August 2008

I was surprised to see the a seemingly bearish headline about Dubai in the WSJ's property report today.   After all, it was just a couple weeks ago that another mainstream media property, 60 Minutes, did it's love-fest profile of all things Dubai, including loving their monarchy that violently represses its owns people's property rights while exploiting and oppressing the immigrants coming to ... read more

Most companies in US avoid federal income taxes The Associated Press - 4 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Two-thirds of US corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress. ... I mean, you guys really wanna keep the status quo going?  Please, for the sake of all that's fair and just, stop voting Republican and/or Democrat...they are the ... read more

1.  Short Merrill When 10% = 100% 2.  Oil Won’t Go Straight Down 3.  Olympic Commercials for Commies Here’s what my brain was winning gold medals for today: 1.  Two weeks ago, Merrill’s stock had about a billion shares outstanding and was at $24 – a $24 billion market cap.  The stock has gone up about 10%, $2 per share since then…but Merrill issued half a billion shares, ... read more

Most people understand that shorting something means you'll make money if it goes down.   Here's how it actually works: It's Saturday afternoon and you stop by your ex girlfriend's apartment to pick some of your old stuff.  You guys are friends and all, so you just let yourself in.  You're grabbing your clothes from behind the fridge and see that she's got a case of Budweiser sitting in the ... read more

"Those who empower, win. Those who protect, lose." Yes, as I've explained before, that simple principle is all you need to know when it comes to investing in the trend to distribute the world’s information and entertainment content on the internet.  It was that very logic that propelled me to buy Google for me and my partners the day it came public and to sometimes short Yahoo and Time ... read more

Since I'm already in turbo rant mode and since I've already pissed every stiletto-wearer on the planet off already, here's another thing... Seriously, it's enough with the outrageous high heels already.  At least during the last couple years, stilettos were cool...they were "in". They're passe now.  Let it go.  You're going to look back in a few years and feel very stupid seeing pictures ... read more

The bad news is that, even in the face of all this International presence and pressure, the Chinese Communists have the gall to do this type of exclusionary crap (notice a recurring theme of parallel between my rants about Chinese communists and those about the Fed and the big banks and the Republicans and Democrats here...like today's exclusionary term?):

Olympic torch trick inflames hopeful ... read more

FT:  Big banks seek to limit their own risks

1. FRE Stimulus Check 2. Chambers Full of Salt 3. Respect the Cycles 1. So Freddie Mac says it’s going to cut its dividend some this year. Yeah, it’s only going to take $100 million of yours to send to its rich equity investors even as it’s bordering on insolvency. I say we taxpayers should get that money instead of shareholders who took bad risks on this stock. 2. , So ... read more

Contrary to popular belief, I don't simply choose to be contrarian for the sake of contrasting.  I do strive to be contrarian -- I trademarked the term Flip It in large part because the only way to be anything other than average is to make sure you're not part of the consensus...the average.  Extraordinary things only happen when you do something totally extra-ordinary, right? Let's think ... read more