Saturday, January 24, 2009

What To Do When Stocks Are Not For You!

Before I begin, I just want to point out the title of this post rhymed. Don’t worry, I won’t quit my day job. Anyway, enough of the small talk and on to some big talk.

Most of you for at least the last six months have been scratching your heads when you receive your brokerage account, 401(k), 403(b), etc. statements. Many of you are noticing that all the gains (unrealized gains) you had made over the previous 2-3 years have evaporated, or maybe you haven’t. During the housing run up, everyone was feeling good about how well their retirement plan was performing. Some of you probably even increased the amount of money taken out of your paycheck when the market was rocking and your account was blowing up (in a good way). Then, when things started to unravel, most folks do at least one of these three mistakes.

First, you think about switching your investments, but decide to wait, because you believe the mutual funds you have chosen have just hit a bump in the road. Then, when the market has gone down too far for you to handle, you decide to move your investments at a far greater loss than when you initially thought about moving them.

Second, you decide to reduce or even stop your paycheck deferments, because you feel like you are throwing money away and will bring your deferments back to normal levels once the market recovers and your funds start to perform well again.

Third, you move your entire portfolio and future deferments into a money market or stable value fund, because it is safe and you have decided the investing in anything riskier than that is just gambling with money.


If you are part of the 90% of people who have done one of these three things in response to the market, you didn’t make the wrong choice (remember, there are no rights and wrongs in investing), you made the less ideal choice. Of course there are exceptions for choice #3, since if you are close to retirement (less than 5 years away), then you should have moved your money to safer waters. The problem with that is you should have had your investments in something safer to begin with being that close to retirement, unless you are going to be collecting a pension and do not foresee needing to access your retirement account immediately upon retiring.

So, what is the right or more appropriately, what is the “appropriate” answer? Now, let me remind you this is strictly my opinion and is only for folks who are long term (15+ years) until they retire. Remember this phrase, “Stay the course”. What this means, when referencing investing, is to understand that the market goes up and it goes down and sometimes stays at relatively the same levels for a period of time. When you start moving your investments around, which is what most do when the market is down, then you are attempting to time the market. If the market was rational, this would be a fairly easy thing to do, but often time the market reacts or actually overreacts to certain types of news. The internet has made news available virtually the second it is obtained. By the time you are reading the latest news on a company, the market has already made an adjustment. New news is in fact old news by the time you read it. The other problem is that sometimes the market reacts in the opposite direction of what rationale would dictate. Most of the time, people will buy more when the market it performing well, which leads to overpaying for a stock and will sell when the market is performing poorly, which leads to selling when the price is well below its intrinsic value. Get your head out of your ass and eliminate the impulse to do the wrong thing. The idea is to exercise the dollar-cost average strategy. The idea is that you invest the same amount into the same funds each pay period. That way, you’ll mitigate the risk by not trying to time the market. During extended bear markets, you may even try to increase your investment, thereby purchasing shares of a stock or mutual fund at a lower price, which will get you more shares for your dollar and reduce the overall average cost per share.

If stocks are not for you, then what should you invest in? Remember that savings accounts are suitable for short term savings. Over the long term, their rates of return are lower than the consumer price index (inflation rate). This will create losses due to a reduction in purchase power. There are a couple of things you can invest in other than stocks or stock mutual funds.

First, you can invest in bonds. There are several different types of bonds, treasury bonds, savings bonds, municipal bonds etc. or even bond funds. Bond funds are typically available for any company 401(k) plan. Bonds are considered safer than stocks, but are not guaranteed investments. They can go down in value and their rates of return typically trail stocks over the long term.

Second, you can invest in a money market account. The interest rates on money market accounts vary according to how the market is performing and also to interest rates. If interest rates fall, the rates of return on the money market account will fall as well.

Lastly, you can invest your money in bank products. This includes, CD's, savings accounts and even money market accounts that have a fixed, yet variable rate. They adjust the rate on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, depending on who where you are investing. Many are now coming up with on-line savings accounts. The rates now are typically 2.5%-3%, however, they have been as high as 5.25%. Once the Fed starts raising the rate, you'll see these rates start to climb. The only draw back to bank products, is that you have to pay taxes on the interest each year, as long as it is more than $10. It can be a great way to park your money until the crap storm blows over. The crap storm will last another 10-12 months. If you are emotional about your money, park in the banks. If you are a nut job like me, then keep increasing your contributions to your 401(k) and max it out if you can. Try not to pay too much attention to the garbage that is going on. The internet is a great place to get information, but it causes as much damage as it prevents. Peace and I'm out!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

