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  • The Twenty Year Stock Bubble Is Still Inflated [View article]
    Interesting figures, and I agree that we are in a stock bubble. One important point is that everything ultimately boils down to income, and when the baby boomers - who hold more stocks and wealth than others - start wanting even more of it, they will want to sell their invested capital to get it: and at current price levels, there won't be many buyers. So, prices will have to come down.

    Buy and hold now is not a good idea, unless you are a good income stock-picker, and there's not enough of those stocks to go around nor keep overall prices up.

    I'm not going long at this time, that's for sure.
    Nov 20 09:38 am |Rating: +9 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    After BO yesterday started taking a stance to defend him/his cronies from a double-dip recession, GS bonuses, a Fed audit and cries for the head of Geithner sound like more of the same: I wouldn't go buying any more stocks yet awhile, unless you really are a buy and hold fanatic with a minimum 10 year horizon.


    On Nov 20 08:56 AM doubleguns wrote:

    > GS up a creek with shareholders over bonuses, Fed audit closer and
    > Timmy asked to resign.
    >
    > Am I dreaming? Is this for real?
    >
    > Maybe dreams do come true.
    Nov 20 09:28 am |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment
  • Dr. Copper Spots a Monster Crash [View article]
    Copper has done better than gold, but for the same reason: holding onto wealth in a form other than US dollars. Lack of demand will see the price fall before future demand takes it back up again, so a short position around the New Year, if not before, should pay dividends.
    Nov 20 06:36 am |Rating: +3 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    Yep, it's pretty certain that a double dip is on the way as BO is already starting to prepare his pitch to refute it has anything to do with him or his cronies.

    Best sell up all stocks and buy gold if ya don't wanna go broke.
    Nov 19 08:56 am |Rating: +9 -3 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    The official pundits can't agree on the strength of the recovery, Obama can't get the Chinese to loosen their currency peg, yet Wall Street can get straight back to business profits as usual regardless. Regardless of whatever is happening to the rest of us, these guys are taking their piece, and a lot of the discomfort to everyone else is due to the size of it. It's past time for setting pay and bonus rates for these guys in terms of what they actually produce. Plenty of other people have as much ability as the incumbents and will work for reasonable rewards, and not demand excessive pay for underwhelming work done.
    Nov 18 08:48 am |Rating: +8 0 |Link to Comment
  • U.S. - China Meeting Outcome: China Has the Upper Hand [View article]
    The US dollar and the Chinese renmimbi/yuan will not be parting company anytime soon. The Chinese still need their currency to be competitive with the US dollar in order to drive their own economy. The peg means that trade with the US does not get much affected as the dollar changes in value relative to other currencies, and as the trend is a drift downwards generally, the renmimbi gets more competitive against other currencies. Heads the Chinese win, and tails they do to.
    Nov 18 06:12 am |Rating: +2 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Why the Stock Market Should Crash [View article]
    A bit late in here, but when the bonus season is over, then watch the markets crash!
    Nov 18 06:02 am |Rating: +5 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    Nothing much is going to happen between now and New Year: we'll keep being told it's getting better and we know that it isn't, but unless some bad news manages to squeeze through the rose-colored sweet-spelling filters that are so much in use right now, the markets will tick along at the present level for a while longer, and the dollar will rise and fall with every economists' comment for better or worse, though trending down slowly as US economic influence wanes in the global economy. Is this a lull before the storm?
    Nov 17 09:03 am |Rating: +8 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    Well the money-go-round has got itself working well on the run up to Christmas, bonus season and good will to all. Enjoy it whilst it lasts, because when the day of reckoning comes, we're the ones who'll be paying the tab whilst the fat cats and politicians will be finding new excuses for getting it wrong yet again.
    Nov 16 10:23 am |Rating: +4 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    TARP will be a loss to taxpayers! Surely not! How could this be when we've had so many public spirited bank bosses and politicians working around the clock trying their very best to put money into the pockets of the poor overburdened taxpayer by rescuing the banks and financial companies using their own money (well, the governments really, but they think its their own) and without taking anything for themselves nor wanting any accolades for so doing!

    We should all be chastened by their actions and so grateful for all that they have done for us. And let's not be churlish by thinking that they may have some thoughts in the back of their minds that they could get something out of it for themselves. Shame on you!
    Nov 13 08:45 am |Rating: +10 -2 |Link to Comment
  • Macy's: Better than Expected Results Lift Guidance [View article]
    Christmas is coming and stores may sell more! What analyst worked his butt off evaluating that?
    Nov 12 11:24 am |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    The dollar won't slide catastrophically because there is no other currency to replace it right now, not because it's intrinsically worth holding more than other currencies, but it will decline over time, just as the British pound did from the beginning of the last century and for most of it.

    A weaker dollar helps exporters and tourism, which is good, but hinders the growth of emerging economies, which may slow them down a little, but won't stop the trend.

    On balance, the US needs a weaker currency to support trade which will help real businesses recover. Not so many people will currently be insistent on spending money on foreign goods or looking to increase their overseas vacationing, so any extra cost there won't hurt much. Imports will be more costly, but the US has a wide internal market that can supply most needs anyway.

    Overall, a drop in the dollar will likely be beneficial. Better that than rampant inflation which will destroy value over many years to come, and which worries me will be the result of quantitative easing. If a weaker dollar reduces that process, I will be satisfied.
    Nov 12 08:30 am |Rating: +7 -2 |Link to Comment
  • U.S. Wages Are Out of Balance, As We Well Know [View article]
    Excessive pay is a problem, and not just in the US. The UK has copied the US here, and I do not believe it is a coincidence that the UK is suffering so badly economically also. The upper echelons not only pay themselves too much but do so on an after-taxes basis, making the gross amount even more exorbitant. This money comes out before profits, depressing performance as a result, as well as being a drain on a company's resources. In good times, it is not so evident, but come the bad times, where we are now, and not only does it become obvious but it makes it that much harder to recover because these costs have still to be covered.

    The general workforce is not overpaid, but the bosses most certainly are.
    Nov 11 11:08 am |Rating: +4 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Bear Verdict Should Please Wall Street [View article]
    Bad judgment and greed aren't crimes: agreed, but the mentality that these people have is no better than that of a criminal, only they don't break laws that will make them that.

    The difference between breaking in and stealing someone else's goods, and taking their money in, high risk gambling with it, and telling them it's been lost in a bad investment, is not one of criminal or not criminal but one of morals and ethics. These financial workers have as low if not lower morals and ethics than a criminal when it comes to regard for others and their possessions, and the effect that depriving them of such has on people and their families.

    One big difference is a criminal goes to jail, whilst a stupid financier languishes in his expensive home, leaving it only to laugh all the way to the bank.
    Nov 11 08:58 am |Rating: +4 -1 |Link to Comment
  • Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
    AIG boss says they can't retain talent under compensation restrictions? Seems to me they shouldn't want to retain the "talent" that got them into the mess they're in in the first place.

    This rubbish about excessive pay to retain talent must stop: there are plenty of people out there with real talent who will work for far less than some of the pampered financial workers we've had in the past and still have now; and they are just as good, if not better, and won't constantly moan about pay and threaten to go elsewhere (though who would want them beats me).

    Do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, and then we'll soon see how quickly we can get back to a sound financial footing.
    Nov 11 08:47 am |Rating: +15 -2 |Link to Comment
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