Dog Blown Away By Tornado Makes It Back Home

They found the dog on the front porch after 2 ½ weeks – he crawled back on 2 broken legs:   http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110526/us_yblog_thelookout/dog-with-two-broken-legs-finds-owner-after-storm

Canadian Drug Site

Many Americans buy their medicines in Canada. They don't have much of a choice - either because of no insurance, or because of low income.

Frequently, they have chronic conditions which means that going without medicines are not a viable option. For example, moany U.S. patients going to Canada are going to buy nexium and buy liptor.

They would rather buy medicine from a reputable pharmacy in Canada, rather than take their chances with an unlicensed, underground source from the U.S.

Fortunately, rather than having to physically travel, there is now a Canada drugs website called CanadaDrugCenter.com that lets you order drugs from Canada.

I think the website is a great idea. Americans are already traveling to Canada to buy medicine, so this website isn't trying to start a new trend. Instead, it is creating a convenient, online alternative to a real world occurrence.

Clever Examples of Long Term Strategy To Doing Business With China and Asia

I read a recent article in Forbes about Peabody Energy. In 2003, when he became COO, Greg Boyce foresaw that China, with it's incredible growth rate, would switch from being a net exporter to a net importer of coal.

When he became CEO in 2005, he spun off the company's Appalachian mines and invested in Australian coal mines so he could sell to China. Since he has been CEO, the shares are up 10 fold and non-U.S. operations now provide 50% of Peabody's earnings (up from 2%).

The Forbes article mentioned 2 of Boyce's actions that really impressed me as clever, and long term strategic:

1. Before China became a net importer of coal, he laid the groundwork by opening a Beijing office and a trading desk, so he could build trust and relations.

Also, as I previously mentioned, he invested in Australian mines because Australia has more coal than they need domestically, and are close to Asia. He purposely invested in Australian mines that had access to ports, so he could keep logistic costs down.

2. The next big thing is Mongolia. In the Gobi Desert, they have the world's largest untapped deposits of metallurgical coal (better quality then the subbituminous coal found in the U.S.), and are starting to shop around development rights. Besides Peabody, lots of American, Chinese, European, and Russian companies are vying to develop these fields.

To position themselves for this opportunity, Peabody wants to have a local staff of experienced managers. So, today, they are investing in Mongolia by hiring Mongolian engineers to work in their Wyoming coal mines, and are sending Mongolian students to U.S. engineering schools.

Leave Ronald McDonald Alone!

A lot of healthy eating activists are taking aim at McDonalds and asking them to retire Ronald McDonald. They think he unfairly advertises to children.

The truth is that these activists will always go after McDonalds about something. If Ronald goes away, they will target happy meals next. They just don't like McDonalds.

But McDonalds is a successful business that makes lots of money for its shareholders by giving people what they want. Who are a few activists to tell millions of Americans that you can't be trusted to pick your own restaurant, so we'll go after McDonalds to protect you?

When San Francisco banned Happy Meal toys, my wife thought that's a good thing, because my son always wants Happy Meals, and sometimes I give in. But I told her that is completely wrong. I am the parent - it is my issue if I give in to my son. Parents should not be hiding behind the government because they can't say no to their children.

Having a few "experts" deciding which business are worthy sounds like Communism and central planning. It's doomed to fail (while capitalism is very robust and adaptable) because millions of "average" minds are collectively better at determining markets than a "smart" few.

9 Ways To Avoid Online Identity Theft

Identity theft is a real risk when you are surfing and shopping online. Here are 9 important ways to protect yourself:

1. Proactively monitor your information - consider signing up with an identity theft protection service such as IdentityHawk.

2. Avoid using debit cards. If your credit card is stolen, your liability is capped at $50. However, if someone steals your debit card and drains your bank account, you are only liable up to $50 if you catch it within 2 days. Between 2 - 60 days, your liability is $500. After 60 days, your liability is unlimited.

3. Regularly monitor your credit card statements for fraud. Another good idea is to reserve only one credit card for online purchases.

