Natural Gas Gains May Evaporate In The Summer Heat: Positioning For The Long Term [View article]
I read somewhere that weak EXC stock price (thus strong dividend) is due to low NG prices. EXC makes a lot of Nuke power which NG is currently very competitive. Thus, EXC is having to cut the spot price of its Nuke generated power to compete with the lower cost NG. As NG price rises, then EXC should be able to raise prices on the power it sells into the grid on the spot market.
This may take awhile to work through, but in the meantime the dividend makes things a little more palatable, assuming they can maintain it.
U.S. Economy: Why The Looming Fiscal Cliff Matters [View article]
With the election coming up and the political gridlock that is in place, nothing will be done before the election. And after the election there won't be any time left before the 12/31 deadline.
So, as has been the common practice for many years, there will be a one year extension for all the significant issues, and a quickie raise of the debt ceiling. This will be announced after the election but before 12/31. The pols get another year to dicker and play their silly games, and the economy suffers through never ending uncertainty.
I Told You So: Facebook's Ugly IPO Debut [View article]
Facebook made out ok, but the underwriters may not. They have no margin of safety. They agreed to give FB $38 with hopes of selling to the rubes at equal to or greater price. They may be stuck with some underwater inventory, and if they are forced to buy more to support the price, they'll be stuck with more inventory that they paid too much for.
Not to worry. There is no top yet in REITS. Bernanke will soon unleash QE3 which will keep interest rates low and dividend paying REITS up where they are. Additionally, again due to Bernanke there will be heavy duty inflation in the economy and the real estate market which will support these investments longer term.
Only when interest rates begin to rise will REITS suffer, and then it will only be for a very short buying opportunity before they're again off to the races. And the Fed has said they'll keep interest rates suppressed until late 2013 and maybe into 2014.
For a view of what I'm referring to, look at May 2003, and May 2004. Interest rates were bumped up by the Fed and REITS took a decent hit, but within a month they were back where they started before the rate hikes. A great buying opportunity, but not as wonderful as the one in the spring of 2009.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
"FSA wants to know how the losses occurred and how to prevent them"
Isn't this a zero sum game? If JPM lost $2 billion, then someone else made it. So what's the big deal? What if JPM had made their $2 billion. Then the FSA would be celebrating even tho's others had lost the same amount?
The only reason it would be of concern to the FSA is that JPM is TBTF and the other guys aren't. Why do we individual citizens put up with this BS?
There Is A Disturbance In The Labor Force [View article]
In his book "Critical Path", Buckminster Fuller postulated that technology would eventually enable most people to drop out of the workforce, or participate marginally. Are we reaching that point?
Annuities, Insurance, And My Soap Box [View article]
Very good article. I've always felt that annuities were not for folks who can manage their own money and have a reasonable understanding of statistics. I also feel similarly about long term care insurance.
I think your observation regarding our ability to assess the realities of our own mortality has much to do with this. Additionally, something you didn't address, which is the impact of inflation, which makes these policies extremely risky from a buyer's viewpoint.
These products may be beneficial for some in our society, but mostly they're good for the sellers of the product.
In the disappointing jobs report, the most important statistic may have been the 63.6% labor participation rate, a 30-year low. Critics of the Obama administration are quick to seize on this as the “real” reason for the falling unemployment rate, but the downward trend has been happening for more than a decade as baby boomers have been retiring. [View news story]
Bruce, I believe the numbers will bear that out.
Older folks are not leaving the workforce as quickly as some on these boards would like to believe. In fact, the numbers I have seen show that their participation rate in the workforce is actually increasing.
An FCC report finds that Google's (GOOG) collection of e-mails, passwords and other personal information as part of its Street View project was planned and was not due to a rogue engineer, as the firm has long insisted. Rather, the engineer told several people about the plan to harvest "payload" data, including a senior manager. [View news story]
Thanks for that comment madav. I went out and put that blocker into my laptop. We'll see how it works. I also removed Google from my list of search providers.
