Your government at work……. Freddie Mac made some big bets starting in 2010 that paid off if homeowners stayed in their higher interest rate loans. Huh??? The charter for Freddie Mac says it is supposed to make home loans more affordable for Americans. But, it was in a position to keep those high interest rates [...]
The French Language…… There is no doubt in my mind that all of your want to learn to speak French better than a Parisian. Why? Because you would like to point out when they are screwing up their own language. Is this revenge to that taxi driver who took you to the wrong address – [...]
Here are the closing statistics from Friday for our key indicators (01/27/12): FINCON = 2 DJ30 – 12,660 down 74 US Treasury 10 Year Bond – 1.90% down 0.03% USDEUR - 1.3220 Gold – $f1738 up $11 Oil – $98.40 down $1.30 Stocks lost a little during this past week, but stayed near its peak [...]
Oil and Gold and Iran…… A little history – back in 1973, Nixon made a pact with Saudi Arabia that the US would protect Saudi Arabia from the Russians or others, if the Saudi’s would sell oil using ONLY US Dollars. They agreed, and by 1975, all OPEC nations were using US Dollars. These nations [...]
European War Chest……. The Europeans have the EFSF – the European Financial Stability Facility – and it is a promise of an amount of money from each of the EU nations. The EFSF will morph into the500B Euro ESM – European Stability Mechanism – sometime in the future. The EFSF has a definite ending date, [...]
Politics, Morality and Ethics……. In 1947 the US Government brought an Anti-Trust case against the big banks – namely Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and 15 other ones. It was alleged that these banks colluded to fix prices in investment banking. They were charged with keeping others out of the market so they could take the [...]
The End of the Sewer Project…… I am going to go out on a limb right now, and say that this sewer project will be absolutely complete this coming Monday. I can say that because all the holes are now completely filled in and concreted over – and the only thing left to do is [...]
Here are the closing statistics from Friday for our key indicators (01/20/12): FINCON = 2 DJ30 – 12,720 up 97 US Treasury 10 Year Bond – 2.03% up 0.06% USDEUR - 1.2935 Gold – $1658 down $4 Oil – $98.15 down $2.24 Stocks were up for the week a very large 300 points as the [...]
Antibes Adventures…… By now you’ve guessed or perhaps wondered, if I’ve been exaggerating a few things about the French sewer project! How could one of the most famous resort areas on the Riviera, the one with the million dollar yachts, the 14th century fortress, and the perfectly manicure Monaco nearly next door, put up with [...]
Absinthe….. One of the great evenings we had was at the “Absinthe Bar” here in Antibes. It is down in a cave under the older section of town, and is set up just like a 1900 absinthe bar. For those of you, like me before this trip, didn’t know anything about absinthe, it is an [...]