4. Never use a public computer or public Wi-Fi to shop.

5. Don't pay at sites like eBay with wire transfers. Use a credit card.

6. When shopping, don't click on links in an unsolicited email.

7. Be careful when using shortened URLs from sites like Twitter. Make sure they take you to legitimate sites.

8. When buying from sites like eBay, don't use an unfamiliar escrow service without checking them out.

9. Don't search for products on general search engines. Identity thieves and hackers work to get their sites ranked high on search engines. Try to search for products on known merchant sites (like Amazon.com or Target.com) or on price-comparison sites (like Shopzilla.com or Price Grabber).

Are We Headed For Runaway Inflation? Myths vs. Realities

It's fashionable today to talk about the high prices of gold and oil, and how the Fed is printing so much money that we are going to have hyperinflation.

I'm skeptical, and columnist Steve Chapman, a member of the Tribune's editorial board, agrees with me. He laid out a compelling argument in a recent Chicago Tribune article - which I have paraphrased in the form of Myth vs. Reality:

Myth: The price of gold has doubled since Obama was elected, because investors want to hedge against an increasingly worthless dollar.

Reality: Gold has been in a long-term bull market - during the 8 years of the Bush Administration, the price of gold tripled while the consumer price index rose less than 3% per year.

Myth: The rise in oil and other commodities are caused by the Fed's actions.

Reality: Commodity prices are also affected by events outside the United States - in this case, strong demand from developing countries such as China.

Myth: The government understates inflation because the "core" inflation rate excludes food and energy.

Reality: Food and energy are excluded because they give a distorted picture due to volatility. The core rate is accurate. During the last decade, the core rate was up 21%, vs. 27% for the full inflation rate. General inflation can't exist without the core rate increasing. In the 1970's everything went up - not just food and energy.

The bottom line is that there is no evidence of near-term inflation. The market knows this, as indicated by the popularity of three year treasuries yielding 1%. They would not be in demand if people thought inflation would ravage it.

Finally, high inflation like the 1970's needed a wage-spiral. Higher prices resulted in higher wages, which resulted in higher costs. Today, there is no wage-spiral. Unemployment is high, and wages / salaries are stagnant.

I Bought Two REITS Today - AAT and CPT

Today, I bought two REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts).

REITs trade like stocks, and can be thought of as real estate mutual funds. In other words, instead of owning companies, they own real estate. They get special tax breaks, providing that they pass most of their earnings to shareholders. Because of this, REITs provide a lot of income.

I have always wanted to buy some REITs to diversify my portfolio, and I decided now might be a good time after reading an article in the recent edition of Forbes entitled "REIT Merger Boom is Brewing".

I bought two REITS: American Assets Trust (AAT) at $21.88 and Camden Property Trust (CPT) at $62.51.

AAT went public in January at $20.50 per share. It is a 45 year old company based in San Diego that owns a high-quality portfolio of office, residential, and retail properties on the West Coast - including California, Hawaii, and Portland OR. While the national vacancy rate is in double digits, AAT's properties in California and Hawaii are just 5% vacant.

Camden Property Trust specializes in apartment communities, is considered a buy because its stock price hasn't gained as much as bigger apartment REITs, such as Equity Residential. In fact, CPT makes an attractive takeover target for bigger REITS (like Equity) because of its large holdings in the Southwest and Southeast.

As all my positions, I plan to manage them with my Stock Trading Riches system.

Business Success Through Focus

Here is another example of business that succeeds through simplicity and focus.

This online company, http://www.blueskyscrubs.com, keeps it simple, and specializes in the narrowly targeted niche of uniform scrubs - including medical lab coats, nurse uniforms, and other accessories.

Because Blue Sky Scrubs keeps its merchandise selection simple and specialized, their website clutter free, well organized, and easy to navigate.

It becomes a snap for visitors to quickly find and purchase whatever types of scrubs they are interested in.

Are Big Institutional Purchases A Bullish Sign?

A friend of mine recently sent me a newsletter where the writer was bullish on gold and mentioned that the University of Texas announced that they now hold $1 billion of gold bars.

