The Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman has come out in favour of imposing a small tax on each financial transaction. The tax, which would be a small fraction on one percent of the value of each transaction, would have a trivial impact on long-term investment but would discourage short-term speculation on the price of stocks, currencies, and other assets.  Krugman’s proposal has been inspired by the work of the deceased economist James Tobin and by Gordon Brown, who recently mused that a Tobin Tax would be a good idea. CNBC’s Jim Cramer, who is neither a Nobel Laureate nor a world statesman, has also endorsed a sort of Tobin Tax.

I suspect that if all of the world’s actual and potential financial centres implemented such a tax, large financial institutions would have no choice but to pay. But   what if one or two countries refused to implement this tax? Wouldn’t currency speculators move to that country?  Financial services are highly mobile. After all, the SarbOx legislation in the US caused much business to shift from Wall Street to the City of London.

Toronto's Financial District Today

It seems to me that if the other Western countries implemented a Tobin Tax, there would be a golden opportunity to make Toronto a global financial centre. The Canadian government could simply announce that is had no intention of imposing a Tobin Tax.

For more on this issue see here, here, and here.

So the question becomes, what do you do for a return?..

Source: Read more Jim Cramer ‘Real Money’

Airtime: TUE 24NOV2009 6:30 PM ET Cramer helps investors turn Black Friday green with a retail play, with Manny Chirico, Phillips Van Heusen Corp. chairman/CEO.

Phillips-Van Heusen on Nov. 18 beat the Street’s third-quarter earnings estimates by a mammoth 21% and raised its full-year 2009 guidance. Such an announcement typically would catalyze a stock, but the share price surprisingly has remained flat. That makes PVH very attractive, Cramer said during Tuesday’s Mad Money.
(Brennan, T., 2009, November 24, par.1)

Phillips-Van Heusen [PVH 41.7399 -0.0501 (-0.12%) ], maker of well-known brands such as Calvin Klein, Izod, Geoffrey Beene and Bass Shoes, is “the perfect mix of retail and wholesale,” Cramer said. In addition to making products and licensing its own brands, PVH does the same for other designer lines as well, including Kenneth Cole, DKNY, Michael Kors and others.
(Brennan, T., 2009, November 24, par.2)

PVH is up 197% since the early March lows but is trading at just one times its growth rate, Cramer’s definition of cheap. Factor in a share price that has yet to reflect those fantastic Q3 numbers, the Mad Money host said, and “the stock still has plenty of room to run” – regardless of how close it is to its 52-week high.
(Brennan, T., 2009, November 24, par.3)

Source:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34138771/

This post is inspired by  Jim Cramer’s excellent (Mad Money) adventure on the valuation of AMAZON.COM(AMZN). We all owe thanks to Jim for all his insight and performance on the show. However we should also know that no one is his right mind will give the viewing audience  the keys to the kingdom, regardless of the price. The P/E ratios are all bunk. The game is all about the balance sheet and how to value a stock based on that little piece of paper.

Amazon is hard to put a number on , but just as a curiosity I used a valuation approach that work very well for me in the past. It was an approach to value stocks that had no earnings. It had me buying Bio Reference Laboratories (BRLI) for$1 and $2 in the early 2000″s. Another stock too, Evici College Careers at $1.00.  Both went to the moon. The premise is similar, as far as valuation goes. You must remember, it was a bear market back then ,this is a stealth bull market.  Also, every time AMAZON posts results, the numbers change. Anyway, thanks to Jim Cramer for all  he does. My TARGET for AMAZON this balance sheet is $217.40. As a declaration, I do not own the stock and feel there are other opportunities elsewhere.

