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The "Cute and Cuddly Grandpa from Omaha" has Fangs

I’ve read enough about and by Warren Buffett to be completely in awe of him.  he remains, as Doug Kass calls him, The Mozart of Investing, cobbling together one masterpiece after another, always ahead of the curve. That said, my eyes were opened by some of my favorite bloggers this weekend, and I will probably…

The America Burger…Enjoy, Slobs.

Sure, I could write 3 or 4 paragraphs about the decline of dignity and the pervasive slovenliness of my countrymen, exactly when we need all of our faculties to be at their sharpest, but why bother when Natalie Dee so perfectly encapsulates this concept in her America Burger faux advertisement. As American archetype Homer Simpson…

Why Greenwich PD May Run Out of Handcuffs Soon

At last count, the insider trading ring that was originally busted in mid-October has already included roughly 30 people arrested so far.  With high profile funds like SAC Capital being closed in on, it’s helpful to get a better idea of how this thing was actually run. The below infograph comes to us from the…

Dimon Loves Retail Stockbrokers

I caught this in the New York Post this morning, thought it was pretty cool: “I love the retail broker business because my dad is a broker and my grandfather was a broker and it was the first job I ever had,” Jamie Dimon, 53, said at a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association meeting…

Gold Fever, Gold Bubble, Gold Mania, Gold Frenzy etc

Now that we have one asset class, gold, that is selling for all-time high prices, I’m not surprised to see it in the center of controversy.  Gold has been hotly debated on and off Wall Street and by individual investors since at least mid-2008 when it first kissed $1000 an ounce.  Now that it’s soaring…

Guess How Many Millionaires in Congress?

Since Congress is suddenly so interested in discussing and regulating what other people make, let’s discuss the financial condition of our hardworking, selfless Reps. Take a guess what percentage of Congress are millionaires…I’ll give you a jumping off point:  1% of the total US population are millionaires. You probably figured that Congress probably had between…

John Mauldin on the Latest Employment Data

In the latest edition of his excellent weekly newsletter, this one entitled The Glide Path, John Mauldin touvhes on the latest employment numbers and what they actually mean: From Thoughts From The Frontline: The Ugly Unemployment Numbers The headlines said unemployment, as measured by the “establishment survey,” was down by 190,000; and even though that…

Seven Things You Should Know 11/6/2009

Seven Things You Should Know November 6th 2009 1. 30% of Americans age 45-64 surveyed in late July 2009 have stopped contributing to a pre-tax retirement plan (source: AARP). 2. Total household debt in the US was $13.7 trillion as of 6/30/09, 96% of the size of our $14.2 trillion economy. The debt-to-economy ratio was…

Recession Signpost: 7-Eleven Introduces Their Own Wine

Yes, you read the headline correctly, convenience store chain 7-Eleven is rolling out their own wines, appropriately priced at $2.99 a bottle.  I wonder if it would be considered uncouth to drink 7-Eleven brand wine with an extra-long Slurpee straw.  I also would like to know if it can be quaffed from a 64 ounce…