Back on Jan 30, 2006 there was a post on Treasury ETF's vs money market funds:

http://www.billcara.com/archives/2006/01/treasury_etfs_v.html

I would like to revisit this as I continually question the best way to put short term cash to work - especially in a time when a lot of people here have significant allocation to cash in their portfolios. Would any readers care to comment on how they manage the short term cash balances of their accounts? - Whether it be a couple days in between the sale and purchase of old and new positions or a mid term tactical position. Thanks in advance.

30 day or 60 day cancellable / 1 year GIC @ 4%

< 30 days money market fund.

ALOHA !!

All good points Bill, and as I read the comments it is reflective of the current equity markets and how they have totally overlooked the very high cost of war ... especially nebulous wars such as this "War On Terror". I for one in my past travels have narrowly missed being killed at the ElAl terminal in Tel Aviv back in 1971 on my way to Athens. So as you can see terrorism has been a constant staple of recent history. While everyone focuses on terror outside the USA we also forget the homegrown types such as McVie and Oklahoma City which next to the WTC was the second deadliest terrorist plot against the USA on our soil. Using the Bush/neocon logic for combating terrorism I wonder why we have not invaded and occupied the state of Oklahoma? What this "War On Terror" has done is open the floodgates of US government control and spending similar to our other unending war ... the "War On Drugs"!

Many of us in the comfort of our McMansions, as we sit and watch a touching Oprah episode, pat ourselves on the back for our contribution to "World Peace" and being a "civilized" society, but we all too quickly forget what has been paid during the 20th century to reach these lofty goals of the "War On Terror" and the democratization of the Middle East. Since WW1 the highest price we've paid has been somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million human deaths worldwide. By far one of the most bloodiest centuries in human history and it has not stopped. It is my belief that the death toll has been so large and continues to grow larger due to the breakdown of the world's monetary system. Wars can only be funded when funds are available ... a fiat monetary system allows for unlimited spending. Hitler could not have occupied any nation without funding. For our government to chose to spend their fiat dollars on war which only produces destruction and death(but profits for defense contractors and resources)rather than infrastructure is surely the wrong path. In the end the American people will be saddled with huge debt and nothing to show for it. I would rather have huge debt and a nice new freeway! Why build up one of the world's most powerful military forces and not use it? Rantings of a frail human ego ...

The cost of the Middle East adventure is now at $549billion, which is what the US government will now admit to ... so the actual cost must be double. It was both the Democrats and Republicans that gave Bush the funds to execute the Iraq invasion. When does that bill get paid and by whom? When will that staggering debt burden be reflected onto the US equity markets and the US dollar? In my opinion not one cent has been accounted for in Wall Street analysis or on the FOREX ... Out of sight out of mind ... Consider the ramifications of this expensive war coming home to roost about the same time as 77million babyboomers retire. Not many choices left for a fiat monied government but to print more and print faster... So where are the brakes on government spending? This is what happens when honest money is absent ...

We most assuredly cannot continue down this dangerous path where we allow our government to do all our thinking for us, where we blindly accept our government is honest whether it is CPI data or intel for going to war. This is no longer simply Democrat against Republican, red against blue, rich against poor ... we are in survival mode and that requires "We The People" to be unified against our government and take them to task for their poor performance over the past forty years. Our Founding Fathers demand such actions otherwise their sacrifices for true freedom and liberty have been in vane ... never mind those of the 20th century.

For a historical perspective on the cost of wars fought and their reasons please click on the following link. Surely after reading this you will understand why we are one of the last country's on Earth that should be doing any "back-patting" or "democratizing" ... especially our government and most definitely not the Republicans or the Democrats.

Link:
http://www.mises.org/story/2355

Jefferson:

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.

I have a question regarding foreign dividends and foreign tax. This is the first year that I have held several foreign stocks that pay dividends. When the dividend is paid out, a foreign tax is also deducted by my brokerage house.

My question is how is the dividend and tax reported in the US income tax scheme? Are the reportable dividends net the foreign tax or is there someother place to report the foreign tax that allows the tax to be deducted.

Thanks in advance for anyone that can help.

cb,

give this a try..ronK
http://www.fairmark.com/mutual/foreign.htm

Cisco Systems (CSCO)

Master File No. C-01-20418-JW(PVT). CLASS ACTION. NOTICE OF PENDENCY AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION. To:. ALL PERSONS WHO PURCHASED CISCO SYSTEMS, ...

http://tinyurl.com/ygdzwo

http://tinyurl.com/yhkxcm

"Press Freedom: Currently about 120 journalists and 53 bloggers are in jail worldwide for attempting to provide news and opinion."

I read the Huffington Post article which prompts Bill's concern. The protagonist is one Josh Wolf, a self-styled journalist and blogger. Mr. Wolf videotaped a violent anarchist demonstration in San Francisco which resulted in a police car being torched and a police officer hospitalized with a fractured skull, after being beaten by the mob.

Mr. Wolf refuses to provide authorities with the videotape. His refusal to comply with the subpoena requiring him to produce the tape landed him in front of Federal Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee. Judge Alsup gave Mr. Wolf several opportunities to produce the video tape, but he still refused. Mr. Wolf was then jailed for contempt of court. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly upheld the jailing.

