290. What do the stock charts say today?

Seems we're still in heavy BUY mode. I keep waiting for the next drop to get a more accurate long-term guess at the market, but it doesn't come. Williams R% still hasn't signaled a drop since 9/1 -- 28 day rally continues. However, we are at the end of another month AND quarter, so expect profit taking and then reinvesting to be commonplace for the next 4-5 market days. Maybe we'll finally see the signal to keep investing.

289. HP is too far out on the limb

HP has climbed to the farthest twig on the limb now that it is also dropping the Andriod platform. Did Obama's twin become CEO over there? Shunning CISCO, Microsoft, and Goggle was enough to question their gamble. I certainly wouldn't be invested in HP today.

288. Well, there goes Blue Cross/Blue Shield belly up in Amarillo!

How many other locations will follow suit with Amarillo, TX? Here many doctors and now one of the two largest hospitals will no longer accept Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance. Get the picture Obama? It is also getting more difficult to find a doctor who will accept Medicare or Medicaid. So, not only are insurance premiums increasing, choices are disappearing. What I find interesting is that here in Texas is that Blue Cross already had a high-risk insurance pool. Now, I don't know the reasons why Blue Cross is getting shunned here other than rumors that they were unwilling to negotiate prices. It seems quite reasonable that hospitals and doctors are being so hard pressed that they have become unwilling to accept the low-ball pittances from the big boys who think they can manipulate them. Who will eventually win is unknown, but I think I correctly guess who will become the goat until they do come to some compromise. What does one do if they hold Blue Cross insurance and now it is no longer accepted? What a mess!

287. Let's all have a picnic.

Don't you love the show of hard work and leadership displayed by Obama's daily picnics? I find it humorous that O thinks having a picnic every day and CNN kissing his butt showing it will convince the majority of Americans that by barbecuing beef will fix the economy and job problems. Treating his friends in backyards is not solving the JOB problems, nor the economy! It's campaigning and its pathetic. These picnics and CNN's coverage is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Hard-working democrats must be hanging their heads in shame while the Republicans get a chuckle a day. How many of your tax dollars per day go into a presidential picnic? WAKE up America. We need NEW leadership FAST. What a disgrace.

286. Dems = Protectionism = Trouble

This article warns us of the Dems moves to emphasize protectionism FORMALLY and VISIBLY. The need for a law is NOT required to compete in the world. We need to adjust to the competition: we need to correct the bad habits forced upon us by the unions and bring our work forces into check to save our own butts! We, i.e. the unions, created the problems with UNREASONABLE pensions, pa, and other perks. The unions, although they did originally have benefits, have made us noncompetitive with the world through excessive demands and lobbying. How can we expect other countries, not just China, to seriously consider helping to correct our fallacies when we are unwilling to move to correct them ourselves? Articles such as these continue to illustrate how China's currency has continued to INCREASE against the dollar, yet it still isn't enough? It also explains that lower a country's currency intentionally, such as printing more money as the U.S. is doing, increases that companies exports. So, we continue to point fingers at China when we continue to print money and lower our currency. Hey, wake up! We need to STABILIZE our currency value in order to ensure it remains the currency basis for the world! See the double-edged blade? Lower currency=greater exports=lower deficit=higher risk of dollar losing world recognition and trust=Euro or some other currency becoming the basis for oil, gold, etc. killing the dollar entirely=dollar becomes worthless=depression=NO JOBS; whereas, Don't print money=dollar stabilizes or strengthens=deficit stabilizes=more countries invest in our investments=our economy grows=MORE JOBS=economic boom. So, in my opinion, lets clean up our own house. Let's crack down on the bad union practices and drop the formal laws that would make it almost mandatory that import taxes are put on everything causing worldwide turmoil and protectionism! We need to CUT SPENDING, LOWER business capital gain taxes, eliminate the unnecessary and excessive perk requests and get on with creating jobs TO COMPETE.

285. Way to go DILLAS

Just a local cheer for the local baseball team, the Amarillo Dillas, which won its third successive United League championship last night against Edinberg 10-8. The game was fantastic withe the Dillas giving up 4 runs early and even went 5 runs behind until the bottom of the seventh when they let loose. Alberto Cruz, their first baseman, smacked two homers in the game after hitting one the previous night also. I love these games. Every seat is great and two beers for $3.00 is a bargain. Plus, $6 to get into all series games made the Labor Day weekend two cheap nights out. The Dillas won the previous game 13-3.

284. O Talk, Talk, Talk ... Time For Action

Will O finally begin to see the light? According to this article, the answer is yes. But, let's not forget that the November elections is coming up. Is O separating himself from the party -- hasn't worked the other way for him! Yet, his proposals are still TALK and still NOT the lowering of business capital tax rates that are needed. Let's consider why businesses are not hiring, like maybe they are uncertainty of the future given the chaotic economy both domestic and worldwide. So, will giving new business tax credits for the year 2011 spur job growth or simply allow the businesses to replace old equipment with new equipment? Should make their after-tax income look good at the expense of generating government tax revenue. So, the companies will LOOK good and the government collects less keeping the economy uncertain. The businesses will jump and suck money out of the government (whoops, us) via tax credits for ONLY 2011 and still run into the business tax rate of 35% going UP! This is like holding a carrot in front of a donkey (pun intended). Will we see new small businesses jump up some? Possibly yes since there are always people wanting to start there own business. How many will make it given higher capital tax rates and higher health insurance? Following me? More than the normal number of losses will cut the cords resulting in no net job gains. How about large businesses? As I mentioned they have been holding back on all expenses (equipment and personnel). Give them an investment tax credit and they will suck it up; but that won't mean adding jobs!

My conclusion is like always. Too little too late O! You need to clean house and stop campaigning to your choir. You need to see the long term solutions, not play with your rusty pogo stick which will only squeeze out a squeaky rise followed by the same 'ole fall as before. I don't know why I give advice the ego-centric O; I certainly can't believe him or ever rely on him and want him out! Bring back the elephants; point the donkeys with their carrot vision towards the cliffs.

283. Go State!

YES! Joe Pa starts a Freshman QB, Robert Bolden, and wins 44-14. It could be an interesting 4 years -- 2 Freshman QBs and 2 SO QBs. Youngstown State gave the Lions a challenge the first quarter and even 2Q, but the Nittany Lions blew them out in the second half, giving them one with 44 seconds left in the game. Go State!

282. The Big O

Do you know what vision I get when the anointed one is on TV? A big mouth shaped like an "O" that spews out information that is as usable as the output from a shredding machine. Chewed up THOUGHTS with no documented, actionable plan. But, as expected, all sounds from his mouth are based on politics. Remember quite a long time ago the DRILL OFFSHORE words? How about the STIMULUS WILL REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT lines? Now one could rightly conclude everything he says is LIES. Or, one could him the benefit of doubt that he is just a shredding machine and spews out whatever his puppet masters feed him. Either way, he comes up nothing more than oil slick on a linoleum floor that we all have to navigate to live our lives. What's the latest? How about reducing taxes for businesses...DUH! I like how he then takes credit for these mind boggling discoveries! It only took a garbage can on his head with a dozen people rapping it with baseball bats to finally agree with the economists and public, who knew BEFORE he actually took office, that cutting business taxes will create jobs. Let me qualify that statement by indicating that the non-liberal individuals and those literate in economics have been suggesting these moves. And where did the other clowns who voted the bum in stand? In the mud like the rest of us, but with hearts, not brains, attached to the leader's rhetoric. What's so sad is that we are a REPUBLIC. It's our elected officials who are supposed to be savvy enough to understand what is correct. Unfortunately, the elected officials are too myopic of their own selves and political careers to give a crap. They see persuading the other clowns that their bridges to nowhere are important -- yeah, to fool their state's citizens into a false feeling of hope. Isn't it time We the People take the time to LEARN and ACT? November presents a time to vote out the idiots from Congress. But, will the replacements, either party, be any better? Has anybody see a bill that eliminates ear mark entirely? How about NOT tacking onto an obvious winning bill, useless, unrelated, individual party interests? How about term limits to ensure the useless pile of representatives gets recycled with better representatives? We aren't always going to agree on everything, but can't we agree that Congress is poisoned with idiots that need to be removed from office?

