Let me first make my stance completely clear
Let me first make my stance completely clear. As a member of the proud, yet possibly coarse foundation of American society I wish to make an open declaration based on my First Amendment right of free speech: Don Imus has made himself a of the highest order.
I DO NOT condone the words that Imus chose to spew in regard to a specific class of athlete, but I do support his right to open his mouth and forcefully insert his own foot.
But somewhere along the line Imus must have missed the memo which clearly explained that it's one thing to denigrate a class of athletes with whom you do not associate and who are in no position to immediately refute you and it's a completely different thing to tell someone like (NYSE: ) CEO Rex Tillerson to sit down and shut up. (Umm, yeah I blogged that).
I could end this rant right here and consider myself fulfilled in chastising Mr.
Imus but I really haven't brought this full circle yet. It's not enough that I simply rake him over the coals for his poor choice of wording. For me, there's yet a larger issue.
posted a nice review by Dominic Basulto of the May 2007 cover story of
Kiplinger's Personal Finance. that pointed out some old tried and true investment strategies that are still the best way to build financial wealth over time.
While these strategies are nothing new, they should be reaffirmed from time to time.
1.) Get involved in a sector which has been underperforming for a considerable period of time and is showing strong signs of picking up. Consider Warren Buffett's railroads play.
Could he be on to something?
2.) Keep a look out for "breakout technologies".
I suggest keeping a close watch on solar and artificial intelligence plays as well as RFID. Basulto suggests telecom and biotech.
3.
) Higher risk generally provides higher returns. Do ya think? Play the volatility game.
This requires nerves of steel and a lightening hand but if you're good, the returns can be immense. It's like betting on the horse that's straining at the gate and sweating before the run. Either that pony will run uncontested or it'll spin circles in the first length.
Volatility plays best if you're a heavy duty behind the scenes researcher.
4.) Look for fundamentally strong companies which have floundered under poor management and then wait for a management change.
I have watched several people successfully work this angle.
The Kiplinger article seeks to provide insight into the strategies for compounding your money over various time frames. The information provided is valuable and time tested but Kiplinger's makes clear that they suggest a longer time table shall provide you with greater investment security.
It's a simple riddle and the answer is simple also. You'll probably kick yourself if you didn't think of it.
Riddle: Why would Warren Buffett want to play with trains?
Answer: Because he sees money in them.
I'll keep this short and sweet because I just got off a twelve-hour shift and I have about six hours to sleep before I get back up and start all over again.
Don't pity me, those are just the facts. If I don't average 50 hours a week, the credit union will come and swipe the Chevy truck off of my driveway!
1.
) Railroads are currently in a mildly depressed state business wise yet they are presenting very strong projections for the mid to long term.
2.) I believe that the American Railroad Association and members of the current Congress have a mutually held belief that railroads may expect to be well treated by government through the next presidential administration.
3.) Continuing upward pressure of fuel costs make rail transport increasingly more competitive with the trucking fleet and shall prompt more wholesale purchasing within our own continent.
4.
) The rail industry has recently reported its safest year in history and it may expect reduced liability costs both within its own workforce and involving contact with the public sector.
I like trains also. As proof of that you may check out my past blog posts regarding them.
While it is true that I didn't come right out and tell you to invest in the railroads, I did hope that you'd look into them.
If there's one thing that irritates me as I navigate through commentary regarding business and the markets, it is the inevitable recurrence of one particularly inane statement about public companies: "They don't care about anybody but the shareholders."
Excuse me for being so blunt, but that is a silly and nearly worthless statement.
You may get upset with my position on the matter, but it is what it is and I can tell you why.
First: If your job provides some manner of retirement plan options, then the odds are overwhelming that you yourself are a shareholder through a 401 (k) plan. If you have some manner of IRA, the same idea applies.
Second: If you really feel that a particular company is tilted toward shareholders, then that behooves you to buy shares in that company so you can become one of those overly benefited stockholders. Once you have become a shareholder, then the company you loathe can begin serving you too.
Third: If we were to assume that all companies do indeed operate in the greatest interest of shareholders, then what would actually be the harm in that?
They would seek to increase marketshare, reduce costs, increase profits and return those profits to the public via stock buybacks and dividends. Forgive me if I have a thick skull,but I fail to see the problem with that.