It's obvious, given these facts, that Mr. Wolf is not being jailed or harassed by the US government because of any "attempt to provide news and opinion." He's being jailed because he is wrongly refusing to abide by a proper court order that he produce evidence of a crime to investigating authorities.

The relevant paragraph of the Editor and Publisher article on the Wolf case is:

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1972 case Branzburg v. Hayes that reporters, like everyone else, must 'respond to relevant questions put to them in the course of a valid grand jury investigation or criminal trial.'"

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003410671

RonK

Thanks very much for the link!

It has been said "There is nothing new under the sun." Even the "War on Terror" has been used before to set the stage for opening the treasury to finance world domination. Turn the clock back to about 50BC and Pompey, unsatisfied with domination of the Iberian Penninsula and years of victory and conquest, returned to Rome and found the means to become Pompey The Great, the first Roman Emperor. He allowed a few cargo ships docked at Ostia ( Rome's port city )to be raided by Mediterranean pirates and created mass hysteria such that Rome appeared to be in peril. Bonfires were set up along the Tiber to warn of approaching pirates ( as if they would row up the river! ) and heavy guards were stationed at the gates to check all cargo and the identities of those who passed through( sound familiar? ). The Roman Senate gave him ( and Crassus ) such finances and wide sweeping powers of imperium that he could remove the pirate menace and undertake world conquest. It was to be the start of the fall of the Republic. It took them about 500 years to go broke and collapse. Given today's pace and scale of doing damage, I would give US-style capitalism about 25 years of decline toward the destruction of the way of life we have enjoyed, much at the expense of others.

Very nice analogy using the Roman empire.

I disgress....

At the present time the US economy is a house of cards. If the same course is followed, I believe an inevitable trade war (over commodities) will develop. By that time, China will not only have an Army 4x the size of the US but also the same or better technology.

The US is already impotent as a world power, i.e. Korea, Iran, Iraq. When the Chinese are finished financing their rise to super power status guess who will be calling all the shots.

Americans are too greedy and arrogant as demonstrated by the invasion of Iraq. The war was camoflauged by calls for freedom and the war on terror but really this was about Haliburton and oil. Meddling like this will lead to the country's ultimate demise.

The question of press freedom is crucial to any modern society and democracy. Without free, unhindered media coverage the public opinion market is going down the hill, people vote on phantoms rather than on issues. The public debate in the US is in a sorry state. I too often found it impossible to discuss political issues without getting in a personal infight. Since when are politics an icky subject? I share Bills concerns fully and find the open debate in this blog refreshing.

The problem is that the image of journalists is bad and suffered even more during the last years. Media people are often suspect. Either they are seen as being conservative shills or liberal sissies. The media in the US mirror only the extreme partisanship on the Hill, instead of tear it open.

(BTW: The US is the only country in the Western world where liberal is used in a derogatory way, even though this country was founded upon liberal principles).

What should really worry us is not a singular case like Josh Wolf. Much more disturbing I find the fact that press freedom suffered in the last six years, and the US has fallen nine places to the 53rd position, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. The pretext of “national security� in order to shut off journalists who question the “war on terrorism� is only an extreme example.

Officials of the administration accused journalists over the last years of being selective and negative, of not giving the full picture in Iraq. That's true, but not the way the governement thinks. I recommend to read this transcript of an interview with one of the best TV-journalists, John Roberts:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003438513

"KURTZ: But here you have administration officials, as you know, repeatedly, relentlessly criticizing the coverage of this war..."

Criticing the media is not even close to threatening jail "for attempting to provide news and opinion." Is freedom of speech that a bad thing? Or are people not allowed to be critical of the media?

"We are going down the wrong road. Everybody knows it."

By "we," I interpret you to mean the US and Canada. Jailings of reporters in the two countries is not only rare, it has not, so far as I know, ever been done in modern times because of any journalist's attempt "to provide news and opinion." The only instances I know of are circumstances like Josh Wolf, Judith Miller or the Houston TV journalist who refused to testify in a murder case - people who are in possession of evidence of a crime but refuse to disclose their evidence or testimony.

If you have some information that suggests otherwise, I'd love to see it. But please don't compare the US and Canada to North Korea. It's a ridiculous comparison which falls apart at the first moment of inspection.

Covering up a crime is not freedom of the press, and jailing reporters who refuse to comply with lawful subpoenas to produce evidence of crimes is something which "everybody" can agree is necessary, if regrettable. I know that if I was asked to testify about a murder case, or a beating of a police officer during a riot, I would not hesitate to provide the information. No decent person would.

If the reporter gave up the footage, and it was used to pursue criminal charges, it would curtail media's ability to attend such events and limit their ability to act as a tempering agent for security forces' excesses. It would place all reporters in danger. It is not okay for reporters to film political protests and then have that footage be used against the demonstrators in criminal courts. The faces of demonstrators should be blocked out. Why don't the police wearing their own uniforms, try filming it themselves? This is why media personnel are being kidnapped or killed worldwide in alarming numbers. Their footage is often used to identify the demonstrators. The reporters are there to be our eyes and ears and not the governments, when the event is one of political protest.
IMHO

I went and read further about this story regarding Josh Wolf. The charges have nothing to do with him filming the beating of the police officer. His footage has nothing to do with that incident. The charges stem from an allegation a police vehicle was set on fire. In fact it was not. Josh offered to screen the footage for the Judge who refused to even look at it. Josh still sits in jail...