Market high a memory, investors are wary of stocks

People are irrational in their investing habits. Look at your odds to go up vs odds to go down. Now considering everything that has happened it would appear that the odds for up are greater than down. People who are investing in gold and bonds are most at risk as the world gets back on track. The population is growing and so will the economy. Buy high and sell low (right...). I predict that over the next 3 years the market will be up by more than 50%. Real Estate is probably also a great investment. People have to live somewhere and with interest rate at near zero, where is the opportunity? Companies make money, gold does not and once people stop hoarding look out.

Berkshire Hathaway co-chairman and Warren Buffett's sidekick Charlie Munger interview, a must read.

Berkshire Hathaway co-chairman and Warren Buffett's sidekick Charlie Munger gave a fantastic two-hour speech at the University of Michigan last week. Here are a few excerpts, lightly edited for clarity.

Text
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Charlie-Munger-on-Communism-fool-1939650256.html

Video
http://rossmedia.bus.umich.edu/rossmedia/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=4d215177cbe44b1e8e94d0dd68f5058f

18 Companies That Consumers Absolutely Hate

18 Companies That Consumers Absolutely Hate http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110419/18-companies-that-consumers-absolutely-hate

May ACSI Results
Last Update: May 18, 2010
(Next Update: May 17, 2011)

Sector: Health Care & Social Assistance
Industry: hospitals

Sector: Information
Industries: cellular telephones,* computer software, fixed-line telephone service, motion pictures, network/cable TV news, newspapers, subscription television service, wireless telephone service

Sector: Utilities
Industry: energy utilities

*The cellular telephone industry is part of the Manufacturing/Durable Goods Sector. For score of other durable good industries, go to September ACSI Results.

What happened? Que Paso?

This is too true to be funny. The next time you hear a politician (D or R) use the
Word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about Whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, But one advertising agency did a good job of Putting that figure into some perspective in one of it's releases.

A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
Living in the Stone Age.

D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.
A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, At the rate our government
Is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ...
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
Is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS To rebuild New Orleans .. Interesting number... What does it mean?

A.
Well... If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) You each get $516,528.

B.
Or... If you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets$1,329,787.

C.
Or... If you are a family of four... Your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington , D. C

HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??

Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration T ax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)
*And add Easter Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago... And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt... We had the largest middle class in the world... And Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to
Press '1'
For English.

I hope this goes around the U S A At least 100 times

What the heck happened ?????

Create a more visible personal brand. A Networking Pro Learns Some New Tricks

Can you teach a dinosaur to dance? More importantly, can you teach him to network in 21st Century style? I was skeptical.
• Develop a stronger online identity by revamping your résumé.
• Make better use of LinkedIn, a professional networking Web site.
• Create a more visible personal brand.
• Get a bigger payoff from industry events.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704299804575095543831229802.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Wells Fargo Senior Analyst Marci Ryvicker, “Cable & Satellite TV: How Will FiOS Impact Cable/Satellite Now?” What's Missing?

The report looks at subscriber market data to determine which operators have the most incremental risk to FiOS with 2 metrics: subscriber exposure and penetration. With Verizon winding down the FiOS build-out, analysts forecast that the focus will be on increasing subscriber penetration in target markets: NYC, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. According to the report:

· Within the target markets, TWC has the most exposure in NYC with 11% subscriber exposure and 18% market penetration.

· In looking at all overall FiOS' current markets, TWC has the most sub exposure, at 40%, followed by (sub exposure/market penetration) DTV (29%, 14%) and DISH (25%, 9%).

What is missing here is the potential impact of aggressive upgrades and marketing amongst the cable MSO's. Verizon will only accelerate their loss of wireline phone and DSL customers as Docsis 3.0 is deployed and advanced television services are offered by cable.

What's your “Reputation Quotient”?

Here is a summary report from Harris Interactive of its “2009 Harris Interactive RQ Study”, a survey using “Reputation Quotient”, which measures the reputations of the 60 Most Visible Companies in the U.S. According to the report, the percentage of Americans who see the state of reputation as "not good" or "terrible" decreased from 88% in 2008 to 81% in 2009. There was a 50% increase in the number of Americans who said that the state of reputation is "good", moving from 12% to 18%. Other highlights include:

· Six companies received an RQ score over 80, which is considered to be an "Excellent" reputation, with Berkshire Hathaway taking the top spot from Johnson & Johnson by less than 0.5 points. Rounding out the list of companies with excellent reputations are Google, 3M Company, SC Johnson, and Intel Corporation.

· Among companies measured in 2008 and 2009, 13 had significant declines in YoY reputation. Bank America had the largest YoY decline , down 4.92 point. Others with significant declines YoY were: Verizon down 4.39, Time Warner down 2.43 and AT&T down 2.18.

· Technology remains the highest rated industry, with a five-point increase from last year to a current 72% positive rating. The two largest reputation increases were in Retail and Automotive, both showing nine point increases. The only industry to show a decline in reputation was Pharmaceuticals, with a two point decrease.

· The top 10 companies on this year's list in order of ranking include: 1) Berkshire Hathaway; 2) Johnson & Johnson; 3) Google 4) 3M Company; 5) SC Johnson; 6) Intel Corporation; 7)Microsoft; 8) The Coca-Cola Company; 9) amazon.com; 10) General Mills.

· The bottom 10 companies on this year's list in order of ranking include: 51.) Delta Airlines; 52) Bank of America; 53) JP Morgan Chase; 54) General Motors; 55) Chrysler; 56) Goldman Sachs; 57) Citigroup; 58) Fannie Mae; 59) AIG; 60) Freddie Mac.

· There are six reputational dimensions that the RQ survey focuses on that influence reputation and consumer behavior. Below are the six dimensions along with the five corporations that ranked highest within each:

o Social Responsibility – Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, SC Johnson, Lowe's, Whole Foods Market

o Emotional Appeal – Johnson & Johnson, amazon.com, SC Johnson, Berkshire Hathaway, General Mills

o Financial Performance – Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Microsoft, Disney, Coca-Cola

o Products & Services – 3M Company, Intel Corporation, Google, Johnson & Johnson, SC Johnson

o Vision & Leadership – Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Coca-Cola,

o Workplace Environment – Google, Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, 3M Company