The U.S. National Debt and You

The biggest concern of the average American nowadays is the economy. With the vote today on whether or not Obama will get the second half of the $700 billion released to pump into the economy, the main concern that pops into folks’ heads is how the hell are we supposed to recoup those funds for the tax payer? Keep in mind that we are at the tip of the iceberg on this trendy little bailout period we are experiencing. Next on the bailout list (drum roll please)……..California!! Yes, an entire state will get bailed out this year and no, I’m not kidding. I’m dead serious!
Anyway, what is the national debt? I’m not asking this question to insult your intelligence, however everyone has some idea, but do not have a grasp on it completely. For most of the people whom I have conversed with concerning this topic; they have no idea or only a partial understanding of what comprises the national debt.
The national debt is very simple to understand. It is made up of all the debt obligations of the government. So, if you own any government backed or government issued debt instrument (i.e.bond), then that is part of the national debt. The government pays you, the bond holder, the interest on the bond (if applicable) periodically and then at the time the bond matures, you get the face value (principal) of the bond. Many institutions, both domestic and foreign, own US issued debt instruments. The bond example is just one type of debt instrument, but I won’t bore you with all of the types of debt instruments. The funny thing about US investors who hold government issued bonds is that they interest payments and principal are paid back with tax dollars. Essentially, you are being paid back money you lent to the government with your own money, even if your share of the tax dollars being used is proportionally microscopic to the total.
This type of debt comprises about 60% of the total national debt. The other 40% comes from deficit spending. The total national debt is approximately $10.7 Trillion. It has increased about 60% since 2003 and has doubled since 2000. The biggest contributors to the national debt have been the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ($900B) and deficit spending. Many ask the question, if there is always a budget deficit, how do we reduce or eliminate the $10.7 trillion bill. The answer is, we don’t.
Here’s the other issue, where is all this bailout money coming from? Is there some secret emergency fund that this money is stashed in? Nope, there are TARP funds and other agencies that have “authorized” funds in varying amounts. None of these agencies have actual money, just authorization to spend money. One of the cool things about the government is that when the time comes when approval is given to one of these agencies to use their “authorized” funds and there is no money, we simply print more. Pretty sweet! I need to get me one of those printing presses, so I can print some money when I run out. When this printing of money occurs, two things take place. First, I get pissed off and second, the value of the dollar goes into the toilet. The reason why this occurs is the basic rule of the more of something there is, the less the value of each individual unit.
A byproduct of the dollar’s value getting deep sixed is that inflation occurs. If this bailout trend continues and the government keeps pulling the handle on the money machine and yelling “ca-ching” with each pull, we could possibly see a scenario straight out of Brazil a few years back. Basically, the country decided to not pay back debts they owed to other countries and defaulted. The main reason is that their economy was so bad, they had to print money to keep it going. They printed so much money, the inflation rate was 5000% (that’s not a typo) and the Brazilian currency was effectively worthless. In order to stop the rate of inflation from increasing exponentially, they had to stop printing money, which meant they couldn’t meet their debt obligations. The problem with a country defaulting is that the creditors are people and institutions in other countries who are holding defaulted Brazilian bonds and other debt instruments. This creates a ripple effect throughout the planet. I doubt the U.S. is going to reach that point, but unless the trend changes, we’ll eventually reach that point. If the U.S. defaulted, then the world will have a meltdown and would never recover. Everyone would pretty much have to start over from scratch.
In closing, to give you an idea of how bad we are as a government and a country in terms of money management, I’ll leave you with the following stats:

Total US Currency in Circulation (worldwide)- Approximately $900 Billion
Total US Credit Card Debt- Approximately $14 Trillion

Source: I read it somewhere. I can’t remember where, though.

Next on tap, where to invest if you don’t like stocks.

As a side note, the next rap song about money or anything relating to the government should have an Obama look-a-like dressed in a rhinestone jumpsuit pulling on a huge handle and cranking out sheets of money with a big smile. That’s just the image I get in my head when the subject of government bailouts comes up.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Technical Difficulties

I was just reviewing the recent posts and it appears that two were spliced together. I will be producing an little ditty on the recent moaning over the national debt and what it means to you and I. I'm a conspiracy theorist, so I believe the government is trying to sabotage me;) Forgive the sarcasm. I'll be on in the next few days. Hey, for all of you sports fans, what the heck happened to Boston College losing to Harvard. Not only are the players distraught, but their kids will most likely be working for the guys who beat them at hoop! Talk to you in a day or so!!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Resolutions 2009

Happy New Year, one day late. Sorry, but I was indisposed during yesterday and could not post my most anticipated discussion to date. And, without further delay here are my predictions I think will happen in 2009 and predictions that most likely won’t happen, but would present an interesting scenario for the public, if any one came to be. Here we go!!

