Posted March 25, 2010 at 6:12 am
From Planet Moron:
While a lot of people aren’t particularly pleased with last night’s House passage of health care reform, we prefer to look at the bright side:
The Top Ten Reasons You Should Celebrate House Passage Of The Healthcare Bill
10) A nation that can afford trillions in deficits as far as the eye can see can surely afford hundreds of billions more. Right?
9) While many of Bart Stupak’s pro-life constituents might feel he has betrayed his pledge to guard the sanctity of life, they will be getting some nice new runway lights, which is kind of the same thing.
It’s for the…
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Posted March 22, 2010 at 11:59 pm
by Joshua Brown:
( The following originally appeared on the author’s blog, Reformed Broker… )
Dear Evil Speculators,
As part of our ongoing program designed to render the US stock market completely dysfunctional, we have added
an additional tax to be applied toward your investment income as part of the wildly popular Health Care Bill that we recently finagled through into law:
* Individuals earning more than $200,000 a year, or couples earning $250,000 or more, would be hit with a 3.8% surcharge on investment income to help pay for the bill.
You see, we are fully aware that in just the past decade, you have been slammed twice – 2000-2002 and 2007-2009 – with two of the most brutal bear markets in history – but we just don’t care. We are also well apprised of the latest retirement surveys – the ones that project that the average retirement account needs to generate 20% gains each year for the next 10 years just to catch up.
These concerns do not afflict us for two reasons:
Number one, as soon-to-be-former legislators, 6 and 7 figure jobs at law firms and corporations will be forthcoming for all of us, pretty much no matter what.
Number two, rather than have Americans foot the bill for their own retirement, we figure in about 6 years or so we’ll just ram a new Bill down your throats expanding Social Security and mandating employer-paid pensions for all retirees. Since all business owners large and small are by definition ‘Fat Cats’, what could possibly be the harm in that?
Do not think that we are unappreciative of the fact that without individual investors’ participation in markets, liquidity would slow to a trickle and the risk-taking, enterprising apparatus that built this nation would cease to be. On the contrary, we are so appreciative of investors’ market activities that we seek to grab an even larger piece of the action in the form of this and other levies to be decided in a series of closed-door meetings at our whim and leisure.
So please, as you grumble about the latest 3.8% tax-on-success that we’ll be applying to your portfolio each year, consider that it’s all for a good cause: Rahm will now be nicer to us.
Yours Presumptuously,
The House of Representatives
Fantasyland USA 20002
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Posted March 18, 2010 at 11:57 pm
A special thanks to The Jutia Group for bringing this fun little video to our attention:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| In Dodd We Trust | ||||
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Posted March 16, 2010 at 11:23 pm
by Barry Goss:
Michael Lewis, of Liar’s Poker fame (a compelling, hide-nothing expose of working at an investment banking firm in the 80s) has another book out:
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
In it, he writes about a handful of Wall Street outsiders who realized the subprime mortgage business was a house of cards and found a way to bet against it.
Here’s Steve Kroft, of 60 Minutes, interviewing him:
To watch Part 2 of this interview, click here
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Posted March 10, 2010 at 6:47 am
by Tyler Durden:
via ZeroHedge.com
Today’s letter by John Hussman is as insightful as ever, yet what caught our eye is one of the most lyrical and gorgeous Crucifixions ever performed of Wall Street’s favorite mouthpiece, CNBC, and specifically,its most vocal anchor: one James Cramer.
From the full letter (must read)
Can we rely on investor myopia?
Over the past decade, it has been an uncomfortable lesson to accept that investors can be relied on to behave in ways that are ultimately unsustainable and destructive to their wealth, as long as market internals are temporarily supportive. It’s one thing to say, “From every historical precedent, we know that this is going to end badly, and investors will lose a great deal of their wealth, but for now, they are speculating anyway.” It’s another thing to add, “and since they are, we are actually going to rely on investors to continue behaving dangerously, and join them.” Even though we’ve substantially outperformed the S&P 500 with smaller periodic losses over complete market cycles, there is no denying that periodically riding the coattails of speculators, so to speak, would have made our margin of outperformance even greater.
It’s unlikely, given the seriousness I place in being a fiduciary to shareholders (in some cases to their life savings), that I’ll ever completely submit to the idea of relying on the speculative impulses of investors, but I do recognize that we can probably accept a greater level of speculative risk going forward than we were willing to adopt coming off of a valuation bubble and a credit crisis with a latent second-leg still looming. I expect that clarity about the underlying economic conditions here will be helpful in striking that balance.
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Posted March 8, 2010 at 12:31 pm
by Porter Stansberry:
The reason you might have heard about my Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit is because I didn’t settle the case.
When most people are sued by the SEC, they do their best to put the matter behind them – as quickly and quietly as possible.
This normally involves paying a large fine and essentially promising “not to do it again.” If you pay the fine, the chances are good most people will ignore the matter.
You’re not required to admit any guilt. Thus, the damage to your reputation is largely mitigated and you can go on with your life. That’s why most people settle with the SEC when it comes to civil (noncriminal) lawsuits.
