patrick.net

That's funny Troy.

I think we should start a movement to get Regean to replace Franklin on the one hundred dollar bill. Also, it is time to expand Mount Rushmore. Regean would fit just next to Lincoln.

If they ever build the asses of the presidents on the back side, that would be a fitting tribute to GW Bush.

leoj707 says

Troy says

One would like to think folks like Shrek are getting paid to post their BS

I have often suspected this. Or hoped rather, because yeah the alternative is worse.

If someone is paying 'em to write this crap, they're not getting their money's worth. They could at least hire someone with the ability to formulate thoughts into coherent sentences.

ppexx says

This is going to blow big time. Do not touch metals.

1600

Where can it stop? I am watching the price since it was on $1400 something and stopped investigating in it thinking it will come down.

Behold,...Shreks logic skills.

shrekgrinch says

Really? Tell us: Did you ever get a job from a poor man?

That is among the dumbest things you have ever said. So every restaurant owner is rich? Bill Gates was rich when he started Microsoft?

Even if being rich was a requirement to be an employer, it says nothing about whether being rich makes someone an employer. As someone else suggested recently, maybe to Shrek, learn about biconditional statements, ie if and only if, ie "necessary and sufficient" conditions.

How did short plays go?

I have been on vacation almost a month not watching stocks.

But pleased to see my AAPL doing fine.

Vicente says

How did short plays go?

I'm guessing that's a rhetorical question? Or just a poke with a sharp stick?

Murdoch getting grilled today in London...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/jul/19/phone-hacking-rupert-murdoch-rebekah-brooks-mps

... and he got pie in the face - literally!

marcus says

Even if being rich was a requirement to be an employer, it says nothing about whether being rich makes someone an employer. As someone else suggested recently, maybe to Shrek, learn about biconditional statements, ie if and only if, ie "necessary and sufficient" conditions.

You should be asheamed of yourself marcus. Didn't you get the memo? Your not supposed to say "rich." Your supposed to say "job creator."

People don't want to come to grips with that fact that prices obtained in bull markets far exceed what anyone truly expects. Still stand by my thesis. Gold to $2000, Silver to $50. Silver came within 50 cents of my target about 3 years early. I won't be surprised if we are there next year.

clambo says

Having seen human nature in other situations, people who have had less in life are MORE brand conscious than you or I are.
I for example can own a virginmobile android phone and do not care, but my friends in China all want Apple. My father and my neice and nephew are also unsatisfied with anything less than Apple.

This is true in many foreign countries, particularly developing countries. The reason is that they are used to such crap quality products from local manufacturers. When they see a brand name on something, it can be a proxy for quality, and once people figure out a brand, they stick with it. It's similar for Sony products. You can't just get someone a Panasonic walkman (they still make those overseas, I believe, although I believe they don't sell them in the US any more) or discman, or they'll say, "my dumbass cousin got me a cheap piece of crap"; you have to get them the Sony brand, even if you get them the cheapest base model Sony vs. a fully loaded other brand. I've noticed similar things about iPhones, although a lot of foreigners don't realize that you can't get iPhones here without a contract without a much higher price.

Meh. The data point is a moveon.org commissioned poll. The President is quoting from his base that can't help him win policy debates.

Apple was my first stock I ever bought in 1996 for my Roth IRA. 2k was my initial investment. Unfortunately I've sold about 1/3 of my shares throughout the years. Still I'm not complaining about my 1300% return over 15 years. Not bad for my 2nd best investment.

SoCal Renter says

I fail to see the endless fascination with gold. I'm glad idiots are buying and hoarding it though because it is buffing my mining stocks.

I imagine there is some Scrooge McDuck sitting in a cave somewhere on top of his pile of gold like a leathery dragon thinking to himself, "I'm rich my precious, rich!"

Where is your daughter, old man? Oh yeah, she's smoking a J and banging the Mexican pool boy. Follow my investment advice: Sex, Drugs, and Hip Hop. These are paths to great wealth.

Your wondeful message is bought and paid for by the infinite fiat money of central bankers who have a vested interest in seeing middle class wealth be destroyed. Historically, it's always the middle class that overthrows corrupt govt, afterall. Destroy middle class wealth and you destroy their political power. And the central bankers then get locked in as leaders of our new world communitarian/collectivist bullshit government, for the next 100 years.

Patrick loves that kind of thing. He's not on the people's side. Bought and paid for, right Pat? You paid-for sell-out. Lying sack of excrement. Actor.

Dan8267 says

Gold is clearly in a bubble. Unfortunately, as we have learned from real estate, it's impossible to tell how long a bubble will last. As John Maynard Keynes said, "Markets can remain irrational longer than you or I can remain solvent."

When gold falls, it probably will fall quickly because it is much more liquid and much smaller of a market than real estate. But timing that event is very risky.

I plan to stay away from the gold bubble just like I stayed away from the real estate bubble and the .com bubble. I figure, there are so many sharks in that pool that have insider info and watch the market 24/7. Those of us with day jobs can't afford the time needed to compete with the sharks.

Clearly. In. A. Bubble.

You are clearly. A. JACKASS!!!!

masayako2456 says

Long on Apple & Google.

