IDIOT CHINESE: WALNUT INVESTMENT CRAZE RIVALS TULIPMANIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApvlmAvSBDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Still not a hurricane:

Condor Options is out with an excellent read about volatility of volatility.

Read the article here.

Read the interview here.

Source: VIRGIN

See a chart of the best-ever post-war stock market rallies, here.

H/T The Other McCain

Teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis are putting themselves at risk of permanently damaging their intelligence, according to a landmark study.

Read the rest here.

“Call it the financial meltdown forecaster. The team of economists who last year demonstrated that a small number of companies wield disproportional power over the global economy has now produced a simple visual tool that can monitor financial stability in real-time.

Like a weather forecast, DebtRank could monitor global financial activity for telltale signs of impending disaster. Its designers say it could anticipate and so help prevent global economic crises like the events of 2008, from which the world is still reeling.”

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Am i missing something here or is it business as usual for uncle Sam ?

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Not so fun times for America…

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Extending them could cost uncle Sam $1 trillion…

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“If you get Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner and Bob Wright — three of the U.S.’s most highly respected former executives — together in a room with David Gregory, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and there are no television cameras around, there are bound to be some fireworks.

On a recent steamy evening in a high school gymnasium on Nantucket Island inMassachusetts, the men did not disappoint.

When Gregory asked about the continuing anger in the country directed toward Wall Street for the financial crisis and what responsibility bankers, traders and executives have for the ongoing economic turmoil, the discussion turned especially serious.”

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PSUN, ARO, BIG, ANF, TJX, ROST, WMT, AEO,

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Want to see the global economy at a glance ?

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“Yesterday, BofA’s top North America economist Ethan Harris penned a bearish note on the the U.S. economy, writing that it “is in the eye of the storm” and that a number of troubling headwinds loom on the horizon.

BofA strategists Arjun Mehra and Cheryl Rowan have a warning more precisely aimed at the stock market. In a note to clients entitled Code Red, Mehra and Rowan claim there is “limited upside from here” and the “risk of a sell-off is high.”

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“This trick involves treating not just private-equity “performance-based fees” but management fees as capital gains rather than ordinary income.

This is wonky stuff, but for those interested in the details, here goes:”

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Interesting analysis of low trading volume and how it affects investor return.

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“As the income gap between rich and poor widens, a majority of Americans say the growing divide is bad for the country and believe that wealthy people are paying too little in taxes, according to a new survey.

The poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center points to a particular challenge for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose party’s policies are viewed by a wide majority as favoring the rich over the middle class and poor.

The poll found that many Americans believe rich people to be intelligent and hardworking but also greedy and less honest than the average American. Nearly six in 10, or 58 percent, say the rich don’t pay enough in taxes, while 26 percent believe the rich pay their fair share and 8 percent say they pay too much.”

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“NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — More stimulus from the Federal Reserve would probably boost the stock market, but regardless, both investors and economists agree: They don’t want QE3.

In a CNNMoney survey of investment strategists, 93% said they don’t think the Federal Reserve should announce more stimulus at its next meeting. And 77% of economists surveyed agreed.”

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