Previous Columns
8:30 AM Tuesday, January 17, 2006: The genius of Alan Greenspan was he recognized the huge productivity improvement brought on by new technology would temper inflation. Instead of clobbering the 1990's tech stock boom or the 2000's real estate boom, he let them run. His legacy is huge goverment and trade deficits and a negative household savings rate. In classic economics textbooks, this would be the classic recipe for disaster. Yet the dollar has firmed and we're sailing along with high growth and tiny inflation, despite high oil prices.

We're switching Greenspan this year to Ben Bernanke. Talk is he won't change Greenspan's policies, but he will shortly stop the rate increases (as Greenspan had planned).

The point of this? It's the start of 2006. How to predict this year? An economic disaster? Or continued strong growth? Personally I'm optimistic. But which sectors? I could guess finance, commodities, Asia (China/India) etc. And every guru on Wall Street is prediciting 2006's buoyant sectors. But it all sounds like a giant cliche. Fact is no one has a clue.

As we go into 2006, the only enduring lesson is diversification. Spread your wealth around individual investments, each of which seems sounds. Do not over-allocate. My "best" manager did worst in 2005, losing half of one percent because he made a foolish bet on newspaper stocks. In short, diversify; play situations as they come along.

Diversification is your own weapon against our inability to predict.

When you have absolutely no clue, change logos: SBC bought AT&T. Everyone wondered why. Then SBC changed its name to AT&T. Everyone wondered why. Then somebody on Madison Avenue sold SBC the stupidest advertising campaign ever, which contained these delicious words (do not throw up):

Two great companies have come together to deliver the one world that matters most. Yours. Your world is a world like no one else's. A A world rich with people and plances, ideas and interests all your own. AT&T's passion to invent and SBC's drive to deliver have come together to create the most complete and secure network...

.But my favorite is the logo change. It costs a fortune to repaint all the trucks and all the buildings, reprint all the stationery, etc. Here's a history lesson of logos:

Original logo	New logo	Old AT&T logo, 1984 - 2005	Previous logo, 1969-1983	Original logo

TiVo TiVo-to-Go revisited: Reader Pat Fennessey has a better idea. Simply play TiVo to a $98.00 Walmart DVD player/burner called an ILO (made by Cyberhome). Says Pat, I push "record" on the DVD burner and "play" on my TiVo. My show is then recorded on a DVD for the road or for watching on a portable DVD player. I got this idea from my friend who has four kids with four portable DVD players. Great for trips. Everyone gets to watch their shows off loaded from TIVO. DVD +RW DVDs are best, since you can reuse them. Also you don't tie up your PC with a long burn.

The big key with the ILO DVD burner is that it has a TV tuner. Most DVD burners don't. For information on ILOs, click here. To buy the ILO from Walmart, click here.

This thing may save your life:

You wear it on your ear. When your head tips forward with drowsiness, this gadget (called Drive Alert) screams and tells you it's time to pull over and rest. $10 at Amazon. Click here.

From Esquire' Dubious Achievements of 2005:
+ Officials at two North Carolina hospitals revealed their doctors had performed surgery on nearly 4,000 patients using instruments that had been washed in hydraulic fluid instead of detergent.
+ An Oregon woman sued a doctor for $4 million alleging that he convinced her he could cure her back pain by having sex with her.

You must read this:


The Australian Tennis Open has started. Here's the TV schedule. Best is to ask TiVo to record tennis. Be wary. Because of the huge time difference -- 16 hours -- ESPN plays it live and repeats it, so you can get duplication.

Recent column highlights:
+ Munich, the movie. A must-see. Click here.
+ Identity Theft precautions. Click here.
+ Dumb reasons we hold losing stocks. Click here.
+ How my private equity fund is doing. Click here.
+ Blackstone private equity funds. Click here.
+ Manhattan Pharmaceuticals: Click here.
+ NovaDel Biosciences appeals. Click here.
+ Hana Biosciences appeals. Click here.
+ All turned on by biotech. Click here.
+ Steve Jobs Commencement Address. The text is available: Click here. The full audio is available. Click here.
+ The March of the Penguins, an exquisite movie. Click here.
+ When to sell stocks. Click here.

Harry Newton

This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look mighty interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Claire's law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.
Go back.