robert.b.ferguson

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    • Fri Nov 28th 13:13 PM
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      Rating: +2 0
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      Infrastructure Investment Will Be a Slow Economic Stimulus Path
      Some infrastructure planning, notably the power grid, have plans ready to advance which lack funding. Construction of at least one new state of the art refinery and rendering plant would take about four years as plans for this already exist. There are other projects with plans in advanced stages which would provide immediate benefits while in progress and sustain them profitably thereafter. Let's hope that politics doesn't get in the way of common sense.
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    • Tue Nov 25th 18:52 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      Detroit's Big Three and the Democrats' Economic Illiteracy
      User 306937: Greetings. What ever gave you the idea that oil is almost gone?
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    • Tue Nov 25th 17:47 PM
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      Rating: 0 -1
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      Detroit's Big Three and the Democrats' Economic Illiteracy
      I was watching one of the politico shows on sunday and Rahm, Emanuel was discussing the legacy costs of the big three and the economy in general. He said that a good crises should never go to waste. He explained that what he meant was that they should be looked at as an oportunity to accomplish things that you ordinarily would not be able to. He then began talking about the legacy health care costs of the big three which are greater than the companies can sustain. He said that as part of the restructuring plan the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT would have to take over that burden from them. Hang on to your wallets because this is the beginning of universal health care. Once they have that portion under the FED it will only expand until private insurers go out of busines. Look what happened when Hawaii instituted universal health care for children. This program will dwarf that one. What else are they planning to bring in through the back door of this crises/oportunity?
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    • Tue Nov 25th 16:44 PM
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      Rating: +1 -2
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      Detroit's Big Three and the Democrats' Economic Illiteracy
      Chapter 11 is out of the question. Democrats owe the UAW big and if they don't bring the bacon back there will be hell to pay. The big three are not too big to fail but you will be duped by the MSM into thinking so in order to please the UAW. Change you can beleive in.
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    • Tue Nov 25th 09:34 AM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      Deflation Dementia
      Deflation? Inflation? Who can tell and who's numbers do we use? Are we using pre clinton or post clinton formulas? How about stagflation? Once the housing market drops back to a normal price index do all thoe upside down mortgage owners punt? If so does the economic down turn get worse or better? This is not a normal rational economy. Go long on cash and wait out the crash.
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    • Mon Nov 17th 12:21 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      Buy And Hold: Beware the Devil You Don't Know
      Buy and hold does not mean blinbly holding on to a loser just because you purchased it at a higher price than the current price. Some dogs need to be put down before they reach zero. Buy and hold works if you do due diligence, buy good companies especialy those with reasonably good dividends and prospects like (XOM). This strategy also works well in the context of dollar cost averaging such as 401K and IRA accounts especialy the ROTH version. However you should not have money in the market that you will need within five years.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 17:06 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      'Buy and Hold' Is Dead? I Think Not!
      Very concise and spot on. Those baby boomers who are closer than five years to their projected retirement should have already moved the bulk of their money into cash assets like CDs and tax exempt bonds. For those of us with a longer event horizon say twelve to fifteen years this presents a buying opportunity. Until seven years ago I was not invested in the maeket other than small stakes in Metlife (MET) and Principle Financial Group (PFG) which languished for years in trusts. I started a Roth IRA at Pioneer (PINDX) as I was retiring from the military. When I started on my second career I began contributing to a Roth 401K and saving small quantities of cash every pay day in a money market account. Last June I moved my stocks to a USAA brokerage account with a tax exempt money market account and moved my cash reserves into it. I've been purchasing positions and adding to them ever since and using dividends for repurchase I expect that I will have recovered all of my losses and have substantial gains which I will move into cash assets in ten or twelve years.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 15:59 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      The Bailout: How’s It Doing?
