Free Speech

Free Speech takes many forms, not always written and oral speaking.
The ability to wear what you want, do what you want, use money the way you want, and yes, say what you want.  As long as those activities do not directly invade someone else's rights to pursue happiness. (murder, theft, bullying, etc)

The internet is the biggest leveler of the playing field in the history of mankind from the top percent to the masses. Anyone can speak, participate, contribute to the social order.

To keep the internet vibrant and growing is GOOD for investing.  It enables new opportunities as I posted in my Manufacturing Revolution posts.
Allow the tiny few to control the construct, the internet, is doomed to limit everyone's freedom.

I urge to to simply sign this petition and pay attention.  Support free speech and don't allow it to be taken in the dark.

Googles' Free and Open Speech campaign

Keep the power with the people.

Manufacturing Revolution, early examples

I posted about the American Manufacturing Revolution that is underway, and gets very little press.  I am not sure what it will take for the press to take hold of this story.     Probably will require a significant success story, a company going public on the stock market, or if enough commerce starts flowing through this area to be material.

To track this on my blog, I'll  label as Manufacturing 2.0

Below is one of many examples on Kickstarter of new tech being created, by the people.  Collaborating not with just US citizens, but world wide.
America is on the bleeding edge, but not alone.  With the web the rest of the world is joining America.

Watch this video, and ask without the internet and web sites like Kickstarter, how much harder, longer, or even impossible it would be for YOU to get this product TODAY? One of the first in the world ever made?

Amazing stuff.









All of the projects above may not succeed, but that isnt the point.  The possibility is there, when it wasnt before.

Shopping, Getting the Best Price Possible

If your looking for deals, I always recommend checking out Dealnews.com (click).  Its a news feed of best deals on the net.
The site also lists all black friday deals.  However, many of these deals are impossible to get.  I sometimes try for online sites, since there are no lines, just good timing.

Amazon has Lightning deals, the good stuff usually sells out in 60 seconds, so you have to be at your PC when it goes on sale. Good news is they tell you what goes on sale when, just not how much ahead if time.

For electronics, I alway check out Newegg.com, be sure to always look at reviews of the product before purchase.

If you go shopping, be sure to check out Wow-Coupons, and PRINT your coupon before you shop. Save!
For online coupons (Codes), I  use DealNews Coupons.

Even with all the tricks above to save, use a credit card with cash back, and save even more.
Well thats it, happy hunting for the best deals for stuff you need!  Save more by not buying it ;)

Already time to buy miners?

The market and news continues to look weak, if not near future, but the year ahead.

It is perfectly sane to stay in cash at this point.

However, looking at the Gold miners, from a historical perspective, we are hitting levels where the risk is now reduced compared to the reward.

I believe GDX will hit easily above twice the current price by 2016.  Of course, I have been wrong before.

But looking historically, entry into GDX has significantly less down risk than two weeks ago.

GDX is now at 46.47, GDXJ at 21.51.

I am adding shares here.  good luck.

Hostess Bankrupt, who to blame?

I have not done my typical 2 hour scan and seek 'the truth' on the Hostess bankruptcy.
What does amaze me is how the public unions is publicly persecuted and we, the people buy it completely.
It should go to show how amazingly powerful the media is, and how it is not a LEFTIE establishment as popular myth says it is.

Reporting should provide full analysis on topics, so I the reader can get the short summary.

Take a look at fox news coverage here titled "Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight".
Notice how the final straw gets all the blame.  Its like blaming the doctor when a 500 lb fat man dies of a heart attack on the operating table.

Now, back to how i started this post.  I did NOT seek the truth on this topic, to spin to what I believe reality is.   But I do notice the news is not impartial, it is framed in a very specific way, to place 100% blame on the strike at the very end.  The news reads to blame greed of unions for the company failure.

Now, lets look at an alternative view.... What Killed Hostess?
For a more radical view.... Blaming it on Venture Capitalists.

What we are seeing frequently as baby boomers retire is massive improper funding of a pension.
Pensions, should have never been allowed to exist.  They are a future promise, to be paid by magic in the future.    Yes some pensions are well funded and self-sustaining, but many many more are not.

Under funding a pension, lack of re-investment, innovation, food attitude changes, greed resulting in debt piled upon debt, and bad management. If you are a manager, and a victim, then you should not be a manager.  Own up and take responsibility, or join the blue collar workforce.

Blame the union? I am sure they are not innocent.  But lets be more objective than blame the final act, that 500lb man dead on the hospital table, it's not the doctors fault, its the shape the man/company was in at the time after years of abuse.

Don't take public spin, its almost always wrong.

Power Back and Internet Restored!

I got power back a week ago.
As of about 3pm today, my internet has been restored.
That was 19 days of NO INTERNET!  I haven't gone that long without the net since it was first made public available in early 90s.
I may go a little overboard posting :)

Market Musings, Part 2

So the SPX is broken below 1395.   I am very bearish on the overall market. (reconsider SPX 1316)  Gary of Smart Money Tracker expects gold and gold miners to buck the rest of the market.  Having some of this sector to build on is always a good idea in my book.

We are ENTERING another recessions, globally.  Such a recession I doubt will resolve quickly.  A good turn around would be spring or summer of next year.  Turn around right now seems hard to imagine.

The republicans lost the presidential race, and the fiscal cliff in January 2013 approaches.
If the republicans can maneuver to force the fiscal cliff to occur, thereby injuring US economy significantly, they will have setup Obama to have another hard four years to try to stabilize the economy.

The more the Republicans can injure the US economy, the more they can make Obama look like the problem, with the solution being a Republican president in 2016 elected.

I am no fan of Obama. If the republicans played nice and worked with Obama, I do not believe his medicine will fix it.   The most likely outcome is if both sides fight, and fail to unite to compromise, we all lose.  That is the likely path I see.  Republicans do not believe in compromise, and Democrats seemingly cannot grasp fiscal and government discipline.  This is not a political blog, but politics do affect your investments, so it must be kept in the spotlight.


With a backdrop of Christmas upon us, election over, North East impaired and deficit spending to restore normalcy, Europe in perpetual crisis, and the fiscal cliff ahead, I see no reason to run to stocks.

If you have a burning desire to buy stocks and not fixed income, as always for the loooong haul I like Oil, gold, food, and alternate energy.   Some of these sectors have been BRUTALIZED in the last year.   Stocks  that have been gaining in this market decline recently are:
NAK - 4.19 , HTM - 0.33 , AUQ - 8.46 , AUY - 20.36, UNG - 21.19
EFT's for miners holding their own
GDX - 51.41, GDXJ - 23.92,
And metals
GLD 168, & SLV 31.38
Alternate Energy and Oil are getting punished with the dowturn.
TAN -14.55 (solar) is at a low, and OIH 37.19 (oil companies) is getting punished.
DBA - 28.78 (food) also getting mildly punished