Good morning.

Here are your Cara 100 Ratings Changes:

New Coverage:

GOOG - Buy @ Kaufman Bros.

Coverage Resumed:

YHOO - Equal Weight @ Lehman Bros.

Target Price Raised:

CSCO - $30 to $32 @ Lehman Bros.
CSCO - $29 to $30 @ Oppenheimer
CSCO - $23 to $27 @ Robert W. Baird
DIS - $37 to $40 @ Lehman Bros.

-------------------------------------------------

Have a great day.

Barrick's vs CIBC feud: This article casts CIBC bank in a very unkindly light. It's a good read.

http://tinyurl.com/3ezsnq

Suspicious activity at the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM)...

"They [RCM] are unable to find sufficient bullion on the market (at least at prices the futures market seems to say must exist) and have decided that rather than limit future silver production (like the current rationing policies of the U.S. Mint) they will lease the metal instead.

As a Canadian citizen I am concerned that such imprudent borrowing policies could lead to large liabilities in the future for taxpayers."

http://tinyurl.com/3ntk32

Bill, Microsoft has been pursuing this strategy with MSN Live (without the advertising ... yet). It just hasn't been very successful so far.

It's actually not that bad and, ironically enough, you get search results that aren't polluted with paid-for advertising.

Bill I used to be a tech and worked with many people at Microsoft.

The fundamental problem (and one that people don't seem to grasp)

Microsoft fundamental business model is to sell operating systems. Everything they did was centered around that fact.

Googles fundamental business model is to gather and sell Data.

The two models are quite different and caused different cultures to grow within each company.

This seemingly simple difference is the real reason why Microsoft has been unable to compete successfully against Google on the web.

Microsoft still hasn't resolve this internal issue and it will be a few years before they manage to make a fundamental change still. Buying Yahoo won't solve this issue either.

It's a sticky problem for Microsoft, since they have to change to be Data centric, yet to change destroys why they were successful to begin with.

As a result internally the company is in a deadlock and makes the wrong choices when it does try to get into the data business.

Google is safe for many years still. As they define the data model and truly understand it.

Re: ABCP

The Bank Of Canada started up the same kind of lending facility The Fed has been engaged in for the last few months, and broker/dealers involved in the ABCP scandal made use of it to re-imburse the retailers who lost out. The broker/dealers are suddenly off the hook and they got their investors to vote in favour of the plan.

I believe this had assent from the minority consevatives, but the deal can always fall apart if companies embroiled in the dispute demand their full compensation, since they were lied to by the banks about the counterparty risks.

The minister of finance is getting involved, because obviously they stand to get egg on their face should the whole the collapse, taking along with it many hedge funds and some of the broker/dealers and credit unions involved in the scheme.

*********IT TAKES A VILLAGE!!!!!!*******

I don't care if she stands a better chance against McCain. I can't stand Hillary Clinton, and I'm sick of this primary. Four years of this lady would cause me to move to Russia! Obama, while he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against McCain, is so much easier on the ears it isn't funny. And I don't trust Chelsea either (Chelsea in 2024!....yeah!)

im not sure if these sudden spikes upwards are the last gasps for the US dollar before the down trend resumes or a sign that a longer term base building is happening.

gold is falling this morning back towards $860. if we go below $840 then the 200 MA is the most realistic downside target.

I would also add don't underestimate Google. They are on one the few entities that truly understand the the Internet is about data exchange.

The Chinese government has a fundamental issue of control in their own basic internal business plan which actually will prevent them from effectively competing long term with Google.

It about how one thinks, and the business thinking model you use. Google thinks and lives and breathes data like no other entity. Its pretty amazing actually they truly do define that market right now.

shark, I emphatically disagree with the idea that Obama would lose to McCain.

Bill,

Quite right about the likelihood of China developing superior web technologies. And, thus, China may then be in a position to gain control of the dissemination of information. Could that result in an odd twist on an old saw? Instead of history being written by the victor, the writer of history could then become the victor.

Just a weird thought on a cloudy Toronto morning.

