FeedPosted Feb 3rd 2010 4:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Other Issues, Products and Services, Launches, Rants and Raves, Competitive Strategy, Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Market Matters, Next Big Thing, Technology
Shortly after the introduction of Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) long anticipated iPad tablet computer I was quite surprised to receive an email from one of our more astute readers boldly stating "Game, set and match. See you at $300"
My immediate reaction was that this overly zealous stock trader and Apple enthusiast had let all reason escape his cranium. For me it reinforced how irrational investors are and how little they understand numbers. Apple stock will not reach $300 this year. Continue reading Apple $300 -- Not This Year!
Posted Jan 13th 2010 10:30AM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues

One aspect of American life that has to change is the scattershot quality of the U.S.'s infrastructure.
New York Times (
NYT) Columnist
Thomas Friedman has written and spoken about it often, and he offers many illuminating observations on conditions in Western Europe and in Asia, given his many travels.
Friedman has written about how the U.S. -- despite being the strongest, most dynamic, and technologically advanced economy in the world -- nevertheless has managed to tolerate sub-standard infrastructure conditions (such as too small airports), compared to our Asian and European neighbors. Anyone who has flown into New York's John F. Kennedy or La Guardia airports (as I frequently do) can attest to the need to upgrade these transportation facilities, and many others.
Continue reading U.S.'s Infrastructure: Hardly Ready for the 21st Century
Posted Jan 4th 2010 6:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues
What would you call the previous decade? "The '00s" or "the Aughts"? Concerning the latter, that's what the 1900s were called. (True, it's hardly a phrase that rolls off one's lips. Maybe, given the rise of mobile technology, we should call the 00s "the Apps"?)
Of course, factors other than economics play a role in a decade's short-hand identifier, but in the modern era "the economic" dimension has carried the day more than a few times.
Continue reading What Would You Call the Previous Decade?
Posted Dec 29th 2009 5:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Chasing Value, Stocks to Buy, Financial Crisis, Grubb and Ellis Co (GBE)

Where as my fist pick, Berkshire Hathaway (
BRK.B) is a large cap diversified conglomerate, my second, Grubb & Ellis Co. (
GBE), is a micro-cap stock of $90 million.
GBE is a network of nearly 130 owned and affiliated offices, providing commercial real estate services to property owners, institutional investors, and tenants. Its 1,800 brokers and some 6,000 affiliated real estate professionals offer advisory and brokerage, property management, construction consultation, and other services.
The company has been devastated by the bursting of the residential real estate market bubble, lost equity value, illiquid capital markets and the still impending concern over the commercial real estate market facing rising vacancies as hundreds of billions of dollars in loans must be rolled over.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2010 -- #2 Grubb & Ellis
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 5:20PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Politics

The solar energy movement, so promising, has hit a speed bump. Just as solar's cost per kilowatt hour starts to become attractive, from a U.S. residential use standpoint, sure enough another roadblock has appeared.
The problem? Environmental concern about destroyed or altered vistas -- essentially sight pollution -- but also pollution that physically harms the environment.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's, D-California, stated opposition to building in the Mojave Desert has effectively ended 13 big solar energy plants and wind projects there,
The New York Times reported Tuesday. Continue reading California's Mojave Desert may not become a solar capital after all
Posted Dec 16th 2009 5:00PM by Douglas S. Roberts (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Other Issues, Good news, Money and Finance Today, Economic Data, Headline News, Federal Reserve, Recession, Financial Crisis
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement indicating again that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time. The decision was unanimous.
The Fed continues to avoid any potential language which could disrupt the financial markets. Chairman Bernanke, a student of the Great Depression, does not want to do anything to damage the current stabilization in the economy.
Continue reading The Fed decision: Ending extraordinary measures but no monetary tightening
Posted Dec 10th 2009 5:30PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues

The
Copenhagen Summit sometimes gives observers the impression that elaborate formulas and systems are needed to reduce greenhouse gases.
And, to be sure, a cap-and-trade system (or an equivalent) at the national level, and then coordinated at the international level, will be needed to ensure that nations are reforming their climate changing ways.
However, the above does not mean substantive greenhouse gas reductions cannot occur outside of the Copenhagen framework. They can, and one obvious way is: reduce the weight of vehicles.
Continue reading One doesn't need a Copenhagen Summit to make U.S. cars more efficient
Posted Dec 10th 2009 4:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Good news, Press Releases, Products and Services, Management, Consumer Experience, Rants and Raves, Competitive Strategy, Marketing and Advertising, Next Big Thing, Money and Finance Today, Workspace, Media World, Headline News, AOL (AOL)

In the wee morning hours just prior to the market opening I had given some thought to shorting AOL Inc. (
AOL) on its first day as a newly independent company. Yes, that same company that owns Bloggingstocks.com and a multitude of other interesting Internet "content" icons (and some not yet so). However, I did not do it because it would have been too impulsive and that is rarely a good investment strategy.
I was stunned that we changed our logo. And we changed it to what seems like a team of logos instead of one. That seems bizarre to me if you're trying to build a brand. It is also ironic since we are planning on making money on advertising, and we will be muddling our own brand.
Continue reading AOL, I mean Aol, did not tank!
Posted Dec 4th 2009 5:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Other Issues, Management, Competitive Strategy, General Electric (GE), International Business Machines (IBM), American Express (AXP), FedEx Corp (FDX), Deere and Co (DE), Serious Money, Stock Screen

We started this
review with 25 stocks of companies noted for their quality of management and how successful they have been at nurturing new leaders as presented in Fortune magazine. After running them through a serious screening process using universally agreed upon key metrics, the list has been reduced to six candidates for potential investment.
I will reiterate that there is no imperative to invest in any of them even if they might be among the best opportunities from a select list. While I think all of the original companies listed and stocks screened are well regarded that does not mean now is the right time to invest.
Regardless of the outcome of this process, and since price and timing are critical, it would be smart to create a stock watch-list with the inclusion of all six of these companies.
Continue reading Serious Money: Fortune's 25 leaders, final 4
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 11:20AM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Media World
While teaching college students, one point I try to impress upon them is the the sheer size of the U.S. population, and its relationship to economics, markets, politics and public policy.
In a nutshell, the United States is an enormous, duty-free, standardized market, and there's perhaps no better example of just how big the nation is than cable TV.
Case in point, Sean Hannity's show on Fox News, weeknights at 9 p.m. EST. Hannity, a conservative commentator, can draw more than four million viewers nightly, and on a recent show he actually outdrew his colleague on Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, the perennial ratings leader among cable TV commentary shows.
Continue reading The U.S. is a big country -- bigger than even cable TV
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