281. Read Vince Flynn Books

Are you tired of the pansies in America who would rather apply all America's laws to the enemy EVEN when threats are immediately eminent? Tired of U.S. Senators coming to bat for the terrorists instead of interrogating them to prevent chaos? Tired of people who bad-mouth the CIA, NSA, and FBI over rumors or suspicions? That is, National Defense organizations who protect this country and CAN'T reveal secrets to the general public. Tired of leaks to the general public of time sensitive information that reveals the secrets? Well, pick up a Vince Flynn book then and meet Mitch Rapp, a CIA operative. Learn about the relationships between the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, the Judiciary Branch, the CIA, the FBI, etc. Learn how our government leaders screw each other to gain political power at the expense of national security. Learn about the terrorist cells and their thinking. Vince Flynn's books, although fictional, present some scary scenarios along with the bureaucratic hurdles our protective agencies need to maneuver to keep us safe. I suggest reading them in order, at least starting with the second one. All are excellent reads.

1. Terms Limits
2. Transfer of Power
3. The third Option
4. Separation of Power
5. Executive Power
6. Memorial Day
7. Consent to Kill
8. Act of treason
9. Protect and Defend
10. Extreme Measures
11. Pursuit of Honor
12. American Assassin (available in November)

After you read these you should start to appreciate the Black Ops being done under cover and in relationship with our allies. Enjoy.

280. We're Back

Sorry for abandoning you during the long summer doldrum months, but I was putting my money to use rather than watching it sit and just get crispy and brown lying in the sun. If you remember, I suggested to get out of the market around 11,200-11,300 and forget about trying to beat the big boys in their game of manipulating the market to tweak out gains (from we low-life individuals) and to boost their egos beating other big boys. You just can't ignore the manipulators -- hedge funds, trust funds, brokers, etc. -- who rely on their computer trading tools to automatically kick off trades, hoping to best other players. Also remember the downside effects President O's team has cast upon us. I wish my predictions would have been wrong, but the O-factor proved them all right. Thanks O for the booming economy, especially for the $787B (actually above $800B now) stimulus that was supposed to CREATE jobs! At 9.6 % unemployment, actually more in the Private Sector, we continue to slither on the basement floor's slime. Maybe this November will bring a spark of light when the Dems get to pack their ear-mark bags and get out of town. America needs a radical change (not a radical O-change though) -- reducing government spending is way over due. Let's first repeal a few money-sucking laws railroaded through by the Dems. But, let's not stop there. If the Republicans drag their butt reducing government spending and continue to allow ridiculous ear marks we're still doomed.

So, what have we been doing? We= Samantha and her human master who gets to type in these silly entries. The summer was consumed with the garden, of course, The heat out here in Texas -- mid to upper 90's all summer long -- didn't lend itself to growing tomatoes too well. I'll never learn this farmer stuff -- much too complicated (soil conditions, weather, insects, fertilizers, etc.). Did get some gret tasting sweet corn once the protein was removed from the ear ends. Squash struggled a lot, beans caught the same virus/blight as the tomatoes. However, the cold-weather crops did well -- turnips, beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, onions, tyfon, Chinese cabbage. My second corn crop is about 2 feet tall and I'm trying to get a second bean crop going since the first was pathetic.

Anything else? Yep. Had a Four Season's sun room attachment put on to my covered porch and now have a 200 sq foot, tiled, temperature-controlled sun room. Well, let's say, the wife has a reading room. Got some great deals off the Internet (Patioshoppers.com) on wicker furniture, plus created a brick patio around the new sun room. That's where most of my money was spent productively. But, we then made a mistake (not really) by visiting the local art gallery and saw some beautiful paintings by Bonnie Marris. After searching the Internet, we ordered her "Idle Hours" and "Too Much Information" giclee canvas' and had them framed locally. they now hang in the family room forever to enjoy.

But now what? Is the market ripe? Actually, I've been buying when the market dipped to its valleys -- I use Williams %R to monitor the indexes. Yesterday signaled an oversold condition again (going up anybody?). The only question becomes when will it drop again after it goes up? Well, there is another question: Will it go up now. It did today, but the 50-day average is still below the 200-day average. When the 50-day crosses the 200-day, i.e., becomes greater than the 200-day, we're in for some up-time. If the Williams %R (14 days) when the market again dips is higher (actually lower, when graph line is above last point) I say that signals a long-trend up. Bumpy of course, but I suspect it will sneak up like it did down (see 1-year chart of DJIA and the successive declines of Willians %R curve peaks). I will now expect the William %R peaks to become successively better each time until it reaches the over-bought range (below 20%) and remain in that range for a couple of months. So, hang in there and watch the curves. Buy when there is a signal for over-sold, sell when signal for over-bought. When the curve goes into range, sit tight and let it rock.

All for now. I have several book reviews for you next time.

279. Senate Priorities

Jeepers. I would say the Senate's priorities should be JOBS, JOBS, JOBS which is complemented by OIL & GAS Drilling, Nuclear Plant construction, electric line distribution construction (repairs, green technologies), and highway infrastructure repairs. Immigration is right up there with homeland security and fighting terrorists -- what IS our foreign policy and homeland security plan? Died on the grape vine! But CLIMATE! Come on troops. Harry (Mr. Clueless) Reid, I can't believe you are touting climate ahead of all these others (see this article). The article says Harry is bending the the Republican desires. Bull. I can believe the Dems are in dire straits and want something -- anything -- that can be BI-partisan to take the hot spot light off their clueless brains. But are the Republican as stupid to want to debate Climate ahead of Immigration? Seems to me Arizona has lit a fire that the Dems don't want to fight and its too big to roast their marshmallows. If I remember correctly, it was O that PROMISED immigration immediately (after he had already promised it a year ago). Just what is that character up these days? Hmmm. Campaigning! Well, if the results are no better than the last 4 states he carried his torch to, truck on O. The Republicans can use all the help you give them. Open mouth, insert foot.

Well, excuse me. O is highlighted in this article saying all the right things re immigration, but blasting the republicans and Arizona. I can certainly live with his beliefsas stated in this article:

"On immigration, Obama said he wants a federal law that would secure the borders and require illegal immigrants to register, pay a fine, learn English, take responsibility for having broken the law and get in the back of the line before others who are seeking U.S. citizenship."

So much for the goal which has been around for 2 years. It's ACTION time! Where's the beef?

278. Market needing a break

Post 256: 3-4 weeks, 10200-10300 and then drop. Another fine call. This looks like just a short dip and buying opportunity. Next dip will be lengthy. My red squeaky toy has us coming back in 2 sessions and holding up to 11300 for another 5-6 sessions before chaos. Will check back in re the chaos before May 7. Hope for real good news or get out nest rise.

277. Financial Reform Bill

Here we go again. The debate is now the Financial Reform bill passed by the House and being argued in the Senate. First let me direct you to articles that oppose each other: This one for the reform and this one that has objections to some of the bill specifics. You decide for yourself -- of course this debate is straight down party lines again. I like to look at the consequences to We the People. The first article for reform tries to explain that there won't be any taxpayer money to bailout future bank failures (the item of disagreement). But if you read my last post, I alerted you to the word "HIDE"! If we go that route, the banks have to ante up upfront some $50B that would be held and used in the future should a crisis exist again. Well folks, where does that $50B come from? The banks write the checks to the fund, but do you really think they can afford not to recoup this money somehow? How about bank fees! Hence, you the tax payer don't think you are funding it, BUT YOU ARE! So, I rule out article one for its typical democratic lies and deceit. Whereas article two alerts you that the bill will create yet another agency -- now that IS TAXPAYER MONEY. Plus, it guarantees that "too big to fail" is guaranteed. Article two calls for letting the corrupt banks fail! $50B is not required! Now you think it out. Pay up front for bank bailout AND pay for more government, OR don't pay ANYTHING and let them fail. Besides, the crisis didn't start with the banks! The government pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and therefore other loan institutions, to provide mortgages to high risk individuals. The method those institutions used to cover their butts was to package the bad loans and sell them to the public. Unfortunately, because of the enticing fixed returns, the large funds and hedge funds snapped them up, i.e., for your pensions, 401-Ks, mutual funds, etc. WHEN do we get to punish the government for their screw up! How about starting this November! Barney Frank (Mr. Blabber) needs to be go, as does Pelozi, Boxer, Reid, and other far and radical leftists who don't care about We the People but only their own job! Let's stick to the facts -- just the facts 'Mam.

276. VAT - Value Added Tax

If your are familiar with this the Value Added Tax then you read up about its use in some European countries, usually as a substitute for complicated income taxes. Whereas I support a fair tax to REPLACE our current income tax (tax on the sale of everything -- businesses would pay the tax on the products they need to make their product, we would pay a tax on products OR services we choose. This is very similar to a Value Added Tax, but the Fair Tax REPLACES everything -- yeah, no more April 15th! Wouldn't it be nice to actually take home ALL your pay instead of your gross pay MINUS income taxes? I encourage everyone to read up about Fair Tax -- select the BOOKS category and find my book recommendation.