Best to all and thanks everyone for your valuable guidance and... ahem... information.

May 07, 2008 07:00 ET
Geologix Discovers Grades of 76 g/t Gold, 1205 g/t Silver and a New Zone of High Grade Mineralization at Liscay, Peru
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=853186

I agree with #2son.
Grandpa McCain can't hold onto change or be seen as anything but the failed past. As in history.
He trots out the same old tired BS...tax cuts (read we are borrowing more in the name of our grand kids and aren't paying our bills) gas tax holidays (read as a little more heroin for the junky country)...the same old same old....

Last night I saw the future on TV. It was young, smart, and inspiring, even to these old jaded ears. I could have sworn he was talking directly to me.

I didn't see color of skin, I heard brain cells working and it was pure magic.

Hey Casey, how is Google Office working out? It's a dud and provides the other side of your equation.

Cara 100 Update:

PTR downgraded to Underweight @ JP Morgan

WGW down 13% at 2.48 on bad earnings report

"Mesquite is expected to produce between 20,000-30,000 ounces of gold in the second quarter. The decrease in production as compared with prior estimates is related to the timing of leaching and gold tied up in solution as pad inventory."

Looks like all these junior minors over promise and under deliver.

WGW does a death-dive on it's earnings release.

#2 son I hope you're right.

Fransix- RE: 8:59 AM can you point me to where to find the info on which broker/dealers and credit unions were involved in this scheme?

TIA

dr.cosa, re 9:08 post, personally I think that, yes of course the dollar is going to affect pm's but when you look out at the trend, what really is favorable for the dollar, other than intervention? Nothing, so that's why I stay with metals and miners.

RH

We have Caisse De Depot, Cannacord, which are the prominent names, banks like CIBC, etc. So obviously a large amount of pension money would be involved as well. A hedge fund whose name escapes me, had already collapsed when the story emerged last year. Numerous mining exploration and production companies have their cash positions tied up in commercial paper, including Barrick.

Notably Cannacord was quoted in the press as saying they have no money to re-imburse their retail clients, and not a couple of days later were suddenly able to bail out their retail clients on the heels of the BOC announcement of new lending facilities.

So the activity suggests that political intervention is occurring by the minority gubmint, that taxpayer dollars are being used to bail out fraudulent positions, especially the majority position of retail clients while allowing the companies to get stiffed.

F6

Re WGW:
Any mining engineers out there care to comment? Looks to me as though the leaching process is much slower than expected, which surprises me, as I would have thought that would be something one would measure early on as part of the mine planning, but I'd like to hear from someone who knows what they're talking about.

Thanks Oldgoat on the GIX news release.
I had posted about GIX at the very end of Saturday's
chat (Early Monday morning)I thoufght something was up.

Bought and sold some WGW..Who says their aint gold in them hills?

Office is a good example of what I am talking about.

For example Microsoft office is hugely profitable...(and powerful) but the reason it exists is to sell operating systems. To use Microsoft Office you have to be on Microsoft OS... So it ties directly into their OS sells plan to lock people into MS OS.

Google office is merely a small side project in Google. Part of their beta experimentation, where they release tools to users. (also they are playfully jabbing at MS in this to distract MS... while they put most of their resources elsewhere)

Google thinks three things: 1) Data and 2) distributed processes 3) playing around with ideas They connect the dots later with (2) and (3) back to 1

So Google office is Google experimenting with (3) and (2).

In creating Google office they gain experience building distributed processes. Right now the market isn't ready for it, but when the market is ready they will have gained enough experience to be in the lead. Once they get it working... then they connect to to their main data plan... If it doesn't work they drop it and nothing lost since its still beta.

While I use both Google office and MS office.. and still prefer MS office.. in a few years I will leave MS office when Open Office and Google office interface with each other more completely and solidly (and they will) which then makes your office productivity suite operating system independent. In the end 3 to 7 years from now MS looses the office battle.

