k9s-4-k8

Winning ETFs under Obama

I have some different ETF choices as winning ETFs under Obama.
QID, SDS, DXD, TWM SDD, DUG, SRS, REW, SSG, FXP.
I would also leverage up in gold and short the dollar.

U.S. Can Blame Wall Street - Who Should Everyone Else Blame?

Bankers, Congressmen, Subprime loan originators, homeowner wannabees all share in this fiasco. Its rather ironic that of these we,re financially bailing out the bankers and the homeowner wannabees. We're also bailing out Congressmen through the last election by reelecting virtually all the same scumbags that gave us Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As for the subprime loan originators---we haven't prosecuted any of them so take that as a stay out of jail free card.
I never thought I would be saying this but this country needs someone like Ron Paul.

'As GM Goes, So Goes the Nation': Let's Hope Iacocca Is Wrong

Come on Matty, tell us what you really think.
Predicting GMs bankruptcy a year ago? What took you so long? I've known for more than 10 years that they would go bk, the only question was exactly when.
What is really needed in this situation is a managed bankruptcy. Managed so as to affirm to some that GM intends to honor certain contracts that will benefit the company, while dishing off what they need to rid the company of. The government should be involved to make sure they stay on course, and especially since they still need our investment money if they want to live again. UAW won't like it one bit, but they don't care one wit about the company beyond making certain their workers are paid. No doubt about it, this will benefit the company and its employees over the long run, while limiting the possibility that taxpayers will be on the hook much as French taxpayers are on the hook for life with Airbus.

Russia's Massive Foreign Reserves Outflow

On Nov 10 09:22 PM The hand wrote:


> this is thinking like an american looking into russia. if you think
> this way you will fail in dealing with russia. think like a russian
> - with pain there is gain. if you are a business or trader - demands
> will be made of you outside the contract. conversely, you have the
> right to make demands outside the contract. this is the way friends
> act towards each other. friendship must be earned. trust comes
> from friendship.

This isn't thinking like a Russian. Its more like, if there is pain, I will shoot you in the dead of night and steal your booty.
The naivete of those that deny the existence of the Russian mafia is stifling.
Now, if I am the Russian government, I will arrest you on trumped up charges like income tax evasion, nationalize your company put my cronies in charge and throw you into prison till you grow old and die.
If you are a former KGB agent who speaks ill of Putin and his goons, while living in exile in a foreign capital, I will send my agents to spike your cocktail with Plutonium 210 and deny everything later.

Neel Kashkari Wants You to Read Between the Lines

That pretty much sums it up, but I can hear Congress now and its growing louder, " I can't heeeaarrr you!!!!!!

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Hey, I could use a bailout. I'm not being foreclosed on, and I'm not laying people off, which should allow me some goodwill points. Enough of these multi-billion dollar packages. How greedy!! I have to be responsible with taxpayer money. I'll go discount here. I propose $5 million. I'll even happily pay in the new higher tax bracket to show my patriotism.

Will Fear Forever Trump Greed?

Value doesn't fight reality, it fights perceived reality. Better yet, perceived value fights with perceived reality. As our perception changes so will the pricing of the market.

Thankfully Bailouts Haven't Been Expanded to Overnight Delivery Companies

Maybe the New York Times will prepare their case for a bailout. The Democrats owe them big time.

Scrooge, aka Taxpayer, Heads for Wall Street

The payroll system on Wall Street can sometimes be quite troubling. They don't earn their income like the average Joe. They get a salary but it isn't what attracted them to the industry. Its the year-end bonus that provides them with the necessary incentive to produce. If they eliminate the year-end bonus, Wall Street firms would be less productive. Now some would reason that would have been good considering what kind of production they have been doing the last few years, and I'll give you that. But if they were operating under a union contract much as the UAW has its union members, we would be in the same place but for different reasons. Productive vs. nonproductive.
Yet still, a case must be made for those that weren't at all involved in credit default swaps or the packaging of mortgage backed securities. Anyone involved in these divisions of production deserve no bonus, but for those involved in divisions that were profitable, should they not be rewarded accordingly? And what do we say about the firms that were forced to accept government investment. They weren't all willing participants. Should they be treated in the same way?

