rr0710

Banning M2M: The Worst Mistake in History

Woong has it right. Also, what's the bigger issue? M2M or the fact that the assets are indeed worthless. And with underlying real estate continuing to fall in value are we focusing on the right issues or the political hot bed issues? You decide.

John Hussman: The Danger of Inaction

There is nobody better than John Hussman grasping this issue. They should be listening to him in Washington.

10 Dangerous Stocks to Avoid

Well, first of all, railroad listed has NEGATIVE free cash flow and the author makes a good point. Total debt to total equity in a historically rough credit environment is something you need to consider when you examine an investment. And what does one person's opinion mean everything when it comes to a stock rec? So Pete Najarian likes IBM. I like IBM too, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't pay attention to total debt/equity.

Horizon Lines: Full Steam Ahead?

Yea pepper. All I know is CNBC doesn't even appear to screen its pundits anymore.

ETFs: High Tax, High Expense, and Inefficient

This article paints ETFs with a the brush the size of godzilla. There are thousands of investments with high expenses, high taxes and inefficient. ETFs, especially the passive ones involved with indexing, are generally passive and fairly inexpensive. If I invest in any two etfs I'm into active investing? Article is correct about caveat emptor based on the alchemy of certain ETFs, especially the highly leveraged kind, so the message is do your homework. Then there is a mention of ETNs which are different investment beasts entirely.

Paul Kedrosky wonders about individual tipping points - the date where you bought more online than offline. His was 2002.

I have to admit I was an early adopter to purchasing online, partly on blind faith. I believe I started in 1999. I can purchase everything on Amazon and never walk into a store again....

Citigroup: Too Big to Fail or Succeed

To take this kind of risk is speculation at best. You can purchase preferreds from non-financial companies with lower yields but at least some reassurance that their cash flow statements can pay the dividend. Has anyone forgotten the moral hazard in these issues? Preferreds may be a good buy for financials, but what's your protection, really? None. Getting seduced by juicy yields is one way to get your head taken off.

All We Have to Fear Is Fear and Slow Economic Activity

In good times, you love to wake up," he said. "Because you're going to wake up and make thousands of dollars today! Wow! It's like, 'What am I going to buy today? What new car am I going to get?' So you get up; you have to go to a sales meeting at 7:15 every morning. I'm the late one–I always come in like 7:27, 7:30. I'm the one who's always on the verge of being fired

Defining a Set of Core Asset Classes

Dr. Considine, your comments about retail investor perspective is spot on

Defining a Set of Core Asset Classes

Even in a secular sideways market (if you recall 1966-1982,) having a core base of non-correlated asset classes worked as a skeletal start to an allocation. We tend to let the present experiences rule future perceptions as opposed to following rules and disciplines. This is a good start to understanding when you're in bear cycle, most asset classes join up and move in the same direction. Natural resources, long-short components, correlate consistently low with U.S./Int'l common stocks. Bull cycles, even if they're cyclical, last 3x longer than bear cycles going back to 1885. And movement out of the bear cycle is fast so if you miss the beginning, you've missed everything and nobody can time the entrance. Dr. Considine is always right on the money

SPX: Flat for the Year

Is it only me who thinks Barry is HAPPY about the S&P being down for the year? Let's be thankful for permabulls and permabears and the tug of war they have every year. It's entertaining!

Economic Growth and Equity Returns: Conventional Wisdom is Wrong Again

Larry Swedroe and Jeremy Siegel are always the best when it comes to information as supplied in this piece. Jeremy Siegel sites some relevant examples in his recent book. There does seem to be a point however, like in the case of emerging markets, where you can make money on the conventional wisdom as the crowd acts upon that wisdom? There has been (probably less relevant today since the emerging markets, china story is out,) a time to exploit this conventional wisdom or capture the momentum in this space but it seems eventually, equity returns do price in economic growth. I would think in some markets, like in some stocks, there is a lag time or an opportunity to prosper until the efficiencies are built in? Sort of a sem1-strong efficient market theory..I'm printing this piece! Thank you, Larry!

Rethinking Rebalancing: A Risk/Reward Analysis

Geoff makes a much more valuable argument than John Bogle. Most importantly, you have to assume that the majority of investors are well diversified, then you have to assume they index. Overall, this is a thoughtful, volatility-based approach which enforces risk management and taking profit. Embodied or "embedded" in all his work Bogle is selling index funds. His intentions seem good, but he can't seem to embrace other points of view, i.e; fundamental indexing, etc.