Joe Snow

Chance of a Depression Now 5 Percent

The title of this article is wrong. It SHOULD read 'The Chances of GETTING OUT of the Depression are 5%' because we're already in it. The REAL unemployment rate, the one that includes people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits, those who have quit looking because they can't find work, those who were forced to take part time work and those who were forced to take substantially lower paying jobs than they had before is 22%. That's a Depression level statistic by any reckoning.

Why the Stock Market Should Crash

I have to agree. Whatever improvement in economic activity there is exists only due to government spending. Once the spending stops, the whole thing comes down like a house of cards. The only way to keep it going is to keep spending but that leaves us with a huge debt and higher taxes so less money will be available to fuel a real recovery.

Time for the U.S. Economy to Reindustrialize

It is going to be difficult for the U.S. to reindustrialize because American factory workers get too much compensation for their labor. Industry is always going to go where their costs are lower and that isn't the U.S. There are only two ways that the U.S. becomes competitive in the labor market again. 1) The minimum wage is eliminated and workers agree to massive pay and benefit cuts to parity with what Chinese workers make (which frankly, ain't gonna happen) 2) Devalue the dollar, without increasing compensation to workers to make up for the loss of purchasing power, to the point where the currency exchange rate makes it cheaper for industry to produce here . In either scenario it's bad news for all Americans because even though there will be job creation, the standard of living will fall dramatically.

Crystal River’s Q2 Write-Downs Could Bankrupt the Company

A year and a half after this article was first published and the company is still here, trading as CYRV on the OTCBB and still paying dividends. Who was right and who was wrong? The company may still have some struggles ahead, but hasn't suddenly failed overnight like the author would have had you believe.

Gold Is Not in a Bull Market

To make the most from gold mining stocks, you have to find an individual stock. When you play gold ATF's you get hit with a higher tax rate on your profits than with individual mining stocks. You also should look at the companies on the gold bugs index. Those stocks are not hedged and will see the biggest gains as gold continues to rise. The downside is also greater, but if you believe gold has no place to go but up, you don't want to be invested in a company that hedges.


On Nov 02 09:23 AM tipalia wrote:

> a lot of people get out of their shell when we talk about gold .
> What I really get from this article is don t buy gold but instead
> buy the miners
> since that with gold at 800$ they still make a lot of money. Instead
> of buying GLD buy GDX is the conclusion of this interview . Now it
> s up to each individual to do his/her homework and decide what they
> want to do . We can agree or disagree with the author(s) but at the
> end it s your money and only you can decide what you want to do with
> it .

Bailout Nation Mentality: Ford Workers Reject Further Concessions

Exactly what they should do. Relocate all production to right to work states or to plants outside the US and Canada. It's an employers market right now, the workers should just shut up, do their jobs, and take what they're offered and if they don't like it, let them try to find another job paying what they think they're worth, and there aren't any. It's time business stood up to unions instead of kissing their butts every time they start whining about something. You wanna go on strike? Do it down at the unemployment office, because this plant is closing.


On Nov 02 11:46 AM Hayweed wrote:

> Ford should just close on their plants in union states and move their
> factories to non union states (VA, NC, SC, etc.) They should advise
> the union that if they don't concede the current issue, that even
> if Ford does go into bankruptcy, they will leave Detroit forever.

Bailout Nation Mentality: Ford Workers Reject Further Concessions

I don't think the taxpayers will ever be on the hook for a Ford bailout and here's why, Ford is not under the thumb of the government or the UAW like GM and Chrysler are. Ford is still free to make management decisions without interference from either. If push comes to shove and the UAW workers are making Ford uncompetitive against GM, Chrysler and the imports, then Ford is free to go ahead and start importing cars and shuttering US and Canadian plants. All the Ford workers have done is vote themselves a place in the unemployment line when their jobs are inevitably outsourced and the UAW will be powerless to do anything about it.

The GM (er, Motors Liquidation) Stock Anomaly

They should not allow shares in companies that are in liquidation to be traded once the liquidation commences. Anyone who got stuck with old GM shares should have gotten out by now. These shares will never be worth anything as there is no longer an operating company attached to them. The only thing that can happen with these shares is the speculators trading in them get burned when they are delisted without prior notice.

Nintendo: The Wii Bubble Has Burst

I bought my 360 (a 20gb) around November of 06 (build date September 06) and it's still going without a problem. If at some point in the future it should decide to red ring on me, I'll just buy a new one as the outsourced customer service is a nightmare to deal with and the newer models are way better, anyway. I think they did jump the gun trying to be out a year before everyone else and should have done more testing, but what's done is done and we have to live with it.

I also have a Wii, which I bought 2 MONTHS after launch and still had to camp out at Best Buy to get. I still can't believe Nintendo would underproduce what they knew would be one of the hot toys for several years. I also can't believe the sheer volume of crap that Nintendo allows to be sold for the Wii. From the NES to the Gamecube Nintendo has kept a tight reign on content for their consoles and only allowed top quality games to get released. Apart from Nintendo's own games and a small number of third party games (mostly cross platform) the Wii is a wasteland of garbage games that I wouldn't pay $5 to download, let alone $30-50 to buy in the store.