Now, if you wish to claim that a company is poorly run, unprofitable, unresponsive to its clientele or running flat, I can get behind comments like those.
If you tell me that a company is doing things illegally, making substandard products or leaving too much profit in the hands of its executives, those matters I will be happy to discuss.
But, if you come to me to say that a well run and profitable company is to be chastised because it is too much in tune with the desires of shareholders, I have a considerable problem getting in sync with that.
All I can say is when your displeasure with a company rests in the fact that its stock is performing well, please just buy some shares, sit back with your favorite beverage and try to enjoy the problem.
Honestly, more of us deserve to have problems like that.
Putting the first quarter behind us, as many wish we would, gives us pause to look ahead in hopes of finding the gems of success that wait for us.
Here are some of my areas of interest as dictated by gut instinct. Please, before you groan and wretch and move on to the next post, remember that in defiance of one major writer's claim that no one warned you of the bear(ish) market that passed by this way ..
. I did.
I had also suggested steering clear of big pharma quite some time ago.
You may take note that all but a few of them have, at least temporarily, splattered on the wall. The clear exception I see at this time is (NYSE: ), which I consider to be in turn-around mode. I'll even be so bold as to hint that you may want to watch it for some acquisition movement of some kind.
Pfizer has a sharp, well-run operation with some fine projects on the table. I like Pfizer and have no reason to change my attitude towards it.
Watch natural fibers including cotton, glass derivations, carbon, and cellulose. Apply liberal amounts of nano-technologies and your world vastly increases in breadth and scope.
Pay attention to water in all it's forms and applications. You shall benefit if you move it ,use it ,split it, spend it, clean it, or own it. Continue to avoid bonds unless your slopping around with bundles of loose cash that you have nothing better to do with. Scrap metals remain solid and steady. Beware of mining, at least temporarily. Watch for increased use of wood as raw material in things other than home construction. In cost of materials, the dynamics are changing. Stay on top of what the manufacturing sector is hinting towards. Look hard at the building and maintenance of diesel engines. I'm receiving reports that biodiesel is having some negative impact on the current trucking fleet. Adaptations in materials and design will be needed soon to accommodate the changes in fuel make up. Be there and be ready.
That's what I have to offer you for right now. At this time I need to make one small apology.
I hope those fine people who hold shares in (NYSE: ) haven't lost faith in me yet. I promised you $40 per share and I still believe it's coming. Hold tight my friends, nothing good ever comes easy.
This post is part of our feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.
I was preparing to make a sandwich recently, which for me is quite an undertaking.
The ingredients need to be fresh, sliced to appropriate thickness and of the tastiest varieties. I got out all the fixin's and took hold of the appropriate tools, then I realized that I was missing one key ingredient. I was yet to procure the mayonnaise.
I went into the refrigerator where I knew I'd find the delectably smooth and scrumptious stuff. You can probably imagine my shock when I found not one but two brand new unopened squeeze bottles of mayonnaise right there on the door shelf in between the horse radish and the barbecue sauce. As if that wasn't trouble enough, when I reached in to take one of the bottles for my project, I realized that each of the bottles was a different brand.
Oh the sheer unfairness of it, that meant I would have to decide which brand would appropriately bless my sandwich.
Rather than make a rash decision by simply grabbing a bottle and applying the dressing, I decided to carefully weigh my mayonnaise choice. After all, I wanted the perfect mayo for the perfect sandwich.
I already knew that the two products were nearly identical in taste and texture. I needed to find the deeper meaning. I grasped both bottles, one in each hand, and carefully initiated my sandwich dressing analysis.
Both bottles were plastic and totally squeezable. Each had appropriate tamper protection and a wide, flip-top cap that can be used to stand the bottle inverted. Each had a serving opening designed to apply the mayo in a flat ribbon outlay.
The caps were blue and the bottles were clear. So far it was a dead heat.
Long live the wood products! Ah yes, that is the single most dependable mantra upon which my home state of Wisconsin is built. First there was the early fur trade that brought eager French entrepreneurs into the region.
Then, there were profitable but short-lived mining opportunities that helped bring in the railroads. As land was cleared and transportation options increased, we became farmers and dairy providers extraordinaire. But perhaps most important of all have been our trees.
Remember Chicago, we built you not once but a second time also after you burned the first efforts to the ground!
So what has this got to do with investing? Well, if you don't even feel a connection, perhaps you'd like to read further.
