Things to be Grateful For
I love this abbreviated collection from Doug Kass of things he is “grateful for:
• That ShopperTrak and the other retail associations are calling for strong holiday sales.
• That the National Association of Realtors is calling for a recovery in the housing market in 2010, one in which housing activity and home prices will be lifted.
• That U.S. corporations will soon be hiring and spending tons on capital expenditures because of a large earnings recovery next year.
• That the stimulus package turned the economy around and added permanent value to society without adding to our debt burden.
• That this downturn cleansed all the structural problems in the world and that there is a sustainable foundation from which to grow.
• That government economic statistics are precise and accurate.
Great belated Thanksgiving stuff, Doug (The full list is here).
>
Source:
Grateful Doug
Douglas A. Kass
The Street.com, 12/1/2009
http://www.thestreet.com/p/rmoney/marketcommentary/10635712.html
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December 3rd, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Thank you, hackers, for Climategate!
“Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked by the very Internet you invented”.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-december-1-2009/scientists-hide-global-warming-data
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I’m grateful that Doug can take credit for being more even cynical and sarcastic than me.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
That the recession is “V Shaped”
That we no longer need to worry about “too big to fail”
That, when it comes to a crisis, Washington looks beyond partisan politics and does what is best for the nation!
That there is a tooth fairy. (not that there is anything wrong with one…)
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
BR…Your link wen to Jim Cramer…and I didn’t comb through to find the Kass comments because it wasn’t obvious from the site, but I thought it interesting that Kass had his tongue stuck firmly in his cheek with this at least from what you quoted. :D
BTW….found this site after my “Turkey Day folks” left and after a day with the warring relatives I found this site to be a fun oasis in the shit storm we are living through.
If any of the folks here like restoring houses (Dutchess County, NY in particular), good music, good food and just a plain old “unplugged sound fest, you might enjoy this site I found. If BR is getting bored and posting from the Ships Library…he might even enjoy the break :D
What’s interesting is that this seems to be a new marketing concept. No ads…and free but fantastic idea of how to keep music going when one doesn’t want to deal with the “Establishment.”
If interested, make sure you “browse around the site” to check out all the artists and the FOOD! “Temptations” fans along with Soul, R&B’ers and fans of 80′s Pop Fusion will be especially interested but the current morph is good for the current music folks, too. The house restoration is pretty cool, too, unless one is wedded to granite counter tops, stainless steel, leather, tile, BIG SCREENS and minimalism for everything else.
MUSIC…UNPLUGGED:
http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
i am grateful that congress will not allow GM or Chrysler to close dealerships-
“General Motors Co. and Chrysler will reconsider decisions to close thousands of dealerships as part of a compromise meant to stave off federal legislation that would require them to keep the showrooms open.”
so much for making simple business decisions- before this all over i bet everyone at GM will have wished they were taken out back and shot instead of being bitch slapped by congress at every chance
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
There are so many things to be grateful for. Where to even start?
* I’m grateful that stock price is directly related to a company’s fundamentals.
* I’m grateful that companies always state clear, honest, and unambiguous financials.
* I’m grateful that everything is already priced into the market, and that efficient market theory really works.
* I’m grateful that pricing is never pegged to option expiration.
* I’m grateful that all economists are completely correct and in agreement about everything.
* I’m grateful that the system works for me and not against me.
* I’m grateful that insider trading never happens.
* I’m grateful that frontrunning is only found in science fiction stories.
* I’m grateful that the financial press is there to watch out for me.
* I’m grateful I get the same ability to leverage as the big guys, and get the same bailout opportunities if I mess up.
* I’m grateful that the myriad seemingly capricious trading rules are there for my protection.
* I’m grateful that drawing lines all over historical stock charts makes me money.
* I’m grateful that I can always buy or sell all of what I want, when I want, at the price I want.
* I’m grateful that nobody sees my stop orders in order to screw me.
* I’m grateful that the hundreds of pounds of market-related books I’ve bought haven’t collapsed my floor.
* I’m grateful that my trading software works flawlessly, all my models work, and my connections never go down at the worst possible time.
* I’m grateful that my computers never fail, I never lose data, and my backups always restore.
* I’m grateful that the tax laws are so simple, and my broker’s reporting is so clear, it only takes me a month to fill out my Schedule D.
Want more?
December 4th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
in other words, things to be grateful for:
Fairy tales to entertain the children and keep them from saying:
ARE WE THERE YET?!
December 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I’m grateful that my cynical eye gives me a market to countertrade :twisted:
December 4th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Way to go, Dougie…. and bergsten.
Barry, a thought: Mrs Watanabe is asleep, right? She is also long the Aussie/Kiwi, short the yen, right?
