PastTense

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96 Comments

    • Wed Nov 26th 03:39 AM
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      U.S. Debt Is Staggering, But Not Unprecedented
      But the debt problem is going to get much worse: we have the baby boom generation in its peak earnings years. So it should be piling up the savings for retirement--and debt should be at a record low. As the baby boom generation moves into retirement both social security and Medicare expenditures will increase dramatically--resultin... in a massive increase in US debt. Not to mention numerous other problems the country is facing like peak oil, global warning, infrastructure decay...
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    • Tue Nov 25th 20:37 PM
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      Rating: +1 0
      Commented on:
      Suddenly, Everyone's a Day Trader
      Actually there are many of us who are completely paralyzed and not trading at all.
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    • Mon Nov 24th 20:42 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Lucky Number 13: A Big Two-Day Advance in the Dow
      Isn't part of this because Citibank is one of the 30 companies--and got the massive bailout?
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    • Wed Nov 12th 23:55 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Best Buy Cuts Projections Citing 'Seismic Changes' in Consumer Behavior
      "Best Buy isn’t even coming close to what Wall Street was expecting. The company said earnings would be $3.25 to $3.40 a share in fiscal 2009 with same store sales up 2 to 3 percent. Wall Street was looking for earnings of $3.03 a share."

      Is this a typo? $3.25 to $3.40/share is better than $3.03/share
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    • Tue Nov 11th 10:27 AM
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      Commented on:
      The Last Thing the Newspaper Industry Needs
      The newspaper industry really blew it. As one time they had the local community. Instead of leading the internet with local community access/discussion they allowed it to go to startups.
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    • Tue Oct 28th 15:25 PM
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      Commented on:
      The WSJ's Subscription Model
      I believe the Wall Street Journal already has over 2 million subscribers--but there aren't even this many people who need specialized financial info (as opposed to the general info available on dozens of sites).
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    • Tue Oct 28th 12:09 PM
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      Why We Couldn't Handle Another Depression
      In the 30s, people spend a much higher percentage of their income on food and other necessities--now lots of people spend the bulk of their income on their fancy lifestyles. I just don't see the problem cutting--you just dump the fancy lifestyle and live within your means. Why would there be a widespread problem of homelessness? Probably now there is more than 4 times as much housing space per person as there in the 30s. So people could just move in with their parents or other relatives, rent out rooms in their big houses--and still be less crowded than people were in the 30s.

      I really don't understand the arguments for depression. So a minority of the population over-extended themselves? So they will have to cut back. I just don't see the catastrophic effects on the rest of us.
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    • Tue Oct 28th 11:49 AM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Obama Tax Plan: Uncertainty Weighing on Market
      But an annual federal deficit of trillions of dollars a year won't have a negative impact on the economy? (something which will happen in several years with the retirement of the baby boom generation, exploding health care costs, more money for national defense, big bailouts to businesses via crony capitalism, more tax cuts--the McCain/Palin long-term strategy)
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    • Tue Oct 28th 11:42 AM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Deutsche Bank Loses Millions on Derivative Trades
      You're only talking about losses of millions of dollars. When the bad stuff really starts happening the losses will be billions.
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    • Sun Oct 26th 10:33 AM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      14 Beaten-Up Financials That Now Offer Real Value
      No one really knows how much toxic waste any bank truly has.
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    • Fri Oct 24th 22:39 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Some Good Newspaper News: Web Audiences Up
      I suggest you read this Seeking Alpha post on the New York Times:
      seekingalpha.com/artic...

      For example the author comments that while online advertising increased $10 million, traditional advertising declined $200 million.
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    • Fri Oct 24th 19:47 PM
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      Commented on:
      Companies I Invest In? Those With a Future
      But if the world economy falls apart, dividends are going to be dropping massively.
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    • Wed Oct 22nd 15:50 PM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      My Eight Themes for 2008 Are Paying Off
      Of course it was too bad--since it was all fictional and not an actual profit that you made.
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    • Wed Oct 22nd 00:08 AM
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      Commented on:
      People Still Have To Spend: Eleven Dividends for Even Conservative Investors
      A lot of people may be switching from the expensive brand names these companies sell to generics.
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    • Tue Oct 21st 11:33 AM
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      Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Will the U.S. Make Money on the Bailout?
      If the U.S. had demanded the same kinds of returns that Buffet got (10% preferred stock plus warrants), the U.S. might have done OK--but clearly the current bailout was simply designed to transfer the losses from the banking sector to the federal government.
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