For the week 11/9-11/13

It was a light week for economic and corporate data. Next week, though, we have all manner of releases on housing, inflation and retail sales and a bit more clarity, perhaps, on where we’re headed. All I’ll say for now is I have a very hard time agreeing with the bulls that the Christmas shopping season is going to surprise to the upside. I’ll go with flat vs. last year’s dismal effort, at best. 

What we did learn the past few days, however, was that while Europe has broken the back of its recession, growth in the 16-nation eurozone came in at just 0.4% for the third quarter, with Germany up 0.7%, France up 0.3%, and Italy up 0.6%, all falling short of expectations. In the UK, though, the Bank of England said it sees a solid recovery on the horizon, with 2% growth in 2010 and 4% in 2011. So as the girl sings in Meat Loaf’s Paradise By The Dashboard Light, “What’s it gonna be boy?” A rousing recovery, or do we just limp along? 

At least Asia continues to plow ahead, thanks to China, which this week reported both industrial production and retail sales surged 16% for the month of October, while inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, sagged 0.5%, though at least the deflationary trend here appears to be lessening. For its part Japan had some good news with leading indicator ‘machine tool orders’ rising 10% in September. Can’t manufacture a lot of new products without the right tools, my father always said. Actually, he never said such a thing but work with me. 

One item in Asia that wasn’t so great was the GDP figure for the quarter in Hong Kong, expected to be up 2.2% but instead only up 0.4%. Hong Kong is wrestling with its property bubble, see below. 

So that’s your quick tour around the world as we hop on our UAL flight from London to Chicago to get back into U.S. mode…but what’s this? The pilot’s drunk? Well that’s kind of the way we all were during the height of the bubble. 

While next week will supply us with further data on the current situation in housing, luxury builder Toll Brothers did say it saw a surge in orders, a good thing, and Zillow.com reported it sees fewer homes in negative equity in the third quarter over the second, which is a further sign of stability. 

But then you continue to have this drumbeat that the next big shoe to drop is commercial real estate (CRE) and on this topic I have been consistent in my stance, as I have on everything else regarding both real estate and the equity markets, quite frankly. 

I’ve been saying commercial real estate would have little if any impact on the equity markets, despite all the doom and gloom, and that has indeed been the case. We’ve continued to rally. This was an easy call to make, even as many seemed to ignore it, because you and I don’t talk about CRE at the cocktail party, or tail gate, like we do the crash in residential. It’s about the wealth effect. You felt the collapse in housing, but while you may notice some empty new office buildings, or an anchor tenant that has left your mall, it’s no skin off your nose, to be blunt about it. You’re more worried about your own financial condition. 

But of course the problems in CRE directly impact the small- and medium-sized banks, in particular, and as they attempt to deal with all the bad loans, particularly of the construction variety, on their books, they are far less apt to have the ability to give you a loan, or that small business in the center of town. It’s retrenchment time, and many banks are just struggling to survive (with 115 or more collapsing in 2009 thus far). 

So the issue of commercial real estate is a story about the pace of any overall economic recovery, and the possibilities of a double dip, but thus far it has not impacted the stock market one iota. As Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said in a CNBC interview this week, CRE is a “headwind, but not a show stopper.” 

Just a few other items. President Obama said he would hold a jobs summit in December. I hope he listens to German Chancellor Angela Merkel who announced that despite the risks to the country’s fiscal condition, she is nonetheless plowing ahead with tax cuts for business and the consumer. “If we do it right, we will give Germany new strength.” You go, girl! 

Then there’s health care. We have weeks before wrapping this topic up, one way or another, in terms of potential legislation as the Senate now takes up what the House passed by the narrowest of margins, 220-215 (39 Dems against, one Republican for). The Congressional Budget Office says the Pelosi Special insures 36 million more at a cost of $1.2 trillion the first ten years. But Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent, has said all along he would not accept any health care bill that contained a public option so if Lieberman bails, the Democrats can’t get the required 60 votes. For now understand it will be a Christmas miracle for Obama to have something to sign on his desk before the holidays. 

On the Christmas/Hanukkah shopping season front, Macy’s and Kohl’s weren’t exactly glowing with optimism in their forecasts this week, but Kohl’s did expect it to be “constructive,” a word you can drive a truck through. But FedEx was rather upbeat. 

Gold continued to hit new highs, even as the dollar has basically stabilized the past few weeks (though you’d never know it from the breathless talking heads), but if you don’t think we’re near or at the top, just look at your TV set. I was very distressed to see two of my favorite New York Mets, Ron Darling and Ed Kranepool, doing a new commercial for U.S. Coins. Oh brother. Investment advice from the Mets. To paraphrase Jackie DeShannon, this is not what the world needs now. Or another new commercial that appeared just this week (this on top of the 100 others with the likes of role model G. Gordon Liddy), a classy looking dame with a British accent who asks: 

If I give you $50,000 in cash or $50,000 in gold for the next five years, which would you choose? 

Me? Cash. I’d then do something with it. Maybe put $10,000 in each of five stocks. Or go to Richard Branson’s Necker Island for some real fun and worry about what I’d do with the rest of my life when I get back. But I digress…. 

The inference the classy dame is making is of course that gold will outperform stocks. 

So you know how we’re told, correctly, that stocks have been a dead investment the past 10 years? 

