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The Trouble with China

If the US can't make China de-peg their yuan to the dollar the US can devalue the dollar. You can't make the other person do what it doesn't want to do but you certainly can do what you are in control of.

Malaysia ETF Should Benefit from Asia Free-Trade Agreement

Some facts quoted are either outdated or wrong.
First of all All Malays are bumiputras, so classifying bumiputras as a separate race is a misnomer.
Second, Malaysia has been declining in its corruption ranking
The World Bank Report is however correct and we should pay heed to that.
PM Najib is silly to want to change the emphasis from exports to domestic. What with a population of only 27mm, how can that make any sense?

10 Technologies that Will Rock 2010

At the end, product integrity is the main criteria. People want to buy and use products and services that they can rely on and it will do what it says it will do. Patches do not provide that confidence. MS suffers badly from this. Apple has a better reputation and the in-house developments pays dividends. They however need to continue being innovative and cannot afford to slack. Google is yet to be tested although their search engine is incomparable.
The other critical consideration is the ISP. I think a rethink of our telecom regulations might spur some innovation and better service in this area. Mobile apps are useless unless we have better connectivity and at more reasonable costs. The US is so far behind in these services it is embarrassing.
Love the competition. Gives us a better product.

George Soros: The Guru Outlook

Soros is a brilliant man and he knows the game.
There is so much fraud in the system that favors those who have the power and are in the right place to take advantage of it. Banks like Goldman is making a killing from these "gifts", as Soros calls it or namely very cheap money (TARP), and also the very sinister HFT (high frequency trading) which is computerized insider trading that happens in a nano second.

Cramer's Stop Trading! Citigroup Is Red Hot (8/11/09)

Toxic assets have yet to be dealt with. They have to go somewhere, even it is swept under the rug, we will eventually trip over it. The non-performing loans are only starting to surface like dirty, bloody zits. It is not going to be pretty. Plus the fact that goods going out the door and the fall in new investments, don't tell me we are anywhere close to recovery. In my view, the market is way over-priced. When you have stats like Germany where their factories are starting to hum, then I may get more excited.

Commercial Real Estate - Make Up Your Own Mind

RE values go up following an economic boom created by other sectors like manufacturing that stimulates the stock markets and commodities markets. I haven't seen any green shoots there- only TARP created exuberance. PE ratios have to come off significantly before one sees any green shoots. So we are a long ways off. I would venture to say that 10% cap and 50% LTV is a real possibility, at least that's what I am seeing from one side of the table.

Why the FCC Wants to Smash Open the iPhone

AT&T is a bully
It acts like a monopoly or rather aspires to be one.
That as I understand it, is illegal.
Tell me why do they need your SS# to buy and hook up an iphone?
Concessionaires like AT&T have an obligation to the public. Good that the FCC is doing their job. We need our regulators to be more vigilant against greed.

An Angry Banker's Foreclosure Solution

Good start by re-qualifying borrowers. But even qualified borrowers are in trouble because the diminution of the value of the property would have stripped of the entire equity. The only way to overcome that apart from a fresh injection of cash, is to rent.
Banks be made to buy back the property and lease back the home to the defaulting but re-qualified occupant at the punitive rate equal to the original low mortgage payment before the spike. Lease payments reduces the outstanding value of the "loan". Lesee are given the option to re-purchase the properties.
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