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Thursday, June 07, 2007

 

Home Again and Finding the World a Mess

We'll get to the correcting, or is it crumbling, bond and stock markets presently. First, let's list all the fouled up situations that only got worse while I whiled away a few days on the Left Coast (and nearly froze my fanny)...

An immigration bill, supposedly bi-partisan, turned out to have not nearly enough of any kind of partisans to make it through the evenly divided Senate. Consider that to achieve this bill, its creators had to arrive at compromises concerning Every Ridiculous Idea Since Adam (ERISA) such as border fences, amnesties, dumping family considerations as a qualifying consideration, etc. etc. In the end, the Bushies actually came out on the less Know-Nothing end and still put forth a bad bill with no chance;

The G8 meeting was a mess, Putin, who is popular in his country finally got under the skin of our President (whose popularity poll readings are about the inverse of his Russian counterpart), and we've still got all those Neanderthals in our country losing sleep over the Chinese Yuan and campaigning against free and fair trade, globalization, etc. all of which contribute to our economic growth, not to mention that of the Third World. Their answer to everything seems to be to raise taxes. We already work until June in some states JUST TO PAY OUR TAXES and half the country seems to want to raise them. As George Will often says, our people, no matter what they say, have an unquenchable thirst for government "services." Just wait til they get the Health Plan they want - there won't be enough taxes in the world to pay for a UK style Health Service;

After desperately seeking a bad agreement with the North Koreans (following the precedent of the prior administration), the Bush State Department has had to endure about a month of having none of the other side's concessions implemented, only to be followed by their most audacious missile test yet. It's not as if everyone involved doesn't know these people negotiate in bad faith;

The pundits have declared universal (i.e. government provided) health care to be the will of the people, and the maneuvering is on to make those who would preserve the better aspects of the present system (few as they may be) to be out of the mainstream. So now I will have to point you to the earlier series in the musings archives on our out of control entitlement systems and do another posting on health care and insurance. Ugh!;

We know that the baseball season is a long one (Ok not as long as hockey - is it finally over?) and there will be ebbs and flows, but to see the Mets and Red Sox playing worse, and the Yankees and Phillies playing a little better is not my idea of a good week. Incidentally, I got to see a fair amount of the Giants last week, and I think they can still contend in what has become an awfully tough division;

AND I missed the Soprano's episode last Sunday, meaning I'll be up with it until 1 AM tonight to catch the rerun; And, I can't break 85, which is probably the real reason my mood is a little ornery tonight.

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That plus our severely correcting financial markets, which finally seem to have taken note of this blog's constant worries about just such a slump. I guess I predicted 8 of the last 5 corrections. Anyway, faithful readers know that my only reaction will be to return my asset allocations to their prescribed targets, and let the chips fall where, and as far, as they may. Which reminds me that it is time, once again, particularly since we seem to be acquiring some new readers, for the obligatory disclaimer. Redwavemusings is not an investment adviser and does not provide investment advice, good or otherwise. The securities and strategies mentioned here are for recording purposes only and may not be suitable for anyone else (or even for me).

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On 5/29, I sold 100 shares of B at 29.11 that I purchased for 13.625 on 7/6/98 for the taxable account. Luckily, this was only a small part of the position, since B was recommended yesterday by Jim Cramer. On 5/30, I bought 50 shares of EXPD, a new name, at 42.95, also for the taxable account. Finally, on 6/6, I took another taxable gain, selling 200 shares of KAMN at the opening for 28.87 (purchased at 13.75 on 5/24/99 - that's right, the last century again). Of course, the analysts must be watching my account because a Steifel analyst immediately issued a buy recommendation this morning for KAMN. But that's not having much impact in this market. Also to make it a perfect day, BMET, which I sold out of in April when it neared its takeover price, got a higher offer which its Board today recommended that shareholders accept. And that's why I include disclaimers!

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