But I didn’t settle when they sued me.
Even when a settlement was offered to me for as little as $1 million, I refused it. Instead, I’ve faced a lengthy court battle that’s brought with it tremendous risks to my reputation and legal bills amounting to almost $3 million.
Why on Earth would I try to fight the “city hall” of the securities industry?
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Posted February 27, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Via the Fisher Investments Editorial Staff
When markets take a tumble as they’ve done recently, some investors reach for one of the investing world’s “safety blankets”—gold. Gold fans see the shiny stuff almost as a cure all—an inflation hedge, a stock market correction hedge, and even a weak economy hedge.
But does gold deserve the security blanket mantle? Maybe not. In reality, gold is prone to short-term volatility just like stocks and boasts miserable returns over the long term—practically flat over the last 30 years, even including last year’s big gain.
Gold began trading truly freely in 1973, after post-Bretton Woods controls were removed. Since then, gold’s returned a cumulative 983% (annualized 6.8%), while global stocks returned 2,229% (9.1% annualized) and US stocks 3,552% (10.5% annualized).* Gold’s 2009 run was much hyped in the media, but even then it lagged stocks, returning 24.8% versus 30.0% for the year.
Besides lost opportunity costs, what’s even more dangerous for investors? Gold historically has been a short-term timing game. Much of gold’s long-term gains have come from very short boom periods. Since 1973, there have only been six major gold booms, each lasting from 4 to 22 months—or just 15% of the total time. Meaning gold’s done less than stellar the other 85% of the time.
Gold’s assumed stability and safety is largely a function of sentiment. Remember, gold is a commodity, and thus, its price is driven by supply and demand pressures. Sure, gold may do well during times when there is a high degree of market and economic uncertainty—when fear is high
[ Details / Source: Above is our hand-picked KEY excerpt(s) from this full article: "Gold’s Safety Blanket Myth" ]
* For more insights on gold, from the Fisher Investments staff, read “An Overview of Gold.”
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Posted February 18, 2010 at 12:42 am
by Brian Mikes
Editor, Dynamic Wealth Report
A few days ago I walked down to my mailbox. As I opened the little door, I was shocked by all the mail crammed in there! Magazines, junk mail, bills… and a letter from the Social Security Administration.
That’s strange… I’m not planning on retiring for a few decades!
I ripped open the envelope and found my annual update from the Social Security Administration (SSA). Every year they send it out. It highlights your past earnings, what you paid Social Security taxes on… It even estimates what you should expect to receive at retirement.
It’s amazing what this little document contains. And it’s all a lie!
According to this statement, I’m scheduled to receive a monthly payout when I retire. It’s not a small amount… though it’s a far cry from what I’d need to live the high life in Europe.
As of right now, I haven’t been planning on retiring any time soon. As a matter of fact, I still have several decades of work before I become eligible for retirement benefits. Regardless, I still studied the statement.
That’s when it hit me. Social Security is for suckers.
Now don’t get mad. I’m not knocking those of you already receiving social security checks. My grandparents are on social security. Along with the additional money they saved, they’re living quite a nice life in retirement.
I know my parents are looking forward to getting their hard earned money back as well.
But, I’m not expecting a single penny. And any person under the age of 50 is a sucker if they expect to get their money back. It’s just a fact of life.
The federal government isn’t going to be able to pay. And that means if you’re receiving a payout when they run out of money, your check is going to get cut way back.
How do I know this? I’d like to say I read the fine print, but the SSA doesn’t hide the details there. Nope, they put it on the first page in big bold letters for everyone to see.
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Posted February 2, 2010 at 7:26 pm
by Mark Cuban:
The simplest way to create more jobs is to allow small business and entrepreneurs to spend less time and money on lawyers and accountants and redirect that intellectual and financial capital to the core competencies of their business.
Any new government policy that requires the hiring of lawyers and accountants will not lead to new jobs, it will lead to time and money being wasted and fewer jobs being created.
Like the administration before it, the current administration seems to have no concept of what it takes to start, run and grow a small business. None.
Here is a hint: If you want to see more jobs created by Small Businesses and entrepreneurs REDUCE the amount of paperwork required. Dramatically simplify the tax code. In other words, if you REDUCE THE OVERHEAD of small business, you effectively create capital for them through reduced costs.
Not only do you improve their financial position, but you reduce that great big time suck known as dealing with your accountants and lawyers. The more time wasted with “professional services”, the less time spent doing your job. This seems to be a concept lost on government.
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Posted February 1, 2010 at 2:42 pm
by Brett:
via HopetoProsper.com
This post isn’t going to be a rant about how the younger generation is lazy and self-absorbed. This post was created to encourage young people to step-up to the 
responsibilities that lie ahead of them.
There are some very honest evaluations and comparisons. And, there is some good advice from an old dude who has already lived through most of what young people will face in the next 25 years.
Lessons in Life
This post was inspired by my son Aaron. He is a typical 20-year old who is trying to find his place in this world and to make a living in tough economic times.
His perspective on life has taught me as much about being a parent as I have taught him about being an adult
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