CLP Above $20

I’ve been waiting for this stock to run. It looks like it’s pulling higher here. AEC should follow; between the two, I like AEC’s prospects as a smaller, faster growing corporation, considerably more.

If you need to refresh yourself on the REIT story and why these companies are going higher, you can find just that here.

The rest of the market feels weak. I’m not appreciating the action today.

Now I’m busy catching up with work, so I shall cut this meeting short.

Good day, to you.

Just when I had hopes that the Republicans would actually correct their path and set the government down the road to prosperity, low and behold it appears nothing has changed.

House Republicans have hired a prominent conservative attorney to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act in a pending lawsuit, legal sources say, and will make an effort to divert money from the Justice Department to fund its high-profile fight.

First off, I’ll point out that this isn’t really adding to the deficit, since the money (should) be one to one. What would have financed defending the DOMA by the Justice Department will now go to defend the DOMA by the hand of Congress.

By why the hell is Boehner picking right now, of all times, to trumpet spending on social issues? Or decisively choosing to only target liberal favorites?

If anything, Boehner should just move to defund the law, like he is with healthcare, and stick the Justice Department with the deficit. Or else try to run through legislation condemning the Obama Administration for trying to decide which laws it wants to enforce. Slap them up a bit, with legislative punishments.

But by insisting the law be paid for, at this particular time, just reinforces what most on the left are already starting to suspect. Pissing money away is just dandy when the right does it.

Nancy Pelosi’s part to play in all of this is the best.

“I am requesting that you disclose the cost of hiring outside counsel for the 12 cases where DOMA is being challenged,” Pelosi’s letter said. She also asked for details on the reported hiring of Paul D. Clement, a former solicitor general, specifically when a contract was signed and why a copy was not provided to Democrats on the Committee on House Administration.

I see she’s a regular libertarian-style fiscal conservative when she can’t send kickbacks to all her friends and connections. But the sad thing here is that I’m on her side.

Someone euthanize me.

What this really reminds me of is that I can’t trust anyone in our government, whether they’re on the right or left. If Republicans were really interested in getting the finances of Congress in order, they’d volunteer some of their own pet projects, many of which are just as pointless and stupid, up for the chopping block.

Take for instance, the Defense Budget.

You’re telling me Republicans cannot find one cent to slash from that budget?

Dr. Robert Gates himself pointed out something like $10 billion that could be slashed from unnecessary R&D and military programs that way outweigh anything we need right now. The Osprey and F/A-18 programs, for instance. Accompany that with a 2% reduction in the broader military budget ($685 billion in 2010) and you have an additional $12 billion.

Put that $20 billion or so up for the Democrats, if they can match it with cuts in their stupid entitlement crap, and you can probably save between $40-50 billion, easy.

Remind me what the target price was for saving (less than that), that we’ve been wasting months over?

It’s not that I don’t love military expenditures. I do. Being able to level a continent is pretty useful when you’re dealing with a world predominantly defined by dictators and assholes. But seriously, do we need to be building infrared space lasers in the middle of a recession? (No joke, $1.5 billion of last years’ budget).

See, it’s not that I have a one track mind for bashing liberals. They just make it so easy. But if Republicans keep pushing their social issues, they’re going to get curb stomped like the Democrats did last election. Healthcare reform was not about saving people money or streamlining the system. It was a social pet project. Similarly, people do not care about fighting abortion; not when those cuts are unaccompanied by other, larger reductions.

Right now is about balancing the budget while not stepping on the toes of business. If people want their Social Security and Medicare, then jack rates and taxes of everyone to pay for it. Whatever programs are left should be broken open, and systematically cut down. For each liberal pet project that gets the guillotine, throw in a conservative one. Maybe when we’re done, nothing will have changed, since it feels like half this money is counteracting itself anyways.

As usual, MGM is doing its own thing, down more than 3% in one day.

Why, you ask?

Why not? It’s MGM; it does that.

And as usual, in my quest for understanding why MGM does the things it does, I ended up on a number of Motley Fool posts talking about how awesome every casino except MGM is and why they are this unlovable duckling that deserves to be taken out back and shot.

Those posts have not helped my mood.

I was pleased when, upon getting back from my vacation, I discovered that Kerkorian had been moved to a more formal, less direct roll within the board. It’s about time. They’re also negotiating taking their Macao operation public on the China exchanges, and have managed to secure a majority position in said operations.

Basically, there’s a lot of good news coming from there. But people will not hear of it.

I cannot wait for this ugly duckling to grow into a swan, so that I might watch it take out the eyes of heathens – like vagrants on jet ski’s – in all of its’ stunning glory.

Listen to this, for it will make your head spin.

CNN’s latest Republican slam piece by Tami Luhby attempts to paint the difference between Obama’s and the House of Representatives’ respective Medicare plans in “plain and fair” terms (I’m sure).

When it comes to deciding who pays to reduce runaway Medicare costs, President Obama and House Republicans have very different views.

