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    • Fri Nov 21st 13:11 PM
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      When Stocks Go to Zero
      "Especially if and when companies start emerging from bankruptcy in listed form, the public might start to realise that companies don't necessarily die along with their stocks, it's just that their owners change."

      As an investor who has seen one holding go to bankruptcy I am particularly intrigue by your closing comments. Are you suggesting that buying shares of potential bankruptcy candidates and/or future bankrupt companies might become a value investing strategy? I have no comment either way but I wonder about the obligations these listed companies have to pre and post bankruptcy shareholders. Are the obligations the same? I would want to do alot more research before buying listed shares of a bk co and understand the legal obligations they have to shareholders.
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    • Thu Nov 13th 12:53 PM
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      IEA Report Predicts Oil Supply Crunch
      though it may not seem like it now, longer term horizon for both oil and alternative energies is excellent. Now is the time to begin investing.

      I am looking at CNQ, PBR, XOM, and RIO as far as traditional oil which we still have a long way to go before weaning ourselves off.

      As far as alts, I like VRNM for cellulose ethanol, BCON for grid technology, and too many solar stocks to mention.

      But indeed, you have to brave to buy now...but I think energy is the safest bet. No matter what happens almost everything depends on energy!
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    • Thu Nov 6th 13:02 PM
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      A Capitalist Reformation
      Excellent article. Just as the human species evolve over millenia and human beings over the course of their lifetime, economic systems evolve. This is the great value of Marx' theory over other static enconomic theories.

      What many people faill to realize is that Marx' was not a critic of capitalism per se. He only saw it's hisotical limits/finitude and that it would eventually exhaust itself. It is the economic precedent to socialism because without an industrial revolution under capitalism there would be productivity or excess capital (just as feudal agrarian societies were precedent to industrial capitalism). China and Russia were not ideal environments for socialism/capitalism because they did not fully mature as industrialized capitalist countries before adopting socialist policies.

      America and Europe are ideal mature economies that can progress. Looking at the scandanavian model is a promising indicator.

      Also, another commonly misunderstood principal of socialism is that everyone will be wearing the same uniform (as if we don't already all wear Gap and Brooks Brothers) and equal in everyway. In fact, in theory it is quite the opposite. it is step in economic maturity towards creativity of individuals...each according to his ability...but nobody bothers to read through the literature and I am sure this article will elicit the typical "pinko" comments...from the apes who have not evolved yet.
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    • Thu Oct 30th 13:10 PM
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      Regulations and Markets: Making a Bad Situation Worse
      What many people fail to realize is that truly competitive markets depend on regulation - else the logical conclusion of competitive markets without regulation would be monopolies.

      I agree that we need balance policy and not pendulum swings from no regulation to over regulation but there are real lessons to be learned from recent events and many of them point to some basic regulation that protects companies and shareholders from themselves.
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    • Wed Oct 29th 16:47 PM
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      Corn and Its Industry: The Next Tobacco
      @SCC, when I wrote "...more equitable distribution does not equal socialism" I am literally referring to the definition of socialism. It is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

      In short, socialism has nothing to do with equitable distribution. Neither does communism. This is a very common misunderstanding propogated by those who create strawmen arguments against socialism and communism.

      It has to do society or gov't sharing ownership or share of control. But it does not mean that every person has equal share or control. In fact, a common mantra of socialism/communism is to each "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

      Marx delineated the specific conditions under which such a creed would be applicable - a society where technology and social organization had substantially eliminated the need for physical labor in the production of things, where "labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want." Marx explained his belief that, in such a society, each person would be motivated to work for the good of society despite the absence of a social mechanism compelling them to work, because work would have become a pleasurable and creative activity. Marx intended the initial part of his slogan, "from each according to his ability" to suggest not merely that each person should work as hard as they can, but that each person should best develop their particular talents.

      And in closing, just because I want to use an informed definition of socialism does not mean that I am a proponent. But I am a proponent of using proper definitions.
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    • Wed Oct 29th 02:26 AM
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      Corn and Its Industry: The Next Tobacco
      oh yeah and another thing, more equitable distribution does not equal socialism. Most of the people who invoke that word have no idea what it actually means. Its not their fault though, they have been bag fed since birth...sort of like those poor cows....
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    • Wed Oct 29th 02:21 AM
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      Corn and Its Industry: The Next Tobacco
      to those who find the article speculative or baseless consider that all of these livestock eat grass in nature (as opposed to what is provided to them as domesticated). The natural evolution of these animals along with us and the foodchain over millions of years is scientific fact. This is how we have evolved. The last 100 or so years of artifice, of corn feed stock is de-evolution. We have essentially created an artificial food chain that goes against what is healthy and life promoting. So you're argument for status quo food and fuel is in the big picture based on about 100 years of experiment vs. millions of years of contrary data. In short, you are short sighted and dead wrong.