Do you remember where the Dow Jones was when gold was hitting the $800 level back in 1980? Try about 900 on average that year. The Dow is now over 10000. It took gold 29 years to go from $800 to $1100. Just a thought. I know a few broker/financial planner friends who might use this. 

Now, if you’re looking to gold as a hedge for geopolitical reasons, as I keep noting the past few months, good. Nothing wrong with that. Just understand why you’re buying it. I can certainly give you one good reason on this end…Iran. So as I predicted months ago that Israel would bomb Iran’s nuclear facility(ies) in November, and we only have two weeks left in the month, what’s the latest on this front? Let me make a few points. 

Iran has yet to formally respond to the proposal put forward by the G5 plus One to send its enriched uranium to Russia (and then France, perhaps) for further enrichment for medical use. What the Iranian government has said, instead, is that it’s not real keen on the proposal; this after its negotiator said it sounded good to him.  

What Iran did offer, informally, was that it would buy the needed 20 percent enriched uranium and keep its own…a non-starter with the U.S. et al, to say the least. 

Iran warned Russia that if Moscow didn’t deliver the S-300 anti-aircraft missile defense system for which Russia signed a contract two years ago, then relations between Iran and Russia would be harmed. So I take you back to WIR, 10/10/09, where I wrote the following: 

“I still maintain that (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu told Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev that Israel was going to be forced to act and that if Russia would just delay delivery on the S-300 sophisticated anti-missile system it has promised Tehran, Israel wouldn’t stand in the way of any future Russian arms deals once Israel had done its work. [Just a thought, my own, not anyone else’s.]” 

The U.S. accused Iran in the UN Security Council of arms deliveries to Hizbullah, through Syria, following Israel’s seizure of hundreds of tons of weapons aboard a ship headed for Syria. 

Hizbullah’s Sheikh Nasrallah warned Israel it better not launch a preemptive strike on Lebanon, Nasrallah offering that this would come before a strike on Iran. I don’t see it happening this way, but regardless, should Israel strike, it will be prepared to act virtually simultaneously against what would be a certain Hizbullah counterstrike directed from Tehran. There is little doubt, however, that Hizbullah has hardened its defenses since the 2006 war. 

A follow-up. Iran’s parliament gave President Ahmadinejad an apparent victory by giving him a free hand to spend extra oil revenues as he sees fit. I wrote last time this was in dispute and a source of tension. The government now intends to open bank accounts for 36 million people, about half the population, to give them cash to compensate for higher food and energy prices. 

Federal authorities moved to seize U.S. assets controlled by suspected terror organizations linked to Iran, including various mosques and a Manhattan skyscraper; all of which were supposedly connected to an Iran bank that has been identified as a key financier of Tehran’s missile programs and acts of terrorism. The Obama administration deserves credit on this one. The New York-based organization, known as the Alavi Foundation, has been under surveillance for “decades” but at least action was finally taken. It also takes guts, because as the Council on American-Islamic Relations said after, “the seizure of American houses of worship could have a chilling effect on the religious freedom of citizens of all faiths and may send a negative message to Muslims worldwide.” Too bad. 

This week Iran also accused three detained Americans of spying, meaning a probable show trial is now on the docket, and Iran lashed out at Oxford University for establishing a scholarship in the name of Neda Salehi Agha-Soltan, the young woman gunned down in the post-election protests last June. Iran’s embassy in London said Oxford was now linked to interference in Iran’s internal affairs. [Too bad we can’t settle the whole conflict with a debate between Oxford and Iran’s cavemen. I think you’d agree it would be rather one-sided, as long as the Iranian debaters weren’t allowed to take a 4-year break to enrich uranium in the bathroom.] 

Lastly, I hope some of you caught the action at the White House this past Monday night. Or, rather, read about it because no pictures or press were allowed. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with President Obama for two hours. “It was a very focused and very positive conversation,” said Netanyahu after. “This conversation dealt with a range of subjects that are important for the security of Israel, and for our joint efforts to advance peace,” he added. 

Netanyahu refused to elaborate, saying only: “I think this visit will turn out to have been very important.” Obama said nothing. 

I read a lot of different accounts and, shockingly, they all focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. That is inconceivable. Of course the focus was Iran. It had to be. It’s certainly the only thing on Netanyahu’s mind these days. The talk of restarting negotiations with the Palestinians is nothing more than a smokescreen, which Palestinian President Abbas has finally figured out. 

A curious thing happened this week on Bill O’Reilly’s show. He had a liberal professor, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, substituting for Alan Colmes’ slot, and the topic was Iran. Dr. Hill was like, ‘Oh sure, Iran has had their chance. It’s time for military action.’ This coming from a guy on the far left. To me it signals an important change in attitude. 

Much has been made of President Obama the past few days, as first put forward in a Washington Post piece, that he is really feeling the strains of the office and that he’s lost a lot of weight (if this was even possible). Clearly, the Afghan troop decision is weighing on him, but it would be the height of naivety to believe Iran isn’t right up there as well, and it’s even more worrisome because of all that we just don’t know.  

–Consumer confidence continues to drop, but the sentiment on Wall Street only got better as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all surged an additional 2% this week on the heels of solid earnings news from the likes of Disney and Hewlett-Packard, the latter also making a big acquisition (more below). Disney’s report talked of a slight increase in attendance at its theme parks, another good sign for the economy as well. Overall, 80% of the companies in the S&P 500 have exceeded analysts’ expectations this reporting period, the highest ratio according to Bloomberg since 1993. 

