Classic Las Vegas stock. We tried to book one Saturday night at the Wynn. The cheapest available room was $1,200. It was that sold out. I wrote about Wynn Resorts when it was much lower.
I’m still bullish, especially on 3 overseas markets — Australia, Brazil and Chile.
So, where’s the money coming from? Rarely have seen such conflicting signals. On the one hand, many economic statistics remain dreary. On the other hand, the restaurants, the hotels and the airlines are teaming. You can’t get a bed or a seat. On Monday a reader, posted this remarkable comment on this site. In case you missed it:
Ha, Harry — just yesterday I had warned my nephew on the danger of using anecdotal evidence as a gauge on the economy.
My 27 year-old nephew and his wife are newly married, together in a new home bought within the past year. They are using their tax refund and credit card to do a $15K remodeling job on the bathroom and living room.
I asked if it was wise to not only sink their only cash to speak of into their house, but to use credit card debt for that as well. Mind you, this ia a house that he bought just over a year ago, with 0% down (yes, they were still doing that). He told me, dismissively, that it’s no longer necessary for people to be “extremely cautious” (which to him, means holding off from purchasing the large HDTV for the bedroom). All his peers are buying homes (thanks to the $8K tax credit) and cars (thanks to cash for clunkers) and toys (thanks to Best Buy 0% financing for 2 years) (i.e., living like it is 2007). The crowds he and his wife had to contend with during their Florida spring break vacation, compared to last year’s absence of lines, convinced them that the recession is over.
BTW, she is a newly hired teacher at a school district that is promising cuts next year. The startup he was working for went bankrupt in December — though he got a new job at about same pay just a few weeks later. His father (my brother) is unemployed and now disenfranchised — but apparently 27 year-olds are immune to the problems they might hear others bitch about. and quite frankly some might just be “getting sick of hearing about how bad it is when it really isn’t that bad.”
Good thing they aren’t planning on having kids anytime soon.
Your database of customers and prospects. When I sold my business, the most valuable asset was not the physical assets — buildings, equipment, etc. It was my list of customers and prospects. Nothing matters in your business more than your customers and prospects. Yet remarkably few businesses aggressively develop a database and then “mine” it for sales with emails, phone calls and direct mail. Believe it or not, those sales emails we receive in the millions every day actually work.
Looting Main Street. How the nation’s biggest (investment) banks are ripping off American cities with the same predatory deals that brought down Greece. Matt Taibbi’s latest piece in Rolling Stone will turn your stomach on Wall Street (once again). Click here.
The 2010 census will cost $14.53 billion. That includes checking addresses, advertising it, printing it, mailing it, processing the results, etc. etc. Read that again: $14.5 billion.
Let’s give up buying bottled water. In Zion National Park, they don’t sell bottled water. They give you free water from a spigot at the side of the lodge. Their explanation:
My wife bought this Brita, a $23 jug with a water filter, at a local Costco. It makes sense if you’re worried about your tap water.
Yet another wonderful healthcare cartoon:
Harry Newton, who is not yet at the bottom of his 7 foot pile. My favorite “found” piece was a demand from the IRS for yet another copy of my 2008 return. The story: The IRS has many offices around the country. They don’t speak to each other, or maintain a common database. The IRS reminds me of the airline industry before it discovered centralized reservations systems. And the IRS is going to run our healthcare! Tomorrow, I promise to have more real investment ideas.
Comments! Harry now allows comments! Who knew? Now, I'll have to closely read the column instead of going for the jokes!
For what it's worth: My late uncle Mason was the chief neurologist at Tampa General Hospital. He and other surgeons were worried about the amount of bacteria in the water supply. Mason, who was a certified genius, suggested that the hospital's water could be cleaned up by removing aerators and filters from the spigots. Within a month, bacterial infections dropped by more than 90 percent.
Harry
That cost of the census, $14,500,000,000- works out to $48.33 for each of the 300M people in the US or nearly $200.00 to count me, my wife and my two daughters. I'm so glad they will be running out healthcare very soon.