Predictions That May Happen In 2009

The Bernie Madoff debacle will total well in excess of $50 Billion. It will most likely be released that the scheme is closer to $100 Billion.
Tolls across the country will be increased due to the decline in travel.
The number of billionaires world-wide will shrink to under 1,000. There are currently about 1,125.
The British pound will sink below the value of the American Dollar.
Housing prices will continue to decline for the entire year of 2009.
The DOW will drop below 7000 within the first 100 days of 2009 (April 10, 2009, in case you want to count it out to figure out the date.).
More ridiculous bailouts for big, stupid companies that suck. Bailouts do three very bad things: 1.They undermine capitalism (think of Darwin’s Theory of survival of the fittest), 2. Create Big Government (please do not interpret my fear of Big Gov’t to mean I’m a Republican and also do not misconstrue that because I said I’m not a Republican that it means I’m a Democrat. I’m an American)_
The Big change O’Bama is supposed to make, will not happen. This guy is a politician, not Batman! The only change that occurred is we elected a President who is one, not white and two not old. However, I think we elected the right guy, because the other guy would’ve been just like the current guy and the other guy teamed up with the chick from Alaska who is an embarrassment. The whole point of being elected President, it to “be elected President”. The means and the end are the same.
One of the big three auto companies will fail or at least file for bankruptcy.
At least one country in the European union will drop the Euro as their currency and go back to their old form of currency.

Predictions That Most Likely Won’t Happen in 2009, But Would Be Interesting If They Did

England will default. This would be crazy, but not impossible. Their economy is going through the worst dookie storm in their proud history. Everyone expects countries like Brazil and Russia to default (they have before), but if a vital country such as England defaulted, the snowball effect would land the world into the deepest depression in history.
AIG fails. This is not out of the question by any means. The fact that they are spending their portion of bailout money to pay dividends and bonuses to their sorry excuse for an executive staff, shows they could possibly blow through that money without investing it into the actual company to make it viable. So, all that money could be blown and all those policy owners, employees and not to mention the taxpayers all get left holding the bag.
Unemployment will reach 20%. Not likely, but if either of the previous two predictions comes true, it will definitely happen.
Oil will drop below $25 per barrel. Oil is sitting at just below $42, but I think it bottomed at $34, which I believe was an overcorrection. Again, if any of the previous three happen, you could see the demand sink so much that it will drive the price to those levels.
China’s economy will blow up (not literally and not in a good way). This is probably going to happen, just not likely in 2009. I believe their business practices will be the reason for the demise of that country’s economy. With the lead paint thing from 2007 to the importation of fish that they breed in overcrowded fish farms (they basically swim in their own waste which contaminates the filet.), their due for a collapse.
Housing market recovers. Not likely this soon, but it is wishful thinking on my part. I bought a house in July 2008 and would like to see my equity increase, but in reality it is probably worth less than what we bought it for despite the great price we got it for. Rest assured, my property tax assessment will still increase and so I’ll have to take off of work to go to grievance day. Super!!
Oil exporters will figure out how to protect their tankers from pirates. The fact that pirates even exist in today’s world is beyond me. These guys show up and take over an oil tanker with a five man raft with a motor on it. I can see that happening once and then just hiring a sharp shooter for $10,000 to, I don’t know, shoot a hole in the f’ing raft. If they make the adjustment and come in a wooden raft, hire an archer for $10,000 to shoot a flaming arrow or better yet, one of those exploding arrows from Rambo or the Dukes of Hazzard. Even better, get Stallone or John Schneider (Bo Duke) to shoot the flaming arrow at the boat. However, I don’t think you could get one of those guys to do it for $10,000. I wonder what think tank they hired who is still working on that little problem? WTF
The national debt reaches $15 Trillion. Probably won’t happen in 2009, but if they start printing money for more bailouts and our GDP keeps shrinking, it just might happen. Currently we are sitting at a smidge under $11 Trillion.
Government issues another stimulus payout. Not likely, because the real difference would be make with the loosening of the credit market. If checks are issued to tax payers, most of the money will be tossed into savings accounts or to put towards credit card debt. It would backfire, just like the one last year.
Gold will top $1,000 per ounce. Not likely as it currently sits at about $880 per ounce. The demand should increase as the stock market continues to decline in the 1st quarter and folks start getting defensive.