The president would make the health care industry bear the brunt of containing costs.

And just who are those dastardly, partisan, nationalist, neocon, fascist Republicans ambushing in their evil, non-comprehensive, extensive, imperialist power-grab? (Vomiting strings of adjectives is a sign of intelligence amongst the Intelligencia. No word is too many; particularly when you can’t figure out how to properly use the word to begin with…)

Here’s where the dim brilliance of the CNN news team stands out, (oxymoron, style).

Republican lawmakers would sock it to future generations of senior citizens, most of whom would have to pay more for their medical coverage.

Amazing!

Grand! Vivid!

Radiant!

Where any other of the devout would only dare to press one point, the CNN correspondent is no mere mortal.

Why claim the GOP is out to kill one age group, when with one sentence they can claim they’re out to kill two!

In one sentence, CNN has attempted to rile up two groups; the elderly, and those concerned for future generations. Such a feat I had believed impossible. Never before has there been such a marriage of terms – future generations and senior citizens. I expect some editor walked around the CNN offices all day, fully aroused.

I can picture the journalists at CNN now, stuck in such a peculiar position that they were.

The GOP plan didn’t cut any benefits for existing seniors. It put the burden solely on the shoulders of those of us who are working today and going forward. What an inconvenience, to someone trying to create an uproar.

So if no current senior citizens are being affected, then how can you bring them up so that they imagine they’re being affected?

Future senior citizens.

Also known as you and me; the people who are still working and probably fully understand that these entitlements need to be planned and paid for by those of us who still have the time to plan and pay for them.

But it’s not just us, of course. Think of the children.

And just where do you think you’re going, might I ask?

Where is it that trading out of your U.S. equities has become so tempting, to you? It isn’t precious metals, judging from the soft action.

The U.S. government’s credibility is directly tied to every nation on the planet. And, thereby, it is indirectly tied to all of global trade. Standard & Poors move is ballsy, no doubt. But since they haven’t even adjusted the rating (only the outlook) I wouldn’t fret too much.

More importantly, where is it that you feel your value would be better suited? Cash? Foreign equities? Foreign bonds?

How many of those things do you think will hold up unscathed if the U.S. government starts defaulting on obligations?

By far, the best places to plant money are equities and commodities. Equities are adaptable; they can maneuver into new mediums of trade, if need be. And commodities are basic and set the whole system in motion.

But cashing out of equities, because you are worried about the credit worthiness of the U.S. government, or into markets of our creditors, seems a little silly.

Really, you should only be hanging around in cash because you believe the U.S. government is not going to default. Remember, they don’t need to borrow cash from citizens to meet their debts, so higher interest rates are not a shoe in, here.

If our credit starts to fall, everyone will suffer. PM’s will maybe come out whole (before factoring in the collapse of industry and removal of actual goods you’d want to buy). There is no safe play here, so you may as well sit put.

The oak door to the office remains open a sliver, creating a void of sullen darkness for the light from the fire to be lost in. The flickering blotches of vision creep softly across the plaster walls, revealing brief glimpses of the patterns painted on them. The chilled air is causing goose bumps to form on my skin, as the hearth combats the night air and my body’s heat is slow to reach the stained finish and fabric of my chair. The only steady light in this room is that of my computer screen; a strange juxtaposition of modern technology against the classical décor of my preference.

And the 9th floor is open once again.

I set out last week, with Madame de Thaler, for our trip to the Caribbean seas. We aimed to meet up with her friends, as one of them was to be married on the island of Jamaica.

The ceremony itself was beautiful, set on the side of a mountain next to a waterfall that cascaded around us in lifting rhythms and soft music. Yet, amongst these guests and the ninety degree weather I insisted to attend the ceremony sporting a charcoal three piece suit.

It was a reunion tour for the island, and I brought colonialism back.

The island itself was dirt poor, and I am glad I refused to walk around much. If I wanted to have beggars pester me for change or try to sell me low brow merchandise, I could have visited Flint.

Let’s just say, if Bob Marley should ever lose popularity, I am afraid that the Jamaican economy shall spiral into an unrecoverable depression.

The nation most definitely needs to get beyond merely providing the random whims of tourists, and actually begin to provide for its people, with modern day infrastructure and appeasing the demands of its own citizens. It was sorrowful, seeing a place whose only wealth comes from the outside.

As for the trip in its entirety, we remained on the water for four nights long, entering various ports of call as I entertained my beloved’s desires of dancing, spirits and merriment. But, sadly, we had no access to internet (a surprise to myself), and so I was without means of contacting the greater world.

Still, in hindsight, it seems I was quite dead on, raising a cash position as the markets pulled back for much of last week. I spent all of Saturday catching up with all the relevant world developments in the most efficient means possible.

Remember friends, the iBankCoin news app isn’t just the news. It’s the news told by people who matter.

Now, enough lassitude for me. It is time to return to work.