Believe it or not, I was originally going to get a PS3 and ONLY a PS3 but the high price at launch basically killed that deal for me. I am now too committed to the 360 and Wii to contemplate buying a PS3 especially considering that the PS3 has few exclusives that really make me want to buy one and I have no need for Blu Ray, as upscaled DVD is good enough for me. Even with the new $299 price drop, it's not worth it for the handful of games I would actually play. Most of the best games on PS3 are cross platform anyway and the online experience is sub-par compared to XBox Live and Marketplace. I don't think PS3 is going to pass up the 360 or Wii before the end of this console cycle.


On Nov 01 08:11 AM elmerfudpucker wrote:

> The XBOX360 a "vastly better machine"?? Have you even heard of the
> "red ring of death"? They are cheaper for a reason. Give this simple
> search a try www.google.com/search?...;source=hp&q=x...
>
>
> Better machine indeed. LOL

TransAlta: Does High Yield Signal Slow Growth?

Here's a strategy: buy a high yield stock like the one in the article above then use the proceeds to buy a purely growth stock. The high yield stock is less likely to be subject to huge price swings because typically they are older, established companies with stable revenue streams like utilities so your principal will be relatively secure, while the riskier growth stock is really no risk at all because it was bought with money you never had in the first place. Even if the company goes belly up you can't lose, at worst you are back to where you started before purchasing the high yielder.

How and When Will the Fed Reverse the Huge Addition to Bank Reserves?

The Fed is in a quandry when it comes to raising rates/removing liquidity. There are still a lot of mortgages out there that were spared from foreclosure by the fall in interest rates. As soon as rates start to rise, we will see the foreclosures begin anew as ARM's adjust upwards and holders of bad mortgages start to default again. I hope none of you bought a house recently thinking this was the bottom.

6 Dividend Stocks for Current Income

Unless you have an account denominated in a foreign currency, your account will still be credited in dollars AND you'll have foreign withholding to deal with which really complicates your tax return and reduces the payout on your investments. I just received a sizable dividend from one of my Taiwanese stocks and was credited in dollars and the dividend was subject to Taiwan tax withholding. I was holding it in an IRA so I can't claim a deduction against the foreign tax paid but if it was held in a taxable account I would be able to. Certain foreign stocks, like Canadian energy trusts, can also complicate your tax returns because in some instances you will still be required to pay taxes on distributions even if held in a tax free or tax deferred retirement account.


On Oct 21 12:56 PM Uncle Pie wrote:

> When selecting dividend stocks for a long retirement, ask yourself,
> in what currency would I like to receive my retirement income? All
> the central banks are debasing their currencies at various rates,
> but none is being debased faster today than the US dollar. Wouldn't
> it be prudent to own securities which pay dividends in currencies
> other than the US dollar?
> A few suggestions: Canadian telephone BCE pays 6% in Canadian $;
> Crescent Point Energy, oil producer, pays 7.3% in Canadian $, Glaxo
> SmithKline,GSK, British pharmaceutical, pays 5% in British pounds;
> Power Financial POFNF, Canadian financial conglomerate, pays 4.75%
> in Canadian $, Pembina Pipeline, PMBIF, transports oil in western
> Canada, pays 10% in Canadian $,
> RioCan REIT, RIOCF, Canada's largest owner of shopping centers, pays
> 7.5% in Canadian $, Swisscom, SCMWY the Swiss telephone company,
> pays 7% in Swiss francs, Telefonica, TEF, Spanish telco with operations
> in Latin America, pays 6% in Euros, Total, TOT, large integrated
> oil co. based in France, pays 5% in Euros, Vermilion Energy Trust,
> VETMF, produces oil & gas in Europe, pays 7.5% in Canadian $.
> The writer owns shares in all of the above.

Gold: Is Now the Time to Buy?

Physical gold and gold ETF's are not good even when gold is rising because they will be taxed at your normal rate as collectibles. Buying individual mining stocks, however, are not. A stock like Couer D'Alene (CDE), a gold and silver mining operation, will benefit greatly from upward trends in both metals. CDE also does not hedge, so their upside is greater than some other mining stocks. True, this also means their downside risk is greater but the Fed itself is limiting downside risk with it's loose monetary policies, so your odds of profiting from a long position are much greater than the risk of loss.

Nuveen Dumps Its CEF Website

Some of us value services that allow us to maintain our anonymity more than services that give us more information than we need that require we give up personal information to access it.


On Sep 23 09:34 AM YoYoMama wrote:

> Have you guys registered at cefconnect.com with your email &
> password?
>
> If you do, you will find you can obtain the same information you
> found on etfconnect.com.
>
> You can't get to that information without registering....

Yahoo's Dispute of Eric Jackson's Articles

So when it comes time for the taxes owed to be paid, will Yahoo! be giving the government the shares they withheld in lieu of cash since no cash was collected?