*And will be buying as many as I can this week:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sears-starts-to-look-like-a-retailer-again-2010-04-23?dist=WSJfeed&siteid=WSJ
"Many of Lambert's moves in rebuilding the company were counter intuitive, to say the least."
Jim Cramer likes Mike Lambert.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/197891-cramer-s-lightning-round-all-alone-with-eddie-lampert-4-8-10
Wow, they have lost market share! But they are increasing sales none the less! Wow! Amaaaazing! Or accounting crap orchestrated by the Gomez-Lambert team. Give me a break.
Which is more likely, a former hedge fund manager is making huge profits based on accounting irregularity's and government stimulus funds, or people are going to start flocking to Sears and K-Mart in droves because they like Selena Gomez?
So Jim Cramer loves this guy...and I don't. Nothing personal, just you see, you have a former hedge fund guy trying to turn around a failing retailer in the midst of the next Great Recession and you know what? He is not really trying to turn it around.
From WSJ article above: "It is too early to tell if Sears' sales uptick is just a freak occurrence, or if the company has made some changes that will stick." (Hint: It's a freak occurence!)
Lampert knows Sears is going down and his old hedge fund buddies are supporting him even though they know it too. Hence, a P/E of 59.8 in an industry that is trading at 23.8 times earnings when it should be trading at 13 times earnings. Perhaps 7.
Short, Short, Short!*
*Trade at you own risk. I smell a great big blanking RAT!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Agreeing With No One
Sometimes it is difficult to agree with no one. Watching the Sunday News talk shows this morning was like pounding nails into my skull. (ok, that is a bit extreme)
No, really, I am so sick of listening to a pile of half truths. Politics suck.
First you have the Republicans, which by jumping on the Bad Capitalist bandwagon (i.e. Wall Street bankers and brokers who originated the sub prime slime and sold it to main street), have pretty much lost any respect I had for them. I mean seriously, how can they be FOR Wall Street investment banks taking deposits and trading derivative securities at the same time?! How could anyone be for that? It is an incentive nightmare. I know they say they want to end "too big too fail", but I don't believe them. Hank Paulson (former Bush Treasury Secretary) pretty much wrote TARP, and they hold him up as the ideal Capitalist? My God, what is wrong with them? Do they really think they can have it both ways? They sound like whiny children.
"Hey Dad, I don't want any rules imposed on my behavior. I want complete an absolute freedom to pursue my dreams. But, if I crash the car while driving drunk I want you to steal money from the neighbors to buy me a new one, because my activities were necessary to keep the party going."
These large financial institutions want FDIC, taxpayer bailouts, practically free $ from the discount window to lend to risky borrowers, all at TAXPAYER EXPENSE (yes, I know the banks pay directly into FDIC, but we still pay its employees salaries)! Of course they are against BANKING REFORM. They want a new shiny car stolen from the neighbor to replace the old one they crashed!
And the Republicans support this?! Enable it even? Shame on them. Someone in the party needs to step up and say NO MORE! If they don't, they deserve whatever they get. If they don't, they deserve a Socialist state headed by Mr. Obama himself.
Obama is loving every minute of this. He is a brilliant politician, and has apparently outwitted the Republicans big time here. I don't know if he really cares about financial reform or not, but his administration is on the right track. In my opinion the banking reform legislation doesn't go far enough. Someone, anyone, show me a Republican who would be in favor of the return of Glass-Steagall.
I am all for free markets, but here is the truth folks: we have not had a free market in the banking system since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The only way to "fix" this is to get rid of FDIC and completely overhaul our financial system. I know this is a very radical thing to say, but if the Federal Reserve System was designed to protect us from the booms and busts of Capitalism, then why hasn't it? The answer is this: it wasn't created for that purpose. It was a Government grab for power, just like Health Care Reform is. The monetary system our government runs is one of the main causes of booms and busts.
I know it is completely unrealistic at this point to eliminate FDIC and the FRB. So guess what? We have no choice. The only rational thing to do here is to reinstate Glass-Steagall, as it worked pretty damn well. We already bailed out the Fat Cats. They needed to be allowed to fail, and they weren't. So now they are just a child of the state.
Guess what, when Daddy pays for your car, he gets to decide whether to take it away or not when you get a DWI!
It is too much to ask for at this point to get the Government out of banking altogether. So take away the damn sports car!
And Liberal Democrats accusing Glen Beck and Sarah Palin of sedition? Has the world gone mad? Are Liberals becoming intolerant Fascists? They tolerate the fascist hate speech of Islamic extremeists in the U.S., but call Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's support of the constitution seditious? You have got to be kidding me!
This country has gone mad. Or maybe it hasn't, maybe I just need to turn off the damn TV.
No, really, I am so sick of listening to a pile of half truths. Politics suck.
