A Mr. Barry Peters wrote, what to me was the funniest comment of the week on bloggingstocks.com, "Give people something unique, not another celebrity (whom they can't see; the Pamela Anderson deal on Sirius rates amongst the stupidest things that any company has ever done in the entertainment industry!!! $5 million dollars pissed down the toilet."

I'm still laughing. Barry thank you for taking the time to comment. This week Peter Cohan, Doug McIntire, and I all wrote about the limited potential of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) / XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) to succeed from an investment perpsective, regardless of the mergers ultimate outcome or whether subscribers enjoyed the service. Barry supported our positions in great detail outlining the wonderful benefits of Sat-Rad if you live in remote places or are traveling cross-country or just hate commercials. Then he explained why the economics do not work and will not work and added the comment above.

I cannot help but think how often we are awash in news tidbits that are not newsworthy, but Ms. Anderson on a radio 'show', now that's hysterical. Her television show 'Stacked' (yes, that is what Fox TV called it) lasted 1.5 seasons. If people would not watch her, how could Sirius think anyone would want to listen? How serious can they truly be?.

If you have any interest in the original stories and comments see the following:

• Mel's Mega Merger: XMSR and SIRI combine! or Time for Sirius selling? and SIRI/XMSR: Calculating the antitrust odds - by Peter Cohan
• Companies management can't fix: Sirius & XM - by Doug McIntyre
• GM/Chrysler or Sirius/XM: Two losers don't equal a winner: and Sirius and XM: Two losers -- A follow-up - by Sheldon Liber

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.

In SpongeBob we get depth (at the bottom of ocean - forgive me) but from Jim Cramer (of Mad Money and TheStreet.com) we get buy-and-sell calls tossed out so glibly that to follow his advice we have to basically follow blindly.

He must think the average investor would be bored and tune out, if his opinions about buying and selling stocks had more depth. I am confident that he knows more and considers more than he shares with his audience, but for me it is not enough. Just because he makes the disclaimer that you should "do your homework," he knows most do not (and may not even be capable) of doing their homework. Furthermore, if people did do their homework, the 'Cramer bounce' would be a delayed action some days later, not immediatley - nope, just speculation and momentum investing instead.

I have questioned Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings (NASDAQ:XMSR). Cramer loves the deal, as reported by Jon Ogg yesterday: Cramer says to buy Sirius and XM. Cramer thinks the merger will go ahead fast after some "pretend" government review and that there will be substantial savings and that this is a can't miss. He should explain a lot more when he advises people to take risks with their hard-earned money, especially when they are following his every breadth. Well, it can miss... both could go bankrupt and Cramer might change his mind next week anyway. He has often before. A Cramer 'oops' could cost you and you have no downside protection except the perceived low price of the stocks.

For more depth, see: Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) my best pick of the year (so far).

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.

When I wrote GM/Chrysler or Sirius/XM: Two losers don't equal a winner, few readers took exception with my comments about the potential rumored auto industry merger. The same was not true about the proposed merger between Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR), so I thought I would follow up with my response:

To all the satisfied satellite radio subscribers,

I am glad you are enjoying the opportunity to be part of this trend and maybe someday I will change my mind about subscribing as well. That is, if these companies survive their 'burn rates'. Some great testimonials have been given and I have taken note. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

I am not convinced, however, that speculating on these companies from an investment perspective is sensible with all the other opportunities available out there. While many commented that traditional broadcast radio is awful and limited, the same is not true for your investment dollar.

Peace

Merger and acquisition talk abounds and the following two possibilities will not bring value to investors.

Why would General Motors (NYSE: GM) consider buying DaimlerChrysler AG's (NYSE:DCX) Chrysler unit? Is GM lacking scale? Has anyone accused it of not being big enough or broad enough? Hasn't it already acquired many brands over the years and still run up against superior Japanese and German manufacturers? Will acquiring Chrysler help rebuild its own brand? Does GM need Chrysler? The obvious answer is no, it does not.

What GM needs is better car design, improved and more uniform quality control, sharper focus, better vision, more efficiency, streamlined management structure and less overhead burden. How does Chrysler solve any of these problems? It doesn't!

GM has spent the last year addressing many of these issues and its stock performance has reflected this, as the best performer among the Dow Industrials. It should continue to refine the company in this manner and not deliberately go out looking for new and unwarranted challenges. If Daimler is selling, GM should not be buying!

The Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) / XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) deal has other problems. They are both big money losers and while they will save some money combining forces they are still in a bad business. They do not just compete with traditional radio but Internet radio which is ever improving and has billions of world wide consumers plugged in for free already. They are in very capital intensive business and they have less capital than their competitors.

I see no reason to get satellite radio and I certainly do not need one more monthly expense. This deal reeks of desperation. There is an old adage to Buy on the rumor and sell on the fact. In this case I would sell on the rumor and buy something else!

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.