Calvin and Hobbes - Subsidize Me

Been out most of the day. Got a new book, though: The Coming Generational Storm. Talk about a bleak looking 2030 for a good portion of the baby boomers. Hopefully I'll be on a beach somewhere drinking a martini. Otherwise, I'll probably be making a shitty wage in the nursing business.

~22 Pips

I have trouble holding onto a trade after I hit 10 pips. I get a little anxious, even though, as with these trades, I could have easily combined the two into one and held out for another 10, perhaps even 20. With the spreads being 3.2 or so (what happened to my 1.8-2.5?; I rarely can get filled at those spreads anymore) I have a major incentive to setup and hold on. For those two trades I basically paid a 6.4 pip, or a 30%, commission. Positive, yet awful.

42.50 Feb COST Puts @ .85

Bought some puts for Costco. Read the Buy on the Dip post and agree with him. If it can break 50 there's a good chance it will hit 43 or lower.

Been posting on Twitter and messing around. I can't believe how tired I am at the moment. Been doing some workouts to get into some sort of physical shape. Hoping it will help keep my mind and emotions in shape as well. Trying to think of ways to make a little money on this site, which rarely pan out. Few people, very few people, click on the ads which is understandable--I don't get that many hits. I am going to increase my participation in other sites. I know I how rewarding it is to get a comment on a post; I'll try to do that for others. I've been looking at some of the twitter ad services, and seeing what type of deals they offer. Twittad and Magpie seem to be the way to go. Not sure if you can really make any decent money, but every dollar builds confidence levels.

Take care everyone.

PS: Might head off to see a movie later in the afternoon. Milk looks like an interesting flick. Gus van Sant is a veritable indie god, and while some may poke fun at his movie Last Days, Elephant and his main stream Good Will Hunting certainly make up for any of his more experimental films (to those who do not like the experimental).

Predictions Based on Demographics

"Booms like this happen every other generation."



"Worse of the Stock crash will happen late 2010 mid-2012."

(h/t The Housing Time Bomb)

Dinosaur Trader's Best of 2008

Ready to read a kick-ass compilation of the internet's best 2008 stock market posts? Click here to savor the prime rib, first tier work of DT as he strives to make sense out of the universe--or something like that.

Predictions for 2009

Many people are interested in what will happen tomorrow, because if you know what will happen tomorrow you can profit from that information. While difficult to predict what will happen in the time ahead (e.g. flying cars, anyone?) a general idea of the future can be generated. And, at the very least, reading other people's predictions gives you insight into their preceptions and how successful businessmen think. Here are several lists of predictions for 2009:

- Many people have been waiting for the Fly's '09 predictions. The man runs a successful site, trades well, and is generally entertaining (first tier shit, baby). Check out his predictions here.

- CNBC has an entire section dedicated to '09 predictions. With two [1, 2] optimistic articles and a single slightly pessimistic one, CNBC appears to have a bright slant. While a view into where a good portion of the United States will get their economic information, I would take anything at CNBC with suspicion, especially Jim Cramer.

- Corey Rosenbloom, at Afraid to Trade, posted on Buffett's 2008 predictions, which include some all-around good advice. It is safe to say many anticipate Buffett's 2009 predictions.

- There are the very pessimistic views of Celenate, given in the post below.

- John Cassidy at Portfolio.com wrote a fairly bleak 2009 outlook, saying, "Most economists predict a recovery late next year. Don’t bet on it." He also mentions several polls with this as the highlight: "...people working in the finance business are even gloomier: 77 percent of them say their industry is in a state of crisis, and 50 percent say the economy is the worst it has been in their careers."

- Barron's has an interesting article parsing the views of a handful of economists: Troubled Waters.

- And Seeking Alpha has a rather interesting, reasonable, outlook on 2009 here. There's no prediction of sunny day's ahead there.

Feel free to post other predictions below.

Good luck in 09.

Construction: Working on Design

Hope the new design is a little easier on everyone's eyes. It isn't complete but I am hacking away at it piece by piece (I'm not familar with blogspot's code; I know enough HTML to work through it, though). The goal is that it will develop into something that doesn't look half bad.

Here's to goals.