You’re Russia. You just knicked (stolen in Australian) Crimea. That’s lovely. But you can’t get to Crimea, except by ship or plane. How about land?
No one did anything when you took Crimea. So …Obama is into Golf, not War.
It’s a long weekend in the U.S. Perfect time to grab enough of Ukraine to create a Russian land link to Odessa.
Here’s today’s New York Times map. Look at the insert in the bottom right. You’ll see what I mean about the land bridge.
Implications:
+ More sanctions are on the way soon, maybe as early as next week. That will hurt Russia’s economy. But Putin doesn’t care. His popularity goes up every time he grabs lands and rattles sabres. Russians like having an empire. They once did.
+ European economies are tied into Russia, especially Germany. With sanctions on Russia, Europe will weaken further.
+ Hot and fearful money will continue to flee Europe and Russia. The only safe places for the money are the U.S., Canada and Australia. Hence, U.S. bonds will rise even more. U.S. interest rates will fall even more. Buy Vanguard bond funds. Stocks might also not like the increased world tension. Buy some funds that sell U.S. stocks short. Here’s a list. Click here.
For God’s sake, don’t buy this perennial favorite of the school that says “Interest rates are about to rise.” Because they ain’t going to rise– something I’ve been saying for a long, long time.
I suspect we’re going to take a breather while the general stockmarket figures out Russia, ISIS and European economic misery.
Stocks for the grandkids. Whatever happened to Buy and Hold? It’s alive and well when you buy stocks for the grandkids. If some go bust, there are great lessons. See yesterday’s list.
Is life insurance a good investment? It depends on four things:
1. When you plan on dying. Buy the insurance today, die tomorrow, your IRR will be astronomical. The longer you live, the worse the return.
2. You pay for life insurance with after-tax dollars, i.e. money you’re paid tax on. But when you die, your insurance gets paid into the Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust you set up before you died. That trust gets the insurance payout tax-free. And the kids can have a ball after they’ve paid the taxes on your estate. Unless you included some provisions about no booze, dope or wild women. (Or whatever.)
3. How you plan on dying. If you plan on dying dirt-poor, there’s no real reason for life insurance to cover your estate taxes. Maybe you just want it to afford your kids the wine, women and song, or whatever.
4. Whether you can afford the premium. If you want a $10 million policy, it will cost your around $190,000 of after-tax dollars. That means you have to earn $300,000 just to pay the insurance premium. And you have to do it every year from now until you croak. Frankly, some years my investment tips aren’t worth that much. In fact, some of my more-cynical readers would say they’re never worth that much.
The US Tennis Open continues this weekend on ESPN and the Tennis Channel.
Get the iPhone app. It gives all the scores and schedule. Courtesy IBM.
As you watch the tennis, be in awe of:
1. The speed of their balls. They always hit the ball with their racquet’s sweet spot. I get it there about one in ten shots.
2. The speed of their feet. Tennis is a running game. I don’t have 20-year old legs any longer.
3. Their footwork. It’s really good.
4. Their anticipation. They seem to know where the ball is going to land.
5. They keep the ball deep, close to the baseline. It’s much harder to hit a winner from the baseline than it is from the middle of court.
6. How they “sit down” before they hit a ball and rise as they’re hitting it, thus achieving huge power.
Harry Newton who visited Boston to see granddaughter Sophie, who’s now three days old. Neat?
The family is agonizing over green is a good color for Sophie. Thank goodness that’s all they’re worrying about. The kid is healthy, hungry and sleepy. And seems to do her business regularly. Who makes diapers? Should we add that stock? Want more information? Check out the Wikipedia entry on Diapers. Click here.
Who voted that cowardly idiot into office, anyway? The clown on the golf course when not campaigning for funds from his still adoring fans. They’re all idiots. Reminds me that in a democracy you’re responsible the results of what and who you vote for, for better or worse. Just ask the Greeks.
so, what’s your plan for taking on russia?
What’s with all the talk about golf? That must be the Fox meme this month.
Kimberly-Clark (KMB) makes diapers. Dividend 3.2% and they raise it every year like clockwork.
The “Sanctions” are aimed primarily at specific PEOPLE, not the Russian infrastructure as a whole. The EU is scared silly of having a VERY cold winter! An excellent analysis of the sanctions by the BBC at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28400218.
The “Land Bridge” theory is nice and Putin’s “Goals” seem very fluid, but for sure it seems he wants Ukraine to stay out of NATO. The Ukranian president is formulating legislation that would ask to become part of NATO and a NATO rep says that NATO would be “Sensitive” to such a request.
I would say that both sides are making room for negotiations. They will negotiate soon and they want the strongest positions going in.
Look at your map. See Poland? If you were running things in Poland how would you feel as you watch Obama play Golf and the EU cower? Personally, I’d kick off a Polish nuclear weapons program.
Poland always gets screwed. The first thing Obama did as President was to give Poland the “finger” regarding missile defense. Evil attacking good….simple as that.
Exactly. “Tell Vlad I’ll have more flexibility after my election.” That “Flexibility” was the ability to strip Poland of defenses. I guess if I were running Poland I’d have started a nuclear weapons program back THEN!