Apple (AAPL) is proving to be as good at avoiding taxes (here and internationally) as it is at designing smartphones, taking advantage of tax laws designed for the industrial, not the digital economy. The company had an overall tax rate of less than 10% in 2011, vs. about a 24% average for non-tech companies, reports the NYT, seemingly laying out a blueprint for politicians to shift attacks from big oil to big tech. Ugh. [View news story]
Perhaps the Austrian politicians are less disgusting than the ones in the U.S. It would be helpful if you could give us your thoughts on that.
I doubt folks here are as morally corrupt as you seem to believe. Not speaking for others, I am totally disgusted with the waste, graft, lobbyists, and silliness of our politicians. I am not opposed to helping out those in need, but in the current environment, giving more money to our politicians does not accomplish that. Higher revenues will not close the budget gap one iota. Spending will simply go up, and most likely by a greater increase than the revenue increase.
Higher government revenue here just go down the rathole of vote buying, political cronyism and the adventurism of the Military/Industrial complex. Rather than rail about what Apple legally pays in taxes, the concern is how to get our politicians to get their heads out of their arses and behave like adults. When that happens, the tax issues will take care of themselves post haste.
With austerity proving "uniquely destructive" to the eurozone, Berkeley's Christina Romer says "measures should be backloaded." I.e., they should be passed now but phased in gradually as economies recover. History shows that it works: e.g., the U.S.'s 1983 Social Security reform, and Sweden's plan to cut its deficit by 8% of GDP in 1995. [View news story]
Romer's smoking her socks. The 1983 SocSec changes went into place all at once. Increased retirement age for those born after a certain year, benefits indexed to CPI instead of biannual vote buying spree by Congress, higher "contribution" rates for both employer and employee. All this was put into effect at the beginning.
And interestingly, when this was done, the pronouncement was made that Social Security was "fixed" for the next 30 years, ie until 2013. Then we all fell asleep.
Apple (AAPL) is proving to be as good at avoiding taxes (here and internationally) as it is at designing smartphones, taking advantage of tax laws designed for the industrial, not the digital economy. The company had an overall tax rate of less than 10% in 2011, vs. about a 24% average for non-tech companies, reports the NYT, seemingly laying out a blueprint for politicians to shift attacks from big oil to big tech. Ugh. [View news story]
Hey shatzl - Please tell us on which line of your tax return you entered your gratuity payment to the Federal Government?
Or perhaps you did not file for your Earned Income Credit this year?
Bob Wenzel holds no punches in a speech this week to the NY Fed: "The noose is tightening on your organization, vast amounts of money printing are now required to keep your manipulated economy afloat. It will ultimately result in huge price inflation, or, if you stop printing, another massive economic crash will occur. There is no other way out." [View news story]
Natural Gas Gains May Evaporate In The Summer Heat: Positioning For The Long Term [View article]
This may take awhile to work through, but in the meantime the dividend makes things a little more palatable, assuming they can maintain it.
U.S. Economy: Why The Looming Fiscal Cliff Matters [View article]
So, as has been the common practice for many years, there will be a one year extension for all the significant issues, and a quickie raise of the debt ceiling. This will be announced after the election but before 12/31. The pols get another year to dicker and play their silly games, and the economy suffers through never ending uncertainty.
I Told You So: Facebook's Ugly IPO Debut [View article]
REITs Begin To Show Cracks [View article]
Only when interest rates begin to rise will REITS suffer, and then it will only be for a very short buying opportunity before they're again off to the races. And the Fed has said they'll keep interest rates suppressed until late 2013 and maybe into 2014.
For a view of what I'm referring to, look at May 2003, and May 2004. Interest rates were bumped up by the Fed and REITS took a decent hit, but within a month they were back where they started before the rate hikes. A great buying opportunity, but not as wonderful as the one in the spring of 2009.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Isn't this a zero sum game? If JPM lost $2 billion, then someone else made it. So what's the big deal? What if JPM had made their $2 billion. Then the FSA would be celebrating even tho's others had lost the same amount?