However, the subject here is a Value Added Tax. A tax imposed on every step of a products creation that then gets passed on to you via increased price(more here). The clever Paul Volker (Obama administration) once again shows his dumb side by asking Obama to consider this to get us out of the deficit crisis. Once again, HIDE the actual tax (meaning We the People don't see the actual TAX) in the price (which we will see and react differently to because its just a price increase -- yeah, right -- with sales tax on top of yet a higher price). And, meanwhile, we continue to fret over the Tax code and continue the misery we all endure during tax time. Let me repeat the key word above: HIDE. It's about time people look into the price of things and realize that those taxes businesses have to pay are and will continue to come right out of YOUR pocket instead.

You have probably seen O's propaganda on how he lowered taxes, WITH CREDITS. Well, 50% of the people in America already don't pay taxes, so who benefits from the credits? The poor? Ha-ha. In a few years probably 60% won't be paying taxes and 50% of the remaining 40% who do pay all the taxes will have their bags packed to move away from America. Already there has been a substantial increase in the number of rich denouncing their citizenship. Guess what folks? That means those lost tax revenues get to be paid by YOU!

275. You Are What You Eat

I do believe I posted my feelings about the Food Stamp program in the past. For a similar view, and now correlation evidence between Food Stamps and obesity, read this article. There is no reason why tax payer money via food stamps promote obesity and, therefore, higher health risks for the needy and higher insurance costs for the remainder of us. Food stamps need to be limited ONLY to healthy foods. So, go out and beg for your chips and soda! Unfortunately, it's the kids, who have no inkling of what contributes to good health, that suffer because an irresponsible parent buys the crap.

274. Another Earth Day

Here's an awakening to the pathetic obsessed Earth Day people who can't look beyond their noses, i.e., believe in the propaganda of Earth Day to criticize fossil fuels and developed country practices. Bjorn Lomborg brings Common Sense AND science to the forefront to reveal the IMPROVEMENTS since 1970, not the constant barrage of doom and gloom. He also suggests some very practical, valid approaches to a better eco-world. Enjoy the read here.

273. TARP Chuckle

At the very end of this article re selling bank warrants, I found an interesting report that the cost of the financial bailouts via TARP funds approved while Bush was still in charge was lowered by $111 Billion! That's 50% of the previously reported cost. And we want the government to manage Health Care! For over a year the O has been bashing Bush for everything -- always his fault. Now we see some of the ammo was manufactured by his people. Ho can you be off by 50% This amazes me. Forbes reported on the spending of the original $237 Billion here where the article was questioning where the money went and who was accounting for it. The real question now is where is the $589 Billion of the original $700 Billion? Kudos again to Ex-President Bush for rescuing the banks. Shame on the O for being nontransparent again and trickery to escape his blunders.

272. "How Sweet It Is"

Jackie Gleason as Ralph on the Honeymooners always showed his short-term delight by something by swooning "How sweet it is." We should all join in re the stock market, at least for the next 1.5 to 2 weeks. The red squeaky toy sees no end in sight, BUT we know it is coming, don't we? Today we see the result of holding interest rates at zero, i.e., funds pouring into hedge funds. We also see the Europeans taking actions to strengthening the Euro against the dollar, hence, the weaker dollar. As the dollar weakens, the commodities based on dollar trades, e.g., oil, gold, steel, rise. We also expect the weak dollar will lead to better export results as the relief in the financial crisis in Europe (out largest importer) may turn the consumer spending around. And then their is China which earlier this year took actions to ensure speculation did not create any bubbles over there -- goodness. If only we could leave the world alone politically! Arguing the Yuan is value is of little overall value to our economy, other than arguing over it causes uncertainty which are politicians always overreact to with protectionism. This minor bump last week re steel taxes should be overshadowed by all the good news. But, WHY was this necessary? As 17+ states to date begin Health care lawsuits will this battle affect anything? too early to tell except we are already seeing the worse case by large companies beginning to announce write downs during their quarterly earnings. Not much to be concerned about with the large companies, but look out when the mid-size and small companies begin to report. Earnings time is upon us again. We appreciate the techs, like Apple with their new IPAD and Microsoft with their announcement today of the Kin line of phones to make it effortless for the younger generation to tweet, twitter, facebook, etc. This will come to us via Verizon and Vodafone. Biotechs need to start their move back up. It all looks good. But then, maybe its because I stopped watching TV! lol. Invest and be balanced.

271. Protectionism Action #1

Will this be the start of the market drop? You kinda wonder how China can deliver steel pipes up to 99% discounts to our steel pipes. Is our government, tax laws, accounting laws, health plans, etc. THAT COSTLY? Or is it the unions? Believe me, we'll get to pay for this action.

270. Human Brother Sent me this Good Joke -- $50 Lesson

A $50 Lesson

I recently asked my friends' little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she
wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so
I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do? '

She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'

Her parents beamed with pride.

'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her, But you don't have to wait until you're President to do
that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay
you $50.

Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give
him the $50 to use toward food and a new house. '

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, ' Why
doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50? '

I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

269. Is This Too Good to be True?

As we continue to see stimulus money artificially project a good economy, some reporters continue to run with the herd rather than calling the hard facts. As I read this article I questioned the long-term benefits of the news I was reading. The end of the article brought the real picture back in focus. This is an article about the good, bad, and the ugly. I found it humorous that some reporters were marching in a parade with banners flying high celebrating the increase in consumer spending chanting "more to come, more to come." If you look at the dollars being spent I couldn't agree more; but, if you look at the number of products being sold I would think you might see no growth. Just yesterday we went "discount shopping" at the Wal-Mart Superstore. We just needed a few items, like cereal, cranberry sauce and sherbet. The wife keeps a log of the last two prices for each of the groceries and wasn't shocked that once again Wal-Mart raised the prices. Cereal from $1.96 to $2.50, cranberry sauce from $0.88 to $1.32 AND 2 ounces less and Sherbet from $2.00 to $2.50 AND 16 ounces less. Add bell peppers from $0.50 to 0.98 and can vegetables up 25% overall and you can see we have no choice to spend more! Shop at a different store and you will see even higher increases. How much longer will this continue before people stop buying things or simply can't afford them? The law of supply and demand will kick in and bring an ugly halt to buying other things -- food is a must, but if its taking more of your hard earned dollars, less is available for other things. Plus how does another 13 cents per gallon for gas this morning versus yesterday affect you? When this happens, inventories will again grow and the economy shrink causing the stock market to regress to much lower levels. Without a permanent fix to the economy, we continue to ride the roller coaster that we all know isn't flat and isn't a constant speed. Some see it as a risk, some see it as a thrill. When applied to the market, know when its safe to hold your arms up and duck your head. I feel we're still being cranked to the top before the first steep fall. Will I continue to play the game? To gamble that I will pull out before others? Yes. Keep an eye on Protectionism (remember?) and now also Inventories. The Housing market may be getting its last boost from home buyer credits. When you hear talks of firing up more printing presses or more stimulus/bailouts RUN!

268. Think twice Before Choosing Protectionism

There are two interesting articles today worth reading. The first article is about Obama's next step towards Protectionism -- remember what I said in previous posts about its affects on the market. The second article is a more reasonable explanation of how much waste of time the debate on the Yuan's value is and how it can take this market down more than the financial crisis did. This latter report reiterates what I have posted in the past and again summons caution in long-term investments. I also raises the flag some more up the flag pole signaling you to be on higher alert. I know I will be. I just wish Thunderhead would stop being anti-Wall Street!

267. More Good News - Drill, Drill, Drill. REALLY?

Hooray (unfortunately not "hurry"). Drill, drill, drill. So be it says Obama in this article. I have no clue as to whether the areas he is allowing will actually produce a enough oil to significantly reduce our foreign imports, but it is progress towards that goal and should increase jobs which is of more importance. Thank you Mr. President. I would now like to see a more detailed explanation of expectations and a meaningful time table. Are we also going to have to tolerate Congress to actually finalize this action? Can I hear it for bi-partisanship? Oops....this is same message O gave in his State of the Union but with a few paragraphs more. We're still over 1.5 - 2 years away BEFORE WE ACT! So, not so good news. Looks like the anointed one is just positioning for November elections, i.e., politics! Sorry to get your hopes up. How many more times will we hear this story before November? And will the states highlighted be tickled in a way they want to be? That is, Californians don't want to drill, Virginia does, as does Florida; But, Alaska -- its so far up there nobody really cares and are its votes significant?

