Amazon's Top Ten Business Books of 2009 List is a Joke

I’ve just finished perusing Amazon’s Top Ten Business and Investing Books of 2009, both the editors’ picks and the customers’ picks, and I gotta tell ya – both are terrible representations of what was worthwhile reading this year. I’ll keep my critique relatively short and then give you the lists themselves.  Feel free to chime…

Hot Links: Zhu Zhu Pets!

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… Gold at a new high overnight, silver screaming, etc.  (WSJ) Hedge Fund biggies like John Paulson and David Tepper snatching up Citigroup shares.  (DealBook) Howard Lindzon on which companies are thriving in the New NASDAQ.  (HowardLindzon) 10 Things Your Local News Won’t Tell You.  (SmartMoney) Ritholtz and Kedrosky: Charting the…

The Coming Private Equity Default Crisis

There’s a book out called “The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis” and before you derisively sneer at what at first sounds like hysterical hyperbole in the subtitle, consider this bit of logic from Josh Kosman writing in today’s New York Post: “You better sit down,” the secretary…

Is China Frontin' On Us All?

In my opinion, this is the biggest potential story out there right now.  The mere possibility that the China bears are right and that all of the growth there is smoke and mirrors could have cataclysmic consequences on a global scale, nowhere more so than here in Debtland, USA. If China collapses, what are the…

Saturday Night Video – Biggest Manta Ray Ever, Reservoir Turtles and Miles Brown

First up, a film crew captures the largest manta ray ever seen on film.  Sick. [vodpod id=Groupvideo.3917520&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] Next up, a brilliant mashup – Reservoir Turtles! [vodpod id=Groupvideo.3917532&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] Finally, introducing Miles Brown (no relation)…this kid rules. [vodpod id=Groupvideo.3917590&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]  

States Are Eating The Stimulus Money, Not Stimulating With It

In this week’s Thoughts From The Frontline, John Mauldin looks at the prospects of recovery through the prism of what tax receipts look like.  In an interesting aside, he sheds light on the fact that several states, their budgets and finances in disastrous condition, are using federal stimulus money to plug holes rather than fund…

Hot Links: Faber on Cramer, Kwak on Dimon & My Parents Were Awesome

Hot Links for Weekend Reading… Note To Jamie Dimon: Repeating Something Doesn’t Make it True – Kwak dismantles Big Bank Benefit Op-Ed. (BaselineScenario) Corporate board rules under the new Dodd finance reform bill.  Important read for investors.  (TBP) Two Madoff IT geeks arrested.  I say Hang ’em High, he couldn’t have done it without them. …

Seven Things You Should Know 11/13/2009

Seven Things You Should Know November 13th 2009 1.  Earnings Season:  More than 80% of S&P 500 companies beat their earnings estimates this earnings season, the average stock that beat estimates went up 1.32% on its report day, while the average stock that missed estimates went down 3.43%.  (Source: Bespoke Investment Group) 2.  Jobless Claims: …

The Economist: Total Factor Productivity is China's Secret Sauce

In the latest issue of The Economist, we get a great article about why Productivity Growth is perhaps the single most important gauge of an economy’s strength.  More importantly, we read about Total Factor Productivity, a measure by which China leaves everyone in the dust. Here’s what it’s all about… A better gauge of an…