“Harry, you don’t have good luck with your teeth,” said my dentist yesterday as she discovered enough work to keep her and the other dentists in her office busy for the rest of the day.
I asked one, “Is my mouth a disaster?”
“No,” she said, “it’s an annuity.”
For them.
Meantime, this morning, I go in for a endoscopy, because my stomach produces too much acid. An I have not been diligent about taking my Prilosec every day. But I WILL from now on. I promise. I promise.
Meantime, my 6% six-month CD in Australia got renewed yesterday at 4.95%. Whoever said interest rates were rising! Investors continue to chase yield. Check out prices for the mortgage REITs I’ve pushed — AGNC, MITT, ARR, TWO and NLY. I never expected any capital gain for these things. Their dividends are sufficiently handsome. But I’m not objecting to the capital gains.
George Soros says Germany is in for a big recession. In my decrepit old age, I increasingly think people make these wild-assed predictions because they have a position… Maybe he’s short the Euro?
Many CEOs have been mouthing about uncertainty in the economy causing them not to hire anyone. And, if we elected Romney, things would magically improve and they’re hire everybody and their uncle. Friends in business tell me big companies have had a hiring freeze for eons. Freezes are fashionable and effective. They motivate the remaining workers to work their tushies off — at lest before they drop dead from exhaustion. The whole thing, of course, is overdone (check out IBM, for example, which seems to run on the smell of an oil rag).
Hiring freezes will come back to haunt those companies not investing in their future. Fortunately we still have Google, Apple and Amazon, who are investing heavily in their future.
Why didn’t I short Intel?
Today is September 11. We’re enjoying the identical weather we had on that fateful day. Azure blue, cloudless skies. Crisp Autumn weather. For a New Yorker like me, it’s freaky. I can’t enjoy the weather. I think back to those horrible days. I still remember the smell, which lingered for weeks.
Harry Newton who’s checking in for an endoscopy at 7:30 AM. Yuch.
Good luck Harry!
All of my engineering buddies who work for the aero-space and defense contractors here in CT are bracing for huge layoffs this Nov. But don't worry about the 25 year old union fork lift operator working at the plant his job is secure. Obama has already and will further gut the engineering talent from these vitaly important companies. Liberals HATE the “military industrial complex” and always say “good, it won't matter”……until it matters. As a closing thought I wonder what Jamie Gorelick is doing today to celebrate the remembrance of 9/11. I'm sure she's very proud of the great work she did……but as we all know “IT WAS BUSH'S FAULT.”
best of luck to you, harry
From what I see in industry, Not only hiring freezes, but layoffs as well are partly due to the unknown. The coming fiscal Cliff, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the increased taxes of Obama care as well as the employer rules and regulations of Obama care and what every else they decide to throw at us. At best government stands aside from business, or they get in the way. Does anyone have to think too hard to understand why this recovery (SIC) produced a net job gain of around 300K in the last 4 years?