For entertainment purposes only. My Sure Thing Predictions For 2009

Paris Hilton will still be useless.
Pirates will still be hijacking oil tankers with sharpened sticks and six shooters.
Peace will not happen in the Middle East.
McCain and Palin will still be mavericks.
More Hallmark and Lifetime channel Christmas movies starring has-been actors will still be made and still suck and I will watch every single one of them. I’m still waiting for a Christmas movie starring Dustin Diamond (Screech Saved By The Bell for all you youngsters).
Unions will continue to suck companies dry and operate inefficiently. Boeing is the latest victim of unions sucking and the fallout hasn’t been realized yet.
Suicide bombing in Afghanistan and Iraq will still be considered trendy.
College tuition will continue to increase while the value will continue to decrease. College tuition is the only product I know of whose demand and price increase and the utility decreases all at the same time. College education is the biggest rip-off on the planet, but a necessary evil. Educational background should have nothing to do with gaining a job. Every job should have an interview process and an exam directly geared towards the position in question.
The majority of investors will continue to buy high and sell low. Ah, the irony of human reason. Fight the herd mentality. Buffett said it best. “When everyone is fearful, be greedy. When everyone is greedy, be fearful.”
G-Dubyah will write his memoirs. Hopefully, they’ll get someone to proof read that piece……of dookie.
James Lipton will still be a legend in his own mind and a complete failure.
J-Lo will still have no discernable talent to speak of.






Every year, folks all over creation tell everyone what they are going to do differently this year, from breaking bad habits, to going back to school and getting or finishing that degree. As we all know, talk is cheap and a vast majority of these resolutions are not started or completed. I've got a New Year's resolution for you, "Don't declare any New Year's resolutions!" That way, you will have started and completed a resolution without having to do anything.

Okay, enough of that. Let's move on to ten resolutions that you can apply to improve the health of your personal finances. Here's the list for you to pour over and integrate with your life. These are all attainable and can make a vast difference in your life. It only takes some discipline. Here goes!

Pay down your credit card debt "correctly". There is nothing that can whoop your mf'in ass like credit card debt. You hear all of these commercials about people not being able to pay the interest on their C.C. debt and it is totally true. There are three kinds of interest rates you are typically charged on your bills: interest from purchases, interest from balance transfers and interest from cash advances. The credit card companies typically charge varying rates and will line your balances up so that you have to pay the lowest rate through to the highest. This will become illegal in 2010, because by having your payments go directly to towards the balances with the lowest interest rate, the credit card company can make more money by waiting until the lower interest rate balances are paid off before having the payments work on the higher interest rate balances. The bottom line is to take the amount of money that you have allotted each month towards credit cards. Take the lowest monthly payments from the lowest interest rate cards and subtract that from the total you have allotted for credit cards. Whatever is left over goes to the one card with the highest interest rate. I know this goes against Suze Orman’s advice of pay off the lowest balance cards first, but I ran the numbers and it doesn’t work. Too bad, I don’t have the paycheck she gets from the networks. F’in idiots!!!

I know this is anti-American, but spend less than you make. Yes, this goes against the foundation of what make our country the greatest economic force on the planet, but think about the dollars you spend and think about the tax revenue that is created from it and then think about the waste of those tax dollars the government is responsible for (sorry to end that sentence in a preposition). Save you money. Take some serious thought into making sure that what you are buying is what you need. Think about it this way, do you need a snuggie or should you just wear your bathrobe backwards? Think about it!

Pay extra on any outstanding debt. Never underestimate the power of compounding interest. This has two sides. One is side is the compounding affect of saving money in an interest bearing account (preferably one that is higher than inflation, bank savings are a waste of time and money, CD’s or money market accounts are the way to go.). The other side is paying just a little bit more onto your debts. Everyone is so in love with just paying your minimum payment and going on. This is horrible, even if you don’t charge anything on that card each month. You don’t get anywhere doing that, but on any kind of debt, you can save a bunch of time and money by paying a little extra each month. As Wesley Snipes said in Blade, “Some MF’ers are always trying to ice skate up hill.”

Get rid of your cell phone. What are you, F’in helpless!. I got my first cell phone when I was 22 years old and that was 9 years ago. I used about 80 minutes per month, including nights and weekends and I had an 850 a month plan. Everyone is without any survival skills when it comes to not having their cell phone. It is their umbilical cord, their handicap. Grow the hell up you idiot. Get rid of the I-phone and blackberry, unless it is pertinent to your job. Reduce the expense. The average cell phone bill is $100/month!