There's a lot of activity swirling around the wood products sector and it's not all bad. For instance, did you know that recent polls have concluded that the ? Yes it's true, but the pollsters would like you to interpret that as meaning that internet (blog) readership is therefore in decline.
I'm sure it makes no difference that the polls I viewed were conducted by agencies who mostly serve the televised news services (chuckle, chuckle, snort, snort). Perhaps one day they'll get wise and realize that newspapers are the apples, blogs are the oranges and televised newscasts are more like tasteless avocados, which are of little use until made into guacamole. For further input on the subject of newspaper journalism and it's future, please read the excellent article by .
Newspapers aren't suffering as badly as some would have you believe. I'll write more on this later.
This past week we received news that (NYSE: ) is planning to .
Then shortly after that we got word that we'd see the . On both counts I'll plead, I'll believe it when I see it, or when I don't see it as the case may be. I'd give you even money on the possibility that both declarations of publication cessation are threats made towards advertising space clients as much as they're announcements to an affected readership.
If I'm wrong, then you had better buy shares in the PC notebook manufacturers because they'll be selling a whole lot of them as our magazines drop out of existence one by one. Just remember that I don't think anyone ever got mugged on a subway for a magazine, and you may need to take you laptop along on your next visit to the doctor's or dentist's waiting room.
I was once a retailer of moderate to high-end pet foods. I sold many fine brands including Nutro Natural, Iams, Eukanuba and Hills Science diet.
If you were looking for a bit better nutrition than the average grocery store brands for your dog or cat, I was the guy in Price County who had the goods.
So you can just imagine the level of interest I now have in the far reaching pet food recall announcements which have surfaced in the news. I quickly decided that I needed to do some intensive research in an attempt to get the best information I could.
Here's how I searched and what I found.
My first stop is always at . This site revealed nothing about pet food recalls but you may appreciate the link anyway.
My second stop was at the . That's where I hit pay-dirt. It has specific section dedicated to the current pet food recall.
At this time it indicates that the specific brands affected are: , , and Please do not accept this as a complete list. These are only the names provided on the ASPCA website. Consumers are warned to be wary of any pet foods containing wheat gluten.
that the FDA has issued orders to halt all imports of wheat gluten originating from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company Ltd. Apparently it has been determined that the food contaminants could be traced back to that company. I was unfortunately unable to confirm that information at the
I also found a wealth of information, links, comments and suggestions at the They are a very active group of animal fanciers who are closely following this situation.
It is upsetting to any pet's digestion to quickly change its diet. If you are required to immediately discontinue feeding your pet the product(s) it is used to, please contact your veterinarian for some simple things you can do to ease the upset to your animal. As always, your regular pet care professional should be immediately consulted regarding any noticeable changes in your pet's health or eating habits.
It's being called an April Fool's joke gone wild, but four days after the fake press release hit the web it's still picking up steam and is showing no signs of slowing down. Apparently first released on , the faux news release claims that Jack Ma of Alibaba renown would be making an overture for ownership of (NASDAQ: , the stated goal being a gut thrust drive at upsetting online auction leader y (NASDAQ: ) for good.
The fake notice also pulls . (NASDAQ: into the fray but alas, to no avail.
What makes this situation at least mildly remarkable is the response that it has received.
It seems that as people realize that it's only a joke, the uniform response is one of disappointment and dismay in finding out that it is just not true. The fake notice was well received on the boards where you can easily see that had it not been a joke it had the potential of becoming an over the top success. This serves as another quick and passing reminder that there are a great number of disenfranchised former eBay sellers who still have an axe to grind.
I read the full release on about this light hearted fantasy, and I think about all the options available on the internet. I am reminded that strange things do happen in this internet world and that yesterday's joke is sometimes today's block buster hit. Don't turn your back on the true possibility that the eBay slayer is standing in the shadows ready to strike.
As David Lee Roth sang in Fair Warning, "What you think is nothing, might be something after all."
A fellow I know is preparing himself for a college education in veterinary science.
Knowing that I slink around the internet tech world, he came to me looking for advice about what notebook computer he should buy. He plans to spend between $400 and $600 and he wants to get the most for his money (smart kid). He needs his machine for internet access, music downloads, heavy-duty emailing and of course for some school work.
