Money and Investing

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sprint customers line up as it gets 1st iPhone

http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?feed_id=0&catid=20120665&videofeed=36

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bullish Apple investors start calling for dividend

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE79B6CI20111012?irpc=932

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Full Report: The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America

This makes a real interesting read. It is closely related to the economic protests happening right now. It is worded with the same tone as The Communist Manifesto. There are a few valid points... I also have concerns about the Federal Reserve System, as did J.F. Kennedy.

I think that the article plays very loose with the facts. It blames the top 1% of income earners, who by the way make 24% of the national income and pay 40% of all federal income taxes. The article claims that if we tax these people more, the other 99% of the population can triple their income and can get free houses and free medical care. There is no way mathematically that this could be true, by a factor of 10 to 1, assuming you took most of the income of the top 1%. These lies make the article seem like snake oil. Many of its other claims seem exaggerated as well.

The main problem with the logic is that there are indeed people who do extraordinarily well, but they are few and far in-between. I have often heard that if you tax everyone who makes a million dollars per year at 100% of their income, you wouldn't make much of a dent in the federal budget deficit.

Not all the top 1% are CEO's as the article implies. Many are small business owners and farmers. In terms of accumulated wealth, and not income, the majority are retirees or near retirees who spent a lifetime saving for their retirement.

Individual income and standard of living have improved dramatically in my lifetime. Obviously the long term economic trends have been very favorable for most Americans. One bad recession does not justify demolishing the entire economic system.

The article does not go into the real cause of the economic collapse, which was major government intervention in the housing credit market.

"Redistribution of Wealth: Due to the rigging of our economic and political system, vast sums of wealth have been hoarded by the Economic Elite over the past 40 years. This money must be redistributed to the 99% of Americans who have been robbed and exploited. There will be much heated debate over how this money should be distributed, but we all need to agree that we must first hold the Economic Elite accountable and *our* wealth must be seized from them."

http://ampedstatus.org/full-report-the-economic-elite-vs-the-people-of-the-united-states-of-america/

High-Upside Industrials To Buy On Dips

http://seekingalpha.com/article/298921-high-upside-industrials-to-buy-on-dips?source=yahoo

Monday, October 10, 2011

Sent from my iPhone

Monday, October 3, 2011

iCloud more strategic than iPhone 5 for Apple

http://m.cnet.com/Article.rbml?nid=20114793&cid=null&bcid=&bid=-37

Sent from my iPhone

How To Avoid Debit Card Fees - Saving Advice

http://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2011/10/03/107795_how-to-avoid-debit-card-fees.html

Kindle Fire Teardown Shows Tablet A Loss Leader

http://mobile.informationweek.com/80256/show/b3d8cbf61d2b2764123223f99e94c1c6/

Sprint to 'Bet the Company' on Apple's iPhone

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203405504576603053795839250.html

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Europe Meltdown, Global Slump Seen Next Year: Poll

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/world-recession-seen-triggered-by-europe-breakdown-in-global-investor-poll.html

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

LLL

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dividendchannel/2011/09/22/lll-dividend-yield-pushes-past-3/?partner=yahootix

LLL

http://seekingalpha.com/article/295778-l3-communications-value-play-or-value-trap?source=yahoo

LLL

http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2011/09/26/the-most-promising-dividends-in-aerospace-and-def.aspx

LLL

http://seekingalpha.com/article/296276-3-dividend-growth-bargains-from-the-aerospace-and-defense-industry?source=yahoo

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Rising Bank Foreclosures Presage Housing Recovery

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/09/15/Rising-Bank-Foreclosures-Presage-Housing-Recovery.aspx#page1

Cyber Crime Pays: A $114 Billion Industry

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/09/14/Cyber-Crime-Pays-A-114-Billion-Industry.aspx

The $240-a-Year Bill You Don’t Know You’re Paying

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/09/07/The-240-a-Year-Bill-You-Dont-Know-Youre-Paying.aspx#page1

This Rule Could Kill the Housing Market

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/09/15/This-Rule-Could-Kill-the-Housing-Market.aspx#page1

Thursday, September 1, 2011

What Would Paul Krugman Do?

Except that banks don't really loan currency that way. That is to say, banks don't really loan out their deposits of Federal Reserve Notes, but instead issue loans by expanding the money supply. Say that same $10,000 in hard currency is deposited into bank A, but this time, the bank doesn't just loan out $9,000, keeping $1,000 in reserve. Rather, the $10,000 in deposits is the reserve from which the bank can then loan out an additional $90,000. It is still meeting its requirement to keep 10% in reserve. So if the deposits don't account for the loans, where does that loaned "money" come from? Why, it is simply created out of thin air! The bank punches some keys on a computer and—POOF!—extra digits show up on a borrower's account statement. Neat trick, huh? That's the magic of fractional-reserve banking.

The bank hasn't turned on some printing press and created more Federal Reserve Notes to place in its vault to represent the amount of the loan, the $90,000. The "credit" was just signed into existence when the borrower put his John Hancock on the loan agreement. So the "money" that was "borrowed" never existed in the first place. But the borrower can still gobuy a car or a house or whatever, because the seller will accept those digital numbers being transferred to his or her own account as value for the item sold. Works great, doesn't it? Well, sure, except that the borrower now owes the principal plus interest on the "money" the bank "loaned" him by creating it out of thin air, and, of course, if he doesn't repay it, the bank will take the house he bought with the "money" he borrowed—which is to say, in either case, that the borrower must repay something of real value representing the fruit of his labor in return for having borrowed something of no real value representing no labor or production.

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/08/30/what-would-paul-krugman-do/

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Citibank "Rewards" Card.

As part of my "rewards" for opening the Citibank card and spending $300 (which I did by paying my car insurance) , I got 6000 "points" which I used to get a $50 JC Penny gift card and a Harry Potter book.

Normally this card will only give you a single point for every dollar you spend. Since my "Chase Freedom" card actually pays cash, I no longer intend to use the Citibank card.

While I am on this subject, Chase bank offered $100 for opening a credit card, a checking account, and a savings account. I did all three. I intend to close the savings account after 90 days because I had to put $10,000 in there, and they pay practically nothing in interest. I like their credit card and I am O.K. with their checking account.

One to two years ago I got a free GPS (after my first one was stolen) by opening a Key Bank account. Now maybe I am thinking that I have too many bank accounts and need to close at least one.