to be the cause from Wall Street/Bankers. Both lying though their actions and laying blame.

The Brave, they are forgotten as our soldiers die in a battle of political entrapment from lying to the manifested needs to enter the wars in the first place. America gripped in fear is now starting to give into the enemies of our country by not standing up to their misdeeds and infringement of our boundaries and citizens rights. Will we lay down to our enemies?

Our government is now growing bigger and in the guise of need by taking over industries responsibilities with the vivid lack of ability to govern and police in their own place successfully because of that same greed and political corruption that it holds industry in ransom today.

Yet you nippies herein bay without the abilities to justify your own words,hipoctrical in their very context.

Wake up America..you're in a serious mess created by greed,corruption and lying it's way to it's pinnacle of failure unlike the very principles it were founded on.Words and writing will never prevail as it will take courage and honesty to face the truth and act in a brave and free effective approach in each and every miss deed to overcome our crisis we have brought ourselves to. Sides against sides is not the answer -but with single unity based on truth and wisdom will prevail for the end to be successful.

Come together America..this maybe your last chance to save the very nation we've created all these years and now attempt to destroy with more energy that it took us to get here in the first place. It took 200+ years to build our nation and just 2 to 3 years to almost destroy it. Is that right? Inspect your own personal true feelings and set aside your "political" persona and let the truth of the times set in to rule the righteous of nation to be the strongest test for your words and deeds. Help in your own way to contribute your share of honesty and deeds to drive our nation back to the top and help clear our errors---do your part! Stop baying at the wind with these ninny comments!

Rich Powers

Ten Reasons to Avoid the Gold ETF

FF

I have no idea or understnaidng why you've written your artilce as you did. Misinformed and misrepresenting your comments. Had you done any reserach you would have seen that the SPDR is holding GOLD on deposit at State Street Bank & Trust and the following links will show all of the readers interested on what's rela or not rela by reviewing the prospectus..
It's scary that artilce like this can be wriotten and present ed in a professinal manner..hopefully interested investors haven't been turned away from a legal enity that has been reviewed and approved for sale by the SEC in the USA.

I've passed your article on to the underwriters for further review and to adress your points and respond upon them

RIchpee

by looking at the prospectus...you can see

www.spdrgoldshares.com.../

Total Gold In Trust:
Tonnes: 1,008.80
Ounces: 32,433,843
Value US$: 31,260,874,923.52


www.spdrgoldshares.com.../





Please check this article out and give me your professional opinion as to the validity of this writters comments..

on the backing of GOLD metals if any on GLD ETF series...


seekingalpha.com/artic...

Oil Drops - But OPEC Looms

AP
Kuwait says no need for OPEC to cut production
Monday September 8, 5:21 pm ET
By Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press Writer
Kuwaiti minister says there's no need for OPEC to cut production

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Kuwait's oil minister said Monday that there is no need for OPEC to cut production, despite crude prices that have fallen nearly 30 percent since July.
Mohammed Abdullah Al-Aleem is part of an OPEC committee whose recommendations could play in OPEC's final decision on what to do about output.

He spoke on the eve of a meeting of oil ministers from the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries who will decide whether to reduce production or keep it at current levels.

"For the time being ... there is no need to cut production," Al-Aleem said, but he added that current supply had outpaced demand.

While officials from Iran and Libya who said there is too much crude on the market, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates said OPEC's policy of keeping the world oil market "well supplied" had not changed.

Minister of Energy Mohammed Bin Dhaen al-Hamli was also quoted by UAE's state news agency as saying that crude oil stockpiles in heavily consuming countries are within recent average levels.

Oil prices have fallen nearly 30 percent from their highs above $147 a barrel.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil seemed to support, at least in principle, the stance that current oil supplies are enough to satisfy global demand.

"Definitely, there is plenty of oil on the market, " Khelil said upon arriving in Vienna, forecasting that by the end of 2008 or early 2009, daily oil output would exceed demand by between 500,000 and 1.5 million barrels.

Asked what OPEC's likely decision regarding output would be, Khelil said "all options are open."

As with most other OPEC officials, Khelil blamed speculators and a weak U.S. currency for the run-up in oil.

"What we are seeing now is that the inverse relation between the U.S. dollar and the oil price is verified," Khelil said.

Iran, the group's No. 2 producer, has been among the most vocal proponent of tightening the oil spigots.

"We believe the market is oversupplied," Iran's oil minister, Gholam Hossein Nozari, told reporters, adding that the ministers planned to make a decision on what to do about production after their review Tuesday.

Echoing those comments, Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., told The Associated Press: "There is a glut in the market that warrants creating order."

He said that OPEC members producing above assigned quotas should be urged to curb output in line with those limits.

"There is a lot of oil in the market, much more than demand," he said.

No one is predicting much of a cutback at Tuesday's meeting -- if any at all. Still, such a move would not even have been thought of with oil prices setting record after record back in July.

But the bull run appears to have paused, if not ended, which could provide some wiggle room at OPEC's Vienna headquarters.

Since crude surged to a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11, it has tumbled by over $40.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose a modest 11 cents Monday to settle at $106.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as Hurricane Ike threatened oil and gas facilities in and around the Gulf of Mexico.

On Friday, however, the contract fell by $1.66 to settle at $106.23, a five-month low.

The downward spiral has led Iran to suggest that it is time to reduce output from the nearly 30.5 million barrels a day being pumped last month by the organization's members.

Still, a major cutback is unlikely without Saudi compliance, and the Saudis -- de-facto OPEC policy setters who are now producing nearly a third of total OPEC output -- have given no hint they favor that option. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi has instead talked about a floor of $80.

OPEC has reason to be cautious.

Despite their precipitous fall, prices remain 14 percent higher this year than in 2007, and a barrel of benchmark crude still fetches four times what it did five years ago.

Any OPEC move Tuesday to pare back output would result in protests from the U.S. and other major consumers.

Despite their precipitous fall, prices remain 14 percent higher this year than in 2007, and a barrel of benchmark crude still fetches four times what it did five years ago.

Additionally, OPEC understands that high prices drive down demand and will likely try to find a balance between high profits and a price that the market can accept.

That middle way would mean agreeing to pare away at overproduction without reducing the overall output quota of 27.3 million barrels a day set in November for the 12 OPEC members under production limits.

Associated Press writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna.

Oil Drops - But OPEC Looms

oil minsters ar emeeting now..rumor has it oil poegged at $100 cut back production to maintian it at thta price or above check your comments to
make sure your on target!