Kanye West Heads 2010’s Official Celebrity Dead Pool

By Dagrolord Del Oro- Special to Baron Munchausen’s Beat

1. Kanye West – Nobody’s lobbied harder.  Kill it before it grows.

2. Octomom – 8 embryo enterprise?  Monstrous.

3. Dr. Phil – Shot through the heart. And you’re to blame.You give love a bad name.

4. Michael Jackson -  Once is not enough.

5. Stephenie Meyer – Creator of Twilight.

6. Lady Gaga – Capital crimes of fashion.

7. Madonna – Frightening kids with those Cryptkeeper hands.

8. Jose Canseco – Mourners will think how lifelike Jose looks in his size 48 rat jacket.

9. Jim Cramer – Much ado about nothing.

10. J.K. Rowling  – For making us go back and re-read that chapter where Ron Weasley stole Dumbledore’s magic gerbils.

11. Sarah Palin – You don’t have to go gently into that good night Sarah, but you do have to go.

13. Fidel Castro – Just to include at least one like really old person.

14. Paris Hilton – Neuro-trash.

15. Amy Winehouse – Makes Paris Hilton seem on good behavior.

16. Mickey Rourke – Stop teasing us, already.

17. Mary-Kate Olsen – If only to stop her photo mill.

18. John Travolta – Parenting?  Not so much.

19. Joaquin Phoenix – Hiatus calling itself ‘Quit’.

20. Oprah – Two words- 1. Doctor.  2. Phil.

21. Victoria Beckham – C-word’s Folly.

22. Johnny Depp – Publicist leaked one ginormous gratuity too many.

23. Isiah Washington – Might want to avoid that ‘Bash’ he just invited you to.

24. Simon Cowell – Let’s see that self-loathing redirected back where it belongs.

25. Michael Phelps – Swim goggles, yes.  Microphones, no.

Jim Cramer Q&A at Barnes & Noble Book Signing (Union Square). I asked Jim based on what the CEO of E*Trade, Donald Layton, said on CNBC about ETFC being 80% out of the bad mortgage loans, whether its a good buy. Jim said at this time it’s a good speculative play.

Today I met one of the gurus of investing, Jim Cramer. Jim Cramer has a show on CNBC called “Mad Money”. Jim had a discussion and book signing at Barnes & Noble, Union Square. He gave a speech on the naysayers on Wall Street and spoke about the end of the “crash”. The is by far one of the most influential people I’ve met in my life.

Cramer has many critics (one of his biggest mistakes he admits is the “Bear Stearns” call he made prior to the debacle).

Investment managers, analysts, will always find themselves facing scrutiny. Many mistakes will be made it’s up to you, me as investors (small, big) to filter the information you receive, do your own due diligence in picking equities.

Jim spoke about a comment Meredith Whitney, a prominent analyst on Wall Street said on CNBC to Maria Bartiromo. Meredith spoke about selling the big banks, and a double dip recession. Cramer said she is not correct on that view. He also defended Warren Buffett and George Soros (Mr. Soros recently added more Ford (F) to his holdings) in connection to Meredith’s comments. Mr. Buffett, recently purchased shares of Wells Fargo, bought Burlington Northern outright, and recently bought more shares of Travellers, Exxon among others for Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Buffett, Jim said has had more due diligence with Wells’ books than Meredith, so she is not credible enough to make such a comment.

My question to Jim during the Q&A was about investing in E*Trade, the CEO of ETFC recently appeared on CNBC, he said that the company is now 80% out of the mortgage mess, a dilemma they found themselves in as a result of the credit crisis. Jim’s answer was “buy” ETFC (also Jim mentioned that ETFC is a speculative play, meaning, it’s a riskier stock to get involved in, esp. for less riskier investors), will I just jump in and buy, no, you have to do you homework like he always preaches on his show (look at fundamentals, PE ratios, balance sheet, listen to quarterly reports).

With Open Borders Los Angeles is out of control

From the L. A. Times

1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they  are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green  card.
2. 95% of  warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of  people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over  2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien  Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by  taxpayers.

5. Nearly  35% of all  inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here  illegally.

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los  Angeles County  are living in garages.

7. The  FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most  likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8  Nearly  60% of all  occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21  radio stations  in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10.. In  L. A. County 5.1 million people  speak English, 3..9 million  speak Spanish.
(There  are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )

(All  10 of the above facts were published in the Los Angeles  Times)

Less  than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29%  are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal  prisons are illegal aliens.

While Cramer had said on Aug. 25 that he preferred BJ’s Wholesale since then has jumped about 20% compared to BJ’s 12%. And COST is flirting with its 52-week high. This shouldn’t come as too big a surprise, given Costco’s numbers lately. The company posted a better-than-expected quarter in early October and then announced 5% same-store sales growth for the month, a bit more than Wall Street’s expected 4.8%. The overseas business – 153 a total 562 warehouses operate outside the US – played a big part in the beat. Best of all, the average transaction total grew for the first time since September 2008, which is when Lehman Brothers’ collapse helped to set off the recession. Costco on Thursday opened its first Manhattan location. In addition to sitting down with Cramer, CEO and President Jim Sinegal gave the Mad Money host a tour. They discussed the new store, beating Nordstrom and Best Buy’s prices, what’s exciting about shopping at Costco and more.(CNBC: Mad Money: Jim Cramer, 2009, November 12, par.1-3) Link:http://www.cnbc.com/id/33884244/site/14081545