266. When is it Our Turn?

An article articulating desperate actions by Spain to cut deficits: Cutting civil servant hiring by 90% compared to last year. When will we follow suit? Or haven't blown up the balloon enough and, thus, continue to do the complete opposite? When do we put the fire out instead of fueling it? Similarly, this article re the Eurozone inflation increase is handwriting on the wall for America. How bad have grocery price increases gotten in your area? Usually food prices and energy prices aren't included in the most common measure of inflation. But, when Walmart raises a box of cereal, my staple, by 30% since last week -- total of 37.6% in last 12 months -- and MOST its food even more in last year, you know life is going to get worse. Here's a company that has made discount pricing a household reality. It's becoming uncertain how much of a bargain even Walmart is lately. With more and more of a family's budget going towards staples and oil prices again rising are we again beginning a cycle downturn? Will jobless rates again increase as reported in the Eurozone? Will America continue to print money to hide the real bad economic news? I wouldn't be expecting great company earnings next quarter. Hence, summer doldrums as I previously predicted. Yes, we just heard a report of increased Consumer spending. But, was this just a splurge to cure the long-time blues? A chocolate eating binge to temporarily fix extended depression? Well, I'm going to remain positive -- just ate pounds of chocolate chip cookies last night -- and will believe the rest of America's investors will also remain in a blinded stupor of euphoria as the newspaper rags turn their tales to positive worldwide news -- they report in "attitude" cycles too. Surely the good news like Obama visiting Afghanistan military and Karzai, plus holding Sarkozy's hand in "promising" Iran sanctions in just a few WEEKS (heard that a year ago), and promising the reduction of nuclear arms along with Russia are the special icing flowers on the chocolate cake. However, the real news is the hard efforts the Eurozone is doing to keep its countries from doing a belly-up. Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland have been in the news lately with REAL painful, but necessary actions to REALLY try to fix the problems on their side of the ocean. China is starting to crank up their engines again to ensure solid growth despite the protectionist debate by the West. So, in my opinion, while the rest of the world is actually addressing their issues, we continue to use rhetoric promising actions. This always leads to 3-4 weeks of waiting-to-see some results before the s**t hits the fan again. Darn. Just when I was feeling positive again, reality struck! Hang in there -- at least for a few weeks.

265. More HC Insurance Reform Company Woes

More businesses are added to the increasing list of companies taking losses as a result of the new HC Bill. If interested, read this.

264. Thank You George

Do we miss him yet? I want to thank ex-President George W. Bush for allowing the Iraqi people to have a Democratic election. This article summaries the political success they had in Iraq despite its continuing troubles. Here, instead we flail because our troubles are IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS! One country is building a stronger government, the other is destroying it. Canada is starting to look better and better.

263. Add 3M to the HC Casualty List

12 cents per share charge because of the HC Insurance Reform Bill! This article documents 3M's assessment and loss charge. Within WEEKS the major businesses are declaring their losses -- see previous posts during this past week. I getting scared that the stock market rally won't make it another 3 weeks as forecasted. Possibly this news will not be taken into consideration until actual earnings come out. I can only hope.

262. Open Door for SEIU

Once again the anointed One bypassed Congress to please the unions. This time to appoint Craig Becker, a top lawyer for the SEIU and AFL-CIO to the vacant National Labor Relations Board. Here we go -- now we're heading towards bypassing the secret union election process next. This article highlights this appointment and others Obama decided had to be made by him because bipartisan decisions couldn't be made. So, like an Executive Order that he used to handle no abortion funding in the Health Care mess, he used recess appointments ONLY while Congress is in recess. When does the poor management of our country stop? I give an "F" to Congress re this issue AND an "F" to O. As Glenn Beck hinted many months ago, SEIU has the puppet strings -- just look at Pelosi and you can see that by the fixed expression on her face when she talks. She looks like Howdy Doodie (again kiddies, Howdy was our Sesame Street).

261. Swoosh. Down the Drain Again.

Do I really feel heart-broken about a police officer who took out more than a $390,000 loan for an oversized house and now gets to continue to live in it even though it is currently worth only $250,000? Well, NO. We knew even with better occupations that we couldn't afford a loan that big! Why didn't he? I'm talking about the latest sob story put out there in this article to support O's latest BAILOUT, the SECOND TIME! Yes, the poor people living in rich houses that are now under foreclosure. What happened to EARNING what you owned. Dig in your pockets folks -- O's coming collecting again to provide another smoke screen for a few months that hides a housing market blaze our children and grandchildren will get to extinguish or at least experience. Just sprinkle fairy dust O -- all will be well (IDIOT)!

260. Hello. Hello. Anybody Listening?

Certainly the Democrats in Congress weren't listening. Here's an article about how AT&T got hit by Health Care. Note: "AT&T rival Verizon Communications Inc. was among 10 companies that sent a letter to congressional leaders in December warning that their costs would increase with the health care changes" is a quote from this article that also indicates that they will take a $1B charge (that's a loss write off morons who pushed the HC bill) AND possible cut HC benefits to employees. As told by the Republicans, this HC Bill is going to bring lots of misery! Not just because of the negative changes, but primarily because of COST. Way to go O! Guess I can't blame him alone -- he didn't vote himself in.

Next stop? How about telling sob stories about the lowly immigrants that need to be given amnesty so they can also be added to the Health care mess. Immigration screw-up is next folks. So far O has stirred up mud in Health care, Education, Financial System, Yuan, Israel to list only a few areas. Isn't it time you supporters of the Democratic tactics and policies start slapping yourself in the face and wising up. Or, better yet, move to your own inferior Socialist country and leave this one FREE? It's time to listen for the POP -- that's the removal of your head from your own %&# or someone else's %&# like the one who read teleprompters and mesmerized you with charm. Also, read a book instead of reading the Hollywood gossip columns and TV series which infiltrate your mind with Leftist propaganda.

259. Let's Start with HMO Customers

Where best to start the increase in premiums caused of the newly passed HC Insurance Reform than HMOs -- the lowest cost health insurance policies for those who can't afford more! And these people thought they were safe from tax increases. Some day every one will learn about the many HIDDEN TAXES just like the increase in HMO plans CAUSED by increase to their business.According to this article the HMO customers will see STEEP rises in premiums immediately in anticipation of the huge expenses they will need to cover later (the new high-risk uninsured). So much for penalizing only the rich! Oh, and did I mention LOSS OF JOBS! Well no, but the article did. Let's all rise and praise the anointed one for the beginning of a new lost decade.

258. How Will the HC Insurance Bill Affect Companies and You?

This article sheds some light on how businesses are going to be affected by the recently signed HC Insurance Reform bill -- don't know it's correct "political" name, but since its really only INSURANCE reform let me call it that. Please realize that for every dollar a business loses, the investors get penalized -- yes your 401-K, pensions, and personal portfolios -- AND the company passes through these charges to its customers via product price increases -- ouch, a double whammy. I hope you fools who pushed this bill through, as well as voted for the anointed one, especially feel the pain that this bill will do to your wealth. Oh gee, middle class is exempt right? And below those are the welfare class recipients who will be given just enough crumbs to survive but not enough to get them any further up -- Socialism. I suppose its better that we all suffer together -- the Socialist way -- than to let anybody succeed and lead everybody ahead.

257. I am So-o-o Proud of Mr. Blabber's party

YEAH, RIGHT! Can you believe the Democrats sided with sex offenders? Here's a quote from an article stating that not only did the Democrats vote down EVERY Republican amendment to the Health Care INSURANCE reform bill signed by Obama, but decided even sex offenders should be allowed to get it up should they need to offend again: "By 57-42, Democrats rejected an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., barring federal purchases of Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. Coburn said it would save millions of dollars...". Even the millions of dollars savings couldn't convince the pea-brains of the Democrats (the REAL Arrogant Party of NO) to vote what's right for the country! Guess you know where their brains were. Didn't know the female Democrats had brains there though too. I bet Mr. Blabber got two votes. Does this stink or do my Common Scents need to be recalibrated?

