Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… Gold breaks $1000 this morning! World stocks rally overnight! (no one has a job). (Bloomberg) A Kraft-Cadbury merger could be a bonanza for lawyers and bankers working on the deal. (DealBook) Christopher Hitchens on the current state of the War on Terror. (Slate) Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Dick Fuld. …
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Enjoy Your Communist Holiday, Komrades
Knights of Labor Parade Labor Day began as a celebratory parade thrown by the Knights of Labor, a socialist organization for union workers here in New York City. The Socialist Party itself already had a May Day (May 1st) tradition, and the Knights adapted it to their own purposes in the 1880’s, deciding to always…
FINRA's Smart Move on Leveraged ETFs
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has been warning brokerages and investors of the dangers that leveraged ETFs pose all year. This past week, they announced a raising of the margin requirements for these products and I think this was a very smart move. By now, most investors are aware of the erosion involved when…
Fighting Recession With More Debt
This one will take you a second, but it’s very apropos of our current administration’s recession-fighting strategy. Sources: Cagle.com
The Kids Aren't Alright
Teenage unemployment at 25.5% has worse consequences than just the lack of a minimum wage paycheck for the kids. When I was a teenager, I worked at a local hardware store a few nights a week after high school. I was a stock boy and then a cashier. My co-workers were miserable people, stuck in…
The "Real" Unemployment Rate is All Ewwey and Stuff
EconomPic did the graphic above and I think that this is the best way to look at the current unemployment sitch. The scale on the right includes unemployed people that are not counted in the official number, such as those who have picked up part-time work, are working on a task-by-task basis or who have…
Leprechauns on Parade
Moment of truth time for the gold bulls and bears. The Will it or Won’t It Break $1000 polemic is every bit as suspenseful as the buildup to Ross and Rachel’s first kiss was during Season 2 of Friends. I don’t share investment ideas or make market calls on this site for compliance and business…
From the August Archives
Your favorite Reformed Broker‘s taking a much-needed day off today. While you’re reading this, I’ll be at an amusement park with the family going for a world record in funnel cake eating/ roller coaster riding. Below are some recent posts I did that you may have missed. If you saw them all already, then I’ll…
Did We Fall Off The Bull Today?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ZrTO7yRYI] Nasty bank failure/ secondary rumors all day today… Banks down 4.5%, Oil back under $70, AIG down another 8, Dow down 180 points with a little more than an hour left. Guess we’ll see.
Dear Deadbeat States, Please Pay Your Mortgages
I don’t like to point fingers or anything, but it seems that in July 2009, only 7 of our 50 states were responsible for 67% of the nation’s property foreclosure filings. That’s right, two thirds of the foreclosures are in…well, I’ll let you name the states. That’s right. California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and…