Which ties to another difference between Google and other companies: Staff. IN this process they then trained and educated their staff even more so they can move on to new things... Google keeps and trains their staff like no other company...and their staff is loyal like no other staff I have seen, unlike Microsoft using contractors for specific plans and then ditching them in rollover.

No Google is here to stay. Eventually a new company will come in with a new business model to define something new.. but that's still out 3-5 years from now.

As a Taoist I know China. I also know this isn't where they will catch the market by surprise to be the leader. They might be a big player, but not the leader. China will surprise us in other areas as the leader yet to be determined.(hint think security & computer viruses and data mining). They are powerful but they are still sorting out their own identity still and since they are currently copying the western model... that also hinders them in the short term until they can release the western model to be something uniquely Chinese again. Too many people used western preconceptions to view China with , and that distorts the way and the future that west sees of China as a result.

GFI - Up a bit again today; to report earnings on Friday; AU had a 9%+ pop yesterday (earnings and production higher than earlier guidance), and is up further today. GDX and GLD both down more than 1%.

I see entire futuristic cities built on solars, specially in the Southern Belt. I see the sun energy as one of the three main energies that we would continue to use more and more this century. So act accordingly.
http://wallastoninvestments.com/

GIX - Corrections to earlier press release.
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=853379

i found a condensed version of Don Coxe's Basic Points for April/May 2008 and posted the link on my site.

(I cant link the PDF file directly)

http://jglobal.blogspot.com

enjoy,

The Republicans have lost three straight special House elections, all in heavily Republican districts - including the former House speaker's. The latest was in a Louisiana district that Republicans have controlled since 1974 and that voted for Bush strongly twice.

Obama will win barring any October surprise, and Republicans will be decimated in the House and Senate.

McCain is getting a pass from the media now as they focus on the Dems, but he has made some big blunders in the past month - conflating Sunni and Shia repeatedly, talking about 100 years in Iraq repeatedly and denying he said what he is on video saying, ect. And he is running on traditional Repub issues with traditional attacks, which will not have traction.

Geologix Discovers Grades of 76 g/t Gold

Knowledge people, is 76g/t overwhelmingly spectacular, or just good? I guess insiders found out and bid up the stock from recent lows before the release.

2nd

week ago I mention FTO in a post
today it came out with earing

Re: 76g/t

Is considered a very good grade, but you also have to take into account the interval in the core. Basically, how wide the vein is.

XRA 13% UP no news

Val Gold pop from $.10 to $.13 today on huge volume spike.

anyone have any information, as my newswire is giving me nothing other than April's insider purchase summary.

David/allen/QT- glad to finally see the spike in FXP you were looking for...not so good for my CAF, but hey, it goes both ways...enjoy the move...

I would guess long term investors couldn't resist 10 cents a share on Valgold. They are practically stealing the shares.

2nd, thanks for your kind words. Now I'm only down $12 per share. The question of the day is whether to bail now and credit this to the "Learning Experiences through Losses" account, or to sit tight and wait for more bad news. The bad news is coming so fast and furious that I'm inclined to wait for more... QT, what are you going to do?

At least NOT.V, GXEXF.PK and RRPIX, my only other holdings, are moving the right direction....

FXP in at a cost of $79. I should of bought more under $60, but I already have 10% of my portfolio invested. I will hang in for the longer term. Maybe it will go back over $90 soon. I have 90% cash right now. I am thinking about shorting COF, LEH, GM. But I will wait to see if we are going higher...

I am with you on wanting to short COF. It is overbought daily and almost on the weekly and on the 200 day moving average. It is flatlining now and coiling for a move, perhaps higher. I am waiting on which way it wants to move. This is the third poke at resistance ($57) on the dailies, so the fourth poke is likely to succeed, however brief that may be. The first two were sold immediately and this one however is churning under resistance.

COF's business position is really bad but I don't know when it will reflect in the stock price. Looks like the big boys are buying time for the financials to raise money. There are new debt issues every day all paying about 8.5% interest. Talk about cost of capital.

Boss, what's your thinking about whether to sell FXP now or hold on?