But aside from the fact I’m urging extreme caution due to the Iranian situation (but not an outright ‘sell’ as yet), I can’t ignore valuations and if you tell me the S&P 500 will earn $75 next year, then we’re not overvalued, but neither do we have much further to run, maybe 5%. If you tell me we’re going to earn $80 in 2010, tack on another 10% or so. But let’s see what happens the next few weeks with regards to activity at the malls, as well as the geopolitical landscape. 

–U.S. Treasury Yields 

–Intel made a blockbuster announcement; it was paying rival Advanced Micro Devices $1.25 billion to settle their long-running dispute as Intel faces antitrust challenges around the globe. The agreement focuses on AMD’s biggest issue, that being its claims that Intel paid off computer makers to use only Intel chips and punished those using AMD. The firm’s have agreed to cross-license each other’s patents for five years, but the settlement has no impact on the European Union’s case, according to a spokesman for the competition commissioner. New York’s attorney general also announced he was proceeding with a wide-ranging antitrust suit against Intel. 

–In another blockbuster move on the tech front, Hewlett-Packard is acquiring networking-gear maker 3Com for $2.7 billion in cash. H-P is already the world’s largest tech company by revenue and it is hoping to reenergize 3Com which has a better set of networking products for larger clients than H-P has, as well as a substantial toehold in China. H-P also preannounced it will handily beat estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter and raised its revenue guidance for the coming fiscal year. 

So now H-P is moving aggressively onto Cisco’s turf, while Cisco has previously moved into that of H-P and Dell on the server side. Earlier, Oracle moved into the computer space by acquiring Sun Microsystems, though this last deal continues to have major issues with the EU. 

–Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee, rolled out his proposal to overhaul the regulatory system that would strip the Federal Reserve of powers and create a single banking regulator, while the Fed, the FDIC and others of its ilk say they are best able to supervise the banks. Dodd said his proposal was designed to provide “clarity, cut red tape and make it easier to compete” but banks would “no longer be able to shop for the weakest regulator.” [Financial Times] The battle among the players has really just begun. 

–Former Bears Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin were acquitted on all charges, including securities fraud, in a criminal case involving their management of funds in the early months of 2007. The government had claimed they had lied to investors about the makeup of the portfolios, which contained big chunks of subprime mortgage garbage, and greatly understated the risks as they were trying to hang on to assets. 

But a jury said the government did a poor job of proving criminality. The case is a precursor to one involving former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo where he faces similar allegations he misled investors even as he himself was cashing in his stock. It’s clear there was wrongdoing, in both instances, but it’s the issue of whether it warrants serving ten years in Club Fed.  

I’ll tell you how far we’ve come, though. A CNBC analyst, who is currently hawking a book on the era, said he didn’t really see anything wrong because the likes of Cioffi and Tannin were just “spinning to intelligent people, so they know better.” 

Great. You can thus get away with any kind of immoral behavior, if this is your line of logic, which is what Wall Street has done for decades. It’s also why there is little reason to be optimistic about the future (sorry Warren Buffett and Bill Gates) when such are the guiding principles in our country. 

–A Wall Street Journal editorial importantly points out how on the trade front America is increasingly being left behind. 

“At least 266 bilateral or regional trade deals are in force, according to the World Trade Organization, and there are roughly 100 more of which the WTO has not yet been formally informed. The U.S. is a party to only five of the 64 trade pacts that have taken effect since 2005 – with Australia, Morocco, Bahrain, Oman and Peru. 

“In contrast, eight of those 64 deals involve the European Union (plus a round of EU expansion) and Japan has signed nine. Overall the U.S. has trade deals with only 17 countries including Canada and Mexico under Nafta. The EU has struck 29 deals on trade ranging from customs unions to larger free-trade agreements with 40 economies.” 

These trends are not good. But I see in Japan, Saturday morning, President Obama talked of a reinvigorated trade agenda in a major policy address. 

–The International Energy Agency revised its oil demand forecast for 2010 slightly higher, forecasting demand would rise to 86.2 million barrels a day, with China now 10% of total demand. 

But the IEA said, “The recent price spike, if further extended, risks derailing the recovery. Not only that, but oil demand itself would rebound much more slowly were the price rally sustained into 2010." 

–The bonus issue on Wall Street is far from going away, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, alone, slated to hand out some $30 billion, up from $26.8 billion for the three two years ago. True, they paid back $45 billion in TARP funds, but it doesn’t help on the PR front when Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein is quoted as saying he’s just doing “God’s work,” whether it was meant to be humorous or not. 

–Speaking of pay, Bill Gates said that Wall Street compensation was “often too high” but “it’s a very tough problem to resolve” and any government efforts to limit executive salaries would backfire. 

–And then there’s pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who conceded he is “very concerned” his mandated pay cuts will drive away talent from companies bailed out by taxpayers. “The law makes it clear that the determinations I render are designed, first and foremost, to make sure those companies thrive and that the taxpayers get their money back.” 

AIG’s new CEO, Robert Benmosche, “expressed his concern that compensation keeps his people on board and that the company thrive,” Feinberg said. For his part, Benmosche told employees he was staying despite rumors to the contrary. 

