Best Of The Best Share Discussion Threads

[traderabc] 02/4/2011 22:58

Buffettgate: Berkshire Hathaway's Problem at the Top


Suppose I took a call from a banker-friend at Citigroup on December 13, 2010, and he informed me that he had just observed other Citi bankers meeting with David Sokol, an executive of Berkshire Hathaway and possible successor to Warren Buffett, the CEO. He discovered Sokol expressed interest in a company called Lubrizol and requested a meeting with the company's president.

Buffett himself made it public that Sokol investigated a Chinese battery and electric car maker, BYD, in which Berkshire made a substantial investment. The shares subsequently soared in value.

I would have no way of knowing for certain that Sokol would bring the opportunity to Warren Buffett. I would have no way of knowing for sure whether Berkshire Hathaway would invest in Lubrizol. But if I bought shares in Lubrizol the next day, I would expect that the Citi banker would be investigated by the SEC for passing along insider information, and I would be investigated for trading based on insider information.*

Yet David Sokol, who bought shares in Lubrizol the day after his meeting with Citi's bankers, told CNBC he did nothing inappropriate. His actions were absolutely inappropriate -- front-running is an offense for which a banker or investment banker would be fired.

[traderabc] 02/4/2011 17:28

[OTE103] On the Edge with Rick Ackerman
April 2nd, 2011 by stacyherbert

Stacy Summary: We interview Rick Ackerman.

[traderabc] 02/4/2011 13:38

Inside Story: UK march for an alternative. Guests include Max Keiser

[traderabc] 02/4/2011 12:29

America Celebrates Positive NFP Surprise And Wealth Effect With Another Foodstamp Record

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2011 14:22 -0400





As some Americans managed to find part-time and temporary jobs in March, some other Americans dropped below the poverty level threshold. 105 thousand in one month to be precise. The total foodstamp participation in January hit an all time record 44,187,831 according to the USDA. But fear not, here's the bullish spin... sorry, there is no way to spin this.

[traderabc] 02/4/2011 12:23

Schiff sets the record straight regarding the poor man being crucified by the bankers. Bernard must appeal against this terrible injustice, the man is a 'political prisoner', a scapegoat for the sins of the FED.

Jobs Report, Important Schiff Radio Interview



Peter Schiff on CNBC 03/31/11

[traderabc] 01/4/2011 17:05

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined



STEPHEN MOORE
Wall Street Journal
April 1, 2011

If you want to understand better why so many states-from New York to Wisconsin to California-are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 23:52

Agri-Food Thoughts
03/31/2011
By Ned W Schmidt C...03/31/2011

Has been, it seems, more than a year since any supply bullish/price bearish news on Agri-Foods has come out. Latest news on outlook for Russian and Ukrainian wheat was not good (Financial Times, 30 March). World will not know if either nation will be able to export wheat till the second half of 2011. While at the same time, the appraisal of the North American wheat crop, now in the ground, is lackluster due to dry conditions.

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 23:50

Martin Armstrong statement from just before he was released.

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 19:41

Faber Expects QE3 From Fed 'But Not Right Away'

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 17:52

Excellent.

Farmers and Seed Producers Launch Preemptive Strike against Monsanto
March 30th, 2011

Lawsuit Filed To Protect Themselves from Unfair Patent Enforcement on Genetically Modified Seed

Action Would Prohibit Biotechnology Giant from Suing Organic Farmers and Seed Growers If Innocently Contaminated by Roundup Ready Genes

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 17:50

Keiser Report: 17 mln Americans on Food Stamps
March 31st, 2011

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 17:34

Thursday, March 31, 2011
Commodities have done 10 times better than stocks

Legendary investor and commodities legend Jim Rogers in an interview with the newspaper The Korean Herald insisted on commodities saying that silver and natural gas is where he expects fortune to be made in the future :"You've got to learn about silver and rice and natural gas, because this is where the fortunes are going to be made in the future.
"For those of you who don't know, commodities have done 10 times better than stocks in the U.S. over the past 10-12 years ... and yet most people are still sitting around babbling about stocks and bonds,"

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 17:33

Jim Rogers - Buy Uranium After the Japan Quake?


Full version.

Jim Rogers on CNBC 3/30/11 (Part 1 of 3): Buy Japan Stocks

[traderabc] 31/3/2011 08:54

31 March 2011 Last updated at 05:38


Timothy Geithner seeks uniform exchange rate policy



China is accused of keeping its currency artificially undervalued


US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has kicked off the G20 meeting in Nanjing with a call for more consistency in international currency exchange rates.

Mr Geithner said tight control of currency pricing by some countries was hurting global economy.

The United States and other developed nations have been critical of China's exchange rate policy.

[traderabc] 30/3/2011 17:45

Broke And Getting Broker: 22 Jaw Dropping Statistics About The Financial Condition Of American Families



Most American families are really struggling in this economy and they see most of the families around them really struggling, but they don't have any hard numbers to back up the feelings of economic despair that they are experiencing. Well, below you will find 22 statistics that prove that American families are broke and getting broker. Today, the financial condition of most middle class families is rapidly deteriorating. The number of good jobs is declining, incomes are down, debt loads are up and bankruptcies and foreclosures just continue to increase. If you step back and really examine the statistics, it becomes really hard to deny that American families are getting poorer. Well, the wealthiest 5 percent are still thriving, but everyone else is really having a tough time. The truth is that a large percentage of the U.S. middle class is slowly but surely going broke. Unfortunately, this is being caused by long-term economic trends that simply are not going to be fixed overnight.

