Wow. What a Gesture. Now I have a Gesture for You.

 

Effective immediately, all employees from 2^nd level management down will be taking a 10% pay cut.  This amounts to about $5000 a year per employee.  To show that there is indeed sympathy from Upper Management, I myself hereby volunteer to take a $5000 pay cut as well.

Where Will it End??

The title of this post is facetious, of course, as the market never "ends," but the point is, precious metals prices have been going through the roof lately.  I recently bought a bunch of silver at $19 an ounce.  Several weeks later, I see that silver was trading at $29 an oz.  That's like, what, a 50% yield?  I'm all about that, I'll have you know.

Anyway, to see more of my posts about my experiences with precious metals, including my trading with a bullion trader with reasonable fees, Kitco.com, click the links below.

1. Go for the Gold
2. Selling Precious Metals
3. Kitco's Pool Account

Happy investing!

Schwartz "R" Us

Toys giant FAO Schwartz has just been purchased by Toys "R" Us.

Depressed Much?

So, you think the economy is bad today? Think this generation can "feel the pain" of their grandparents/great grandparents suffering during The Great Depression?

Think again.

According to a recent article in The News & Observer, Not Your Grandfather's Depression,

"it is at this point dangerous to link [today with the Great Depression] too quickly or too closely, for today's economic problems, however serious, pale in comparison to those the U.S. experienced in the 1930s."

Take a look at this chart gleaned from the data in that article:

Measure	Now	Then
Duration	17 months to date	12 years
Gross Domestic Product	Slight fall	30% drop between 1929 and 1933
Unemployment	8.5%	25%
Living Beneath Poverty Line	>13%	51%
Bank Failures	50	5,755
Mortgages in default or one month behind	10%	43%-54%

Still think we've got it rough?

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POWERBALL LUMP SUM!

Wow! With the economy as it is today, I think I'll spend nearly all my extra money buying Powerball tickets! Now, if I win, should I take the Lump Sum, or Annual Payments??

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Sick II

Wow. When I wrote this post in August of 2007, who would have thought that we'd be where we are today? Five percent. Ahhh, those were the days.
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A Pool of Precious Metals

Precious metal prices have been taking off lately. To see my experiences with metals, including info about KITCO's Pool Accounts, read my brief series beginning here.
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Five Hundred Thousand Dollars

$500,000. That's the cap President Obama has proposed for exec salary for companies assisted by the bailout. Five Hundred Thousand Dollars. I wish they capped MY salary at that amount - then I'd have something to shoot for.

For that matter, I'd be happy if someone capped my salary at $50,000.

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Looks like a Cyclone hit it

A Riddle for you:

Question: What's the difference between a tornado and the U.S. Economy?

Answer: One leaves a path of destruction as it brings down homes and takes away cars and other prized possessions and personal belongings and the other is a wind storm.
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WMT

Sure glad I have stock in Walmart.