I responded that this is not necessarily a bullish sign. This is an old trick that traders use to get out profitably from large positions.

It might be the case that, having accumulated this large gold position, the university is sitting on a profit.

With a large position, they will need liquidity in the form of buyers if they want to sell some or all of the position without driving down prices.

So, now they announce the purchase to encourage people to jump in to the market, and their brokers will sell their gold to them :-)

Skype: Great Trade for Marc Andreesen

This past week, Microsoft bought the internet phone company Skype for $8.5 billion. Did they overpay? Was it a good buy?

That remains to be seen. Skype continually loses money and Ebay gave up on integrating it. But, I think they may have some success if they combine Skype with Xbox and, especially, Communicator.

Many corporations (including the bank I work for) use Microsoft Communicator internally for chats. If Microsoft embeds Skype into Communicator, they could capture a big share of the voice business.

But, one thing for sure is that a big winner is Marc Andreesen (founder of Netscape) and his investment firm, Andreesen Horowitz.

Ebay bought Skype for $3.1 billion in 2005 and sold it to a group of investment firms (headed by Silver Lake and Andreesen Horowitz) for $2.8 billion in 2009.

Now, 18 months later, they sold it to Microsoft for $8.5 billion.

That's a great trade - a 204% return in a year and a half!

Buying Gold

Should you buy gold?

These days, many people are buying gold bars and other forms of gold, such as coins, ingots, and bullion because gold prices are at record highs.

The government is printing a lot of money and keeping interest rates low to help the economy recover from the recession. This has a lot of people spooked that inflation will come back. The dollar is low, and grains, commodities, oil, and metals are soaring to new price highs.

So, it might not be a bad idea for individuals to diversify and invest some of their money in gold. But, many people are not sure how to do this.

Fortunately, it can be as easy to buy gold as buying stocks and bonds. One way to buy, is through a dealer such as RegalGoldCoins.com.

Recession Humor

The Recession has hit everybody..... I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. CEOs are now playing miniature golf. Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 of its congressmen. I saw a Mormon polygamist with only one wife. If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them. Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America. Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names. A picture is now only worth 200 words. The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates. Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh great! The guy who made $50 billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 trillion disappear! And, finally... I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Pakistan , and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

Will The Dollar Collapse?

A friend of mine who lives in Zurich sent me this article and asked about my opinion of this gloomy scenario:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Dollar_faces_collapse.html?cid=30012940

Here is my response:

I don’t think the dollar will collapse or stop becoming the reserve currency.

It isn’t unprecedented for a first world country to have such a high level of debt during time of war, or when preventing a depression / severe recession. The U.S. is doing both.

Under these conditions, there has never been a default as long as:

1. the currency is not backed by gold,

2) a lot of the debt is held outside the country.

Also, a bubble occurs when most people think there is no problem. Right now, everyone worries that the U.S. has a debt problem – including the government. That is a bullish sign. So, I think that the debt will be eased off. Eventually the dollar will strengthen.

Businesses Should Take The Long View With Logos and Branding

Many new businesses make the mistake of not hiring a professional logo design company. They are preoccupied with generating sales, and preserving cash flow.

So, instead, they try to get by with one of these alternatives:

1. They ask an artistic friend or family member to draw something up.

2. They surf the internet looking for free or inexpensive clip art.

3. They hire someone inexpensive from a free lancer web site.

The problem with these approaches is that you are not planning for the future. Once your business is stable, it will be hard to grow if potential clients view you as amateurish. There is only so much business for a one-man shop. Major clients are looking for a professional and competent looking organization.

But, with a poorly designed logo - or one that looks like every one else using clip art - you won't give off the image of a successful, professional organization that will be around for a long time. You will always look like a start-up, hungry and dependent on the next job for survival.

Some things - like branding and logos are worth spending time and money on because they will pay off down the road.

My Book "Sudoku Fun: Volume 2" Reached #76 on Amazon.com's Bestseller List for Sudoku Books

My second Sudoku book, "Sudoku Fun: Volume 2" reached #76 on Amazon.com's Bestseller List for the category "Entertainment->Puzzles & Games->Sudoku".