Has anyone notice how so many people seem to be convinced that we'll recover in the second half of the year?

The NAR(National Association of Realtors) predicts home sales will pick up later this year. Every financial institution expects a recovery later this year. The auto manufacturers expect an increase in sales in the second half of the year. There's a dozen more industries and pundits saying the same thing as well.

My question is what is going to cause all this spending growth? I don't see any catalysts or situations that could make us recover in the second half.

What am I missing?

Rob.

A story is meticulously presented in this article written by Mark Mitchell. This is the foundation to a much larger picture that is about to unfold in our Capital Markets. Please take the time to read this document and pass along to others.

http://www.deepcapture.com

The Yahoo/Microsoft discussion at slashdot:
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/05/06/191208.shtml
(see also earlier discussion:
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/05/04/0045248.shtml)
mentions this NYT piece:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/how-googles-checkbook-stymied-microsoft/index.html

Wired also has coverage:
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/J/JAPAN_MICROSOFT_GATES?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-05-07-07-33-58
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/05/did-bill-miller.html
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/M/MICROSOFT_YAHOO?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/05/microsoft-walks.html

What am I missing?

Rob.

The "2nd half of the year recovery" is a standard mantra on Wall Street that of course is routinely picked-up by the MSM. Unfortunately, the 2nd half recovery thesis is never backed-up by actual research and analysis...IMHO.

Bill stated, "America should not be dilly-dallying."

Why not? it seems it's what we do best!! :-)

The silver pits will soon get very interesting as widespread physical shortages have recently been reported and now we have the world's largest silver producer going off-line next week...

"Unions at mines throughout Peru are ready to strike next week to demand better labor benefits, the head of the country's biggest federation of mining unions and local union bosses said on Tuesday.

"We have 33 unions supporting us," said Luis Castillo, the federation's leader. "We will go on nationwide strike on May 12 no matter what."

Peru is the world's leading silver producer, ranks second in copper and zinc, and fifth in gold, according to government data."

http://tinyurl.com/3oljol

RBCN Volume up 1300%

anyone know why?

It's really a magician's market. goes up or down for no legitimate reason. I have been studying cara 100, ibd 100, and can slim stocks and there are some good entries but i really shouldn't.

Market looks tired. oil is high, inflation is high, fraud by hb&b is high, wages and jobs down, housing down, consumers down. if i buy and my holdings go up chased and was lucky. if they go down it was me trying to swim against the current with only one arm and one leg.

I'll sit tight and keep saving until the gold trade occurs.

let me cancel my wire transfer now.

"Has anyone notice how so many people seem to be convinced that we'll recover in the second half of the year?"

Yes, and this has been the case since the first signs of the bubble imploding were noticeable. Recovery has always been six months on the horizon.

Indeed, anyone with sense knows this will take years before anyone can even begin to predict when the recovery will happen.

b0ss:

If you have multiples of 100's of shares and are willing to trade time for money, you can write at-the-money calls, say Dec 08 calls, for ~$15.

I was referring to FXP calls in my earlier post.

Thanks for the replies. I see the picture now. Since the market relies on what will be happening 6 months down the road, they need everyone to at least say that the recovery will start then. Otherwise we crash until then.

My problem with that rosy picture is that home prices will still be falling by the third quarter. That means foreclosures will still be high and the 10X leveraged paper on top of the bad mortgages will be getting worse.

The shell game the banks are playing with the FED right now is to buy time so that these "assets" return to full value. How will they return to full value when the housing market they're based on is still deteriorating?

Will The Fed just keep the garbage paper and let the banks keep the treasuries? Will the Treasury convince banks to forgive a portion of people's mortgage that are ready to default? Or will the treasury loan people money directly to have at least 20% equity with their first loan?

Any way they try to save this without making the responsible people suffer will increase commodities to heights never imagined and sink the dollar forever.

What's it going to be Hank and Ben? The country or your banker buddies?

Rob.

And I still haven't seen anyone trying to figure out the P/E ratio of any bank or brokerage. Take your pick. I would think the lowest P/E has to be approaching the nosebleed heights of the tech bubble.

