This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Daily Highlights: 8.18.2010
- Asia stocks rise for fourth day, bond risk drops on US output; Yen gains.
- China doubles Korean bond holdings as Central Bank switches from US debt.
- Germany's Q2 GDP growth unlikely to continue : ZEW survey.
- US govt will likely continue to play a role in guaranteeing mortgages: Geithner.
- Vietnam devalues currency by 2.1% to boost exports as stocks approach bear market.
- Wholesale costs in the U.S. increased in July - first time in four months.
- Analog Devices earned $199.5 million up from a profit of $65.5 million yoy.
- A.P. Moller-Maersk swings to H1 profit of $2.3B as revenues rose 20%.
- BHP turns hostile with $39B Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. bid.
- BioMarin Pharma bought ZyStor Therapeutics Inc., closely held biotech co., for $115M.
- Blockbuster’s $300M notes drop to record low of 4.75 cents to a dollar.
- Bob Evans posts Q1 EPS of $0.41 (cons $0.44); revs fell 3.9% to $412.6M.
- CACI Intl reaffirms FY11 EPS view of $3.70-$3.90 (cons $3.76). Revs at $3.25-$3.40B.
- Cargill's Q4 profit more than doubled to $691M, aided by improved animal-feed sales.
- China Huaneng said to be in talks to buy 50% of InterGen for $1.2B.
- GM said to consider sale of preferred stock along with initial share sale.
- Google launches campaign to line up TV networks' support for new TV software.
- Home Depot's Q2 profit rises 6.8% to $1.19B helped by 1.8% rise in revs at $19.41B.
- Kosmos Energy called off the sale of its Ghana oil assets to Exxon Mobil Corp.
- La-Z-Boy misses by $0.08, posts Q1 EPS of $0.01. Revs flat at $263.3M.
- Life Technologies to acquire Ion Torrent for $375M in cash and stock.
- Lilly halted the development of Alzheimer's disease treatment semagacestat.
- Mazda will recall 215,000 vehicles sold in the US.
- Michael Dell fails to get re-election votes as Director from 25% of shareholders.
- Newmont considers IPO for 10% of Indonesia unit.
- Sallie Mae plans to issue $760.4M of bonds backed by student loans.
- Vestas Wind Sys swings to Q2 loss of €119M, as revs fall fell 17%. Cuts 2010 outlook.
- Windstream to acquire Q-Comm, closely held fiber-optic network operator, for $515M.
Economic Calendar: Data on Crude Inventories to be released today.
Earnings Calendar: AFCE, AMAT, BJ, BLD, BRCD, CHS, DE, EV, GYMB, HOTT, LTD, NTAP, PETM, TGT.
RECENT RATING ACTIONS
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP (BSX)
STRYKER CORP (SYK)
POLYONE CORP (POL)
SAKS INC (SKS)
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC (A)
IBERIABANK CORP (IBKC)
BALLY TECHNOLOGIES INC (BYI)
AGRIUM INC (AGU)
BLOCKBUSTER INC (BBI)
PACTIV CORP (PTV)
DELL INC (DELL)
CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP (COF)
Data provided by Egan-Jones Ratings and Analytics
»
- 1924 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
"Home Ownership" is Slavery.
Look, a person who HAS to work evryday and do what he is told - in order to make interest payments on his obligations ( un-repayable) to the Govt. - is a slave.
Is that controversial?
And the average "successful" American worker who studied hard, went to college and has a good job:
-Will pay the bulk of his earnings to the Govt. in various taxes. be enslaved by his mortgage and property tax obligations and at the end of the day will have any remaining assets( if he is among the very select few) taxed at a 50-75% rate after he is dead.
Is there a period at some point during such a life to - just enjoy being alive as a free human being - to enjoy family, music and so on? Is there some way to BUY ones way out of the slave existence?Not here.
"Is there some way to BUY ones way out of the slave existence?"
Yes, and it does not involve BUYING anything.
Simply walk away from all obligations even if means being put in jail, shunned by others or being homeless.
Slavery is a state of mind, not an actual condition.
My mother owns a house that is way too much for her to take care of in her old age. I keep trying to get her to sell it and rent an apartment. Her response is why would I want to pay rent when I own a house. I try and tell her she doesn't own it. What will happen when you stop paying the $500 a month in taxes to the government? They will come and get it! They own it, you just pay rent to them. She doesn't get it. Plus additional expenses when appliances break or the house needs repair. I think renting is the best option. I think that it has been ingrained in peoples head that home ownership is part of the American dream. When in reality it truly is the road to serfdom.
You can add this:
China's State Owned Insurance Companies Ordered to Prop Up the Real Estate Market
A nice house in many parts of the country costs what? 500K? property tax is what? Around 10K?
10K - forever? Is there some amount of capital one can set aside to get the freaking govt off one's back in one's old age? How much? Lets see - maybe 500k invested in long term Tresuries would kinda sorta take care of the property tax obligation?
So the "homeowner" actually needs to be able to see a plausible scenario under which he can save $1 million ( after taxes and expenses) - to buy his way out of house slavery.
How many people can honestly achieve that. Is "home ownership" really something to be coveted or Dreaded?
The govt should focus on providing "dwelling Units" to people at a low cost ( 500/month). Subsidize that - its more reasonable. People who are not obsessed with their tax, mortgage and property tax obligations - will be freer, more honest, focus on more important things in life.
Many apologies for my earlier post suggesting that home ownership is slavery. My significant other has corrected me - its technically not "slavery" but "serfdom". Apologies again.
The Federal Reserve's machinations over the past couple of decades has so distoted the purchasing power of money- and the govt now dems $200K to be "wealthy".
I challenge anyone with a calculator to show how a person making 200K will achieve freedom from servitude/tax serfdom during his life time. Living in an average suburban house in a typical US town , living reasonably frugally ( no luxuries), send his 2 kids to college and get decent medical care.
200K will definitely not cut it. Not without gimmicking with credit/debt.
This is the result of the vast reduction in the purchasing power of Fed money.
How is it plausible that in a wealthy country , the top 5% of the working population - the elite - cannot really afford a middle class way of life - Without Gimmicking with Debt.?
The only reasonable explanation is - that is the price the country has chosen to pay for running a global empire. For the vast military spending. For the 150+ military bases around the world.
That is the price.
Vestas Wind Sys swings to Q2 loss of €119M, as revs fall fell 17%. Cuts 2010 outlook.
Good Ole VWS - A rare treat. One can really play the options with that one; At the beginning of each and every every year, without fail, the management produce tantalising and convincing scenarios for 25%/p.a. growth rates. Every autumn, the sudden surprise downgrade comes and blows a hole in the suckers who bought the stock in Feb-March.
So, Long VWS CALL's in January, reverse to VWS PUT's in July.
Easiest money there is on the Copenhagen Exchange. What ever you do, don't buy the stock itself; you cannot dump it fast enough if you are not sitting inside the exchange!