256. Have the Investors Gone Mad?

As I look at the technical charts and compare them to the political and economic news across the world, I can only wonder whether the investors have gone mad. My charts still indicate 3-4 weeks of upward movement at least. Yet, the continuous Billions of Dollars the Democratic congress is pushing through via Job bills amidst Portugal's downgrade and Greece crisis dragging the Euro down confuses me. As the world problems continue to burn the other side of the world (Euro Zone), our largest importer, the dollar continues to gain strength against the Euro pushing commodity prices down and American exports down. The additional protectionism verbal battle over the price of the Yuan is background noise at the moment, but will play a more important role should any actions be taken by America -- note, the imbalance of trade is always a finger-pointing issue when world economies are under attacked by their own foolish spending and financial controls. What was that? An insinuation that America is spending too much? Oh no, we being the biggest debtor nation says we need to spend more and more to keep the number one spot. With over 20% of GDP in debt, compared to 9% in the 70's, when do we QUIT! We're following closely in Greece's shoes BUT have nobody but the IMF to bail us out -- and that would be UGLY for everybody, meaning not just We the People folks. Plus, what all the rumbling lately about the Housing Market again flailing? Well, for the last 3 months it has, right back to the slightly straight line growth, if you want to call it that, before the government threw the taxpayer money away -- just like the Cash for Clunkers. Too Big to Fail? Is America too Big to Fail? What if we run out of special money paper and ink?

So, how do we play the market? "Play" being the correct word at the moment. We certainly aren't "investing" (meaning long-term) at the moment. I would continue to be a bias technical gambler at the moment looking at 11,200-11,300, but with a safety parachute by my side and a quick release sell lever. As I said earlier, the ride might continue another 3-4 weeks. Ignore the Yuan, the Euro crisis, the home market issues, the government spending, the Health Care bill lawsuits. Put on your gambler's hat and keep you cards close to your chest. Sucker in some chips and get up AND WALK later (don't forget this latter piece of advice). I'm predicting huge summer doldrums. Not a gambler? Drop back ten and punt while you can. Don't forget to plan long-term too when taxes are higher -- take your long-term gains this year and start over with your hold strategies if that is your strategy.

255. Country Kickin'

You're gonna love this YouTube country western song "The Great Reneger". Really sums up President O. Thank you Squirrel Man for your contribution.

254. O's Begging and Keeping All the Truth from Seniors

Old Folks! Do I have your attention. I don't yet qualify for Medicare, but will in a couple of years. So, like most of the seniors too, I still have the logic to determine that O is again flapping his lips for votes instead of for We the People. This article summarizes his Ohio trip to beg for Obamacare votes. It highlights his visions for the seniors and Medicare. Please, someone tell me HOW his Obamacare will EXTEND THE SOLVENCY of Medicare ten years when he plans to ADD coverage for preventive care and fill the drug doughnut hole? Seems to me these alone will ADD to the cost the government will have to pay, meaning senior medicare payments from their Social Security checks WILL INCREASE! Duh! Of course President Non-specifics can't tell you where he's going to get $500B FROM Medicare to fund his overall Obamacare! Hmmm. Take $500B out, add preventive, plug the doughnut hole with more money -- simple logic and common sense tells you to don the gas masks and watch O's nOse grOw sOme mOre. We'll need to drag out the wood chippers to trim his nose soon. Isn't it time we hear the TRUTH and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH from Washington? Jack Webb ("Dragnet" kiddies). Come back.

253. The French Don't Need "Protectionism" Translated

All aboard. Free handouts. Join the party. The French sure love to join the band wagon, or are they responsible for leaking "protectionism" to the press? I just posted about protectionism and now I return to the news mill and see this article where France is blaming Germany for its woes. Does this yield more credibility to my warning that the press is catching on and starting to make the air stink again? Be prepared for article after article re to protectionism-like activities throughout the world. Can we rise above the muck from the press? All SHOULD be well until some action of protectionism actually occurs! But, will the investors wait that long?

252. The PROTECTIONISM Word

Lo and behold, protectionism rhetoric and actions raises the dragon from its lair. Remember the CAUTION I gave you about steer clear of the protectionism word? O's administration didn't hear it I guess and has hurled one more egg at the red dragon. Less than a month ago the administration ignited a battle with China when they indicated that we will be selling arms to Taiwan. Was this because China is selling arms to Iran and won't cooperate with our sanction desires? The egg was the latest berating of the Chinese government for its Yuan policy, specifically if a country's currency is low compared to other countries it has an advantage in selling its products, i.e., Export Advantage. What's true these days is unknown. However, I did see numerous reports the last week that the Yuan actually gained strength against the dollar which would suggest that OUR exports to them and others have the advantage. Go figure. But, back to the bad economy finger-pointing, which is how I see it. O and crew think China is the blame for our bad economy. Couldn't be the mismanagement of our spending could it! Or the stupid Housing and financial crisis caused by OUR government. Or the ridiculous bailouts of companies that should have been left to fail. No. Now we are strapped with further increasing debt and have to BLAME it on somebody else. Hence PROTECTIONISM wars are starting. NOT good for the stock market. We are still in the infant stages of any protectionism war, but the NEWS PEOPLE are starting to pick up on it and that in itself is bad because we all know how much the news people influence things despite being wrong 80+ % of the time. So, watch your back -- we're on shaky grounds again. Hopefully this minor incident where China is reducing its Treasury debt (or is it -- see bottom of article) could just be more NEWS sensationalism. Yet, the news people are the WORD-people and next time they may just come out and use the actual word "protectionism." That would send markets spiralling down -- for today's actions see this.

251. Fairy Dust or Sugar?

"Still seeking votes for his proposed health care overhaul, President Barack Obama appears ready to reverse his position and allow unpopular deal-sweetening measures in the hopes of finding Democratic support for legislation whose future will be decided in coming days," so states the Associated Press in their article. It also mentions his visit to a cancer patient who dropped her insurance after it went to $8,500 a year. Let me see now. Hmmm. Our insurance was over $9,900 a year a few years ago and then we modified it 2-3 times selecting larger and larger deductibles to make the premiums more affordable (down to around $8,220 per year -- like this patient's premiums before canceling). What you HAVE to do to keep costs down. We also switched carriers to get an even lower premium (down to $5,688 per year) -- we won't compare this to hers because we were healthy. So, what does this mean? We pay out-of-pocket $10,000 plus the premium $8,220 or $18,220 per year. Surely that would be cheaper than NO insurance and paying for cancer treatments! I suppose I would have more sympathy for this patient had the insurance company canceled her policy on her. She took the risk to pocket the $8,500 per year and save or spend it instead. No different than investing in the stock market versus putting the investment money under your mattress. Without the specifics (President Non-specific Obama doesn't give specifics), we only get the tear-jerky version of the story. Sure, now she will never be able to get insurance since she dropped it and has cancer. My questions are: did she already have cancer when she dropped it? How old is she? Is this a family policy or individual policy she dropped? Is she out of work? If so, why? What is her income (surely no less than ours)?

But, the real PrOblem I have here is Obama using this wOman to draw the tears of the OhiOans and OhiO Senator to get the senatOr's Obamacare vOte! He's Pitting the Public against this senatOr using a tear-jerker stOry. MOre campaign crap rather than hOnesty. Can't we reverse the PinOcchiO stOry and turn Obama back tO the useless wOOd he's made Of?

250. Both Parties After the Employer-tax Exclusion Money

This article re GOP Representative Ryan's Roadmap reveals that the Republicans have a thorny road also towards Health Care. After Goolging employer-tax exclusion, I was presented with a high level explanation from Ezra Klein of the Washington Post. But, the best article I found was one referenced by Mr. Klein here. In short, both parties want to tap the now untaxed, hidden costs of employer Health Care by taxing it and distributing the new revenue. The Dems want to use it on "programs". The Reps want to give it back to the tax payers as a credit. But, the important issues discussed in the latter highlighted article is the unbelievable complexity in the current tax laws that bind this exclusion to not on the normal health care insurance, but also disability, health savings accounts, and other things, meaning it will be a bugger-bear to repeal entirely and no longer easy to dissect. The article also brings up dozens of considerations that have yet to be examined and a few that are practically impossible to predict. The bottom line conclusion of the report was to first decide WHY it should be repealed. Both parties have already decided it should be repealed, but have yet to state the WHY other than to provide real/virtual money to help pay for their reform ideas. Meanwhile, HOW will the repeal affect the lives of taxpayers? I would think the companies providing the Health Care policies would first cut back on all the perks in them to reduce the premium costs, but then also charge the employee more (their apportionment of the cost) while increasing their pay that amount (to give the impression that it's no change in cost) which would now be TAXED. Now, the Republicans would give some or all of it back to the employee as a credit on their tax return (how about those who don't have a large enough income to file taxes?), while the Democrats would run with the new taxes and apply them to new things in their "government" takeover of Health Care. You decide. But consider the complexity in this ONE issue (i.e., read the latter article) and tell me HOW any body can even comprehend the Democratic 2700+ bill when this SINGLE issue is monumental in itself! Hence, why the Republicans want to address the Health Care issues one at a time in a logical order of best return and less risk. This s no longer a Life of Riley -- hey youngsters, see Wikipedia for this ("The expression, 'Living the life of Riley' suggests an ideal contented life, possibly living on someone else's money, time or work."). My head is spinning from just this issue!

