You will often read in the news comments like the following.
Carl Tannenbaum said, “I think chances are evenly split between a cut and a hike right now it looks like inflation is coming down - but core inflation is still stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target.

Why 2%, why not 3%, why not 1.12345%? After all 2% is some number somebody thought would be a good number. Well, the 2% number is based on a central bank strategy.

Steve, who blogs here and at UnderTrader.com, is looking for sponsors for the bike ride he will be doing in support of the Arthritis Foundation next Fall.

We will be riding bicycles along the coast from San Francisco to Santa Monica, California. It takes 8 long, tiring days! All it takes for you guys is a click on a website. I think that’s a fair trade. Even the smallest donation helps and it’s a tax write-off.
InvestorGeeks is now a non-profit operation, and we’ve donated $400 of our war chest to Steve’s …

Kristin Friedersdorf, from WallSt.net, has posted her interview with me. Goto her Financial Blog Watch page over there to hear me talk about the history of InvestorGeeks and my lessons learned in trying to start a blog network.
I had a great (if brief) time on the phone with Kristin. Her other podcasts are worth a listen, so be sure to check them out too.

One of the things that I do to rationalize positions is take the opposite side and create my own debate. I often do this when my head says one thing, but my gut feeling is saying something else. So for this blog entry I am going to spill my guts and hope somebody wants to add their own two cents.
Ok, here is my problem that my gut keeps telling me, and its from from a comment Greenspan made.
Alan Greenspan said the housing downturn is more of a problem than …

He said, “You know, my friends always ask me how I can afford to leave my home in Canada every winter. I don’t have a great job. I have a good job, but I’m not rich. I always turn to them and say the exact same thing…”

Some good stuff from an interview with Jim Cramer here on YouTube.
I think we have a few months left on our TheStreet.com subscription. I might check out their TV offerings a bit more. I hear that WallStrip is over there now too.

Ford is dire straits and we knew that. So what do they do? Sell Aston Martin! Idiots!!!! I am being harsh because I have not seen that much lunacy in a while. Aston Martin is profitable for Ford, and they sell what is profitable. What does Ford keep? Whatever is loosing money.
The Premier Auto Group, bogged down primarily by Jaguar, handed in a pretax loss of $344 million. Mulally, Ford’s top executive since September, has said Jaguar is not currently for sale.

Annual production dipped as low as just 46 cars …

Ok so the market is dropping, and as per my earlier comments you should wait until the Dow hits 11,750 before thinking of stepping in. I am changing my opinion. Yes I think the Dow will drop, but I think there is something more going on here.

For those that follow the car industry the linked news is definitely interesting. When I was studying to become a mechanical engineer I spent many a workterm working at Magna. My father was a higher-level manager at Magna and I used to have quite a few friends at Magna. For those that don’t know about Magna, think of it as the Microsoft of the car industry.
Magna was started by Frank Stronach an Austrian tool and die maker in the early 70’s. Frank found a niche in supplying car parts for the car industry. Supplying parts these …

Since I cashed out of equities about two months ago I have waited and watched for this pullback. I don’t trust the market because it seems to have forgotten about economics as illustrated by the referenced article.
I understand the market ignoring the slide in factory orders as a blip, but the out-pacing of wages to productivity is a problem. That is called inflation, and it is bad inflation, namely core inflation. I have noticed this core inflation problem at the stores as they have been scrimping on the sales, even …