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Don’t do stupid

The best news. Look at the lines:

TheBestNews

One day, in the not too distant future, the U.S. will no longer give Saudi Arabia et al money to fund terrorism.  I pray this date comes soon. I wish the Administration were more pro-active in making us energy independent and less reliant on these seriously bad people.

Not a brilliant quarter in the stockmarket.  But a certainly volatile one:

Volatile

Europe is hurting from Russia problems. From The Detroit News:

Dearborn – — Ford Motor Co. said Monday that recalls and troubled markets in South America and Russia will result in lower-than-expected profits in 2014. But the automaker expects to increase sales as much as 55 percent by the end of the decade.

Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said at the company’s “investor day” that Ford will miss its original goal of between $7 billion to $8 billion in pretax profits this year. He said the Dearborn automaker now expects to make $6 billion in pretax profit, after subtracting $1 billion in warranty costs from recalls, as well as added costs from 23 new global vehicle launches and higher-than-expected losses in South America and Europe because of financial and geopolitical turmoil. (My bolding.)

Ford expects to lose $1 billion in South America this year and another $1.2 billion in Europe, mostly due to problems in Russia. The automaker forecasts a $250 million loss in Europe in 2015, after previously predicting to turn a profit there next year. (In short, Putin has his own agenda, which does not include helping U.S. companies.)

Ford

There is talk in the U.S. of an upcoming big slide in the stockmarket. Cramer talks of “peaking.” Several professional bears are getting more vocal. I’m not among them. There is good news: China manufacturing is holding up. U.S. employment continues to pick up. I’m not in the “doom and gloom” camp.

There is bad news and this should continue to affect our investing:  Stay away from industrials with a big exposure overseas: Europe, Russia and Brazil.

Keep searching for companies like GPRO and AGIO. If TASR drops more, it could be interesting.

We need to keep an eye on what activists like Carl Icahn are doing. He pushed for PayPal separation from eBay and look:

ebay

There is no why here: Roger Cohen attempts to understand the barbarism of ISIL. Click here.

Ten useful tips for buying a new TV. From Men’s Journal. Click here.

Don’t do stupid: Friends are hobbling around with lower back and hip problems. They forgot two things:

1. They’re not getting any younger.

2. Don’t do stupid. That includes everything from lifting heavy stuff (an absolute No-No) to not napping in the afternoon, to not doing the tiniest modicum of exercise. Note: walking is not exercise. Getting in and out of chairs and cars means using your shoulders and your legs — not your back.

Friends with back problems (also called sciatica)  also worry too much about things they can’t control. A new job or a new career might be less stressful. Stress takes an awful toll. By now you should have learned how to deal with it. Saying NO more often is a good beginning. Thinking before you do stupid works.

Oh yes, don’t bail on this market because it’s been painful in the last few days. Look at all the pain of the last five years (all those painful blips down):

Painful days

In praise of setting priorities.

Priority3

Priority2

Priority1

More tasteless Muslim humor.
Barka

HarryNewton
Harry Newton who has run out of Muslim jokes. Here’s my threat: If you don’t send me a couple, I’ll be forced to go back to my endless supply of old people jokes. Sample:

On the morning that Daylight Savings Time ended,  I stopped in to visit my aging friend.

He was busy covering his penis with black shoe polish.

I said to him, “You better get your hearing checked – You’re supposed to turn your clock back.”

 

5 Comments

  1. Bruuno says:

    Disagree with the private/good government/bad crowd..
    There are countries, most of them with high taxes, that work well, have great medical, great/free education, and are not science deniers and working towards alternate forms of clean energy independence. They don’t bicker over efficient mass transit and high speed trains because they’ve had that for decades.
    We on the other hand drink the rugged individualist I’ve got mine screw you kool ade.. How’s THAT working out for us as a nation?

  2. jon says:

    Speaking of gas…this market is causing me great indigestion.

  3. Fderfler says:

    Harry, quit wishing for GOVERNMENT to make us energy independent! That is a bad wish because 1. Whatever they come up with would be artificially-supported and inefficient and 2. They will not willingly abandon the Saudis. Do you have any idea how active the Saudis are inside the Beltway? They “own” or “influence” a staggering number of politicians.
    Fracking and the REAL energy independence initiatives should and will happen DESPITE the “government.” Sir, please break yourself of the habit of wishing the government would do things that private industry (given a profit motive) can do better. The primary, and some would argue the only, job of the “government’ is to Provide for the Common Defense. How’s THAT working out for us?

  4. pahowley says:

    Harry, Our politicians are doing all they can to get us to energy independence, i.e., solar panels in the desert (or is it dessert?), wind mills clobbering our wild birds, a $100B “smart’ train in the Calif. desert (again, or is it dessert?), and such brilliant moves. Oh, and stopping fracking, pipelines and other horrible for the elites’ feeling good, err, I mean bad for the global warming that stopped 20 years ago. Man caused, of course, not women or transponders.