SOCIALISM -You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbor. COMMUNISM -You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM -You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM -You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. BUREAUCRATISM -You have 2
Global Market Comments December 31, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE LONG VIEW ON EMERGING MARKETS), (HOW TO AVOID THE PONZI SCHEME TRAP), (MURRAY SAYLE: THE PASSING OF A GIANT IN JOURNALISM), (TESTIMONIAL)
Global Market Comments December 30, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trades: (BE CAREFUL WHO YOU SNITCH ON), (A CONVERSATION WITH THE BOOTS ON THE GROUND), (DINNER WITH JOSEPH STIGLITZ)
Buried in the recently passed Dodd-Frank financial reform bill are massive financial rewards for turning in your crooked boss. The SEC is hoping that multimillion dollar rewards amounting to 10%-30% of sanction amounts will drive a stampede of whistleblowers to their doors with evidence of malfeasance and fraud by their employers. If such rules were
Global Market Comments December 26, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (INDIA IS CATCHING UP WITH CHINA), (PIN), (FXI), (WHO SAYS HEDGE FUNDS AREN?T ADDING VALUE?) (PETER F. DRUCKER ON MANAGEMENT) PowerShares India (PIN) iShares China Large-Cap (FXI)
When I first visited Calcutta in 1976, more than 800,000 people were sleeping on the sidewalks, I was hauled everywhere by a very lean, barefoot rickshaw driver, and drinking the water out of a tap was tantamount to committing suicide. Some 36 years later, and the subcontinent is poised to overtake China's white hot growth
Global Market Comments December 24, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trades: (A CHRISTMAS STORY), (THE U-HAUL INDICATOR)
It is the end of the school year at the University of California at Berkeley, and the unenviable task of moving my son, a senior, out of his hovel for the holidays fell to me. When I arrived, I was stunned to find nothing less than a war zone. Both sides of every street were
Global Market Comments December 23, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE ONE BRIGHT SPOT IN REAL ESTATE), (A SHORT HISTORY OF HEDGE FUNDS), (THE POPULATION BOMB ECHOES), (POT), (MOS), (AGU), (THANK GOODNESS I DON?T LIVE IN SWEDEN), (EWD) Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (POT) The Mosaic Company (MOS) Agrium Inc. (AGU) iShares MSCI Sweden (EWD)
Global Market Comments December 20, 2013 Fiat Lux SPECIAL END OF YEAR ISSUE Featured Trades: (GO LONG CHRISTMAS CHEER AND HOT BUTTERED RUM), (A SPECIAL NOTE ON EXERCISED OPTIONS)
Global Market Comments December 19, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (MAD HEDGE FUND TRADER PROFIT HITS 63%), (SPY), (TLT), (FXY), (SFTBY), (AAPL), (XLF), (I WAS WRONG?.BUT IT DIDN?T MATTER) (A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE US) (THE STRUCTURAL BEAR CASE FOR TREASURY BONDS), (TLT), (TBT) SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) CurrencyShares
The performance of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s Trade Alert Service is still going ballistic, reaching the heady height of 63.08% for the year. Including both open and closed trades, 24 out of the last 26 consecutive Trade Alerts have been profitable. The results so far in December are up a stunning +7.04. The three-year
Ben Bernanke finally did the deed. He tapered his quantitative easing program, from $85 to $75 billion a month. I thought he would wait until next month for incoming Fed governor Janet Yellen to take the helm, and the responsibility. It was not to be. The good news for followers of my Trade Alert Service
Global Market Comments December 18, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE RECEPTION THAT THE STARS FELL UPON), (NLR), (CCJ), (CORN), (WEAT), (SOYB), (DBA), (OIL ISN?T WHAT IT USED TO BE), (USO), (TAKING A BITE OUT OF STEALTH INFLATION), (SGG), (WEAT) Market Vectors Uranium+Nuclear Enrgy ETF (NLR) Cameco Corporation (CCJ) Teucrium Corn (CORN) Teucrium Wheat (WEAT)
Virtually every analyst has been puzzled by the seeming immunity of stock markets to high oil prices this year. In fact, stocks and crude have been tracking almost one to one on the upside. The charts below a friend at JP Morgan sent me go a long way towards explaining this apparent dichotomy. The first
Global Market Comments December 17, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE RISING DRUMBEAT FOR ALIBABA), (SFTBY), (S), (TMUS), (T), (RAMPANT WAGE INFLATION STRIKES CHINA), (FXI) (CHECK OUT OBAMA?S LATEST STIMULUS PLAN), (TESTIMONIAL) SoftBank Corp. (SFTBY) Sprint Corporation (S) T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) AT&T, Inc. (T) iShares China Large-Cap (FXI)
Rumors hit the market Friday that Sprint (S) will mount a $20 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile (TMUS) in early January. The news caused a late day kerfluffle on what would otherwise have been a slow December pre holiday Friday. The Shares of both companies immediately jumped 10%, which left many analysts scratching their heads.
I rely on hundreds of 'moles' around the world whose job it is to watch a single, but important indicator for the world economy. One of them checks for me the want ads in the manufacturing mega city of Shenzhen, China, and what he told me last week was alarming. Wage demands by Chinese workers
Was there is no limit to how far President Obama was willing to go to stimulate the economy and reassure his election? So I had to be amused when a friend sent me a link to his proposal. Warning: the source is a college humor website, so I would take it with so many grains
Global Market Comments December 16, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (REPORT FROM THE FROZEN WASTELANDS OF THE WEST)