california posts
FeedPosted Oct 12th 2009 8:30AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, India, China, Brazil, Private equity, Eastern Europe, Technology, Green Stocks
The clean technology wave just got a little bigger. This tends to be a side-effect of interest from billionaire investor George Soros. And, as usual, it's more than just money; it's more than just a return. Soros, yet again, is trying to save the world. Interestingly, the bold move was announced at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate – an international association consisting of 430 newspapers from 150 countries (and thus with clear ties to the past, rather than future).
The investor and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC is planning to put $1 billion into clean-tech opportunities using what he calls "rather stringent criteria," which involves being "profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem [i.e., of clean technology adoption and proliferation]." Soros didn't provide any other details on the nature or scope of his investments.
Continue reading Soros to put $1 billion into clean-tech companies
Posted Sep 8th 2009 2:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Rants and raves, Market matters, Economic data, Workspace, Financial Crisis

Last Friday the market reacted favorably (or less negatively) to the latest report from the Labor Department's unemployment figures of 9.7 percent in August, as employers cut 216,000 jobs last month. The percentage is up but the raw numbers are trending down allowing for a sigh of relief on Wall Street with the major indices all up over 1%.
Many would argue that when it comes to the truth, the government is prone to favor aesthetic figures
instead o
f the straight data. I tend to agree with this view as the numbers appear sculpted to be the least offensive.
Continue reading Labor-less Day
Posted Jul 8th 2009 3:10PM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rumors, Consumer experience, Altria Group (MO), Recession, Financial Crisis

Ahhh ... California. Home of the Beach Boys, Napa Valley, and, just recently,
IOUs. Indeed, the Golden State is in dire financial straits, and looking for any way out. One suggestion? Tax the smokers. A recent poll of state voters
shows 70% in favor of a $1.50-per-pack increase in the state cigarette tax.
Breaking down the numbers across party lines, 78% of Democrats, 75% of independents, and 65% of Republicans approve of such a measure. But Republican leadership remains opposed to the idea. A spokeswoman told reporters "Tax increases aren't the answer. Neither is tying programs with increasing costs to a tax source that is declining."
Continue reading Most Californians clamor for a tobacco tax increase
Posted Feb 20th 2009 10:15AM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Safeway Inc (SWY), Stocks to Buy
Acting boldly in any stock market carries with it considerable risk. Acting boldly in this market, amid the U.S. recession and an unresolved toxic asset situation, and you're looking at a 30-40% haircut up ahead. (Or worse.)
Still, investors capable of tolerating risk would be wise to position themselves in a few defensive plays with decent upside potential. But let's make one thing clear: defensives with an upside are not, strictly speaking, conventional defensive plays. They carry more risk but, one could argue, that risk is reasonable, given the potential for the capital appreciation pop. With the above as a backdrop, grocery chain
Safeway (NYSE:
SWY) is worth a review.
Continue reading Safeway: A frugality play, for the new era
Posted Feb 5th 2009 11:25AM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Housing, Recession

Is the U.S. housing sector approaching a bottom? Many economists and real estate analysts says it's too soon to talk in terms of 'a bottom' - - a process that will take months, if not quarters.
Still, one stat that indicates a bottom may be on the horizon: high-end home sales in California.
Sales of homes worth at least $1 million plummeted 42.5% in 2008 to 24,436, down from 42,506 in 2007, according to
research compiled by DataQuick.
In 2008, one in 16 California homes sold for $1 million or more; in 2007, one in nine had a price at / above $1 million.
Continue reading Tell-tale stat: Sales of $1 million homes plunge 43% in California in 2008
Posted Jan 5th 2009 4:45PM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: From the boards, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), eBay (EBAY), Marketing and advertising, Procter and Gamble (PG), Politics
Former
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:
EBAY) Chief Executive Meg Whitman reportedly is quitting the board of the online auctioneer along with
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:
PG), and
Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE:
DWA) to run for governor of California.
The news -- first reported by the
Wall Street Journal -- should not warm the hearts of Californians. Under Whitman, eBay morphed from one of the leaders on the information superhighway to roadkill left on the side of the road. The company's high growth days are behind it.
Since leaving eBay last year, she has immersed herself in Republican politics, backing the campaigns of her old friend Mitt Romney and John McCain. Interestingly, her contemporary Carly Fiorina, ex head of
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ:
HPQ), also backed the GOP.
Should Whitman take the plunge, the odds are against her. For one thing, no one outside of stock geeks and disgruntled eBay sellers knows her name. Of course, several million dollars worth of television advertising will take care of that.
California's problems are enormous. The state, which has been hit especially hard by the subprime mortgage crisis, faces a
$42 billion budget deficit. State officials are threatening
to pay their bills with IOUS. It's a situation that is trying the superhuman strength of the governator Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What makes Whitman believe she can do better?
Posted Dec 29th 2008 7:26AM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Recession
There is increasing evidence that states like California and Michigan, which are running huge budget deficits, will need federal aid to keep their essential services operating. They could plummet an already battered federal budget billions of dollars further into a deficit.
The need for state bailout funds seems to be growing and growing quickly. According to MSNBC, "In Ohio, which has shed 100,000 jobs in the past year, Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and his budget team spend a lot of time delivering bad news to constituents and plotting ways to wring money from the federal government." The state's two-year budget deficit could rise to well over $7 billion.
In places like Ohio and Michigan, matters are only going to get worse. Big industrial states are extremely likely to lose more jobs and businesses as sectors from automotive to retailing may see some companies disappear completely.
The issue that becomes more troubling every day is whether there is a finite limit to what the federal government can spend to save the national economy. Of course there is, but no one knows that number, which means no one can predict which industries and municipalities will get capital.
With so many beggars, the new Congress and administration are going to run low on hand-outs.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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