Rob.

FingerLakes - it'll be their banker buddies - every time.

Dave

Patchie, thanks for the naked short selling article ( http://www.deepcapture.com ). There is also an interview with Patrick Byrne at http://www.financialsense.com/Experts/2007/Byrne.html

Is it fair to say that there are some similarities between fractional reserve banking and naked short selling stocks? In one case, currency is created, and in the other, stock is created. If naked short selling is a fraud, is fractional reserve banking also fundamentally a fraud?

RH

Allen and other FXP Underwater Club members.

I'm holding! Just 2 or more days like today and we can bail and maybe even make a profit. We all know FXP can move quickly [unfortunately] in both directions. But with bads news all around us the odds are in our favor. That is why I am holding.

Only regret is I didn't buy any at @60 or lower the other day.

This things dropping like a rock eh?

SEC to Make Wall Street Banks Reveal Capital, Liquidity Levels

http://tinyurl.com/6hbgq4

The final round of this boxing match is near

UXG joins WGW in the toilet bowl. I am beginning to wonder about this McEwen guy.

not that i'm complaining, but

WHERE'S THE VOLUME

anybody sticking their neck out & going long @ 12,800?

watchin 12,835 DJ30 for bounceage..

ralph
http://successfulonlinetrading.com/blogs

ralph - good call

NYUGrad,
Looks like The SEC wasn't in on Ben and Hank's meeting about hiding bad assets forever.

Everyone was happy to bid up the financials when the perception was that they'd be able to hide their bad paper forever. Now look at everyone run out of them. The only thing holding up the market now is energy companies and tech(while we still dream about that second half recovery.)

So, how low do we have to dive to negate the DOW buy signal?

Rob.

Regarding this reported higher worker productivity: doesn't it amount to squeezing more work out of existing workers? Maybe it has to do with lag between shrinking workforce and reported output, which will eventually be shrinking also ala declining GDP?

But my favorite section has to be this:

"In a sign that inflation could be easing, labor cost pressures slowed a bit. Unit labor costs rose at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, down from a 2.8 percent rise in the final three months of last year"

Since when has rising labor costs actually been an inflationary threat? Hasn't globalization resulted in, as Mish puts it, wage arbitrage? Don't we regularly see reports that people aren't earning more than they were 20 years ago?

Sounds like grasping at straws to find any metric that actually makes inflation look like it's improving, when really it is not...

"Worker productivity up at 2.2 percent rate in first quarter"

http://tinyurl.com/5aqbo4

proud papa,

its called squeezing juice out of a rock. :)

Any eta on the junior gold miners research?

Just getting antsy waiting for the TOG

Allen

Hope you are enjoying the FXP express today. Hopefully the ride will continue tomorrow.

jk84 - re RBCN - it may be the expiration of the post IPO lockup.

Bill wrote recently that he doesn't want the research reports to go out under his name. I am also patiently waiting for these and wonder what is going on.

[Bill Cara note: We are changing the presentation from "Research" to "Learning Systems", after which some or all these reports will be issued. I made the basic decision that I do not want to make Buy and Sell recommendations and set Price Targets in a general publication. The Learning Systems will clearly define the product as case studies and not trading in securities, in the strictest and traditional interpretation of securities law (as defined in various countries). Moreover, I decided to restrict all securities trading services within managed accounts whereby the owner of the account that is set up with a broker-dealer (in any one of many countries) enters into a tripartite agreement with Cara Trading Advisors and their broker to permit CTA to participate in specified levels of decision-making. We are working on the paperwork now. What I am intent on doing is cleaning up conflicts of interest so that the owner of capital is treated right, and in doing so, show others a business model I believe is best for financial services and media. This isn't rocket science, but there is a high level of bureaucracy to work through. I'll get there.]

Any thoughts on DGP. New etn, double up (DGP) or double down (DZZ) funds on Gold futures contracts?