–The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates 22 million Americans have contracted swine flu with close to 4,000 deaths, including over 500 children. But from an economic impact, which was always my prime focus, H1N1’s has been minimal. 

–Recent art auctions in New York brought in close to $600 million vs. $409 million in May, a decent sign. But last fall, Sotheby’s and Christie’s brought in $729 million, while two years ago the November sales totaled $1.6 billion. 

Incidentally, the top price at Christie’s went for a work by the incredibly overrated Edgar Degas, an 1896 pastel of two ballerinas that sold for $10.7 million. But then an Andy Warhol, “200 One Dollar Bills,” went for $43.7 million at Sotheby’s. 

–Prices in the Hong Kong luxury housing market, which were far into bubble territory, corrected 10% in just one week as banks tightened lending standards and sentiment changed on a dime with the government warning prices were too high. 

–British Airways is combining with Spain’s Iberia to create the world’s 7th-largest airliner. [Delta is No. 1] 

–Deflation Watch: More news from Ireland. 25 percent of companies here have implemented pay cuts, double the EU average, with 3/4s of these introducing cuts across all levels, not just the executive one. 10 percent of European firms, in an extensive survey, said they will be following suit in 2010. 

–Interesting story in the L.A. Times by Ralph Vartabedian and Ken Bensinger concerning sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Owner complaints have triggered numerous investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the last seven years, “But those investigations systematically excluded or dismissed the majority of complaints by owners,” this despite the fact “15 people died in crashes related to possible sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles from the 2002 model year and newer, compared with 11 such deaths in vehicles made by all other automakers.” 

–Meanwhile, it appears Volkswagen-Porsche has overtaken Toyota to become the world’s largest car maker. 

–The world’s largest hotel operator by number of rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group, said third quarter revenues declined 19% with ongoing pressure in the business-traveler market. Historically, the mix was 60% business customers, 40% leisure traveler, but today it’s 50/50. 

–In the local paper, on one page there were two interesting stories that gave a sense of the current economic environment. The Chatham school district has a ‘space crunch.’ Why? More and more families are taking their kids out of expensive private schools (with Chatham’s public schools as good as any in the state), while attendance at the local Turtle Back Zoo hit a record. Instead of a week-long Caribbean vacation, parents are taking their kids to the zoo for big savings. 

–Video game sales fell 19% in October, the seventh consecutive monthly slide, in yet another example of the bite of the recession. This doesn’t bode well for the holiday season, when the companies typically pick up 40% of their sales, and as an example of the depression in the sector, Electronic Arts is laying off 1,500 jobs.  

But Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took in $310 million during its first day on sale in the U.S. and Britain. 

–Applied Materials is slashing 1,500 jobs as well, though order flow is better. The problem is the company doesn’t expect pre-recession sales levels for a long time. 

–Atlantic City’s casinos saw revenues decline 6.5% in October from year ago figures, which is actually far better than earlier in the year when the rate was consistently in the double-digits.  

–And Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced it will restart work on two stalled projects in Macau that had resulted in 11,000 layoffs there, another positive sign. 

–Disney issued a solid earnings report, as noted above, but the company shook up management in the film division after some bombs, including a remake of “A Christmas Carol” that is being universally panned. [They keep trying to beat the 1951 Alastair Sim version and they can’t!] Analysts estimate Disney will book a loss of $50 million to $100 million on this one project. 

–Steel production resumed its uptrend this week after just the second blip in over half a year. 

–We note the passing of management theorist Russell Ackoff, 90. Mr. Ackoff had a long association with Anheuser-Busch and helped them along to national dominance by designing their expansion strategy; one that focused more on price than advertising spending, as well as building new warehouses and breweries. [Sales quadrupled from 1961 to 1976, even as the marketing budget stayed flat.] 

Mr. Ackoff once said: “All of our social problems arise out of doing the wrong thing righter. The more efficient you are at doing the wrong thing, the wronger you become. It is much better to do the right thing wronger than the wrong thing righter! If you do the right thing wrong and correct it, you get better!” 

–Follow-up: Since I mentioned the America’s Cup last time, it appears the race is now being held in February in Valencia, Spain, not Australia, as the two opponents reached a settlement in their court fight. [Kind of funny that a high school classmate of mine, G. Bruce Knecht, is one of the experts on this topic worldwide.] 

–You know those commercials for the California Milk Advisory Board with the happy cows? The board promotes the state’s dairy farmers but films the spots in New Zealand, thus ticking off unions such as the Teamsters, which represents location managers, studio drivers and casting directors. The Milk Board says it’s simply a matter of economics. 

–Neat story by Matthew Boyle in BusinessWeek concerning Subway’s $5 footlong success, some $3.8 billion in sales that helped the privately held company show sales growth of 17% last year at a time when most other chains were struggling. It’s the meal of choice here at StocksandNews on many an occasion. Plus the cookies are great. And the franchisees actually turn a profit on it…which I found amazing. 

–Ah, but Burger King franchisees sued the parent over the $1 double cheeseburger promotion because they take a 10-cent hit on each sandwich sold. The suit claims Burger King can’t set maximum prices. 

Well, there’s quite a difference between a $5 footlong and a $1 double cheeseburger. So I’m thinking you may want to buy a ton of the BK product and freeze it for future use. Go ahead, order 100 and see what the restaurant owner says. 

