FeedPosted Mar 24th 2011 3:00PM by Kevin Kersten (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rants and Raves, Politics
I was a bit amused to hear Omaha Mayor Suttle unrolled the idea of a toilet paper tax, but I am not so sure he really thought this tissue through. At first glance, the tax of 10 cents per roll to pay for sewer projects seems like a fair user tax; but I think the politicians really should have contemplated this a little more. Is it really fair to women?
While certainly my heart goes out to politicians trying to balance spending all that money without the pesky things called taxes; but I don't think this idea is going to ... float. But I think it is important to give the politician partial credit for productivity; as I imagine they thought up this idea while in the john.
Continue reading A Toilet Paper Tax -- Really?
Posted Feb 24th 2011 2:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Rants and Raves, Venezuela, Scandals, Politics, Serious Money, Oil, Stock Picks, Telefonica SA (TEF)

Venezuela is broken and Libya is on fire. The Chavez government is incompetent and the Gaddafi regime may be just
days away from collapse as chaos fills the streets. Rumors of Gaddafi escaping to Venezuela are unfounded. However, if two men ever deserved each other, these two fit the bill.
Chavez, in all his economic wisdom has brought on over 28% inflation and counting in addition to the
Currency Market Takeover Spurs Lines for Dollars. All this wonderful news led me to search for Venezuelan ADR's (American Depository Receipts) in case I wanted to follow the market there, and make a contrarian play, or if I really wanted to get wild short something.
Continue reading Serious Money: Chavez & Gaddafi, Real Blues Brothers
Posted Feb 4th 2011 1:30PM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Politics, Commodities, Federal Reserve
Is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stoking inflation? Of course he is. Anyone with common sense knows that if you give $600 billion cash to the banks with no qualifications -- as he did with the second round of quantitative easing -- they will use it to speculate in the markets. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) just bought $1 billion of copper.
Bernanke's fatal mistake was that he placed no restrictions on what the banks would do with his $600 billion. If you opened the banks' books, you can bet that they've invested in commodities, currencies and foreign equities and bonds.
Continue reading Bernanke Denies Causing Inflation
Posted Dec 29th 2010 4:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Forecasts, Apple Inc (AAPL), Exxon Mobil (XOM), AT and T (T), Chevron Corp (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), FedEx Corp (FDX), Verizon Communications (VZ), United Parcel'B' (UPS), PetroChina Co Ltd ADR (PTR), Politics, Chasing Value™, Commodities, Oil, Anglo American (AAUKY), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), Telefonica SA (TEF)

Can you hear me now? Well listen closely, Verizon Communications (
VZ) is going to get a bounce from the Apple Inc. (
AAPL) iPhone in 2011. Nothing you don't already know. Is there a more sure thing in the coming year? Long term it will fade some, but in 2011 the pent up demand has to have a positive impact.
Communications: The telephone companies everywhere are going to have a good year. Verizon is a great stock for Roth IRA's, paying a 5.41% yield. The dilution of the iPhone market may hurt AT&T, Inc. (
T) some, as VZ is helped, but it too is a good long term hold and pays an even higher yield at 5.76%.
If you want to diversify internationally there are multiple good choices and they pay even higher yields.
Continue reading Chasing Value: New Years Quick Takes
Posted Dec 7th 2010 4:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Exxon Mobil (XOM), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Deere and Co (DE), Politics, Serious Money
Leave it to our representatives in Washington to make a compromise that ignores most of their previously stated beliefs -- of only a few days ago. This just reinforces again the old joke "How do you know when a politician is lying?..."
Monday the Obama administration and congressional Republicans came to an agreement to extend both unemployment benefits by 13 months, and the Bush-era tax cuts for all by two years. What happened to the Republican and Democratic noise about fiscal responsibility and reducing the debt?
A few days ago Republicans were not going to vote for an extension of the unemployment funding if there was not an associated revenue offset to pay for it. That's gone, so the deficit is going up. The Democrats claimed they would not back an extension of the tax cuts for people that earned over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint returns claiming this would add $900 billion toward debt reduction. That's gone so the deficit is going up.
Continue reading Serious Money: Washington Compromise Stinks, but Here Are Some Stocks to Look At
Posted Dec 6th 2010 9:30AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Insiders, General Electric (GE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Politics, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis
Slowly, piece by piece, the inside details of what happened during the financial meltdown are coming to light. The latest disclosure is that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt were on the New York Federal Reserve Board in 2008, when their institutions got enormous loans, as reported by the New York Times.
This little story tells you just how the insiders do their wheeling and dealing. On Sept. 15, JPMorgan Chase received a $3 billion loan from the Fed. On 12 occasions in October and November 2008, GE issued short term IOUs. The Fed purchased $16 billion of them.
Continue reading JPMorgan and GE Got Massive Fed Loans While Their CEOs Sat on NY Fed Board
Posted Dec 3rd 2010 11:30AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Barclays plc ADS (BCS), Politics, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis
Fear gripped Wall Street on September 29, 2008, when the U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass the bailout package. On that day alone, banks borrowed a record $155.8 billion.
The Fed had set up a lending facility called the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) to lend money to banks. As the crisis spread, borrowing increased almost daily. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) lists day-by-day borrowings:
Continue reading Flashback to the Crash: Banks Borrow $155.8 Billion
Posted Dec 1st 2010 11:00AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rumors, Press Releases, Management, Scandals, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), CIT Group (CIT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Politics, Serious Money, Financial Crisis
Forgive me if I stray slightly, but I could not help thinking about how ironic it would be if someone leaked information as to the whereabouts of Wikileaks founder and "fearless leader" Julian Assange -- who is in hiding!
It would be even more ironic if a CIA operative who had his cover blown by Wikileaks decides what goes around comes around. Let's face it, in its own way Wikileaks has become a rogue nation, so why wouldn't the CIA get involved?
In the mean time, this has probably helped world markets as it has overtaken everything else as the big story of the past 48 hours. In a bizarre way, Assange may have achieved one of his goals by bringing the world closer together, sort of.
Continue reading Serious Money: Does BAC Have Anything to Fear from Wikileaks?
Posted Nov 2nd 2010 5:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Products and Services, Competitive Strategy, Politics, Chasing Value™, Ebix Inc. (EBIX)
No matter what happens in the elections today one outcome is for sure, politicians new and old will make our laws more convoluted at every opportunity. One stock I think is situated to deal with this inevitable outcome is Ebix Inc. (EBIX).
I last recommended the stock in August in the story Four Great Stocks -- Gov't Fears Savings Spiraling Out of Control. At the time the stock was trading at $19.39. This was a good call, as the stock closed today at $24.24, for a 25% gain in in 11 weeks, or 118% annualized.
Continue reading Chasing Value: No Matter Which Way Elections Turn, Ebix Is a Play
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