When the TOG process begins i was thinking of minimizing country risk, mgmt risk, manipulation risk, and sticking to DGP to get double the gains on gold future contracts?

Here is the 152 page prospectus from Deutsche website dbfunds.com. http://tinyurl.com/435nyc

Out of my day trades shorts on COF, GM, LEH

They moved down more than I thought so I am out with a good profit. Still holding on to FXP because I think the trend will be up on that stock.

I tuned in today, why the big sell off? Was there bad news?

I got a bounce today with my QID May 40 calls, but not quite enough - in and out @1.50, lost the commissions, but I guess worse things could happen, eh? Still sucks to hold it for almost a week and get nothing though. I'll wait for LEH, MS to go higher again, and play some puts. Someone mentioned shorting both - well, they've been very volatile between 45-50; I'd look for puts on MS at 50 or more, LEH at 47-48 (and today was a real down day with LEH at 43+ and MS to 47, so in my case I missed a very big move). Just MHO. Good luck with your trades.

Should be... "tuned in late today"

[sorry for the typo ...excited about the jump in FXP today]

QT, Yes, today was happy. Any ideas about where things go over the next couple of days?

Re: UXG

This is a typical 'market darling' stock with some merits, but a huge speculative run-up on favouritism.

Results for gold exploration are likely to be boriing, boring, boring as gold is a rare element and is unlikely to come in very high grades. (though its probable the company and its CEO have some merits.)

I would be watching the trade in that stock for a dominant trader who always seems to have stock available to sell into the market. I see a lot of 'anonymous' in the trading, so this could mean 'naked shorting' or systematic 'failures to deliver.'

Haven't watched this stock everyday, but many of the gold sector junior companies are under this kind of influence right now.

F6

From a Stratfor article on transortation security issues in China:

A fire aboard the number 842 bus in Shanghai’s Yangpu district during morning rush hour May 5 killed three people and injured a dozen more. The bus, operated by the Dazhong Transportation (Group) Co., caught fire around 9:15 a.m. local time near Huangxing Road and Guoshun Road.

Publicly, security officials say the fire was an accident caused by a mechanical problem. However, security officials have privately said that an individual came on board the bus carrying flammable materials. There is strong suspicion that the fire was the result of an intentional act, perhaps related to someone frustrated with losses on the Shanghai Stock Exchange."

"

Allen

"Any ideas about where things go over the next couple of days?"

To be honest I have no idea. But the news is bad out there. Bill always said he thought it would correct to 10000/2000. Also if you are like me you made some serious $$$ off of FXP in the past because of the fast & big moves that it can make.
Today you and I made back 7.74 pts just like that. Also have you noticed that FXP tends to be affected more by the US market rather than the Chinese market. So I plan to stay long knowing I may have to see it fall back a little before it moves up big again. With the general belief that we are in a bear market I can live with that. What I couldn't live with is, to sell now and take the loss, then watch it in a week or more take off into the 80's, '90' or even 100's again.

What will be interesting to see how the foreign markets react tomorrow to today's big sell off.

Allen

Note these excerpts from "Wall Street Falls Hard"

http://tinyurl.com/3gurt7

- "I think we're in a fragile recovery," said Phillip Roth, chief technical market analyst with Miller Tabak, referring to the market's longer-term action. "The market's in a struggling advance. And after yesterday's reversal early, which seemed like a pretty powerful reversal, it fizzled at the end of the day, and there's no follow-through."

Roth, who maintains that the market's climb for most of 2008 remains a bear-market rally, called the action over the past few months "a crummy, light-volume rally with poor breadth. And it looks like it might be ending. It's also more than 3 months old. It basically began in the third week of January for most stocks.We haven't seen the low," Roth continued, "and I think we're going to break below the March lows. It's just a question of when."

-Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Fed, though not a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said during a speech Tuesday that policymakers might have to look at raising interest rates in order to deal with "serious" inflation issues.

Does anyone follow DRYS? They opened above 94 today and closed about 90, even though the baltic dry index hit 10,000. Thats usually positive for this company.