–McDonald’s plans to open 1,000 restaurants worldwide next year, including 150-175 in China and 40 in Russia. It currently has 32,000 around the globe. Capital spending, at a projected $2.4 billion for 2010, is an increase over this year, a decent sign. 

–Speaking of China, I was disappointed in my holding there as it reported third quarter earnings that were OK, but sales were down slightly. The share price dropped a bit. But I have to reiterate this is a story for 2010 and beyond. I don’t expect any solid news, now that the new plant has been completed, until mid-May and Q1 earnings, at which point we’ll get a good idea if their expansion strategy is working. 

–And finally, Mark R. says that if you are buying tickets from a scalper, do not accept $50 bills in return. Repeat…do not take $50 bills in making a transaction with a scalper. The bills could be counterfeit, as a friend of Mark’s found out the other day in Philly. Kind of like the bad acid at Woodstock. 

Afghanistan: Defense Secretary Robert Gates summed up the recent debate that has been circling President Obama as Obama ponders, interminably, what to do next. Gates said, when asked about all the reports flooding the media, “I am appalled by the amount of leaking that has been going on. Everybody out there ought to just shut up.” 

The latest view came in the form of a warning from U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry (a retired four-star general who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan 2006-07), who is arguing against sending any further troops to Afghanistan, in direct contradiction of what the commander on the ground, General Stanley McChrystal, wants. 

Eikenberry isn’t the only diplomat in trouble, though, as Kai Eide, a UN aide, criticized President Hamid Karzai for not making more changes in his post-election government. “Warlords and power-brokers” should not decide the shape of the next government, he said.  Britain’s Gordon Brown also took aim at Karzai, telling him to clean up the massive corruption. To which a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that all parties should butt out; that outsiders are violating Afghanistan’s national sovereignty. 

Meanwhile, with the British death toll over 230, the people have lost faith in their nation’s participation, with 64% saying the war was “unwinnable” and 63% thinking British troops should be withdrawn “as soon as possible.” 

As to Obama and his pending decision, former Bush 43 speechwriter Michael Gerson noted in an op-ed for the Washington Post: 

“(The president’s) actual decision may be a near-run thing, bathed in shades of gray. But military choices must be announced and pursued with neon clarity. It is the purpose of wartime presidential leadership to turn a debatable strategy into a national commitment.” 

“Elected as a progressive reformer, Wilson entered World War I with a deep, liberal reluctance. But he became a wartime leader. ‘Again and again,’ he said in 1919, ‘mothers who lost their sons in France have come to me and, taking my hand, have shed tears upon it not only, but they have added, ‘God bless you, Mr. President!’ Why, my fellow citizens, should they pray God to bless me? I advised the Congress of the United States to create the situation that led to the death of their sons. I ordered their sons overseas. I consented to their sons being put in the most difficult parts of the battle line, where death was certain…Why should they weep upon my hand and call down the blessings of God upon me? Because they believe that their boys died for something that vastly transcends any of the immediate and palpable objects of the war. They believe, and they rightly believe, that their sons saved the liberty of the world.’ 

“Once a decision is made on Afghanistan, Obama will need a similar transfusion of red corpuscles – and need to make a similar case. In Afghanistan and other distant places, America’s sons and daughters are saving the liberty of the world.” 

Israel, part II: For the record, Palestinian President Abbas said Netanyahu doesn’t want a two-state solution, and that the Palestinians would make no further concessions. No talks without Israel fully halting settlement activity. Palestinian elections are slated for Jan. 24, but many of Abbas’ supporters want them canceled (even as Abbas has already said he wouldn’t run). Hamas has rejected polling. 

Lebanon: It took 135 days, but Lebanon and Prime Minister Saad Hariri finally formed a cabinet that grants Hariri 15 ministers, the opposition (including Hizbullah) 10 seats, and President Michel Sleiman the other five, guaranteeing Sleiman the tipping point, as well as denying Hariri or Hizbullah absolute power. 

Of course the arrangement only entrenches Hizbullah further, particularly in terms of its ability to maintain control of its independent telecommunications network, critical in times of war. Bottom line, Hizbullah maintains its independence in all regards, and because of it, Lebanon can not develop as it should. 

Iraq: The election law was finally passed in parliament and it will allow a vote (supposedly in January) in the oil-rich, disputed city of Kirkuk, though the legislation does not include any guaranteed seats for Arab and Turkomen lawmakers in Kirkuk, while the majority Kurds claim it is part of their self-ruled region in northern Iraq. There are concerns by groups such as Human Rights Watch that the Kurds, who were displaced and killed by Saddam Hussein, will take their deep-seated hatred out against the minorities. 

Saudi Arabia: In a conflict that warrants a look from time to time, Saudi Arabia launched an air and ground assault against Yemeni rebels on its border. Yemen is a Saudi ally and both have accused Shiite Iran of fomenting instability, raising concerns Yemen will be used as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia…Shia vs. Sunni. Yemen’s military had been battling the rebels but now it appears it will let the better armed Saudis do their dirty work. 

China: President Obama arrives on Sunday and while few expect too much of substance to be accomplished, it’s the symbolism that will be of importance as much as anything, and staying away from further disputes, such as with the tit-for-tat trade issues that have developed over the past few months. And of course the other big issue on the economic front is the fate of the Chinese currency and whether the government will finally let it strengthen to encourage domestic spending, even as it would have a detrimental effect on manufacturing and exports, which drive the Chinese economy. Ergo, don’t look for China to do anything on this front (outside the bare minimum) for now, especially when more than a few Chinese officials have been pounding the table that there can be no let up on stimulus measures due to the fragile nature of the global recovery. 