First you have the Republicans, which by jumping on the Bad Capitalist bandwagon (i.e. Wall Street bankers and brokers who originated the sub prime slime and sold it to main street), have pretty much lost any respect I had for them. I mean seriously, how can they be FOR Wall Street investment banks taking deposits and trading derivative securities at the same time?! How could anyone be for that? It is an incentive nightmare. I know they say they want to end "too big too fail", but I don't believe them. Hank Paulson (former Bush Treasury Secretary) pretty much wrote TARP, and they hold him up as the ideal Capitalist? My God, what is wrong with them? Do they really think they can have it both ways? They sound like whiny children.
"Hey Dad, I don't want any rules imposed on my behavior. I want complete an absolute freedom to pursue my dreams. But, if I crash the car while driving drunk I want you to steal money from the neighbors to buy me a new one, because my activities were necessary to keep the party going."
These large financial institutions want FDIC, taxpayer bailouts, practically free $ from the discount window to lend to risky borrowers, all at TAXPAYER EXPENSE (yes, I know the banks pay directly into FDIC, but we still pay its employees salaries)! Of course they are against BANKING REFORM. They want a new shiny car stolen from the neighbor to replace the old one they crashed!
And the Republicans support this?! Enable it even? Shame on them. Someone in the party needs to step up and say NO MORE! If they don't, they deserve whatever they get. If they don't, they deserve a Socialist state headed by Mr. Obama himself.
Obama is loving every minute of this. He is a brilliant politician, and has apparently outwitted the Republicans big time here. I don't know if he really cares about financial reform or not, but his administration is on the right track. In my opinion the banking reform legislation doesn't go far enough. Someone, anyone, show me a Republican who would be in favor of the return of Glass-Steagall.
I am all for free markets, but here is the truth folks: we have not had a free market in the banking system since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The only way to "fix" this is to get rid of FDIC and completely overhaul our financial system. I know this is a very radical thing to say, but if the Federal Reserve System was designed to protect us from the booms and busts of Capitalism, then why hasn't it? The answer is this: it wasn't created for that purpose. It was a Government grab for power, just like Health Care Reform is. The monetary system our government runs is one of the main causes of booms and busts.
I know it is completely unrealistic at this point to eliminate FDIC and the FRB. So guess what? We have no choice. The only rational thing to do here is to reinstate Glass-Steagall, as it worked pretty damn well. We already bailed out the Fat Cats. They needed to be allowed to fail, and they weren't. So now they are just a child of the state.
Guess what, when Daddy pays for your car, he gets to decide whether to take it away or not when you get a DWI!
It is too much to ask for at this point to get the Government out of banking altogether. So take away the damn sports car!
And Liberal Democrats accusing Glen Beck and Sarah Palin of sedition? Has the world gone mad? Are Liberals becoming intolerant Fascists? They tolerate the fascist hate speech of Islamic extremeists in the U.S., but call Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's support of the constitution seditious? You have got to be kidding me!
This country has gone mad. Or maybe it hasn't, maybe I just need to turn off the damn TV.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Goldman on The Daily Show
I love John Stewart, even if I don't always agree with him politically, his humor about Wall Street Fat Cats is funny because it's true.
I am not too fond of Cramer's advice either:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Puppy Me! | ||||
| ||||
I am not too fond of Cramer's advice either:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| These F@#king Guys - Goldman Sachs | ||||
| ||||
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Bond Fund Bust Coming
If you have done well in muni's or long term corporate bond funds over the last few years, get out now.
There is nothing wrong with cash. If you are retired preserve cash, don't chase returns.
There is nothing wrong with cash. If you are retired preserve cash, don't chase returns.
Free Speech?
If you underestimate the intentions or the voracity of the Islamic extremist movement in the US, you had better watch this video.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Goldman Sachs
First of all, thank you SEC. It's about time you did your job. Otherwise, really, what is the point of your being around at all.
Secondly, I am not sorry to see Goldman fall. I am a Capitalist, that is for sure, but I believe in Capitalism rooted in morality. I believe in wealth creation through adding value, not fee collecting rooted in trickery and market manipulation.
I posted this a while back:
http://econmom.blogspot.com/2009/11/goldman-sachs-doing-gods-work.html
We shall see how this plays out.
Of course, I am still short the market. If this phony rebound was caused by questionable trading activities by big investment banks trading with money they borrowed from the discount window(ie. the American Taxpayer) at nearly 0%....it is really time to sell. The jig is up. Game over. Of course, as always, trade or invest at your own risk.
I am so happy to get back to writing and trading. Tax season is over! Finally!
Secondly, I am not sorry to see Goldman fall. I am a Capitalist, that is for sure, but I believe in Capitalism rooted in morality. I believe in wealth creation through adding value, not fee collecting rooted in trickery and market manipulation.
I posted this a while back:
http://econmom.blogspot.com/2009/11/goldman-sachs-doing-gods-work.html
We shall see how this plays out.
Of course, I am still short the market. If this phony rebound was caused by questionable trading activities by big investment banks trading with money they borrowed from the discount window(ie. the American Taxpayer) at nearly 0%....it is really time to sell. The jig is up. Game over. Of course, as always, trade or invest at your own risk.
I am so happy to get back to writing and trading. Tax season is over! Finally!
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