While Cramer had said on Aug. 25 that he preferred BJ’s Wholesale since then has jumped about 20% compared to BJ’s 12%. And COST is flirting with its 52-week high. This shouldn’t come as too big a surprise, given Costco’s numbers lately. The company posted a better-than-expected quarter in early October and then announced 5% same-store sales growth for the month, a bit more than Wall Street’s expected 4.8%. The overseas business – 153 a total 562 warehouses operate outside the US – played a big part in the beat. Best of all, the average transaction total grew for the first time since September 2008, which is when Lehman Brothers’ collapse helped to set off the recession. Costco on Thursday opened its first Manhattan location. In addition to sitting down with Cramer, CEO and President Jim Sinegal gave the Mad Money host a tour. They discussed the new store, beating Nordstrom and Best Buy’s prices, what’s exciting about shopping at Costco and more.
(CNBC: Mad Money: Jim Cramer, 2009, November 12, par.1-3)

Link:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33884244?__source=RSS*tag*&par=RSS

Joseph Moshe

Today, the MSM are not talking about this case any more. Yesterday, they wanted us to believe that Joseph Moshe was a nutcase and a terrorist, arrested for threatening to bomb the White House. Interesting detail about his arrest (the “Westwood standoff”) was that he seemed to be immune to the 5 cans of tear gas and 5 gallons of law-enforcement grade  pepper spray they pumped into his face. He very calmly remained in his car, as the video footage of his arrest shows.

Professor Moshe  had  called into a live radio show by Dr. A. True Ott, broadcast on Republic Broadcasting claiming to be a microbiologist who wanted to supply evidence to a States Attorney regarding tainted H1N1 Swine flu vaccines being produced by Baxter BioPharma Solutions. He said that Baxter’s Ukrainian lab was in fact producing a bioweapon disguised as a vaccine. He claimed that the vaccine contained an adjuvant (additive) designed to weaken the immune system, and replicated RNA from the virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic Spanish flu, causing global sickness and mass death.

Sources tell us that Bar-Joseph Moshe made no threat against the President or the White House. He did not mention any bomb or attack. He then proceeded to inform the White House he intended to go public with this information. When he noticed men in suits in front of his house and feared that the FBI was about to detain him, he packed some belongings into his car and, him being a dual Israeli citizen, tried to reach the Israeli consulate located in close proximity to the federal building where the standoff took place. The FBI and the bomb squad prevented him from reaching it. Who is this man? His profile on biomedexperts.com says he is a plant disease expert with many publications on his name involving the genetic manipulation of virii. Photographic evidence that Moshe is who he says he is can be found here.

Joseph Moshe was soon after his arrest sent or let go to Israel. Nothing has been heard from him since. The Secret Service was not the agency involved in the surveillance of Moshe at his home in California. This was done by the FBI, who had orders to detain or arrest him. Mounted on top of a large black vehicle used in his arrest was a microwave weapon that possibly damaged the electronics in Moshe’s car as well as any communication devices he had which might have been used to contact the media or others who could help him.

Moshe did not suffer the same effects of the gas and pepper spray that others would have because he had built up an immunity to such weapons as a by-product of his Mossad training. Moshe was not handcuffed because he was not placed under arrest.

Does this sound like an insane conspiracy theory? Sure it does. Due to the scarcity and anonimity of the sources we would dismiss it as exactly that, if it weren’t for some uncomfortable facts: Baxter Pharmaceutical has been caught, red-handed, in spreading a live, genetically engineered H5N1 Bird flu vaccine as a lethal biological weapon all over the world, destined to be used for human vaccinations. This happened just a few months ago. And only luck prevented a global catastrophe of epic proportions.

Baxter International Inc. had mixed live, genetically engineered avian flue viruses in vaccine material shipped to 18 countries. Only by sheer luck, a Czech laboratory decided to test the vaccine on a dozen ferrets, which all died in days. The World Health Organization was notified and catastrophe was averted. This was clearly a deliberate act on Baxter’s part, because they adhere to BS3, bio-safety level three. Baxter admitted a “mistake”. Such monumental screwups are totally impossible at that level. Many safety systems would have needed to be sabotaged, many key personell would have needed to be bribed. It simply can’t be done without direction from the inside. They did not send out the wrong vial – they produced dozens of gallons of biological-weapon agent (genetically engineered live H5N1 / Bird flu virus), then sent it out as a “vaccine”.

Baxter knew full well that their vaccine was lethal, because the year before they had tested it on a few hundred homeless Polish people – dozens died as a result.