Good luck with your Google...

http://www.wordstream.com/articles/most-expensive-keywords

I always learn something new here. The #20th highest CPC on El Goog is 'Cord Blood'.

Chinamobile has 600 million subscribers, and Apple is making a phone to sell to them. Oh boy.

zzyzzx, maybe I missed something. What "High crimes and misdemeanors" did President Obama commit? A recommendation to raise taxes to balance the budget isn't a crime. Committing war crimes, instituting torture, and spying on private citizens with no cause or warrant are crimes. I'm not exactly surprised that you can't see the difference.

Sane Americans understand that we need to cut military spending, stop using Social Security in accounting to magically reduce the debt on paper, and raise government revenue in order to balance the budget without destroying our economy and society. Sane Americans understand that we simply cannot afford tax breaks for the rich. As one conservative pointed out, "We're broke."

Obama says: 80% of Americans support being taxed more

Might be true if it were reworded more like:
80% of Americans support being taxed more, as long as it's somebody else taxes being raised.

Pawlenty's star seems to have faded.

What happend to Ron Paul? He was probably the only real conservative out of the bunch.

I do know that he is not running for his House seat next year and is retiring. :(

Looks like Rick the Hair Perry is going to run:
http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Anita-Perry-encourages-husband-to-run-for-president-125893574.html

Looks like the plan is balanced on the backs of the middle class.

yup. When they say "broaden the base" they mean uptax the middle class.

The change to 75-year actuarial balance in the SSTF is theft from Generation X too.

The purpose of the FICA tax hike of 1984 was to build the SSTF so we would begin to spend it down by now (i.e. raise taxes on the post-FICA bracket) as the baby boom hit retirement age.

I was paying that excess FICA tax in the 1980s, but now this new proposal seeks to avoid redeeming the SSTF's bonds now, by gradually reducing benefits via the inflation measure change.

Me paying higher FICA taxes 1984-2009 for less benefits in 2030 wasn't the Greenspan deal! But not 1 person in 100 has the understanding to see what they're doing here.

The trust fund wasn't supposed to last to 2086, it was supposed to be spent down by 2040, when the youngest boomer is turning 80.

Fuck these guys. I'd go back to Japan, but they're even more screwed up. Probably too old for Canada now. Best bet is some doomstead away from the rabble and just ignore everything.

BHO is no FDR or LBJ, that is for sure. But he probably is a JFK-type guy.

The American People done screwed up 2001-2007. Increasing military spending $3T while cutting taxes $3T. Borrowing about $4T more than we should have by 2007. Standing around like doe-eyed cows while the trade deficit with China went from $80B on $120B of imports in 2001, to $260B on $320B in 2007. Not get our government to invest in alternate energy initiatives before gasoline hit $4.

We are a very very stupid people. Then again, so is just about everyone else.

"by focusing on exports and controlling financial speculation"

ayup. The media-political complex hasn't leveled with people about our $500B/yr trade deficit.

Our trading partners need some surplus against us thanks to the Triffin Dilemma, but if all of them are running surpluses it's going to be real bad news for us eventually.

Getting cheap goods via free trade with cheap labor countries is one thing, but cheap goods with a massive trade deficit is AFAIK uncharted waters.

The economic illiteracy of this country would probably shock me if it were tested. Basic facts, like what's the annual trade deficit, budget deficit, etc. I'm pretty sure nobody knows anything.

I sure as hell didn't 10 years ago, before I started commenting so much on the internet.

Democracy is reduced to "Gang" of six.

What's next, balanced budget via, Debt Hooligans?

"OI!! Listen here yeah? You'll pass this bill or I'll thrash you rotten, yeah? You fooker!"
[Throws teabagger on the ground and starts kicking him in the ribs]

Wow. That can't be right.

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-carries-warning-signs-obama-2012-213717802.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A poll released on Wednesday carried warning signs for President Barack Obama's re-election chances in 2012.

Obama's overall approval rating was at 46 percent, with 48 percent of voters disapproving of him, and this is in line with other recent surveys.

"There's a very good chance Barack Obama would lose if he had to stand for re-election today," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling.

Gullible.

EMan says

What happend to Ron Paul? He was probably the only real conservative out of the bunch.

Depends on how you define conservative.

He's a believer in liberty, and most self-described conservatives only believe in liberty with one hand in the till, the other policing the world.

That ain't Ron Paul, and I don't use the moniker "conservative" since it denigrates the man's reputation through guilt by association.

Let's see how many people still like Mitt Romey when they learn that he spent all of his time at Bain DESTROYING jobs.

If Kudlow likes the Gang of Six proposal, then I am opposing it. I get nervous when I hear things like "pro growth" since that usually entails massive tax cuts for the upper end. WHen Republcians talk about "pro growth" they mean the bank accounts of rich people, not the economy.

But HousingWatcher, a guy who makes money off labor arbitrage by outsourcing and slashing jobs is a "Jobs Creator", a veritable Hank Rearden that we should all worship as a Randian Hero.

Troy says

The change to 75-year actuarial balance in the SSTF is theft from Generation X too.

Troy, this is interesting. Can you elaborate on how the SSTF is accounted for, or do you have a link that explains it?

Thanks!