Robert Kagan / Washington Post 

“For decades, U.S. strategy toward China has had two complementary elements. The first was to bring China into the ‘family of nations’ through engagement. The second was to make sure China did not become too dominant, through balancing. The Clinton administration pushed for China’s accession to the World Trade Organization and normalized trade but also strengthened the U.S. military alliance with Japan. The Bush administration fostered close economic ties and improved strategic cooperation with China.   But the United States also forged a strategic partnership with India and enhanced its relations with Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. The strategy has been to give China a greater stake in peace, while maintaining a balance of power in the region favorable to democratic allies and American interests. 

“ ‘Strategic reassurance’ seems to chart a different course. Senior officials liken the policy to the British accommodation of a rising United States at the end of the 19th century, which entailed ceding the Western Hemisphere to American hegemony. Lingering behind this concept is an assumption of America’s inevitable decline. 

“Yet nothing would do more to hasten decline than to follow this path. The British accommodation of America’s rise was based on close ideological kinship. British leaders recognized the United States as a strategic ally in a dangerous world – as proved true throughout the 20th century. No serious person would imagine a similar grand alliance and ‘special relationship’ between an autocratic China and a democratic United States. For the Chinese – true realists – the competition with the United States in East Asia is very much a zero-sum game. 

“For that reason, ‘strategic reassurance’ is likely to fail. The Obama administration cannot back out of the region any time soon; Obama’s trip this week, in fact, seems designed to demonstrate American staying power. Nor is China likely to slow its efforts to militarily and economically dominate the region. So it will quickly become obvious that no one on either side feels reassured. 

“Unfortunately, the only result will be to make American allies nervous. For an administration that has announced ‘we are back’ after years of alleged Bush administration neglect in Asia, this is not an auspicious beginning.” 

On a totally different issue, the weather, China’s leaders are taking well-deserved heat for creating heavy snowfalls that have killed at least 38. Yes, cloud-seeding and the manipulation of the weather. 

You see, drought is so pervasive, especially in the north, that each time China sees favorable conditions it seeds the clouds to bring precipitation, only this time it was the heaviest snowfalls in Beijing in over 50 years. The government is attempting to refill reservoirs and build up the water table but this time it backfired, at least in terms of the human element. Hundreds of flights were canceled, over 30,000 cars were stranded on one main road, and flimsy buildings are collapsing under the weight of the snow all over the place; in one case claiming the lives of three schoolchildren. 

Lastly, a positive note. China and Taiwan appear set to sign an agreement on financial cooperation between the two that could clear the way for each side to buy the other’s bank assets. 

North/South Korea: After the first naval clash in seven years this week, the North threatened the South, and the South countered that it would deter any retaliation by Pyongyang. The U.S. still hopes to restart talks with Lil’ Kim and his Orcs by year end, in one form or another. 

Russia: Efforts to come up with a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) have hit a roadblock as the U.S. is demanding tighter verification procedures and cutbacks to certain delivery systems with the Russians contending the U.S. would then gain an unfair advantage. It’s messy because verification involves keeping track of sea-based facilities, warheads in depots, those on carriers, etc., all of which are not easily tracked by satellite. 

As for Russia’s participation in the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall, President Medvedev honored German Chancellor Angela Merkel by taking part. But then Medvedev said in an interview with Der Spiegel: 

“It is totally wrong to say, ‘Here is the united Europe where democracy has already been achieved, and there is dark, uneducated Russia that we cannot yet allow into Europe. Our values are the same as yours…. 

“After the disappearance of the Warsaw Pact, we were hoping for a higher degree of integration. But what have we received? None of the things that we were assured, namely that NATO would not expand endlessly eastward.” 

European Union: It’s set…November 19 is the date when a special summit of the EU will select its first Council president under the Lisbon Treaty. There appear to be three major candidates; Belgian Prime Minister Van Rompuy, Tony Blair and Luxembourg leader Juncker. 

Colombia/Venezuela: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is seeking help from the UN Security Council as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez continues to urge his military to prepare for war. 

Editorial / Washington Post 

“This is the second time in less than 18 months that Mr. Chavez has ordered troops to the Colombian border and suggested that hostilities were imminent. In the past few years he has spent more than $4 billion on arms purchases from Russia alone. He claims to be worried that a recent U.S. agreement with Colombia, under which U.S. Air Force and Navy units will have expanded access to military bases, is meant to facilitate a U.S. invasion of Venezuela. In fact, he has something to worry about: The bases will be used for U.S. drug surveillance flights, and Mr. Chavez is known to be cooperating with terrorist organizations that are trafficking drugs from Colombia through Venezuela. 

“Few believe that Mr. Chavez will start a war with Colombia. But then, as a couple of seasoned Latin American observers have pointed out, no one believed Argentina’s similarly beleaguered strongman, Leopoldo Galtieri, when he began threatening to take Argentina to war with Britain in 1982. In the annals of the region’s authoritarian populism, stranger things have happened.” 