249. O's Back To Dealing Aces from Up His Sleeve

You just can't reform a cheat and liar! Not ONE dime! Bipartisan! NO SPECIAL deals for states! Yeah, right! Axelrod now claims O only meant special deals for a SINGLE state, like Nebraska's deal. But if it applies to than one state, like one for Montana and Connecticut, than the special deal is fine. Obamacare votes are still not there. So, the Dem continue to lie and cheat the taxpayers and BUY senator votes, not to mention, rewrite other laws or procedures to weasel their PARTISAN Health Care bill through the house. What did I mean by the last statement? Well, they can't get enough votes for the House's interests, so they now want to vote the Senate Bill in and then, after it is signed by O make changes to it to appease the members of the House who would have voted NO by including their BUY OUT deal for them. BUT, they can't do that. So instead, they want to claim that they already voted for the Senate bill before by changing some procedures and then implement the nuclear provision (majority vote in the Senate) to sneak the bill through. Don't we have the most corrupt administration ever? This is looking more and more like a Fascist government. I think the states should get ready to sue the government for passing an unconstitutional bill and drag the 2700+ page kludge into the Supreme Courts lounge for a couple of years, or until the Republicans can repeal it. For more information re the latest House voting outlook and O's change-of-mind, see this article. I especially loved the comments to the article after it. SOOn I'll be capitalizing my P's and O's since O is back tO his PinOcchiO ways. Aren't yOu just lOving all the hOPe and change we're getting?

248. A Better Way to Dumb Down our Kids?

Continuing to throw out as much diversion (from anti Obama-Care) as possible and focusing on image improvement, President O chalks more categories of interest on his blackboard for you and I to concentrate on. Here is his new fire: Education, specifically, REWRITE Child Left Behind. Again, without any specifics, O utilizes his rhetoric and, what else can I call it these days but trickery, to convince the people of the "pains" in his heart and desires to make it ALL right (or Left?). Will his plans for education dumb our children down even more? And at what cost (oh come on now, its just Monopoly money).

What do I think? Heck, I'm just a dog who learned from my master. I was taught what I wanted to learn and I was given unbelievable time and attention, not to forget, challenges. I didn't learn what I know from the dog parks where distractions abound and only "come here" and sometimes "stay" and "fetch" are taught and practiced. No, I learned to fade left or right, in and out, sit, and stay from hand signals. I learned to fetch objects without seeing where they were thrown. I learned to pick live animals up in my mouth without hurting them rather than sinking in my canines and drawing blood. I wasn't dumbed down! So, who benefited most? Me , my master, or everybody around me? Yes, yes, yes to all of these. More than you can say about our human children who go to public schools. Right?

Will we see a revolutionary change where our cream-of-the-crop scholars will get the opportunity to excel and land premier jobs in research and technology, teaching, management, and entrepreneurship? Will those who want a blue-collar job get the education to allow them to design and build better houses (even green ones), better highways and bridges, etc.? Or will we continue to educate everyone to at a minimum flip burgers only?

By this time I suppose you see how I feel. "Child Left Behind" just doesn't ring my bells for a better America. Children wouldn't be left behind if jobs were available to the parents and the cost-of-living was affordable to even the poorest. If every parent could get some of the misery out of their lives, they would have more time and money available for their children; hence, less time unsupervised, more things available to them to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. I truly believe the HOME is the key in keeping kids in school until they graduate and not just more undirected or misdirected money for schools and teachers. States and municipalities need to step up and make some "easy" hard decisions. A good example was a school district in Kansas City that recognized that their student base declined from 75,000 students to less than 11,000 today in the last 10-15 years due to suburbia living. Why spend the money on x-number of schools when they only need y-number of schools? Why shouldn't they take only the cream-of-the-crop teachers to teach more of the students? Wow -- a solution that actually SAVES money rather than taking more taxpayer money. Wouldn't this lower school taxes? Wouldn't this leave more money in the parent's pockets? Wouldn't the parents be able to better provide for their children? Wouldn't the children better appreciate the parents? Wouldn't the children be less distracted by the low-lives and vices on the streets? Was a Federal government organization (people and expenses) and taxpayer money needed for this solution? Then, why do we continue to throw money from helicopters? Isn't this how the Federal government handles fraud in Medicare? That is, instead of stopping the fraud and recapturing the money we just keep throwing more money into the hole.

Unless I see something revolutionary from the O that CUTS costs in education AND benefits both the cream-of-the-crops students and helps both the disadvantaged students AND their parents, I will again have to jump all over O and call his latest scheme just another hoax, a trick to make him look appealing. Please O, do SOMETHING right (sorry for the pun -- not left). Maybe name your program "Child RIGHT to Graduation" rather than "Child LEFT behind".

247. Kudos for Obama

It's finally nice to find something positive re our president. But the donation of his Nobel Peace Prize to charities (see this article) shows his heart is in the right place (sometimes). I would like to think so all the time and just blame all the mismanagement on a very poorly selected staff and administration due to his belief in others doing the right thing too. Is there still hope?

246. The Blistering Continues

As the private industries start to recover from the recession and get to the point of creating more jobs, O and his idiots continue to try to destroy the industries (insurance, health, banks, any with a profit). This article about his 0.15% tax on bank liabilities/profits is another way of getting federal money to spend, spend, spend. So, make some stupid decisions on bailouts and then blame others, but this time with punishment charges. O, O, O ... when you going to wise up? Most sixth graders wouldn't have followed your path with nose attached to incompetent advisers without rebelling after just ONE MONTH. Why is it that with over 1 YEAR in office you still yield to the rotten scents spewed from your administration adviser's butts? Can't you see the damage you are imposing on America? Or do you see it? You aren't going to resolve your deficit problems with taxing our livelihood. You need to reboot AFTER running CCleaner to rid your self of the garbage stinking up your White House and Congress.

245. Dodd the Dudd

O wants a new Export group, Dodd wants a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency as noted here. The USS Government is being built board by board, UNLESS WE STOP IT! Here's a guy (we'll now call him Mr. Dudd), who with Mr. Blabber (Barney Frank) pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with their CRA stick (Community Recovery Act -- thank you Jimmy Carter) to prime the mortgage meltdown and cause the housing crisis (read this for an update if you don't already know this). Now he wants We the People to believe he can once again ignore Republican and conservative input, close his door, and secretly pen another kludge of a bill for his Democratic sheep to follow. Do you want a financial regulation bill drafted by a crook like Mr. Dudd who not only had dirty hands in the housing crisis, but also received low rate loan from his pals for his house but knew nothing about how special and privileged it was compared to all others obtaining a mortgage at that time? Mr. Dudd and Mr. Blabber. Front and Center. The plank awaits you. Do these jerks believe We the People will tire if they just keep their foots on the trash accelerator? Sounds like a Toyota story. How do we stop the fools? 2010 elections are a start. Please, pour me a cup to tea.

244. Time to Export O to Shrink the Deficit

Here we go again building up the government! Check out this article about O's latest awakening that by increasing exports we can reduce the deficit. Is this guy naive or what? Like private companies have not already been focused on the world markets for the last several DECADES! Is O just waking up? So to accelerate marketing American products we need a new government organization! Time to abandon ship O! We need you OFF our ship. Once again, CUT CORPORATE TAXES and you will see American companies increase their output, INCREASE JOBS, AND flood the export market with more products. HELLO! You really awake O, or still dreaming your 3-decade old dreams? Does he really think he can pull the wool over the eyes of We the People? Even the less savvy and uninformed people in America are becoming knowledgeable beyond his pranks. Stay awake America and shout this guy OUT.

243. Nice Management O

This article makes a clear case that O should be managing a Girl Scout cookie drive instead of the Federal Government. Holy Thin Mints Batman! I wonder how many cookies a missed $1.2 Trillion would buy? Enough to feed the WORLD? Let's spend another $2-3 to screw up Health Care. Jimmy Carter must be smiling that he no longer holds the status of worse president ever.

