Weekend Vittles: Can Blagojevich Just Buy a Pardon from Bush, Are the Sovereign Wealth Funds Now Broke, And Other Food

Some thoughts that are kicking off the playoffs in my own head this weekend:

* I'll introduce this more formally in an upcoming post this weekend, but I want to let readers know now that after two years of blood, sweat and tears, we're proud to beta-launch SpokeUp.com - The social network for individuals who speak up.

You can visit my profile page at http://spokeup.com/pg/profile/cody and you can check out what subscribers are reading, talking about and watching on the Internet by visiting SpokeUp.com.  It's all free and it's all about creating a force for positive change in this country despite (because of) the scary economic and political climate we live in.  Let's be heard!

* You know, given all the obvious corruption around all the insider dealings in this administration (not that you can separate this Republican Administration from the Democrat one before or about to come of course), I just have to wonder why what Rod Blagojevich did that's any different.  Not that I condone any of this insider cronyism and corruption, but I am just saying that I seriously can't tell why what he did is a crime and why what Bush did with these pardons, for example, isn't.

* Everybody's seems to be convinced that there's tons of trillions of dollars "on the sidelines".  You still hear people talk about the sovereign wealth funds that were built upon oil's ascent as if they're loaded to the gills in cash.  Come on, now, guys, let's face it -- in the same way that the steel titans, the real estate titans and the dot com titans of recent years went from flush to broke in the blink of an eye as their bubbles popped, shouldn't we expect that the oil-built sovereign wealth funds have gone broke as oil's dropped 75%?  I know, I know, I sound silly.  Sure.

* Oil's traded in a ten percent range so far this year.  Did I mention that the trading year is almost a full half day over already?   This  wild kind of volatility is not the stuff bull markets are made of.   I tend to think we can expect a lot more volatility in both stocks and oil in 2009 -- thus my "target ranges" of 7000-9500 for the DJIA and $20 to $50 for the black crude.  Only 363.5 more days to get through to find out how this year's final numbers end up.

* On Happy Hour tonight on Fox Business, Gogo and I (Eric's still out til Monday) will be discussing how John Paulson was up another 35% in 2008 while Warren Buffett's stock was pummeled by 38%.  Buffett would say who cares, since he's in his stocks for the long run, but down 35% vs. up 38% is a huge difference and I find it fascinating as a news topic.

* Remember when we used to have to listen to people say "oil's still not quite at its inflation-adjusted all-time high" when oil kept trying to get up above $100 in 2008?   Wonder how long it'll be before we hear those words muttered again.  Just sayin'.

* Wanna hear a scary stat -- if in 2009, the S&P 500 can simply match its performance in 2008, we'll be at S&P 550 this time next year.   I don't we get that low during the course of the year, but I sure will give myself some space to scale in as I buy this year, just in case.  No rush, that's for sure.

* Happy New Year!

Cody Willard
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