Saving Money

From a Yahoo! News story: “BEIJING – China's central bank said Saturday that its foreign exchange reserves rose 16 percent year-on-year to $1.9537 trillion by the end of March. China's reserves, already the world's largest, increased by $7.7 billion in the first quarter. In March, the reserves increased by $41.7 billion, it said, $6.7 billion more than the same period last year. Analysts believe China holds up to 70 percent of its foreign reserves in U.S. dollar-denominated assets, including Treasury securities. Beijing has taken steps to hold down the price of exports by cutting taxes on exporters and stopping the rise of China's tightly controlled currency, the yuan, against the U.S. dollar. Economists say both steps could strain relations with trading partners if China is seen to be competing unfairly.” It’s always easy to say that your competitor is unfair when he’s way ahead of you. The Chinese are good savers and prudent spenders. If they wanted to, they could ruin the U.S. by simply cashing in their poker chips.

AN IDEA

From a Yahoo! News story: “WASHINGTON – Tinkering with Earth's climate to chill runaway global warming — a radical idea once dismissed out of hand — is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option, the president's new science adviser said Wednesday. That's because global warming is happening so rapidly, John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month. The concept of using technology to purposely cool the climate is called geoengineering. One option raised by Holdren and proposed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays.” Why not just use mirrors to shoot some rays back at the sun? Let me see, I’m sure we can come up with many other ways of cooling the climate down. How about manufacturing a giant refrigerated air unit and pointing it straight at the bad guy – the sun? Put the thing in Siberia where everything is colder. How about shooting ice cubes at the sun? How about wearing more layers of clothing so that your body heat stays with you and is not let off into the atmosphere? Is that feasible? Sure. How about capturing heat in small boxes during the day and closing the lids? Could someone invent a heat trap – like a mouse trap except for heat? Has anyone asked why it is we are trying to save the Earth anyway? Is it worth all the trouble? PLEASE.

Privacy

From a news story on the net: I had not heard about this wild idea: "PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon is among a growing number of states exploring ways to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive instead of how much gas they use, even going so far as to install GPS monitoring devices in 300 vehicles. The idea first emerged nearly 10 years ago as Oregon lawmakers worried that fuel-efficient cars such as gas-electric hybrids could pose a threat to road upkeep, which is paid for largely with gasoline taxes." Raising gas taxes is just too simple a way out of this dilemma. Everyone knows that cars cause most of the world's pollution. The real reason behind this lame idea must be to reduce the number of cars. Maybe soon, we'll hear someone say that people over a certain age shouldn't drive at all. The words "monitoring devices" scares the unholy sweat out of me.

Work it Out

Work is movement. Don't be inert. Just move. Even rich people work - most of them anyway. Paloma Picasso may not need the money but she has worked practically all her life - she needs to work. She will forever be known as the daughter of the famous painter but she works anyway. She does not paint - she designs stuff like jewelry and perfumes and fashion accessories. Learn from her example. She's fifty nine and still working.

Bottom

This quote is from some publication - don't ask me which one - maybe Yahoo. "I don't think anyone can say we've reached the bottom yet," said Chuck Gabriel, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners in Washington. "It's going to be a very gloomy Christmas." Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, said that "for investors to get more confidence, we need to know details" of the new administration's plans to handle the crisis. "There's been a vacuum of leadership" she added, "and when that happens, you get fear and rumors, and then people sell." It came from about two weeks ago. These people know nothing. They panic just like everyone else. Even their guesses are half-hearted. They are too scared to stick their necks out and say something concrete. I think what I said was that the market had already hit bottom - it's time to start buying. You can have a different opinion, of course, but at least state it - don't be a marshmallow when you talk - please.

Hemlines

Here is proof that the economy is (or will shortly be) improving. This is not a supermodel who is being paid to wear the high hemline. She is just an average woman (no, not my next door neighbor) who is confident about the economy. I bet you she isn't even worried about job security. She has a penthouse on the third floor. Cool.

Island

Here's a fine photo of a place you would not know unless I told you. It could be in West Virginia or perhaps somewhere in Austria. It might even be in Brazil. It could also be in Costa Rica or northern California. It is someone's estate. Why would you live anywhere else? It is in the Philippines - Quezon City. You can't get there by car or by train. Try a plane or a boat.

Absolutely sure

It's still not too late. I know the market was down today, but it didn't reach down to 8500, did it? Of course not. I told you so. 8500 was the low point. If you had purchased a minimum of 100,000 shares as I advised four weeks ago, you would be showing a tidy profit today, even with the market down as it was. By the way, that's not the new Treasury Secretary to the left, that's Claudia Maria from Buenos Aires, Argentina. How do I know? I make it my business to know. The same way I know the housing mess will bottom out in about two months - perhaps less. You might still be able to ride the stocks to a small profit but not nearly as healthy as you might have. Tomorrow, the market should settle down, but unless you took advantage and made some reasonable purchases today, it will make no difference. Oh, well.

Hemlines going up

After tomorrow, when the bailout plan is approved, hemlines will start going up again. They say that good economic times tend to raise hemlines on women's dresses or skirts. Who really knows? Of course, if the little plan doesn't get approved, then the hemlines will drop - probably all the way to the floor. It won't make too much difference to me either way - my eyesight is not terribly good. I would need to get really close to notice the difference.

Dresses

They say that being a man is easy because you have only one dress style and that's it. No need to change wardrobe every year. Perhaps you buy a new tie every now and then, but women, OMG. How do you choose? How do you choose? Don't look to me for help. I think a simply dressed woman is good enough. No need to wrap yourself in Gap, Versace, Prada, Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Yves St Laurent, Donna Karan, DKNY, Elie Tahari, Carolina Herrera, Ralph Lauren, or a hundred other chic dress makers. There's no law against it though, if you can afford it.