Posted Jun 29th 2009 3:00PM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: Economic data, Personal finance, Headline news, Recession, Financial Crisis
Is it 2009-2010 or 1972-1973? If you're paying
college tuition this year, it may be hard to tell.
Tuition is up only 4.3% for the coming school year, the lowest rate of growth in 37 years, according to a survey of 350 private schools by the
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. This is down substantially from the 5.9% increase for the 2008-2009 school year. Of course, this is for tuition only and does not include room and board inflation.
Before celebrating, though, remember that depressed housing prices and constrained financial markets make it tougher to dip into home equity to pay for school (a favorite strategy of the past few years), and layoffs are putting an obvious strain on household finances. So, the bargain in all this may be hard to find, even with financial aid increases of 9.2%.
Continue reading Recession: something (finally) strong enough to slow tuition hikes
Posted Jun 26th 2009 2:00PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Rants and raves, Money and Finance Today, Economic data, Personal finance, Politics, Headline news, Recession, Financial Crisis

We live in amazing times. Consumers are earning more; at least the ones with jobs.
They are also saving more than they have in the last 15 years. The savings rate, which was hovering near zero in early 2008, surged to 6.9 percent, the highest level since December 1993. I think that is fantastic!
Ben Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned". If that is true, then people are improving their economic condition day by day. Strange as it might seem, the government is troubled by this.
The government and many economists are worried that without greater spending by consumers any economic recovery will be stalled that much further. During our recent manic economy, over the past decade, consumer spending was responsible for about 70% of the GDP.
I say to all my readers, let others spend -- YOU KEEP SAVING -- and reducing debt. You will be glad you did. The consumer led economy was a false economy. The world is mourning the sudden death of Michael Jackson who passed away yesterday from yet to be determined causes leading to cardiac arrest, reportedly $400 million in debt. You think he was under any stress?!
Continue reading Consumers: Income & savings up -- Gov't worried
Posted Jun 20th 2009 8:10AM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: International markets, Rants and raves, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Headline news
It really matters little what the outside world thinks about the current conflict in Iran over the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or whether the people in Iran are crushed by the totalitarian form of government that has been adopted. This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of fact by definition. There is a supreme ruler and what he says goes.
Nothing is more important to the ruling elite than remaining in power -- not the economic well being of it's citizens, not the education of the rural population, not the personal freedoms of the man in the street, and certainly not the rights of Iranian women.
Continue reading Iran's ayatollah willing to sacrifice economy, education and personal freedoms
Posted Jun 16th 2009 2:40PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: International markets, Bad news, Rants and raves, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Headline news

The Iranian government
hand counted tens of millions of presidential election ballots in a couple of hours; less time than we count ours by computer --
an Ayatollahs' miracle for sure! These results indicated that
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was able to garner two-thirds of the vote. Given the Ayatollahs miracle, the public viewed this result as anything but.
Protesters expressing their extreme objection to the election results then created
a miracle of their own when up to one million marchers hit the streets forming a 5 to 6 mile parade of discontent, claims of fraud, and in some cases calling the government a dictatorship.
Meanwhile
Ahmadinejad who made references to disgruntled fans after a football game in slighting the protesters, hung around for a couple of days before appearing a day late for a conference in Moscow. He missed some of the key events but he did get a chance to mention how bad the US economy was doing, neglecting to mention that Iran's economy is showing signs of falling off a cliff. If he remains president that is a real possibility.
Meanwhile the pragmatist in me knows that the greatest miracle of all would be a recanting of the election results and the president stepping down. The Ayatollahs have asked for an investigation of the election results to appease the fuming population.
The results of this investigation being conducted by the same folks that created the fraud in the first place are easier to determine than any of my stock picks. Look for the results of the investigation to acknowledge that the vote count was off by some meaningless percentage, not affecting the outcome and leaving the results as they stand.
The Ayatollahs are all for democracy as long as they get to choose who wins. Perhaps in the future they will simply default to the patterns of authoritarian rulers before them -- massive election rhetoric, with only one candidate on the ballot.
Related stories:
Iran's great potential and its challenges!Iran will waste four more yearsSheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.Posted Jun 15th 2009 6:47PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Rants and raves, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Presidential elections, Oil, Headline news

The landslide victory of current president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the announcement of same, only hours after the voting polls closed, even though paper ballots had to be hand counted, has cast serious doubts about the election results.
Last week I wrote of
Iran's great potential but today much of that potential has evaporated for the time being, and perhaps for another four years. The rulers of Iran have decided that the devil they know is better than the one they don't. Unfortunately, as far as politicians go, they may have gotten exactly that.
Continue reading Iran will waste four more years
Posted Jun 10th 2009 5:45PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Middle East, Politics, Presidential elections, Oil, Headline news
Iran's flawed democracy is still better than most of the political systems among other countries in the region. For the past few decades the morality police, prodded by religious literalism, have mandated women to cover themselves when they are out in public. This same religious literalism has impeded the potential of a country that has a large population, in a key geographic region, with oil and other natural resources.
Iran is in the midst of a presidential election that has stimulated much heated debate among the population about the failures of the current government in economic and political terms, and that has created a feeling of isolation. The isolation is more than a feeling, and it has limited the growth of the nation to something far less than its capabilities.
Continue reading Iran's great potential and its challenges!
Posted May 4th 2009 6:30PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Major movement, Good news, Rants and raves, Market matters, Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, Headline news, Stocks to Buy

I have written many times in the past year about
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) and since it is up another 23.66% today, I'd like to come back to it. As an investor I have done more than just blab (or blog) about it. I have been loading up on the stock, acquiring shares at $12.00 when the bears were ruling the market only a short time ago --
a very short time ago!In the last month,
Wells is up an amazing 48.41%, and that for
the safest bank in the United States. The stock closed today at $24.25, up $4.64.
In addition to buying the stock, I have been playing with naked put options at multiple levels. The extreme negativity in the market created a huge opportunity, so much so that I wrote
Chasing Value: Will we be eating out of trash cans? which includes a discussion of naked put options.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Wells Fargo - squeezing out the shorts!
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