Jose Mugrabi said in an interview: I feel safer with Warhol than with U.S. Treasury bonds.

Can't say I blame him. There is no where to run.

Helicopter

“They say there are no atheists in foxholes.   Perhaps, then, there are also no libertarians in financial crises.”

Quote of the Day

VMware - trading on the NYSE under VMW - looks to ship 33m shares at $29 each. That leaves the sever virtualization maker hoping to bring in $957m. Most indications have the company blowing past that figure and igniting a Silicon Valley boom.

I can't seem to find this on any of the finance sites, but this would be a good one to own.

VMware's IPO - Insanity turns Silicon Valley back to normal | The Register

Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined. Unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs account for 85% of taxpayer liabilities.

The Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Board, which sets federal accounting standards, is considering requiring the government to adopt accounting rules similar to those for corporations. The change would move Social Security and Medicare onto the government's income statement and balance sheet, instead of keeping them separate.

The White House and the Congressional Budget Office oppose the change, arguing that the programs are not true liabilities because government can cancel or cut them.

And cut they will. I've said before that one of my disappointments in the Bush years is that you had a Republican Congress and President and yet nothing could be done about this problem. Nothing will be done, and my generation will be left holding the bag. When I am an old man there will be tens or hundreds of thousands of people my age who are functionally homeless. Having lots of kids is beginning to sound like a good idea.

Why you'll never retire...

There are links for these in the articles.

Before I go, I want to remind the young graduates, their parents who scrimped and saved to get them there, and anyone else who stuck with me this far that are a few other rules of life worth considering.
Among them are the following.

Never pay a real estate agent a 6 percent commission.

Buy used things, except maybe used tires.

Get on the do-not-call list and other do-not-solicit lists so you can’t be tempted.

Watch infomercials for their entertainment value only.

Know what your credit reports say, but don’t pay for that knowledge: go to www.annualcreditreport.com to get them.

Consolidate your cable, phone and Internet service to get the best deal.

Resist the lunacy of buying premium products like $2,000-a-pound chocolates.

Lose weight. Carrying extra pounds costs tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.

Do not use your home as a piggy bank if home prices are flat or going down or if interest rates are rising.

Enroll in a 401(k) at work immediately.

Postpone buying high-tech products like PCs, digital cameras and high-definition TVs for as long as possible. And then buy after the selling season or buy older technology just as a new technology comes along.

And, I’m sorry, I’m really serious about this last one: make your own coffee.

More Advice Graduates Don’t Want to Hear - New York Times

] Geoffrey Inc. is a subsidiary owned by Toys "R" Us.
] Geoffrey owns various trademarks and rights including the
] giraffe character, and Toys "R" Us stores pay royalties
] to Geoffrey. Because those royalties are business
] expenses, they are claimed as deductions that escape
] Louisiana taxation. Geoffrey pays no state taxes because
] it is incorporated in Delaware.

This would be hillarious if it wasn't an example of the ethics of the management of our publically traded companies...

Toy's R US pays itself for mascot to avoid taxation

What you should be doing with your money...

MSN Money - The 7 biggest financial decisions you'll make - Money in your 20s

"The Dow broke to its lowest level since October 1998 Tuesday -- and with it went investor hopes that they'd seen the worst. "

I wonder if investor experience and new information systems have replaced the panic crashing of previous decades with this slow rolling plumet. Eitherway, your farmer's almanac should tell you that rain is most likely in September. It should also tell you that October is a good month for the black plague.

Oh, BTW, the stock market is crashing....

"If dividends were a deductible expense, firms would be strongly motivated to pay out all their profits as dividends, since retained earnings would be subject to the corporate tax. Firms that did not pay dividends would be viewed unfavorably by investors who feared that the earnings are inflated and that the cash does not exist. The payment of cash dividends would therefore add significant credibility to management's earnings reports.

Allowing dividend deductibility would also eliminate the incentive for management to take on large amounts of debt and risk bankruptcy just to gain the deduction for interest costs. Furthermore stock options would become much less valuable under our proposal since most of the stock return would be paid in dividends and not through capital gains. This will lead management to grant shares instead of options to employees, which will lead to more accurate income statements and a better alignment of management with shareholders interests."

I don't really know enough about this to endorse it, but it sounds like a good idea. I think investment would be a lot healthier if it was about profits and not capital gains. Look for MS and Buffet to oppose this.

Knowledge@Wharton - Allow corporations to expense dividend payments.

Warren Buffett chastises the nation's CEO's in today's NYT.

There is a crisis of confidence today about corporate earnings reports and the credibility of chief executives. And it's justified.

Without blushing, almost all CEO's have told their shareholders that options are cost-free.

To clean up their act, CEO's don't need "independent" directors, oversight committees or auditors absolutely free of conflicts of interest. They simply need to do what's right.

CEO's ... should quit talking about some bad apples and reflect instead on their own behavior.

[CEO's] talk principle, but, for most, their motive is pocketbook.

Who Really Cooks the Books?