Start grocery shopping weekly. Nothing wastes more money than idle food in the pantry. Most folks will do it on the fly and end up buying things that may not use for weeks or never, such as “Jell-O Pudding”. Maybe you need it for comfort. Maybe a bum needs a cardboard box for comfort. Don’t laugh, that’ll be you soon, if you don’t get your sh*t together. Plan out your meals and go once a week. Get what you need and call it a day.

Take all the ones and fives out of your wallet every pay period. Sound stupid? Well, you are a little on the smooth brained side. If you don’t know what that mean, then you don’t need to worry about money, because you are in a greenhouse getting watered. Saving any kind of change is an unreal way to save. Wachovia bank has a savings method of taking every electronic (except ATM) transactions and taking a dollar for each transaction and putting it into a high interest account. The bank also allows you to make up to $100 worth of auto transfers to the account and gives you a bonus at each anniversary based on the amount you saved. Things like this take the worst enemy (you) out of the equation from saving.

Raise your credit score. For one, check your credit score to see where you are at these days. Just because you had good credit five years ago doesn’t mean you have good credit now. You have to use your credit cards regularly and keep any old cards you have active. An A+ credit score (thanks to the mortgage collapse) is 740 and higher. It used to be 670 and higher. People suck, institutions suck and we are the ones taking a big bite out of the sh*t sandwich. Keep the old cards and pay down the others, but do not cancel. The ratio of debt used is a key factor and so is current debt, which means if you don’t have any CC debt, use your card once a month to keep it current and pay it off at the end of the month.

Get a second job! I know, I know it is the worst thing ever, but it can clear you out of debt in a hurry and with little fuss. Most of you think that, OMG, I have a Psychology Degree and should be raking in 6 figures. First, Phych and Sociology is merely the remedial Philosophy. And yes, I have a B.A. in such (meaning Philosophy). Plop that big ass check from delivering pizzas on any debt or savings you have. A little goes a long way.

Getting rid of PMI. Private Mortgage Insurance. Ah, it’s the only mafia like business left!! I’m not kidding either! Here is the deal. You buy a house. The bank says (I went through this) we need more money down. For what? I said. Well, there isn’t any PMI company that will cover you unless you put 8% instead of 3% down. Mind you this is $13K more. So, they blamed it on the market changes. I said of course, “WTF IS THE PMI FOR”? I feel like if the mortgage fails, the bank will be compensated because of the PMI, which the mortgagee pays for. How is there a housing crisis? It should be insured, or maybe it wasn’t. Why do foreclosures hurt the housing market, when there is PMI?

Last one. ‘F’ Suze Orman, she is a hack. Oh, wow, she is a woman. Follow her if you desire.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Predictions: 2009 Edition

Happy New Year, one day late. Sorry, but I was indisposed during yesterday and could not post my most anticipated discussion to date. And, without further delay here are my predictions I think will happen in 2009 and predictions that most likely won’t happen, but would present an interesting scenario for the public, if any one came to be. Here we go!!

Predictions That May Happen In 2009

-The Bernie Madoff debacle will total well in excess of $50 Billion. It will most likely be released that the scheme is closer to $100 Billion.

-Tolls across the country will be increased due to the decline in travel.

-The number of billionaires world-wide will shrink to under 1,000. There are currently about 1,125.

-The British pound will sink below the value of the American Dollar.

-Housing prices will continue to decline for the entire year of 2009.

-The DOW will drop below 7000 within the first 100 days of 2009 (April 10, 2009, in case you want to count it out to figure out the date.).

-More ridiculous bailouts for big, stupid companies that suck. Bailouts do three very bad things:

1.They undermine capitalism (think of Darwin’s Theory of survival of the fittest), 2. Create Big Government (please do not interpret my fear of Big Gov’t to mean I’m a Republican and also do not misconstrue that because I said I’m not a Republican that it means I’m a Democrat. I’m an American)_
The Big change O’Bama is supposed to make, will not happen. This guy is a politician, not Batman! The only change that occurred is we elected a President who is one, not white and two not old. However, I think we elected the right guy, because the other guy would’ve been just like the current guy and the other guy teamed up with the chick from Alaska who is an embarrassment. The whole point of being elected President, it to “be elected President”. The means and the end are the same.

-One of the big three auto companies will fail or at least file for bankruptcy.
At least one country in the European union will drop the Euro as their currency and go back to their old form of currency.

