Petra Gajdosikova who writes the Money Honey Blog posted the following quote from Thomas Jefferson on Facebook;
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
And this one is from Thomas Donlan in this week's Barron's editorial;
Ever since the open-air market under the buttonwood tree, a large part of the business of Wall Street has been to introduce people who should not borrow to people who should not lend, and of course to collect fees for it.
What's on your mind this morning?
13 comments:
Well, I've always admired Ben Franklin's, "a penny saved is a penny earned."
Thomas Jefferson also said, "How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened."
One of the more curious oddities of our era is the volume and virulence of complaint where no direct experience or cause for complaint exists: read somewhere, heard it happened to somebody else, could happen someday if we don't do X.
Enjoy the canyon, I'll be tagging rockfish in the bay this morning.
A penny saved is, indeed a penny earned.
The weekend WSJ had an interesting article on confusion regarding future taxes on interest and dividends. It was mentioned that higher taxes could impact the value of preferred stocks, and that companies may decide that profits are best used not as dividends, but elsewhere. Adding debt to the balance sheet was also mentioned to avoid increased corportate taxation. The article was mindful to mention the important role dividends have had in total return for investors. Reminds me of the 1960s.
Also, did anyone out there happen to catch Faber's appearance within a "bull and bear" debate on CNBC world last week and catch his comment that a reason the administration had GS under assault was it's connections to Isreal? My jaw dropped on that one. Or, is my hearing going to hell?
Go Cavs.
T
My favorite is "Money doesn't come with a set of instructions", not sure who said it originally.
Not really about investing but have you ever posted about life and long-term care insurance, Roger? Would be interested to hear your thoughts about that...
Mark from L-Ville
Thomas Jefferson quotes are a little like quotes from the bible. Easy to find a line to make your case. If one reads all that is available from Jefferson, it becomes clear that above all he was a politician. That is to say, he said a lot of different stuff. I don't think you can make much of a case for the wisdom of Jefferson unless you aware of all he said.
On the other hand, Franklin was unusually brilliant in his commentary, particularly about investment matters.
I'm hoping I can unload an underperforming rental property this week before the tax credit expires.
My real estate agent says he's seen a big increase in home sales in the last couple weeks as people decide at the last minute to take advantage of the government handout. The expiration of that $8000 housing credit at the end of April is likely to cause a misleading spike in near-term sales. The market will probably react favorably when the data is published, but I wouldn't be surprised if the following months are devoid of much home buying at all.
I'm having a hard time getting on board with the "turnaround" so I'm staying relatively defensive. Roger, I think you mentioned recently about signs of better retail sales may be in part because people have stopped paying their mortgages. The home buyers' tax credit is likely to send the same false signals to the market. Just seems like the "recovery" is being fueled by loopholes and asterisk data.
@ Eric: I agree totally. I was at a wedding last night and talked to a couple realtors friends. They both said real estate will die come May 1st. They have no problems getting listings sold on the low end right now. Everyone is coming for the credit. The middle and high end are still dead though. So even realtors will admit this much. Of course, this was after a few drinks. I am sure they would have stuck with the "it's a great time to buy" line had they been sober and on the record.
Also, this is in Baltimore, which hasn't suffered like other real estate markets thanks to the government jobs in the area.
Good morning Roger,
I second the kudos to Jefferson and Franklin for their quotes. I am still repeatedly reminded of Lord Acton's "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
What's on my mind? Increasing understanding of the term "pretend and extend." Resting to prepare for another week of "hail Mary" runs at work, reporting the serious problems I find with a diminishing sense of fear of job loss -- there are others stepping forward and finally calling BS where appropriate. Hoping that this kind of behaviour will begin to foster integrity. And that others are doing the same all over America. Oh, and of course being acutely aware of the impending foreclosure wave that nobody seems to be talking about. Thankful for literary characters like Huxley's "Bernard and the Savage" and Rand's "Dagney Taggart" to reflect upon at times like these.
Thanks for asking ;) Kristin
Wherever you go there you are.
Jon Kabat -Zinn
@T I heard that too! businessinsider has that in their transcript "I think Goldman Sachs is a rather honest firm. They have a very strict compliance department compared to the others — they're like an angel. But they targeted Goldman as it stands as a symbol of Wall Street, plus it's also Israel, you understand?" -- Marc Faber
Hillary has been beating on Israel pretty hard for going ahead with divisive settlement building. Is that what Faber meant, or was he implying straight up antisemitism?
My question is why did Goldman agree to let the SEC prosecute them? Maybe they just want to be formally exonerated of something to help deflate the publics bad feelings toward investment banks. This could work great: the politicians get to look like they are investigating stuff, and GS gets to say "see we have been investigated and we are good citizens".
Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering.
And it's all over much too soon.
- Woody Allen
Jeremy Grantham: http://tinyurl.com/3anxmnf
Best,
Jeff from Milan, Italy
Jeremy Grantham: http://tinyurl.com/3anxmnf
Best,
Jeff from Milan, Italy
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