242. Time to Give a Market Update

It has been a week since Post 237 Convergence Day. As expected then, the market hovered for a while then rose to current levels around 10560 at this time. Now where? I expect about 4 more days around this level, pushing the 10600-10625 mark before taking a breather. How long a breather? Not long. Signs, I mean the red squeaky toy, indicate a strong pull upward. Are we learning the words from the administration are only words and no action? Seriously though, China, the country to be watched, announced it expects a strong growth year despite their banking restrictions -- good for them, good for commodities, good for their importers. Greece it fighting hard to regain stability on their own and had some successful bond sales. UK still upbeat. Euro Zone negotiating with India re free trade. Southeastern Asian countries, like Indonesia, Singapore, etc. discussing their own free trade talks. Iraq continues on. Afghanistan and Pakistan showing some positive signs of progress. Please O -- keep your mouth shut for a while and let the world progress. The Health Bill NEEDS to be KILLED. America needs to get back on the track. Out with the jerks -- TY Rangel (Mr. Cheat) for resigning. Maybe the NY Governor will too! And isn't it time for the glitzy Hollywood bunch to retreat from socialism and their imaginary false thought that they control this country? Like they helped California any -- into bankruptcy maybe! We're at a point where the negative news is simply the word of news people who think they only need to report negative news. We the People are wiser and having been forced this crap for decades are finally wising up. Let's just get rid of the naysayers and bad-news and bad-policy controllers. The market will take a breather in 4 days. Then we're going to get back on track upward once we right the train. The anointed One WILL NOT speak the word protectionism! (We sincerely hope).

241. Are Schools the Problem?

This article addresses throwing money at the schools to resolve the issue (problem, or is it a symptom) of school dropouts. I commend the current and past presidents for their dedication to resolving the issue and am sure we do get something from the additional dollars flowing into the education system. But do we really think new desks, supplies, even an additional guidance counselor is going to resolve issues for dropping out like: teen pregnancy, drugs, financial hardship? WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? I wish I knew the solution to the issue. How do we ensure the families, probably largely single-parent, can provide and WILL provide a positive environment to instill confidence and self esteem for their teens? My answer is you just can't expect 100% success when at least the three problems I have already listed are high on the list of removing kids from our schools. Plus we must realistically assume not everyone will be intelligent enough to cope with a college curiculum and not everyone wants a college education, nor do we need everyone to get a college education. Building houses has always been a dream -- college kept me from this. I wish I had spent much more time with auto mechanics, welding, building, creating. So, the question is how do we measure worth. And, who can measure what is worthy for another individual? Do we say Bill Gates is a failure because he dropped out of college? Do we think the thousands who never went to college who own or owned their own businesses, for example our Peggy, haven't accomplished anything or contributed to the fullest to this country? So, here is what I think: of the 30% (using some statistic from the article without any clarification of accuracy), a significant part will be people who contribute to the country in capacities needed by this country. Has anybody ever reported the number of homeless that ARE educated? We need to continue to improve our schools, but not to try to get 100% to graduate. We need to try to get those already committed to a college much more better prepared and skilled. America is floundering because our focus is to make everybody equal despite THEIR wishes and capacities. This robs those who can excel beyond belief by giving the time and money to those who eventually throw their high school diploma in the trash. So, Mr. President, give us the specifics instead of just throwing money at the schools. How can we ensure America's future? With more high school graduations, or just higher educated and skilled people? How do we solve teenage drug addiction? How do we help pregnant teenagers who do want to go to college? The issues are much more difficult to address than to drop more money from helicopters without deep consideration and plans. It's always so easy to create a smoke screen. It's about time we ask for substance.

240. Mr. Arrogance

O is unbelievable. Hold your nose and dive into this -- "I want it my way and only my way!" How I hate whiny kids, let alone grown men. I just want to slap him in the head like Gibbs does to Tony on NCIS. Hello! Anything in there? Screw The People! What's $1 Trillion Dollars (hee-hee, really $3+ Trillion)! People. We can't let today's clowns and circus destroy the dreams of our children and grandchildren. I can already hear the money presses warming up.

239. Here's More Wasted Money

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They sound like names for beagles, but continue to act like innocent pit bulls. The government created and supported these companies that got us into the housing crisis with their poor lending practices driven by the National Recovery Act and Mr. Babble (Barney Frank). Why the government just didn't let them dry up on the vine I don't know. It's time to feed them to the private sector and let it turn Fannie and Freddie into real company names. Once again the government throws our money away. Let's just face it that they can NOT operate outside of government influence even though they are suppose to. I chalk this down as yet another government failure. And they have the audacity to ask for more money (see here)! Let's watch the Dems salute. My salute is a little different! I can smell rotten miles away -- use some Common Scents.

238. Just Do It RIGHT!

I'm getting tired of the constant throwing of money at symptoms to remove the pain of probems! Why not address the problem head on and do what's right? Why do we prolong the agony of the unemployed by continuing to throw bread crumbs their way to give them the sense of helping them when all that it being done is prolonging their unemployment? Jobs are not available because small businesses are uncertain of the future -- mainly their costs, which include health insurance, taxes, labor union salary raises, etc. So, what is the problem and what is the symptom? The symptom is unemployment. The problem is small businesses need risk relief. So, CUT CORPORATE TAXES and give them something they can hang their hat on. Let them IMMEDIATELY shop for health insurance across state lines. Curb the constant interrupting and bullying by unions. I'll guarantee doing those three things will spur small business growth. Remember, they don't necessarily need higher consumer demand to grow their business into NEW markets -- more regions, states, countries, products, etc. Give the small businesses relief! The symptom will disappear and the problem will be resolved. Now you might understand why the JOBS bill mentioned here is not totally accepted. Why throw money at highways only? Might as well dump cash on the streets. To increase jobs, you have to increase equipment, meaning there will be far less jobs created because of new equipment costs. And who gets the money and jobs? Government. We need to stop frivolously dropping money from helicopters -- think of dropping food over Africa. Does that incentivize those people to work? Does it create jobs? The money we offer is nothing more than food coupons for our unemployed. Our unemployed don't come close in comparison to starved Africans."'The most vulnerable families in America are going to suffer because of this political decision by one senator,' said Senator Dick Durbin..." How? Living in the house they took too much of a loan out for? Fast food, chips, liquor and soda? Here's a thought -- why not limit Food Stamps ONLY to nutritious food! Sorry for sounding callous, but somebody needs to address the PROBLEM, NOT the SYMPTOMS. Meanwhile President O wants the Republicans to stop playing hardball with him and negotiate when HE WON'T! What a leader! It's time to clear Congress of incompetents, starting with Pelosi and Reid -- and we can't ignore Mr. Babble (Frank) and Mr. Cheat (Rangel).

237. Convergence Day

First, let me apologize for the obvious error in Post 223. For some reason I had the DJIA in the 11 thousands rather than the 10 thousands. Thus, the convergence I mentioned should have been 10200 hit during the day today (and less). So, where do we go from here? According to Williams %R Down for about a week. According to the convergence curves UP. My guess is that we'll muddle through the next week around this point then break upward as stated in Post 223. Give it a week since Obama and crew are hard at work confusing the public and threatening to force us to eat over a TRILLION dollars for Health Care. Looks like Politics will muddy the waters and bring uncertainty back to the U.S. Market. None of the good news, like 72% of the companies reporting earnings reported earnings above expectations, took hold. It's time for the real investors to show their cards and get the market rolling. It's time for Obama to FOCUS ON THE ECONOMY AND JOBS and defer for years an OVERALL Health Care plan kludge. He should immediately go after FRAUD and address TORT Reform and ALLOW Small businesses to shop for health insurance across state lines forcing insurance companies to create larger pools and drop costs! Gee I hate BLOCKHEADS!

