Sol Rosenberg

Freddie Mac Mumbo Jumbo: Have Any Lessons Been Absorbed?

Perhaps a better question is why GSEs are needed at all? Do the capital markets that seem to be able securitize pretty much anything really need help securitizing mortgages?

Salesforce.com: AppExchange Partners Dissatisfied With Fees

Royalties for trade show leads? That's absurd. No wonder there's discontent. It also seems pretty short-sighted. Would the RSA Conference be as big as it is today if in the early days RSA charged royalties on leads? Salesforce.com should be looking to create the RSA Conference equivalent for on-demand applications.

Time To Split the Dow?

How about tossing this archaic price-weighted index in the trash instead?

Was China Behind Thursday's Market Sell-Off?

Why would the Chinese government need to sell anything to buy Chinese stocks? Last time I checked Chinese stocks are traded in CNY, and the Chinese government can print up as much CNY as they like.

Congress Votes To Raise Taxes: Where Is The Media On This?

Ok, I'll bite. What exactly is the "optimum" amount of government services? 10% of GDP? 50% of GDP? 100% of GDP? How is it determined? By whom? Who pays for this optimum amount?

Underwhelmed By Overstock.com's Legal 'Victory'

Yawn. OSTK is a piece of poo. Move on already.

U.S. Platinum ETF Called Off

So a basketcase industry gets to decide what is listed on US stock markets. Lovely.

Surprisingly Poor Access to Non-U.S. Markets

Only 20% of Americans hold a passport, even fewer have actually used it. (The number is increasing, though, now that you need a passport to go to Canada or Mexico.) Most Americans are woefully ignorant of the rest of the world and just don't care. Therefore there's not much demand for international markets from retail investors, so the brokers don't bother to develop the products.

In addition, for what few foreign markets are available to US investors, the commissions are often outrageously high. See this item on $1350 in commission and fees on an international trade. Interactive Brokers does have very reasonable commissions on international trades, but they are missing several interesting international markets such as Australia and the LSE AIM.

Why Did Google Invest in Sergey Brin's Wife's Biotech Start-Up?

The answer is simple. Google is run for the benefit of its employees, not its shareholders.

What Exactly Would Salesforce.com Get Out Of A Google Deal?

One thing Salesforce.com could get out of it is better search. As a long-suffering Salesforce.com user, not a day goes by when I don't wish I could use Google to do a full-text search of our Salesforce.com data.

China: It's a Mania, Not a Bubble

From a US investor's perspective, yes. But from a Chinese investor's perspective, this quite likely could be worse than anything we saw in the US during the dot-com bust. There are millions in China who do indeed have 100% of their portfolio in Chinese stocks. Students and pensioners are dumping whatever money they can find into the market. Every *day* 300,000 new brokerage accounts are opened in China. Call it what you will, but China is set up for a big fall. And the highly regulated and centrally planned Chinese economy will have a much harder time adapting than the US economy did.

Should Earthlink Abandon Muni WiFi And Helio?

Muni WiFi is a disaster. Earthlink should exit post-haste.

Oaktree Capital to Sell Stock to Public -- On a Private Market

Since the point of these hedge fund IPOs is to dump overpriced shares on the lumpeninvestoriat, what's the benefit if the lumpeninvestoriat can't participate?

Forbes on Inflation: Impact, Process Misunderstood

"...in this case it is Fed induced."

In which cases since 1913 has inflation *not* been Fed induced?

Bond ETFs vs. Money Market Funds For Short-Term Cash

c meng, SHY is not equivalent to a money market fund in terms of interest rate risk. According to etfconnect.com, SHY has an average weighted maturity of 1.87 years. Compare that to money market funds, which typically have average weighted maturities of 30-90 days.