Brazil: There was a massive power outage here, with 60 million losing their electricity, including the megalopolis’ of Sao Paulo and Rio, as well as parts of Uruguay and Paraguay. There was some sort of failure in a transmission station between the Itaipu hydroelectric plant and Sao Paulo, which focused attention on Brazil’s archaic power grid. The nation may be energy independent, but it has spent little on its infrastructure and delivery system, much as we have failed to do here. 

Now picture that while power was out in most places just an hour or two, gangs went nuts in Rio, robbing and terrorizing before hundreds of extra police and soldiers restored order in the worst neighborhoods.  What a terrific memory to file away for those thinking of attending the 2016 Olympic Games here. 

Paraguay: I hope they are proud for making WIR! I saw a blurb that the army chief was sacked amid rumors of a potential coup and it’s a reminder that this landlocked nation borders Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. It’s the first one, Bolivia, that, as an ally of Venezuela, has some Iranian/Hizbullah agents, training unnoticed. 

–Fort Hood, terrorism, and our president. 

My favorite place to go for a jog is a park in Chatham, NJ, where at certain points you can picture soldiers passing from the Revolutionary War because nearby it’s documented they did just that. I try and use my little bouts of exercise for problem solving and the other day I’m jogging along, in the aftermath of Ft. Hood and all the discussion over what a terrible job Obama did and how could authorities not call it by what it was…a terror attack…and I thought, I wish I had lived in Colonial times. Granted, I would have died before I was 30 because I’d have been a miserable farmer and starved to death, but before then I would have enjoyed it; discussing the issues of the times, over days and weeks, not nanoseconds. 

You see, I’m not real enamored with this world and where it’s headed in this day of instant bloviating, often with zero accountability. No one wants to wait 24 hours, my mantra. Instead it’s instant punditry, instant guilt, instant convictions…and if later the facts speak otherwise, who cares? The seething mob has just moved on to the next topic, stepping over the bodies left behind, if they are even that courteous. Yes, I often think, I wasn’t made for these times. 

I mean look at Ft. Hood. Now we’re hearing that Sergeant Kimberly Munley may not have hit Major Hasan with a single bullet; that it could have been Sergeant Mark Todd. I don’t have the facts myself but you all recall a similar type incident at the start of the Iraq war. Hollywood likes a good story, after all, and the above is also a convenient way to deflect attention from what a scandalous job the U.S. military did in failing to detect, and eject, Hasan from the ranks. 

I could point to countless times over the last almost 11 years of writing this column where I’ve excoriated our military leadership…including the likes of General Tommy Franks, for one. The ending for this column since 9/11, “God bless the men and women of our armed forces,” is primarily for the grunts. It just needs to be stated that the military, like any other government institution, is loaded with folks who advance to a certain level and are either satisfied or don’t care. The pencil pushers. They’re just punching in like with any other line of work.  

Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra, co-chair of the House Intelligence Committee, was right to be “absolutely furious” upon learning some in the military, the intelligence community, or both, knew of Hasan’s past contacts. Others were sitting in a lecture hall, listening to Hasan wax terrorist, and not putting two and two together. It’s with good reason that President Obama demanded a full report from every department with responsibility for Hasan on his desk by the end of the month. 

And speaking of the bureaucracy, Hasan will get the death penalty but we’ve learned it’s seldom carried out in the military because of it. It’s sickening. 

As for the president himself, I have tried to be fair in all my judgments. I’ve also said it’s apparent he wasn’t ready for prime time, as further exhibited by his now infamous “shoutouts” at the conference where he broke the Ft. Hood shootings. I’m assuming he’d like to take that moment back. 

At the same time he’s still our president and I was disgusted by some of the inane vitriol, including from a man I’ve referred to countless times in a favorable light, Ret. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, who this week, going back to his first column in the New York Post of 11/7, represented a classic example of one who needed to take a deep breath and wait 24 hours.  

I think the vast majority of us agree that the use of the phrase “terror attack” to describe Ft. Hood is appropriate, but in the first 24 hours, there is no one who could declare that unequivocally, and in the meantime to use a forum for pure venom against our leaders is a game I’m not going to play. There is no sense of fairness whatsoever these days. There is no time to develop the facts, then debate. And as we learned in the Bush White House, long before the current regime, there is also zero accountability… anywhere. That’s what should outrage Americans more than anything. 

“The Fort Hood massacre makes clear, again, that Islamic terror is unavoidably a domestic U.S. problem as well. There is a strain in American thinking that deludes itself in believing that somehow this force will occupy itself mainly with blowing up marketplaces in faraway Pakistan or Afghanistan. On Thursday, their problem was our problem. 

“In the aftermath of these shootings, the best venue for exploring the domestic threat from radical Islam and what to do about it is Senator Joe Lieberman’s proposed hearings into the Hasan murders…. 

“Mr. Lieberman’s hearings could explore if the Army needs ways to muster out personnel such as Hasan or recruits ambivalent about fighting fellow Muslims. 

“Just as Americans can’t blink away the dangerous world of radical Islam, however, we also cannot pretend that we can field a military that doesn’t include Muslims. The unreality of attempting to fight this enemy without Muslim soldiers or operatives should be obvious. In Iraq, devout Muslims worked loyally as translators and guides for U.S. forces, sometimes dying to rid their country of the world’s common enemy, which is homicidal Islamic fanatics. 

