In Search of the Perfect Investment

Bank of America / Merill Lynch upgraded the mortgage REITs yesterday:

Here’s their  15-page report. Click here.

I bought some new Annaly preferreds. They pay 7.5%. Symbol NLY/PD (though it could be different on your system).

Apple has become quirkier and quirkier. Friends who are trying to get apps into Apple’s App Store are encountering long delays and demands for stupid changes. No one seems to be in charge and Apple employees seem to be practicing CYA (cover your ass) instead of getting things done. Oh, Steve, I wish you were still alive.

David Pogus, my favorite technology reporter, writes in this morning’s New York Times,

(Apple) Maps is an appalling first release. It may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed…

Unfortunately, making Apple Maps reliable and complete will take a very long time. (Google’s maps were pretty poor when they started out, too – in 2005.)

In the meantime, while Apple’s gaffe might make good entertainment, it’s not the edge of the world; there are plenty of alternatives.

You can still use Google’s maps – on the Web. Visit maps.google.com and accept the offer to create a Home-screen icon for you. You won’t get spoken directions, but you’ll get written directions, public transportation details, live traffic reports and, of course, Google’s far superior maps and data. (In two weeks, you’ll be able to get Street View this way, too, says Google.) And you can install the Google Plus Local app for full access to Google’s more complete database of shops and businesses.

You can also use someone else’s app. Many good ones cost money, but the MapQuest and Waze apps are free and offer spoken directions; Waze also incorporates real-time information about traffic jams, accidents and speed traps, collected by thousands of iPhones and Android phones on the roads.

If you can wait a couple of months, you’ll be able to install Google’s own maps app; Google is busily readying one for the iPhone and iPad.

Finally, of course, you could just get an Android phone.

But if you’re an iPhone owner, it’s probably best to let Apple’s Maps app ripen in a corner for a while. Apple’s Web site may call it “the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever.” But for now, it’s best considered “the most beautiful, entertainingly addled mapping service ever.”

Apple’s stock is still falling.

The technology IPOs have done poorly.

Look at Facebook (FB), Zynga (ZNGA), Groupon (GRPN),  Angie List (ANGI), Pandora (P),

LinkedIn is an exception. It has risen strongly:

It now sports a P?E of only 1,073.

Yesterday was Yom Kippur.
On the morning of Yom Kippur as the congregation was filing into the sanctuary, Rabbi Feldman noticed little Jacob standing in the foyer of the synagogue staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names with small American flags mounted on either side of it. The six-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the rabbi walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, ‘Boker tov, Jacob. ‘

‘Boker tov, Rabbi Feldman,’ he replied, still focused on the plaque. `Rabbi Feldman, what is this?’ he said, pointing to the plaque.

The good Rabbi tenderly put his arm around Max’s shoulder and said, ‘ Well son, it’s a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service. ‘

Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque.

Finally, little Jacob, in a voice barely audible and trembling with fear asked:

‘Which service, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur?’

Now for some old yiddish proverbs:

– If the rich could hire other people to die for them, the poor could make a wonderful living.

– The wise man, when he holds his tongue, says more than the fool when he speaks.

– What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t invent with your mouth.

– One of life’s great mysteries is how the boy who wasn’t good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world.

– A wise man hears one word and understands two.

Harry Newton who loved returning to the U.S. except for Joe Kernan (on CNBC). Joe, you’re a lovely fellow. But why can’t you just shut up and let your guests talk? Your opinion is totally irrelevant. Am I making myself clear?

Lots of surveys of CEOs of big companies say they are fearful of the future. Is that because they’re trying to influence the election? Or they really believe that things are getting worse? I instance my Yiddish proverbs above. I felt the problems in Spain — no money, no jobs, prices far too high, shops open far too little, stupid rules on hiring and firing, etc. A rigid, entitled society. But here? We are in much better shape.