      That said, there are still lots of good uses of corn...they're making lots of biodegradeable stuff out of it now....
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    • Tue Oct 28th 13:02 PM
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      Impending Inflation? The Global 'New Deal' All but Guarantees It
      well, when I think of New Deal I think of FDR and the U.S. gov't itself spending loads of money on infrastructure (roads, bridges, schools, etc.). That was a catalyst that jump started the U.S. economy and the recovery from the great depression

      So if we do truly have a sort of Global New Deal where gov'ts start spending I think that will indeed get to the consumer sooner rather than later and spur growth and perhaps inflation.

      There are many large scale initiatives that many would argue global gov'ts need to invest in now:

      1. Improve Water treatment, clean water preservation
      2. Clean coal technologies
      3. upgrade grid technology
      4. alternative energy developments
      5. public schools & public hospitals
      6. highways and bridges
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    • Fri Oct 24th 15:47 PM
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      The Right Way to Encourage Home Ownership
      i would like to see more equitable home ownership and I agree with Consider_This' that one way in which this could happen is a considerable drop in real estate prices.

      I believe that this is imminent. The gov't has no responsibility to keep home prices high, in fact it is irresponsible to try and keep prices high. Current, past, and future policies to subsidizing mortgages or the mortgage industry or facilitating loans, etc. only puts off the inevitable, home prices are not sustainable. The current real estate bubble was sustained by overborrowing and almost everybody was doing it. This in turn inflated prices. But what if so many people were not willing to borrow to pay for a house? What if so many people were not willing to borrow to pay for college, a car, etc? Don't you think that prices would be lower?
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    • Mon Oct 20th 14:09 PM
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      Was 'Peak Oil' a Multi-Billion Dollar Hoax?
      great insight by all...I enjoy reading both sides of the argument/discussion.

      Some other thigns to consider:

      1. Reserves by themselves do not preclude the peak oil theory. In fact, quite the contrary; if certain countries are effectively 'leaving oil in the ground' for prosperity or contingency that is a real price factor (a real supply factor).

      2. The geo-political cost of oil is also a very real one that factors into price. The fact that there may be 200 year supply in the ground is vague. Is it accessible? At what cost? Environmental, political, etc.

      3. Speculation and uncertainty are also very real price/supply factors. If our primary energy source was solar we would be tracking weather, clouds, etc. and speculating the minutia and exigencies of available sunlight.

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    • Wed Oct 15th 17:25 PM
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      Crude Prices Plunge - UltraShort ETF Positioned for Profits
      Some thoughts:

      nearing $70 a barrel supply destruction will begin to kick in (e.g. OPEC will curb production).

      oil shorts are way in the money and likely to take some profits

      Demand in emerging markets (less susceptible to current crisis) will continue to rise

      Winter is imminent in the Western Hemisphere

      Peak Oil?

      We shall see...
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    • Wed Oct 15th 17:17 PM
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      High U.S. Corporate Taxes Are a Myth
      i am in favor of corporations bearing more of a tax burden but we do have to keep in mind that corporations who employee US workers do have to contribute to Soc Security and Medicare, which are not taxes per se but still cost of doing business in the U.S.

      Many argue that these businesses would not operate in the U.S. if they had to pay higher taxes but important point here is that if you look at the alternatives (e.g. taxes in other countries) I think you would see even higher taxes. I would welcome some hard numbers here but I think U.S. corporate taxes are far less than most other countries. I agree they need to contribute more, if they did they would certainly benefit more in the long run....but no one is in it for the long run.
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    • Tue Oct 14th 16:48 PM
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      Chasing Unicorns: The Cycle Gods Are Still Playing with Us Mere Mortals
      The Unicorn in this case is a good metaphor since they are chimeras - created from the conflation of experience but not themselves a part of our sensory experience - and consist of disparate parts. Certainly the current mix of government and markets is a perplexing chimera of sorts. A creature not seen in these parts...

      Your analogy also reminds me of the Black Swan metaphor as espoused in a recent book by the same name. The gist of it is, prior experience is not an indicator of future experience. The Black Swan was oft used in ancient greek logic (Aristotle) as an example of an existential universal (No swans are black) proven to be false when the geographical horizon of experience revealed there to be black swans in Australia.

      In short, we must avail ourselves of disparate methods of knowledge as experience teaches us that experience is fallible...
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    • Tue Oct 14th 16:07 PM
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      State Capitalism: Ideology Now Bonds Russia, U.S.
      Actually that's not a spade, that's a shuffle...but seriously what we have is neither capitalism nor socialism. We have a sort of hybrid where the gov't facilitates/manipulate... competitive markets - so we don't actually have true competitive markets. And where markets facilitate/manipulate gov't - so we don't actually have a true democracy. It's all hybrids nowadays...
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    • Fri Oct 10th 12:42 PM
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      Roger Wiegand: Oil to Reach New Highs by Year-End
      i am not in the business of making predictions but for those expecting further drop in oil consider that the costs to extract oil continues to increase such that lower prices can affect supply. In short, just as high prices elicit demand destruction, low prices elicit supply destruction. Perhaps coming weeks we'll find a balance. It's probably closer to $90-100.
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