The only reason it would be of concern to the FSA is that JPM is TBTF and the other guys aren't. Why do we individual citizens put up with this BS?
There Is A Disturbance In The Labor Force [View article]
Annuities, Insurance, And My Soap Box [View article]
I think your observation regarding our ability to assess the realities of our own mortality has much to do with this. Additionally, something you didn't address, which is the impact of inflation, which makes these policies extremely risky from a buyer's viewpoint.
These products may be beneficial for some in our society, but mostly they're good for the sellers of the product.
In the disappointing jobs report, the most important statistic may have been the 63.6% labor participation rate, a 30-year low. Critics of the Obama administration are quick to seize on this as the “real” reason for the falling unemployment rate, but the downward trend has been happening for more than a decade as baby boomers have been retiring. [View news story]
Older folks are not leaving the workforce as quickly as some on these boards would like to believe. In fact, the numbers I have seen show that their participation rate in the workforce is actually increasing.
An FCC report finds that Google's (GOOG) collection of e-mails, passwords and other personal information as part of its Street View project was planned and was not due to a rogue engineer, as the firm has long insisted. Rather, the engineer told several people about the plan to harvest "payload" data, including a senior manager. [View news story]
Apple (AAPL) is proving to be as good at avoiding taxes (here and internationally) as it is at designing smartphones, taking advantage of tax laws designed for the industrial, not the digital economy. The company had an overall tax rate of less than 10% in 2011, vs. about a 24% average for non-tech companies, reports the NYT, seemingly laying out a blueprint for politicians to shift attacks from big oil to big tech. Ugh. [View news story]
I doubt folks here are as morally corrupt as you seem to believe. Not speaking for others, I am totally disgusted with the waste, graft, lobbyists, and silliness of our politicians. I am not opposed to helping out those in need, but in the current environment, giving more money to our politicians does not accomplish that. Higher revenues will not close the budget gap one iota. Spending will simply go up, and most likely by a greater increase than the revenue increase.
Higher government revenue here just go down the rathole of vote buying, political cronyism and the adventurism of the Military/Industrial complex. Rather than rail about what Apple legally pays in taxes, the concern is how to get our politicians to get their heads out of their arses and behave like adults. When that happens, the tax issues will take care of themselves post haste.
With austerity proving "uniquely destructive" to the eurozone, Berkeley's Christina Romer says "measures should be backloaded." I.e., they should be passed now but phased in gradually as economies recover. History shows that it works: e.g., the U.S.'s 1983 Social Security reform, and Sweden's plan to cut its deficit by 8% of GDP in 1995. [View news story]
And interestingly, when this was done, the pronouncement was made that Social Security was "fixed" for the next 30 years, ie until 2013. Then we all fell asleep.
Apple (AAPL) is proving to be as good at avoiding taxes (here and internationally) as it is at designing smartphones, taking advantage of tax laws designed for the industrial, not the digital economy. The company had an overall tax rate of less than 10% in 2011, vs. about a 24% average for non-tech companies, reports the NYT, seemingly laying out a blueprint for politicians to shift attacks from big oil to big tech. Ugh. [View news story]
Or perhaps you did not file for your Earned Income Credit this year?
Bob Wenzel holds no punches in a speech this week to the NY Fed: "The noose is tightening on your organization, vast amounts of money printing are now required to keep your manipulated economy afloat. It will ultimately result in huge price inflation, or, if you stop printing, another massive economic crash will occur. There is no other way out." [View news story]
Are you seeing this where you live? WSJ says stunned home buyers are finding that bidding wars are back. Unlike the big demand of the bubble years, this trend typically is driven by lower inventories of homes listed for sale, but at least a few giddy sellers are pocketing nice profits. Enjoy it while you can, housing bears say, because the market is still dismal and will remain so for a generation. [View news story]
Retirement: Where Should A Beginner Begin? (Part 3) [View article]
1. No social security for you. I't's all been spent.
2. You are an idiot if you think the Fed is not going to rape and rob savers via financial repression.
Have fun with that!