July 2009

Bad news for my hometown of Winchester, Virginia. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: WINCHESTER— General Electric says it likely will shut down its Winchester light bulb plant next summer. The company said Thursday that about half of the 203 employees at GE Consumer & Industrial’s Winchester Lamp Plant will be eligible for a full GE retirement package if the plant shuts down in ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Friday: Some small businesses hurting under new federal minimum wage Geithner presses for financial rule changes Why doctors don't fear Obamacare Toyota set to close first American plant ever Brookings video presentation on TARP waste Tough times for many hotels continues Big developments, few buyers for new homes 94% off ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Thursday Some good news in the stock and housing markets One big investor on why things really aren't getting better "Rich" taxes cripple small towns 1.5 million green-collar jobs? North Korea is getting nasty UPS profit plunges SEC getting closer to making a move against AIG officials Good comparison of residential and ... read more

No American should be without some kind of health care coverage ... and Im not talking about a free ride in the ER.    Preventative medicine and doctoring before illness is going to be more and more important going forward. That said, I find myself curious about the government plan but have two big questions that I need answered before I can truly come to any kind of conclusion on what will ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Wednesday: Graphic (same as above but larger) on how the recession has impacted income by state You can spend hours going through this amazing chart (FYI - I just bought the hard copy) Bill Gates offers stimulus advice Why Apple may not be a good investment Some good news as foreclosures fell last month Though most foreclosures are centered ... read more

The spread between the 2 year and 10 year treasury yields continue to widen.    Fed policies largely control the direction of shorter-dated notes, while the overall bond market and investors largely determine the direction of longer-dated bonds. The difference between short and long-term bonds is called the 'yield spread' and it is a measure of varied expectations.  This yield spread chart ... read more

So much attention is paid to the large cap names in the stock market often small companies with solid operating metrics go overlooked. As such, I ran a search using the following criteria: U.S.-based companies Market cap between $1 - $10 billion dollars Stock up >20% this year Max price to earnings ratio of 10.00 Max PEG ratio of 1.00 Paid a dividend as of last reporting ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Tuesday: 10 questions and answers on the health care crisis Big Ben on the Hill today and tomorrow The President's continues his determination to tax the wealthy Argument for stocks being below their fair value California finally gets a budget deal Will part of that be closing some U of California campuses? Rural counties in Iowa have read more

Anyone remember the $787 billion dollar spending plan? It's getting lost in the headline shuffle on health care, cap & trade, and everything else being pushed in Washington these days.    Trying to stay on top of it all is tough, but I was able to go through Ohio's latest spending update. Here is the breakdown of "stimulus" programs in Ohio's largest county, Cuyahoga (home of ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Friday: The sky-high tax story is hitting main street America Rasmussen poll: Only 1/3rd of America supports government health care option One wonders if America's relatively low life expectancy (vs. other developed nations) isn't related to health insurance but rather is related inversely to this list Whew ... "only" a 6 month wait for knee replacement in ... read more