Three Problems with the Fannie / Freddie Mortgage Modifications

If a deal must be made, maybe we should first open up the same offer to those that might better qualify and weren't so hasty to buy into a housing market that was rising at an unsustainable rate. If nobody seizes on the renegotiated price, allow the original occupants to retain the home with the renegotiated mortgage.
This would serve us better in a number of ways. First, as a taxpayer I wouldn't be as upset at someone who played by the rules to have first crack. Second, it would eliminate moral hazard. Third, we may get someone who better qualifies for the loan and therefore we wouldn't be in jeopardy of this home later falling into foreclosure anyway.

Obama's Green Obsession: More Harm Than Good?

Personally, I would love to see our country turn to alternative green fuels. I would love to have a cleaner environment. I'm constantly scouring over possible new developments and/or breakthroughs in green technologies on science websites. Everything from advancements in battery technologies, to algae biodiesel, to better nuclear plant designs, to fuel cells and on and on. I've done this for a number of years and I've come to some understandings about the search. First, the government has been funding plenty of these scientific ventures for years. I also realize that most of these ideas don't pan out no matter how great they initially sound. The problem is scientists are like everybody else. They are also ethically challenged. They will exaggerate and/or distort their findings in order to receive funding. Additional money will just attract more scientific scammers. It is all pretty much a big waste of taxpayer dollars. Now, I'm not saying that the Federal government ought not fund many of these ventures, but I KNOW $150 billion will be down the toilet. I do believe we are on the verge of breakthroughs in a number of areas. But additional government money isn't a precursor to getting there any sooner. The fact of the matter is the greatest incentive has always been there. Any patentable work will make millionaires out of those that introduce us all to a better way. Some might say more government money will attract more scientists into coming up discoveries. Government money always attract more people who desire a piece of the pie. It just won't lead us any faster to a better way. We don't have enough scientists in this country as it is. The money will draw them from every other field and development will be crippled. A better way to spend the $150 billion would be to provide scholarships for science majors that exhibit the right stuff.

White-Hot Mad over AIG

On the one hand, I can understand the anger, but then people explain their anger that only exposes their inability to grasp the alternative inaction. Should we throw caution to the wind and assume that any claim of a resultant worldwide domino effect is nonexistent? Is counterparty risk a ruse to suck in taxpayer money for the bailiout? Isn't Paulsen experienced enough to understand the risk, or is he in on this ruse?
We can already see some of the depth of this crisis. Are we anyway close to the end? Would it be better and/or cheaper if we just let them all fail? Did anyone note how the world credit market froze up AFTER Lehman brothers went belly up? Do you really think Lehman was THE big player? How much cheaper would it be if we let AIG fail? Surely less than $150 billion, eh? And if it turned out to be much, much, much worse...surely we wouldn't blame the government for having allowed them to fail. That's just the capitalist way.
These firms won't get off scot free. They blew up their companies, and will have to deal with the ensuing mega-regulation, litigation and resultant slow, slow growth for decades to come. These firms will never employ as many people as they have the last few years. They won't make money like they had earlier this decade, for years and years to come. They will never attract investor money as they once had. They will pay, but unfortunately, we have to pay first if we want to have any chance of avoiding the kind of unemployment, bankrupt businesses and overall economic turmoil that our initial and likely, additional capital infusions, may possibly ward off.

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Its readily apparent that the big 3 will be bailed out, they will make little or no changes to their labor costs with the Obama administration in charge, and it will become necessary to infuse more and more and more and more money into these companies in what will be a failed attempt to prop up these companies. What killed these companies is the dual combination of failed engineering and labor expense containment. Ultimately, management is at fault. Therefore, they need to fail. For those that raise up financial firms and ask why we don't allow them to fail, I agree in my heart. However, my head tells me otherwise. The problem is that if we allow firms such as AIG, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch to fail, counterparty risk will bring down the entire world financial structure. Because business relies upon finance, they will all fail as well. We got a sample of what will happen when we allowed Lehman Brothers to fail. Just like a child that touches a hot griddle for the first time.

AIG's Implosion Caused by Misplaced Bets on Credit Default Swaps

I think it would be amiss to say that the culprit are CDS. Credit default swaps are a form of insurance. They actually spread the risk. The real culprit is over-leverage of the CDS market. It really came down to greed and stupidity. Firms didn't fully understand the ramifications of the leverage they held in these contracts, while their greed led them down the path of adding more and more so as to improve annual returns on equity. The near-term benefit were year end bonuses while shareholders were left holding the bag. Even if these companies survive, litigation will go on for years and years.