SO she sells in a panic and the Aussie/Kiwi fall, dollar gains a bit more and then gold/oil/silver/copper sell off. The Caddy joins in and the Rand – then pretty soon, everyone is selling miners and drillers like it’s 10/2008…
December 4th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
That men only want to have sex with their wives..
That women are conscious of their spending habits…
That children are grateful for what their families provides them….
December 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I’m grateful that someone is starting to act;
“The Edinburgh home of Sir Fred Goodwin vandalised”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/gallery/2009/mar/25/sir-fred-goodwin-scotland
December 4th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I “here” the smile in this blog post. Glad it all worked out for you…..
December 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I’m thankful for the fractal geometry, writings and philosophies of Benoît Mandelbrot.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Oh…and the fact that the dollar is breaking out to the north.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
The gold bugs can’t be a happy bunch today. Me-thinks today is that curveball that some of us have been waiting for.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I am even more than grateful, profusely thankful, fantastically beholden to the parents of Douzchen Krohe.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Positive Jobs Report Could Shift Political Dynamic
“… The employment report undercut calls by some Democrats for a large jobs bill and gave support to the Obama [administration's plans to apply to TARP to the debt...]”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125994609192376921.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1&
Thanks, JM Keynes.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I am thankful for having a large percentage of my investment accounts in cash for most of the year. It has helped smooth out when things haven’t worked out (short ETFs earlier in the year and gold today!)
HCF
December 4th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Climategate: I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that someone used “Mann’s nature trick” on today’s job numbers to “hide the decline.”
December 4th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I’m grateful that gold is not (NOT) a bubble.
December 4th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I am grateful for the uninterupted exchange of opinion among the thinkers & doers of this blog…
While it lasts.
Net Neutrality. The elite have such a manipulation of words, no?
December 4th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Among many other things, I’m grateful that I bought a buttload of gold coins in ’06. Wake me up when gold’s spot price is $750 (I’d like to get out on the plus side of the trade).
December 4th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
i’m glad i knew Rachel Uchitel before she turned into a VIP hostess whore banging Tiger Woods, Stephen Dorff and who the hell knows who else. nice girl back in 1999-2000 when i worked with her in Sales and Biz Dev for a .com startup. Sad really.
December 4th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
@Mannwich Says:
December 4th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
The gold bugs can’t be a happy bunch today. Me-thinks today is that curveball that some of us have been waiting for.
———-
As a “Buy and Hold” in my F**ing 401-K that was decimated…the last two holds of mine in Mutual Funds were Gold Mix….I took a hit…but was up 56% in one and 40% in the other…
I was waiting for the crash. But then …I got out into CASH earning me about ZERO…in the rest….so I’m glad to ride it down from 56% and 40%..
Hey it’s a CASINO. I’m glad that my “FORCED 401-K isn’t the only thing I had all these years to be invested in.
But, I do worry about those who still might have bought in….with desperation..looking for something.
Whatever. The Traders were either Chortling in Delight or Crying over being Hoodwinked by “Paulson buying in and the Armageddonists pushing gold, guns and God to save us…from the final one.
It’s WILD OUT THERE! Keep your hand on your “wallet pocket” and don’t let anyone “slip a hand down your bra.”
December 4th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
@Rikky Says:
December 4th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
i’m glad i knew Rachel Uchitel before she turned into a VIP hostess whore banging Tiger Woods, Stephen Dorff and who the hell knows who else. nice girl back in 1999-2000 when i worked with her in Sales and Biz Dev for a .com startup. Sad really.
———-
In these times and in these days…one learns to go with the crowd. Make money wherever you can. And if you can make a deal to devulge all on a Reality Show or get the NY Post to quote you….more the better.
When we live in a criminal society where there is NO PROSECUTION for even the most AGGREGIOUS of Wrong Doing/Criminality…who can begrudge those who take advantage?
Doesn’t excuse it…but then if the “Big Guys” don’t get Jail…why shouldn’t the rest of us “Push the Limit?”
:shrug:
December 5th, 2009 at 1:10 am
I’m grateful for pundits who don’t feel compelled to kiss Cramer’s butt. Sorry, Mr. Kass, but despite your market timing skills, your whole “variant view from my perch” schtick is rather tiresome. And your argument that we should cut Cramer some slack because he is being tasked with the impossible suggests that you are a creep.
December 5th, 2009 at 5:39 am
I’m grateful for each one that wins the personal Olympics and gets over the high, hard hurdle of themselves
and thinks first how they can be the best, relax, and always be thinking how to help those that pop up in their face.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I am grateful I never had to use that smoke up my ass machine.
:)
December 5th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Oreos.
I’m grateful for all cookies.
‘cept macaroons, which do not belong in the cookie class, should be down in among the dog food.
December 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I’m thankful that i know the difference between “nailing” the top in gold, and “a broken clock is right twice a day-ing” the top in gold.