- Sears ($SHLD) is for idiots! Investors who think shares of Sears Holdings are a bargain after plummeting 80% from their peak should think again. Short list of reasons, include declining appliance sales due to real estate downturn and shoppers turning to lower-cost stores.
- What's really killing Detroit? Bad car building decisions, opting for higher profit margin SUVs over smaller fuel-efficient vehicles, quality issues compared to foreign companies, no hybrids, bad union contracts, and CEO paychecks. I think those union contracts for retirees are the big one. When you compare the costs between car companies, that sticks out like a sore thumb. They can't compete.
- Thanksgiving travel to wane. I expect an upside surprise here. Why? Fuel costs are down and folks have more disposible cash in their wallets. I've been mentioning the past few weeks how crowded stores and restaurants seem. They are. Why? An extra $40-50 per week in each driver's pocket, that's why. Add in those who are now out of their mortgage that they couldn't afford, and that adds money to their weekly spending, too. We shall see...
- Home prices in 9% decline, but buyers stepping in. We need to work off that inventory, and it will take a while. Keep watching the inventory!
- Hewlett-Packard surprises to the upside! A good sign...
- Tackling the national debt. $41 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Whoa.
- Fortune's Allan Sloan says it's time to raise the gas tax! Yes, a big gas tax would cause economic hardship, especially to people who are barely making ends meet. But we could refund the money to those needy people through the income tax. We could also refund the gas tax to those of us who aren't particularly needy, or else use it for energy research-and-development or public works or - dare I say it - for deficit reduction.
- Step away from the crack pipe, Allan. I know now that Obama won, the whole "spread the wealth" thing is very trendy. But please. We shouldn't penalize folks with a tax. Lets instead build new nuclear energy power plants to power the next generation of electric vehicles and get off the gasoline. If the government starts creating progams that are dependent on gas tax revenues, and they go away, then that money will have to come from somewhere else down the road. Lets not go there.
