Articles
The Government's New Plan For Retirees Includes Pink Slime, Horse Meat, and Horse Hockey Investments
By: Richard Benson of sfgroup.org
They Don't Always Ring a Bell at the Top But They Sure Eat a Lot of Steak
Here's the thing about IPOs. They are about supply and demand. Yeah, sure, access to "permanent" capital, "liquidity events" for the founders and the Mitt Romneys, recapitalizations, and so on, but, fundamentally, they are about supply and demand. Offer too much stock, and it might be a flop (see GRPN's "float" in their I"P"O). Generate robust demand, and it might pop. But by the time a company gets to that stage, it has been scrubbed, polished, shopped and priced to perfection (which is why Uncle Warren does not play the game).
Fed Balance Sheet - BerNANK is a PimP!
Anyone expecting the Fed to engage in QE3 may be drinking a little too much Colt 45 at lunch. The Fed releases the size of their balance sheet every Thursday afternoon. For some reason, I like to see what they do rather than just what the say.
Remember, Bernanke said monetary policy is akin to overhauling a car engine while it is barrelling down the highway. So, what I do for fun (Sick, I know) is I track this data every Friday and make a couple of charts.
Take a look at what is really happening, on the sheet I have attached.
Tom Russo Lecture At Columbia Business School/Greenwald (2009)
This is a 1.5-hour Columbia Business School lecture by Tom Russo from Spring 2009 (unconfirmed, my estimate).
The Fed Pays a King's Ransom to China
Written and published by Richard Benson, www.sfgroup.org
Pigs Fly and Prices Go Nuts
Written and published by Richard Benson www.sfgroup.org
When business slows down over the summer months, I finally have some time to reflect and do a little economic detective work and, yes, an occasional jig saw puzzle. Trying to figure out what is going on in the world these days is extraordinarily similar to putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Within the pile of pieces, you know there’s a picture somewhere but until you snap those last few pieces into place, the puzzle won’t be complete.
The Collapse of America’s Labor Force
America continues to face a true national tragedy as tens of millions of unemployed people have been literally discarded because of big business outsourcing to China, India, and elsewhere. Worse yet, the unemployment statistics are manipulated every month in a cruel hoax to make it look like the unemployment rate is far lower than it really is. A high unemployment rate is embarrassing and would depress workers and business psychology, so workers are surgically removed from the labor force and hidden from view.
Two For One Book Reviews: “The Greatest Trade Ever” and “The Big Short”
In short, I recommend reading both books to people interested in finding out more about the few investors who were able to make money during the housing meltdown in 2006-2008. The two books track several people, the bets they made, the challenges they faced from their investors, competitors, ill-wishers, families, partners and brokers. There is a certain overlap in two of the characters covered between the books (Michael Burry, Greg Lippmann) but otherwise “the tracks” are separate and yet complementary.
Heretical Thoughts on Gold Miners
Over the last few days, I went through over 90 precious metal miner presentations from a recent forum. The companies presenting ranged from the major majors to minor juniors (pre-production, spending your cash on drilling holes across the globe).
Here is what I found out:
-Every miner is undervalued compared to its peers
-Every miner is a steal at its 2012-2015 projected production level
-Every miner has multiple high-potential opportunities in the world's most prolific mining region
How Not to Woo Customers: Craig-Hallum Edition
So, imagine this: several of your micro-cap holdings and research targets are presenting together in a conference in your city. You register for said micro-cap stock conference put together by a small bank called Craig-Hallum. There are no restrictions of any kind on the registration process: a straight-forward registration form with standard questions.
"The Greatest Trade Ever" A Long Recap & Review
If you are becoming a great trader, even if you have years of experience in the business, then you are still trying to improve yourself. What could be a better way than learning about the greatest trade in history?
What follows is my review and recap of "The Greatest Trade Ever." I encourage you most urgently to get this book and read it.
Where's My Government Check?
Written and published by Richard Benson, www.sfgroup.org - My wife and I are getting a little older, so naturally we are beginning to think about where the cash flow will come from when we truly retire. We realize we won’t be able to live on Social Security benefits alone, and even though we have paid into the system our entire lives in the hopes that come retirement age we’ll get something back, I’m not very optimistic about our prospects.
A Trillion Here, A Trillion There....
Written and published by Richard Benson
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”. This phrase about government expenditures has become a classic but with great inflation underway, it needs to be brought up to date.
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