Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Got Ballots?

  • Have you been watching the Minnesota Senator race between Coleman and Franken? They keep finding all these "missing" ballots.  And Franken closes the very narrow gap.  Seems like it's just a matter of time before Franken "finds" enough ballots to win.
  • Hey, I was out walking the dog and while I was dropping off the poop bag in the trash bin, I found a box of Minnesota voting ballots!  All for Al Franken!
  • Russian stock market down 12% today.   As they're saying on Fast Money, "You want to feel better about the American markets?  Take a look at the Russian markets."
  • From Free Money Finance, The price of those 100-calorie packs will certainly lighten your wallet. On average, they cost from 16 to 279 percent more per ounce than the versions in regular packages, according to a study conducted last year by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. If you can buy snacks in their regular packages and use an ounce of willpower, your wallet will stay fatter.
  • I can't use an ounce of willpower.  Even when I buy the individual bags.  I'll eat 4 bags. LOL.
  • Biggest bang for the stimulus dollar?  The Curious Capitalist quotes that food stamps and unemployment benefits are the winners.  These are all estimates churned out by a model, not hard facts. Economy.com chief economist Mark Zandi says the model assumes that getting money to people with lower incomes has a bigger impact "because their saving rates are lower and they'll spend more quickly."
  • I suppose.  Just seems strange to me that the ticket to prosperity is food stamps.  Although, maybe in the big picture, if folks are using food stamps to buy steak and eggs, they can then use their disposible cash to buy beer and lap dances.
  • At lunch, I was coming out of the bathroom and someone commented, "Hey, something is stuck to the bottom of your shoe."  Yes, three Minnesota voting ballots.  Franken, Franken, and Franken.
  • There must be some auto-bots that subscribe to feeds in Twitter. 
  • Mark Cuban on Homes vs. StocksI think “Buy and Hold” for stocks is one of the all time great marketing scams. Ignore it. Always.  “Buy and Hold” for your house is a mantra you should always live by.
  • How about "Buy with less than 10% down, hold, don't make payments for 3 months, and get a sweet government refinance deal?"  And with stocks?  I think if one holds a diversified portfolio that minimizes individual stock risk (no big concentrations in any one name), ie an index fund, then buy and hold seems to beat everyone else on the planet.
  • Except for maybe Mark Cuban.
  • Hey, I was watching the Mavericks game on TV, Mark. I swore when the camera went to the bench that under Jason Kidd's chair, there was a box of Minnesota voting ballots!  All for Al Franken!