[traderabc] 30/3/2011 12:55

One World Currency a Leftist Plot?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 – by Staff Report



George Soros

Two years ago, George Soros (left) said he wanted to reorganize the entire global economic system. In two short weeks, he is going to start – and no one seems to have noticed. On April 8, a group he's funded with $50 million is holding a major economic conference and Soros's goal for such an event is to "establish new international rules" and "reform the currency system." It's all according to a plan laid out in a Nov. 4, 2009, Soros op-ed calling for "a grand bargain that rearranges the entire financial order." – Media Research Center/Wall Street Journal

[traderabc] 30/3/2011 12:14

Wow That Was Fast! Libyan Rebels Have Already Established A New Central Bank Of Libya



The Economic Collapse
March 29, 2011

The rebels in Libya are in the middle of a life or death civil war and Moammar Gadhafi is still in power and yet somehow the Libyan rebels have had enough time to establish a new Central Bank of Libya and form a new national oil company. Perhaps when this conflict is over those rebels can become time management consultants. They sure do get a lot done. What a skilled bunch of rebels – they can fight a war during the day and draw up a new central bank and a new national oil company at night without any outside help whatsoever. If only the rest of us were so versatile! But isn't forming a central bank something that could be done afterthe civil war is over? According to Bloomberg, the Transitional National Council has "designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya and the appointment of a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi." Apparently someone felt that it was very important to get pesky matters such as control of the banks and control of the money supply out of the way even before a new government is formed.

[049balt] 30/3/2011 10:25

trader, great find.

[traderabc] 30/3/2011 10:17

The next market bubbles: Food and farm land

By 2010, US farm prices fell only 5 per cent from their 2008 peak, compared with 37 per cent for home prices.




Speculative investment has been pouring into farmland in the US and beyond [GALLO/GETTY]


People frequently ask me, as someone who has written on market speculation, where the next big speculative bubble is likely to be. Will it be in housing again? Will it be in the stock market?

I do not know, though I have some hunches. It is impossible for anyone to predict bubbles accurately. In my view, bubbles are social epidemics, fostered by a sort of interpersonal contagion.

A bubble forms when the contagion rate goes up for ideas that support a bubble. But contagion rates depend on patterns of thinking, which are difficult to judge.

Big speculative bubbles are rare events. Little bubbles, in the price of, say, individual stocks, happen all the time, and do not qualify as an answer to the question.

And, because big bubbles last for many years, predicting them means predicting many years in the future, which is a bit like predicting who will be running the government two elections from now.

But some places appear a little more likely than others to give rise to bubbles. The stock market is the first logical place to look, as it is a highly leveraged investment – and has a history of bubbles.

[traderabc] 29/3/2011 20:41

Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Dollar next move is critical : Jim Rogers

The dollar's next move is critical, famed investor and commodities legend Jim Rogers said,
"if it goes down 3% or 4% from here, I would have to sell and get out and hope I'm still solvent."
Rogers continues: "Somewhere along the line we're going to have a tipping point for the dollar, then it's all over." "I thought it would happen in a few years; maybe it's going to happen in a few weeks." Jim Rogers told Yahoo Finance recently

[traderabc] 29/3/2011 20:38

Keiser Armed: Pirates of Digital Age (E133)

[traderabc] 26/3/2011 08:14

Thoughts On The Liberty Dollar Debacle

By Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com

I was in the midst of the Save America Convention in Tampa, Florida when I heard, first, that Libya was under bombardment by the UN (led by U.S. forces), and, that Bernard von NotHaus of Liberty Dollar had been convicted of "counterfeiting". It was a stressful day, to say the least. For those not familiar with the Liberty Dollar incident, In November of 2007, federal officials raided the group's headquarters nestled in a strip mall and seized all documents and the gold and silver that backed up the paper certificates and digital currency being distributed through the Liberty Services website. The Justice Department asserted that Von NotHaus was placing gold and silver coins, along with precious metals currency, into circulation with the purpose of mixing them "into the current money of the United States."

To be clear, NotHaus made some serious mistakes, including pressing his coins to look semi-similar to standard federal currency, and also using language which could be interpreted to insinuate that his currency was "legal tender". There are many barter networks in the U.S. that use gold and silver that do not have these kinds of problems with the government simply because they are careful not to make the same blunders.

However, it wasn't the conviction itself that struck me, so much as the language of the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins, in her post trial statement. Let me reprint my favorite parts for you here:

"Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,"

"While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country,"

"We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government."

Some in the Liberty Movement have interpreted this statement to be a warning to all of us that the Federal Government is declaring open season on alternative currencies. Others see it as a preliminary move towards the confiscation of all privately owned gold and silver. And yet others see the statement as dire prophecy, now cowering behind their 1040's at the thought of the smallest barter transactions, as if the IRS is the all seeing eye of Sauron waiting to catch them in the act of trading apples for oranges and sending agents to crush them with their slimy orc-like fists of doom.

Perhaps I am the only one, but in contrast, I see the prosecutor's statement as an expression of blatant fear. I'll explain, but first, let's dissect the nonsensical and irrational idiocy behind the saber rattling of Anne Tompkins.

[traderabc] 25/3/2011 21:30

Out in the Open

Richard Russell snippet
Dow Theory Letters
Mar 25, 2011

March 24, 2011 -- "There is only one certainty regarding paper money -- the longer you hold it, the less it will buy in terms of real goods or real money -- gold." Richard Russell.

Yesterday was a banner day for the precious metals. Gold closed at an all-time high in terms of dollars. Silver moved into the 37 dollar zone for the first time since the precious metal bull market of the 1970s (today it's above 38 dollars an ounce!).