236. The Health Care Fiasco Summit

While biking this morning (stationary of course) I tuned in to the Health Care Summit meeting. Guess I hit it early because the "leaders" were preaching their unbipartisan bills while the big O sat and smirked at the Republicans. When the Republicans did speak, they were concise and exactly on point. Their message was ACT IMMEDIATELY ON THE HIGHEST PAYBACK ISSUES. Did the Dems get it? Nope. Old Harry interrupted the first discussion calling "filibuster" after he preached about personal issues and Nevada. The others did nothing bu defend their bills when none of the Republicans even mentioned the bills. Now, if I had been leading the meeting, I would have had my flip chart stand and would have captured the MOST IMPORTANT issues the public were facing and the MOST IMPORTANT suggestions to meet those issues -- as the Republicans tried to explain. For example, 50% of small businesses have a problem with Health Insurance costs which could be addressed with a simple policy allowing them to shop across state lines which would force insurance companies to create larger pools NATIONALLY to compete AND bring insurance costs down for those 50% of the people. Maybe even low enough for some of those uninsureds to jump aboard. Did the Dems get the message? Nope. Two other early issues from the Republicans were to IMMEDIATELY get 7.5% back by clamping down on fraud, plus another 7.5% by clamping down on frivolous suits and rewards. Again, despite little expense involved to resolve actual Health Costs, not just insurance, and to resolve the issues IMMEDIATELY, the Dems didn't get it. Obama NEVER acknowledged anything the Republicans said -- only repeated the main issue and called on a Democrat to defend their bills! It didn't take me long to dismiss this summit as a totally waste of taxpayer dollars. I wish the public would know what a planning session like this should be like and HOW it should be led. Maybe then they would see what I did -- a rookie in the driver's seat who shouldn't be there. I can't see how this meeting could have been revived after I switched back to FM music! We'll see if the critics call it an "F" too? I'm sure the Dems will call it an "A+" as usual -- blind to the public. I best part of the Fox News coverage was the man in the street who asked what the important issues were. The public was unanimous -- quit screwing with Health Care and address JOBS and the ECONOMY! Most said defer Health Care discussions until the economy and jobs pick up. You listening O? I doubt it. Please don't -- we need Hope and Change in November and 2012. You blew your last chance to turn things around!

235. I Love this Country

I went down this morning to sign up my Dog for welfare. At first the lady said, Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare. So I explained to her that my Dog is unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and has no frigging clue who his Daddy is. So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify. My Dog gets his first check Friday. Damn this is a great country.

234. Did O Forget We Want Health COSTS reduced?

I haven't actually read O's 11-page proposal yet (11 pages for 1+ year's in office) on Health Care, but this article nets out a few things. Seems O's focus is on reducing insurance costs, NOT Health Costs which would in addition reduce insurance costs. His plan is also to take over the insurance industry and tax investments. Oh, what a sweet deal -- yuck! Here are a few snippets from the article:

"The new White House plan would give the federal government the power to regulate the health insurance industry much like a public utility. The Health and Human Services Department — in conjunction with state authorities — would be able to deny substantial premium increases, limit them or demand rebates for consumers"

"... but also includes a new tax on investment income that Republicans object to."

" It could include ideas Democrats and Republicans have both supported, such as federal funding for high-risk pools that would extend coverage to people denied because of medical problems, and a new insurance marketplace for small employers and individuals buying their own policies."

"A Medicare payroll tax increase on upper-income earners would help plug the revenue gap. For the first time, Medicare taxes would be assessed on investment income, not just wages. "

"... leaves in a special Medicaid deal for Louisiana."

"Estimated to cost about $1 trillion over 10 years, Obama's plan would be paid for by a mix of Medicare cuts, tax increases and new fees on health care industries."

Do you get it folks? Tax investments, cut medicare, regulate the health insurance industry, tax the industry. Now that's how to create jobs and strengthen businesses. Forget cutting business income tax which WOULD grow businesses and jobs. I'm believing O no longer stands for just Obama, but for Ostrich. One in the same -- head in the sand.

Here is the Obama Proposal. I need a time out before I delve into this. I already got hung up after the first few paragraphs -- not only can't I stand to hear him anymore, now it takes great effort to read his BS. Need to clear my mind after reading the summary article.

233. Need Some Feather Ruffling?

I don't want you to miss O's Health Care bill. Here's a lookie at nothing but the hype and promises due somewhere on the Internet. I would expect to find it on the White House website. So, take your high blood pressure medicine, Valium, or drug of choice BEFORE you enter the crazy zone. Hopefully we'll learn what tactic he plans to use to corner the opposition. Wouldn't it be nice if he didn't publish anything about what HE wants and just holds a real strategic/tactical planning session to determine what the requirements really are before pushing solutions that don't come close to the real requirements? Dream on folks. I would venture to guess you'll need a hair dryer to preen those feathers after reading, thank God it isn't verbal, words. :-)

232. Speedo Aquabeat MP3 Player

Humans! Just can't enjoy a swim without music blaring in their ears. Master tried out his new waterproof MP3 player today. Results of the 4.5 mile test: Overall enjoyable. However, a lot of trial and error occurred until he was able to select the right ear buds and connections. He thinks he has it now. Swam 50 laps without a problem until he stopped to talk to another swimmer and took out one of the buds. This reset the problems until he completely dried his ear and blew out the speck of water that entered the speaker in the bud causing a muting effect. Tomorrow is the second test. Apparently the Speedo MP3 set up as advertised without a hitch. He was impressed with the speed of copying music to it -- about 5 albums of songs in about 1-2 minutes. From what I hear, it plays the songs in alphabetical order meaning the songs across 5 albums are pseudo-shuffled. There is also a Playlist application where a specific order can be set. Now he's looking for his notes on the free "tempo" program that inspects the songs and matches it with the tempo (swim stroke) desired. Phew! I just chase sticks and ducks! Really. Is this necessary? According to him, swimming 4 miles with music was like 1 without -- only thoughts are counting and music enjoyment. Show off is up to 59 miles so far this month -- doesn't he know that's torture (almost water boarding).

231. Windows 7 - Shutdown Fails Solution (Post 221)

If you can't rely on Microsoft, who can you rely on? On 2/7/2010 I selected an optional windows update to update my RealTek PCIe FE Driver. Mistake! The errors I have had (3 now) were all after that update. Solution is to ROLL BACK to older one using Device Manager (I Hope -- just did it and will see if this fixes it). How did I determine the cause? I downloaded WinDbg from Microsoft to explore the minidump created (in C:\Windows\Minidump). When you run AS AN ADMINISTRATOR the Windows Debugging tool WinDbg you need to specify the source (File, Symbol File Path) of the SYMBOLS. Tell it you want to go to http://msdl.microsoft.com/downloads/symbols and the program will pull down the symbols its needs as required. Then open the minidump (File, Open Minidump) in C:\windows\minidump. Let it rip and also click on the highlighted items. You should now see the cause spelled out for you. What did I learn from all this? Don't install a driver unless it is available from the manufacturer of the device or the computer -- be careful with those from Microsoft. Most likely they attempted to resolve a different problem and didn't thoroughly test it and couldn't wait for the manufacturer to do it right.

230. Reid Should Learn to Read

Hey Harry. You do know you are already the bottom fish in the Nevada race, don't you? Do you believe baiting the Republicans into helping to draft a bill and then stripping out their input behind closed doors will only sink you farther into the mud? And O's MOST important subject no less -- the JOB bill. Thanks for helping people decide on their November 2010 choices! Here's an excerpt from this article:

"Leader Reid's surprising decision to abandon a bipartisan job creation bill is an ominous sign and contradicts the president's call for both parties to come together," Hatch said. "This is not how you legislate in the United States Senate and demonstrates a tremendous arrogance of power."

Republican Charles Grassley, who helped craft the initial package, also will probably vote against the bill unless he gets a chance to change it, according to an aide.

"Democracy isn't working when the majority leader decides behind closed doors what's in a package and then doesn't allow any amendments," Grassley said in a statement.

Some Democrats have also expressed dissatisfaction.

Sink Harry Sink. Sink. Sink. Sink. I think even O may leave you stuck in the mud this time.

229. More Mickey Mouse Tactics

Seems like people cannot leave well enough alone. Immediately they jump on a symptom for a problem and want to change it to something that worked decades ago but will no longer work. In this case its the SEC and its proposed short selling restrictions summarized here. With modern trading systems capable of zillions (figuratively, but approaching literal) of trades per second, does it matter if you wait a hundredth of a second for an uptick before you drop it again? Hmmm. Now borrowing billions of dollars through short trading by a super wealthy fund or individual WOULD bother me. Wouldn't this be market manipulation? Maybe the SEC should just GUARANTEE investigation of trades involving huge amounts of borrowed money -- make it a standing threat to do so. Maybe that will prevent the already-in-control hedge funds and others from driving the market down to gain a better buy-in point.

228. Jam Health Care via Budget Reconciliation Process

O, O, O! Do you remember the Budget Reconciliation process where only 51 senate ayes pass the bill? Well, here comes O with his hardball. He is now drafting his OWN Health Care bill. Granted its mostly the agreed upon items between the Democratic Senate and Democratic House bills and will try to shape it to fit the Budget Reconciliation process! The war takes an ugly shift. Come February 25 when he tried to jam this down the Republican throats, he will actually be trying to jam it down OUR throats. Can you believe his audacity and egoism? Stay tuned. You'll be hearing more. Meanwhile read this article for more details to date. It's starting to stink in here again so says MY Common Scents.