It occurred to me that because my computer experience is limited to desktop models I might not be Andy's best source of information on the latest notebooks. So I told him that I'd present the question to our readers and deliver your input back to him. Knowing that our readers are some of the brightest minds on the internet, I have no doubt that Andy will get his best information right here on BloggingStocks.
So, the question is:
Okay now, I've kept quiet on the subject thus far even though it has given me cause to question the validity of music appreciation and of "reality" television in general. This week, however, I find it impossible to keep my thoughts to myself. American Idol was blessed this week to be graced by the presence of Tony Bennett, the man who put the "B" in ballad and an icon of music history who is probably as responsible for as many loving moments as Issac Hayes.
For me, it shapes up like this: I don't care what Sanjaya Malakar looks like, how he dresses, how his hair is done, where he comes from, his race, religion, sexual leanings, culture or favorite muppet. The sad fact of the matter is that by now the marginally talented kid has no business occupying a spot on a stage where he could even consider the possibility of looking a man like Tony Bennett in the eye. At this point in the game it's wrong, just plain dead wrong.
You may play games with this kid if that's what you'd like to do America but think for a moment about the message you're sending to the world with your votes. You have no taste. You have no guts.
You'd rather opt for humorous shenanigans over an exercise of honest conscience. You have taken the futures of at least a half dozen seriously talented people and tossed them at the dumpster because you thought it an appropriate joke to vote against what you knew to be the truth. Jim Cramer must be proud of you.
My greatest sorrow with this situation is the recollection of the passing of that other divine crooner Frank Sinatra. I really wish that Frank was still around to have witnessed this all going on. The reason being, Frank and his Rat Pack would have put an early end to all this nonsense without America being any the wiser.
This is no longer a case of bad judgment. It has become a inexcusable display of gut twisting bad taste. Please America restore my faith in your recognition of talent.
Reaffirm the proposition of "May the best one win".
I was privileged to read an article in my latest which addresses honesty in business practice.
Most especially, the article points out the inherent value that clear, honest book keeping and deliberate management transparency impart upon any business. To illustrate its point, Forbes utilized the analysis of Audit Integrity, an independent Los Angeles firm that does research on corporate governance best practice (and which is a data supplier to Forbes.com).
What brings the value of Audit Integrity's analysis closer to home is the cross reference of stock performance as relates to inclusion on the integrity list. Forbes reports that the group of 100 companies that made Audit Integrity's list of good guys provided an overall return of 33% on shares, double the return of the market on average. Forbes cites higher equity growth, reduced litigation costs and a reduction in regulatory interference as some of the reasons why the wonderful one hundred out performed their peers.
So, if you want to simplify your hunt for stock value and reduce your research burden, you might want to give the Audit Integrity list of 100 do gooders a long hard look. In this game of stock picking there are a lot of angles to consider. If Audit Integrity is willing and able to provide a clear pre-assessment of business integrity in such a comprehensive and easy to understand format, I think you owe it to yourself to consider the data.
Investment based on information devoid of even a cursory view of honesty in business practice is investment made blind.
No, not that spare tire.
This isn't going to be a just another blog post about diet and fitness -- you're not that lucky. This is about actual nasty, filthy old junk tires and what we're doing about them. Of course, I'll intersperse some investment ideas for your consideration, but basically I'm just talking trash.
A few of our readers would say that for me, that's just par for the course.
revealed that last year, of the approximately 300 million tires discarded, 261 million were recycled in some manner. Most of the remaining slugs were properly processed for landfill or are sitting in piles over at my neighbor's place waiting for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to say something about it (again).
Suffice it to say that in the area of tire recycling, for the most part, we have taken up the challenge and we are doing something about it.
Green for his straightforward insight.
Let me begin by stating that my only argument against the oil industry has been their "the only game in town" attitude. Never have I complained that oil companies show too much profit.
I have never accused the oil industry of gouging or unjust profiteering. With that stated, let us continue:
Oil companies DO NOT set gasoline prices at the pump. Those prices are dictated entirely by supply and demand economics.
The single biggest driving force in the economics of crude oil today is the increasing demand by growing industrialized nations, China being the biggest by far. Even the United States Supreme Court declared that they find no evidence that oil companies are manipulating oil prices in any undue manner. This issue will, of course, remain in hot public debate.
Keywords: Audit Integrity, Do Not, Warren Buffett, Tony Bennett
News RSS