Predictions That Most Likely Won’t Happen in 2009, But Would Be Interesting If They Did

-England will default. This would be crazy, but not impossible. Their economy is going through the worst dookie storm in their proud history. Everyone expects countries like Brazil and Russia to default (they have before), but if a vital country such as England defaulted, the snowball effect would land the world into the deepest depression in history.

-AIG fails. This is not out of the question by any means. The fact that they are spending their portion of bailout money to pay dividends and bonuses to their sorry excuse for an executive staff, shows they could possibly blow through that money without investing it into the actual company to make it viable. So, all that money could be blown and all those policy owners, employees and not to mention the taxpayers all get left holding the bag.

-Unemployment will reach 20%. Not likely, but if either of the previous two predictions comes true, it will definitely happen.

-Oil will drop below $25 per barrel. Oil is sitting at just below $42, but I think it bottomed at $34, which I believe was an overcorrection. Again, if any of the previous three happen, you could see the demand sink so much that it will drive the price to those levels.

-China’s economy will blow up (not literally and not in a good way). This is probably going to happen, just not likely in 2009. I believe their business practices will be the reason for the demise of that country’s economy. With the lead paint thing from 2007 to the importation of fish that they breed in overcrowded fish farms (they basically swim in their own waste which contaminates the filet.), their due for a collapse.

-Housing market recovers. Not likely this soon, but it is wishful thinking on my part. I bought a house in July 2008 and would like to see my equity increase, but in reality it is probably worth less than what we bought it for despite the great price we got it for. Rest assured, my property tax assessment will still increase and so I’ll have to take off of work to go to grievance day. Super!!

-Oil exporters will figure out how to protect their tankers from pirates. The fact that pirates even exist in today’s world is beyond me. These guys show up and take over an oil tanker with a five man raft with a motor on it. I can see that happening once and then just hiring a sharp shooter for $10,000 to, I don’t know, shoot a hole in the f’ing raft. If they make the adjustment and come in a wooden raft, hire an archer for $10,000 to shoot a flaming arrow or better yet, one of those exploding arrows from Rambo or the Dukes of Hazzard. Even better, get Stallone or John Schneider (Bo Duke) to shoot the flaming arrow at the boat. However, I don’t think you could get one of those guys to do it for $10,000. I wonder what think tank they hired who is still working on that little problem? WTF

-The national debt reaches $15 Trillion. Probably won’t happen in 2009, but if they start printing money for more bailouts and our GDP keeps shrinking, it just might happen. Currently we are sitting at a smidge under $11 Trillion.

-Government issues another stimulus payout. Not likely, because the real difference would be make with the loosening of the credit market. If checks are issued to tax payers, most of the money will be tossed into savings accounts or to put towards credit card debt. It would backfire, just like the one last year.

-Gold will top $1,000 per ounce. Not likely as it currently sits at about $880 per ounce. The demand should increase as the stock market continues to decline in the 1st quarter and folks start getting defensive.

For entertainment purposes only. My Sure Thing Predictions For 2009

-Paris Hilton will still be useless.

-Pirates will still be hijacking oil tankers with sharpened sticks and six shooters.

-Peace will not happen in the Middle East.

-McCain and Palin will still be mavericks.

-More Hallmark and Lifetime channel Christmas movies starring has-been actors will still be made and still suck and I will watch every single one of them. I’m still waiting for a Christmas movie starring Dustin Diamond (Screech Saved By The Bell for all you youngsters).

-Unions will continue to suck companies dry and operate inefficiently. Boeing is the latest victim of unions sucking and the fallout hasn’t been realized yet.

-Suicide bombing in Afghanistan and Iraq will still be considered trendy.

-College tuition will continue to increase while the value will continue to decrease. College tuition is the only product I know of whose demand and price increase and the utility decreases all at the same time. College education is the biggest rip-off on the planet, but a necessary evil. Educational background should have nothing to do with gaining a job. Every job should have an interview process and an exam directly geared towards the position in question.

-The majority of investors will continue to buy high and sell low. Ah, the irony of human reason. Fight the herd mentality. Buffett said it best. “When everyone is fearful, be greedy. When everyone is greedy, be fearful.”

-G-Dubyah will write his memoirs. Hopefully, they’ll get someone to proof read that piece……of dookie.

-James Lipton will still be a legend in his own mind and a complete failure.

-J-Lo will still have no discernable talent to speak of.

That's all folks. Keep an eye out and see which predictions are realized and which fall by the wayside. Peace and I'm out!!