On Microsoft: It's interesting to note they are building a $280m R&D facility in China.

http://tinyurl.com/5pl9f5

I notice some folks here seem favorable toward Obama. I'm curious about this and was wondering if you all might elaborate. Based on my own research, seems like he is favorable to more government funded social programs. This would seem somewhat counter what is generally discussed here.

To Bert, re Obama, politics and this blog. I come here for the market wisdom and chatter. Any news seems to affect stock prices these days. So I guess exit polls and whatnot also affect the market. If you are asking how we individuals are going to vote, thats 1- quite individual and 2- kinda personal. I will tell you how I would vote off blog at giordan at concast dot net. Replace the at and the dot with appropriate symbols. I ascribe to a political philosophy somewhere between Heinlien and Clancy. 1- TANSTAAFL and then 2-the only person I will really happily vote for is the guy who would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to to Oval Office
peace from North Puget Sound
Gray

Two good post at "Jesse's Café Américain"

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

1. SEC to Make Wall Street Banks Reveal Capital, Liquidity Levels

2.Housing Slumps in the US - Half of 2006 Buys Now Underwater

Obama: If by social program you mean single payer universal health care like in Canada or most of the western world, then it is completely in-line with what has been written about by our host and others here.

Hey guys,

I am well known for taking shots at Wall Streeters. That is not my purpose here tonight. I wish merely to tell you that, as a result of some recent discussions I've been having with an acquaintance of mine who helps runa a large mutual fund, there is an interesting though not generally understood fact about Wall Streeters that I wish to share. In short, these people are not that smart. We presume that despite the sociologicaly advantaged nature of the Wall Streeter and his typically superior education, that there must be something about these people that makes them particularly well suited to the business. I'm here to tell you, it aint so. These folks often have no prior knowledge nor interest in the subject matter prior to their initial employment on the street, which employment they pursue due to the salaries involved. They would gladly become doctors or lawyers if those jobs paid more, which they do not. Even a 2nd year associate at any major firm makes as much as a lawyer with a 3 year degree or many doctors who bust ass in school. Thereafter, the
Wall Streeter is typically well insulated from both reality as well as their own mistakes and shortcoming, by the layers of bullshit that they read, parrot, believe and ultimately hide behind. Conventional wisdom (pablum) comes spilling from their lips like so much froth. They, due to their ego-gratifying activities and completely outrageous paychecks, develop a feeling of invulnerability and superiority to the rest of humanity. It's natural that a guy or girl pulling down 10, 20, or 30 times that of the average worker will be seduced into a feeling of superiority. The problems start when you send them your money! They are so cavalier with other peoples hard earned cash! They do all sorts of things that independent traders like us could never afford to do. They let their egos get in the way. They ride losing positions, believing more in themselves than in the facts of the trade. They have ENORMOUS egos in many cases, which as you know is detrimental to the implementation of sound technique. And I'm only telling you this because I had a talk with someone today who made me realize.....all of the above. And I never want you thinking that these jerks are any better than we are. They are not.

well said shark - my view has long been that the Wallstreeter is a typical type 'A" personality - they need to be given Wallstreet or FedStreet is the rah rah capital of the world - "its all about the money dude!!!" i paraphrase the local CNBC jocks. Type A personality, also known as the Type A Behavior Pattern, is a set of characteristics that includes being impatient, excessively time-conscious, insecure about one's status, highly competitive, hostile and aggressive, and incapable of relaxation.Type A individuals are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about the smallest of delays.

ALOHA !!

shark/jacksoo ... Are you guys talking about WallStreeters or the US Congress? HA!!! Two new rides in FantasyLand!!!

One thing is for sure ... Somewhere in that equation is the "who you know" part!

http://tinyurl.com/5nyazf

Some compelling charts.

Shark, good reading, but as for your opening line about NOT taking potshots at wall st ... :)

Overall the deck is still stacked against us little guys, at least it feels that way to me.

Good morning.

One small change to the Cara 100 Ratings:

GOOG - Target Price Raised from $570 to $700 @ UBS

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