      o/w/s: Greetings. Since we can't figure out how to tally inflation any more no one knows what the rate is. I've seen some economists using the pre Clinton method tallying current inflation at 8%.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 14:37 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      The Downfall of Keynesian Economics and the U.S. (Part 1 of 3)
      This is porobably the most flawed article I have seen on Seekig Alpha.Lets start with the economic model. You are assuming that the economy is a zero sum game. It is'nt. Wealth is created by dynamic industry. Next the comparison of the Vietnam war and the Gulf wars against radical Islam. I am a retired soldier and a student of military history and strategy. I can tell you emphatically that the two are radically different on many levels. On the Iraqi front we have all but won in that theater and as a result the Jihadis are redeploying their assets to Afghanistan where combat operations are intensifying. Going forward as we shift more assets to Afghanistan Pakistan will come under increasing pressure from Jihadi forces which we are already seeing. Unless we continue to bolster the elected government in Pakistan it will collapse and we will have a real serious problem. Our penultimate goal for this theater should be to chase the Jihadi elements out of Wazeeristan and into Chechnya thereby forcing the Russians to assist us against the Jihadis. This is being accomplished with virtualy no sacrifice being imposed on the general population no draft and no rationing. Finally: what broke the credit markets in essence has been caused by flawed government policies, politics, very convoluted responses by financial institutions, and sheer greed on the part of some entrepreneur's.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 13:45 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      Banks and Consumers Are the Problem, Not Bad Assets
      socrateaz: Greetings. I'm not cognizant of a decline in the middle class. Where did you get your numbers? Figures from Morning Star indicate that small investors read that as middle class investors was at an all time high just before the crash in October. Those numbers include 401K, IRA and individual brokerage accounts. Taxing the rich to enrich the poor sounds like a great idea but is sorely lacking in practice just look at France. In fact no nation has ever been able to tax itself to prosperity. I can't remember who said it first but it is still true you can't make the poor rich by making the rich poor.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 13:29 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      The Bailout: How’s It Doing?
      WayneS: Greetings. Your observation is spot on. While alternative energy sources are necessary they are not yet viable unless oil goes over $200 a barrel. In addition we should never consider any company or entity as to big to fail. Should General motors (GM) or Ford (F) go into bankruptcy the world would not come to an end. They would emerge from bankruptcy as more stream lined and competitive companies with better more economical product lines. The same goes for oil companies.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 12:16 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
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      The Bailout: How’s It Doing?
      What bail out plan? There is no plan. King Paulsen changed the "Focus" from buying up bad debt which could have actually helped to buying preferred stock. Will he change the focus again to buy stakes in American express (AXP) or General motors (GM)? Where will the madness end? Dodd wants to eliminate dividends on bank stocks and Schumer wants to force banks to lend more money. Didn't we get into this mess by forcing or at least coercing banks to make "Risky" loans? So far I haven't heard one of these idiots including Bush propose that we stop lending money to people who have virtually no chance of paying it back. If we are going to start stiffer regulations let's start there. We should also reinstate the Glass/Steagul act and the uptick rule thereby providing some stability.
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    • Wed Nov 12th 09:55 AM
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      Rating: +3 0
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      The Death of Buy and Hold?
      The whole idea of buy and hold is predicated on a long event horizon. Buying good companies at discounted prices right now will maximize returns ten or twelve years down stream. Timing the market precisely is nearly impossible but folowing trends for long term gains is predictable because we know that the market goes up and down.
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    • Thu Nov 6th 10:47 AM
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      Five Key Quotes from PMI about Mortgages and Subprime
      I guess their crystal ball was broken.
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    • Thu Nov 6th 10:38 AM
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      The Foreclosure States: Referendum for Obama, or Scapegoating the Party in Charge?
      Congress has been screwing this up since the Carter administration. Some of the same players are still there. I have absolutly no faith that the same people that caused this are going to fix it. There will be no accountability in the Senate. Schumer will not be blamed for killing Indymac even though he did. Now he wants to stop financials from issuing dividends the man is a moron. Frank and Dodd were saying everything at Fannie and Freddie were just fine as millions of misguided mortgage holders went under. Reminds me of the dance band on the Titanic the difference is these guys will not have to pay the piper.
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