Where’s the meat? Well – Baxter is now being sued for the deliberate, repeated contamination of vaccines with biological weapons designed – by them – to mass-murder people. Here is the complaint (PDF). By some kook nutcase? Not likely – Jane Burgermeister is an experienced, respected journalist. She is not the only one suing Baxter for planning and executing a plan for global genocide: Other are filing complaints as well. Read a well-researched complaint here (PDF).

Motive? The latter complaint alludes to it. Have you heard of the Georgia Guidestones? An enormous monument loaded with Masonic symbolism costing millions of dollars, it has been erected by unknown, powerful elites (multimillionaires with the clout to erect monuments wherever they please, obviously) around 30 years ago. It gives an “alternative ten commandments”, of which the first is the extermination of six and a half billion people from the face of the Earth. Half a billion will remain. This is the number of people the planet can sustain indefinitely, so that the descendents of the Rothschilds and Rockefellers can live in peace and affluence indefinitely. Slaves are needed to produce that luxury, but 500 million will do just fine. But how does one go about killing off most of the world?

“Vaccinating” the planet with a bioweapon with near-100% mortality would do the trick. Baxter would provide both the bioweapon as well as the vaccine against it to “civilized” Western peoples. Result: We can plunder Africa, we have no more competition from SE Asia, the oil is for our taking and only Western and perhaps Chinese sheeple remain.

Rockefeller said this in 1994 at a U.N. dinner: “We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis, and the nations will accept the New World Order.” PNAC said something similar right before 9/11.

———-

Most americans would remember the scenes from this event..moshe completely surrounded by cars and being sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray..the story behind the story has come out now..i have wanted to do this story for while but now believe its a relevant time to present it “the vaccine is a bioweapon”..and after seeing what merck did..i dont doubt his claims!

Where is he now?

By Economist Ben Goldstein

The bad economy has made more conventional economics solutions untenable. I want to offer you more iconoclastic measures to make yourself successful in today’s economic situation. One of the ways to allay your economic troubles is by setting up an efficient and rational solution. One such solution that I think will prove to be a likely good outcome will be what I call the Hour Glass Model.

My New Hour Glass Model

Previous models have been pretty successful but only ephemeral. The principles behind these brilliant solutions have been created by economic gurus such as Mernie Badoff, Parles Chonzi, and Tevin Kruedeau. The solutions revolved around the concept of a pyramid, tripod, or triangle (which usually involves some kind of right triangle or isosceles).

A successful pyramid model combines a credible business with a simple-to-understand yet sophisticated-money-making formula which is used for profit. The essential idea is that the investor, makes only one payment. To start earning, the investor has to get more investors who will also make one payment each. The initial investor gets paid from those new recruits. The new investors repeat this process.

Unfortunately the success of these business models only lasted for a limited time only. ‘Cause once the money reached the apex of the pyramid that was it. Also, the investors at the bottom of the pyramid didn’t do a good enough job of expanding their portion of the company. The lazy bastards.

This is where my patented new Hour Glass Solution comes in handy. It works like the pyramid model, with all the money flowing toward the middle, but the beauty is, once the money runs out, you just flip your business model and it works the other way too! With all the money flowing toward the middle! Where I’m at!

All I ask is for a basic introductory investment of $1000. I promise to double, triple, or even decatiple your money. Whatever you want it to do, I’ll promise that. In these troubled times, can you afford not to invest in my Hour Glass?

We’ll sell something amazing that is sure to succeed. Like cleaning supplies for timeshares. Anyway, whatever it is we sell, it’s sure to succeed with this model.

Contact me at allhailponzi@hotmail.com.

Kiwi's must now fight to keep New Zealand free.

4:00AM Friday Oct 23, 2009
By Patrick Gower

Sweeping powers to spy, bug conversations and hack into private computers could be given to a web of state agencies as diverse as Inland Revenue and the Meat Board

The Human Rights Commission yesterday warned Parliament of the “chilling” implications of a proposed law that would see the intrusive powers usually only available to the police extended to all agencies with enforcement responsibilities.

It said that under the law, council dog control officers would be able to enter homes to install a surveillance device and the Commerce Commission would be able to detain people.

Inland Revenue would get the powers to assist its tax investigations, while the Meat Board would get them to enforce breaches of export rules.

The Human Rights Commission chief commissioner, Rosslyn Noonan, said the Search Surveillance Bill was giving the powers away to a “grab-bag of every possible agency”.

It is the second major public watchdog to issue a warning about the bill after the Privacy Commissioner last week said it needed more safeguards.

Ms Noonan said the Government needed to justify to the public why it was giving the powers to each agency.

She said while the police were largely respected by the public, and subject to scrutiny and constraints, “most of these other agencies the community as a whole would notknow who they are – and suddenly they are all getting these powers”.

