Hillsfar

As Gross Says, The Fed Provides 'Return-Free' Risk

OK. You've convinced me. So where do we little invest?

Jobs Situation Getting Worse for Full-Time Workers

What can be outsourced to another country, is being outsourced.
What can be relocated to another state or city providing tax breaks, is being done.
What can be done with fewer people, is being done with fewer people.
What can be done with lower wage workers, is being done with lower wage workers.
What can be done with cheaper technology, is being done with cheaper technology.

So what is it that the increasing population of urban workers today are to do when they can't even grow their own food or raise their own livestock?

Increasingly, they live on welfare and social programs. That is why 1 in 5 residents of Los Angeles is on some form of monetary assistance from the government. 60% of California mothers are on subsidized nutrition paid for by the government...

When Jim Chanos Warned the G7 - And No One Listened

So what is Chanos up to now? That's what we investors want to know.

The Liquidity Canard

I'm glad someone's keeping this topic alive. It seems almost as if the issue of high-frequency trading has disappeared off the mainstream radar.

The truth is, we KNOW that HFT is exploitative. When I want to buy something and someone buys it right before me, then sells it to me for a little more than I paid for it, that's like a customer snagging fries from my order as its being carried on its way from the kitchen to my table.

Now ordinarily, the purchaser of the fries would get up and go kick that other customer's teeth in. But the other customer happens to be an 800-pound gorilla who happens to be related to the cook and the manager and the beat cop at the other end of the counter. See?

How PHEVs and EVs Will Sabotage America's Drive for Energy Independence

I am totally reminded of the parallels between this article and the issues with corn ethanol.

Producing corn ethanol in the United States is a very wasteful process. It is estimated that it takes 1.3 gallons of fossil fuel to make a gallon of ethanol. And the International Institute for Sustainable Development found "ethanol subsidies amount to $1.05-$1.38 per gallon, or 42 percent to 55 percent of ethanol's wholesale market price." Our government is taxing its people and borrowing money to subsidize this growth and production.

Cellulosic ethanol MIGHT make more sense if researched and done properly, but that won't stop the agribusinesses from enjoying and pushing for continued government subsidies on corn and ethanol production and use.

Income Investors Might Be 'Glad' to Own Gladstone

I wonder what kind of family businesses they lend to.

It's one thing if it's In-n-Out Burger (which doesn't need cash).

It's another when it's a struggling family restaurant or third-tier auto parts manufacturer/supplier.

Healthcare Reform, China Style

China's prison system also contributes to their medical system:
www.wsws.org/articles/...

Today in Commodities: Seeds of Change

Anecdotal evidence: I was talking with a farmer and his wife today. They farm some 3,500 acres of corn in Minnesota. He's got his crops sold through 2011 with prices locked.

And on the side, he believes U.S. No.2 Yellow will go down to the mid-$2 per bushel range this fall with a good-sized crop coming in, so he's shorting.

U.K. Recovery Just a Mirage

A bit of the same is happening in the United States.

It's just more obfuscated because our country is so much larger, people the world over are still buying larger quantities of farmed and manufactured goods and services from the United States, and a larger locomotive will naturally have more momentum.

But if I were Soros, I'd certainly be shorting the pound now and the dollar later.

Jobless Recovery: Not a Workable Solution

These numbers are surging and there's no end in sight. Many have lost their jobs for over a year now. What happens when they run out?

Direct Democracy Could Be California's Undoing

In 1996, my parents bought a corner lot house with a pool in Orange County for about $170,000 (just about the end of the 1990 bust).

In 2005, homes on the street were selling in the high $400,000s.

Today, in 2009, homes on the street are still selling for about $300,000.

I suspect that prices will go down some more.

How Flash Orders Work

Regardless of whether it is legal or illegal, are ordinary traders disadvantaged? Do they FEEL disadvantaged or cheated on? If there's less confidence in the system then the system won't be as good as it can be.

Remember a few years ago when some mutual fund companies let hedge funds jump in after the market closed, at the market close price? How did finding that out make you feel?

Why China's New Colonialism Should Precipitate a Crisis

Rapidly booming prosperity in the late 1800s led to America flexing its wings and engaging in our own brand of imperialism: Puerto Rico, the Philippines, etc. We did the earlier in the early 1800s with Westward expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny. And we certainly did it on an economic and political level during the Post-WWII economic boom that coincided with the Cold War. There are many countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia whose histories and people still bear our economic and political hegemony. Well guess what? China has burgeoning economic muscle and it's flexing its power more and more now.

Spain's Unemployment Expected to Hit 22% in 2010 - Citigroup

I'd love to find out how Spain's methodology and sampling methods compare to methods in the U.S. Then we can get a better idea of whether this is an apples to apples comparison.

Still, even 10% unemployment is bad. 20% must be crippling. I wonder what Spain's social safety net is like, and whether crime is rising in response to the lack of jobs or economic growth.

High Frequency Trading: Legally, It's Called Churn

CNet.com recently posted an article about high-speed trades:

"It's the hot new thing on Wall Street, a way for a handful of traders to master the stock market, peek at investors' orders and, critics say, even subtly manipulate share prices."
news.cnet.com/Stock-tr...