Can Rossyln Noonan Save New Zealand?

Ms Noonan told the justice and electoral select committee search and surveillance were among the state’s most coercive powers and open to abuse if sufficient human rights safeguards are not put in place.

The New Zealand Law Society also objected to the expansion of the powers, citing how the Overseas Investment Office or the Environmental Risk Management Authority could “remotely and covertly access an IT network”.

National MP Chester Borrows, who chairs the select committee, told the Herald it also heard from Law Commission deputy president Warren Young, who wrote the bill and disagreed with the submitters.

He said Dr Young believed it did not give agencies any added powers but merely prescribed how they used what they already had.

Mr Borrows said if that was the intent, the submitters’ views meantthe bill was obviously so unclearthat it would need to be amended.

Ms Noonan raised concerns about the bill’s effect on journalists and their commitment to protecting sources.

She said the bill needed to more explicitly preserve the tradition that journalists should be able to protect confidential sources unless otherwise ordered by a judge.

WHAT’S IN THE BILL

THE POWERS:

Video surveillance, watching private activity on private property, installing tracking devices, detaining people during a search, power to stop vehicles without a warrant for a search, warrantless seizure of “items in plain view”, power to hack into computers remotely, power to detain anyone at scene of search.

WHO WILL GET THEM:

Every agency with enforcement responsibilities, such as: Inland Revenue, Meat Board, local councils, Overseas Investment Office, Accident Compensation Corporation, Environment Risk Management Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Pork Industry Board.

Source: Human Rights Commission, New Zealand Law Society.

(cue the drum roll and the gorgeous blonde in the slinky dress to hand me the envelope) Yes, it’s the biggest mouth in infotainment, the financial industry equivalent of Daffy Duck, Jim Cramer! I’d have used the village idiot quip but I got beat to it by the guys at Data Center Knowledge.

In an overly simplistic analysis (and probably a reading of goat entrails), Cramer has concluded that since servers based on Intel’s Nehalem CPU can replace 8 older servers, data centers everywhere are going to end up with tons of empty space and the whole industry will collapse. I can only conclude he has a secret deal to shill for Intel.

First of all, the 8 older servers replaced sounds like something read off a marketing brochure, sort of like 4 out of 5 dentists recommend. I don’t think I’d try replacing 8 of my servers with one Nehalem based server. Of course, it probably sounds good to people who don’t know anything about tech.

Of course, this also that every bump in server technology has only increased the demand for more servers and hence, more data center space. Recent reports are that data center demand is growing 3x the rate of supply. The only data centers I’m aware of anywhere with tons of empty floor space to burn are the older facilities that just ran out of power capacity, leaving them with floor space and no more power.

I’m sure all the big boys that have been building data center space in leaps and bounds are going to be so disappointed that Intel’s wonder chip is going to make these huge facilities all obsolete overnight.

Jim, in recognition of this award, we are pleased to present you with a multi-colored wig and a squeaky red nose. Wear them with pride!

Vern, SwiftWater Telecom

data center, web hosting, Internet engineering

The schadenfreude mill has caught up to another one.

More chaw means more forearms, kids.

In spring 2008 I read, fascinated, a New Yorker article about how my childhood hero Lenny Dykstra had become a multimillionaire businessman wheeler-and-dealer extraordinaire on account of being, well, Lenny Dykstra.  He bought Wayne Gretzky’s old house in LA for $18 million.  He rode around in luxury jets.  He did lunch at the St. Regis hotel in Manhattan.  He yelled at umps at his kid’s little league game.  Living in the Third World at the time, I distinctly remember thinking, I have got to get home.  If Lenny can get rich, for chrissakes, anyone can.

Turns out ole Lenny wasn’t another Warren Buffet with oncoming mouth cancer.  When the bubble burst last year, Lenny lost everything.  He’s now declared bankruptcy.  He owes his creditors a cool $31 million.  The little league umps ignore him.

Ah, Lenny, if you weren’t such a crass, pompous asshole (really, read the article), we could feel sorry for you for being so dumb.  As it is … well, good luck with that whole bankruptcy thing.

Funny, that the lying liar Jim Cramer was a big fan of Lenny’s.  And that almost a year to the day after the feature on Lenny came out, that lying liar would be outed as such on national TV.

That interview is funny like being punched in the gut is funny.  This, however, is just good old-fashioned snarkastic humor.  As is this:

It’s hard to see one of your heroes become totally corrupted by socialism, but here he is…a man who totally understands free markets and has enormouslly benefitted from them-turned socialist slimebag… Jim Cramer…

http://bit.ly/FUUml