“In recent years U.S. soldiers have fought a common enemy on behalf of and often alongside Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Somalia, and elsewhere. The U.S. is fighting a sworn enemy today, just as in World War II American Germans, Italians and Japanese fought sworn U.S. enemies of the same race and religion. Many American Muslims will do the same if we stay focused on the real enemy, and show we have the will to do what’s necessary to find them and stop them.” 

Editorial / New York Post 

“In stirring, eloquent and typically well-delivered remarks, President Obama yesterday paid tribute to the 13 people gunned down in last week’s Fort Hood shooting rampage – and to all the members of the U.S. armed forces. 

“His comments were especially fitting – spoken, as they were, on the eve of Veteran’s Day, when the nation pauses to honor, and thank, the millions of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have served with distinction. 

“The president didn’t name the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Nor did he describe the attack for what it increasingly looks to be: the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11, perpetrated by a would-be jihadist. 

“Still, he did place the shooting, appropriately, in the context of ‘the extremists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans’ on 9/11. And he pointedly noted that ‘no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.’…. 

“As the nation today pays well-deserved tribute to its veterans, it should keep in mind President Obama’s inspiring description of America’s fighting men and women – in this and preceding generations: 

“ ‘They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known,’ he said. ‘They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places. They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains…. 

“ ‘They are man and woman; white, black and brown, of all faiths and stations – all Americans, serving together to protect our people.’ 

James Gordon Meek is a reporter for the New York Daily News and on Wednesday, 11/11, he was visiting Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery where many of today’s Afghan and Iraq war dead are buried. I’ve been there myself. It’s gut-wrenching. 

“President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of Stone. 

“This was Section 60…I wasn’t there as a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when Obama made an unscheduled stop – a rare presidential walk among what Lincoln called America’s ‘honored dead’ – after laying a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. 

“What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made – and sacrifices yet to be made. 

“I’m sure the cynics will assume this was just another Obama photoop. 

“If they’d been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile. 

“His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command…. 

“The President patted backs of a dozen Gold Star relatives and troops visiting buddies now in the ground. 

“He gave hugs. He shook wet, chilly hands. He wanted to know something about each fallen warrior.” 

Obama was leaving when he fixed his glance on reporter Meek. He asked his name and why he was there. Meek said, “I’m here visiting a friend, Pfc. David H. Sharrett II, who was killed in Iraq last year.” 

“I then told him I’m a reporter for the Daily News – but was just there to visit friends. 

“ ‘Well, James,’ he said, looking me in the eye, ‘just because you’re a journalist doesn’t mean you can’t honor your friends here.’ 

“Her face opened up into a smile filled with warmth and comfort, a welcome antidote for the weather and sadness around her. She said there was no finer place to be on Veterans Day.” 

To repeat, let’s hope our president grows into the job more quickly than he has to date. I at least sense he’s gained a certain wisdom the past ten days. On Friday, I was watching his press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama when a question came up about U.S. intentions for our base in Okinawa, with Hatoyama wanting us to exit as soon as possible. President Obama immediately started defending the character of the American soldiers stationed there when it really wasn’t part of the question, but it was earnest, and good to see. 

Obama has some huge decisions to make, some of which he should have already acted on, no doubt. I hope we can say a year or two from now, just as we did with President Bush and the surge in Iraq, that Obama did the right thing. 

–Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11, will stand trial in New York, along with four others, possibly as early as January.  I\’ll have far more on this next week.

–Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” hits the shelves, with Palin contending “the McCain campaign stuck her with a $50,000 bill for the cost of her own vetting, botched the announcement of her teenage daughter’s pregnancy, outfitted Palin with all those infamous costly ensembles, and shielded her from reporters. Even so, Palin goes on to belittle two famous interlocutors, Katie Couric and Charles Gibson, according to the Associated Press, which found and purchased a copy of the book before its sale date.” [Jason Horowitz and Michael D. Shear / Washington Post] 

Matthew Continetti of The Weekly Standard had an extensive piece on Palin in last week’s issue, comparing her at one point to Andrew Jackson, while Continetti was given space in Friday’s Journal to further opine on her comeback and the prospects for Palin to reenergize the base. 

Goodness gracious. Palin compared to Andrew Jackson? Oh well, decide for yourself if she’s learned anything the past few months and watch Oprah, Monday.  

–I feel sorry for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the huge stir he caused by misspelling the name of a fallen soldier in a letter of condolence to the lad’s mother. Jacqui Janes’ son Jamie, 20, died, and Brown started his hand-written note with the words: “Dear Mrs. James.” He labeled Jamie ‘Janie’ as well. 

But Brown has always had horrible handwriting and he’s blind in one eye. Nonetheless, many felt he wasn’t taking proper care with the 230+ letters he has penned. 

The prime minister was mortified over his mistakes and personally called Mrs. Janes, who insisted Brown had been disrespectful. 

Well enough. But then we learned she taped a personal visitation he paid her to try and make amends. Taped it! I’m no fan of Gordon Brown, but Mrs. Janes went way too far. As I noted above, there are too many times these days when I find myself thinking, ‘That’s just not fair.’  

–John Allen Muhammad, a k a the D.C. Sniper, was executed for his role in the killing spree that claimed 10 lives in the Washington area the month of October 2002. He had also been linked to killings in several other states, while accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo serves life in prison, Malvo having been 17 at the time and thus ineligible for death row. 

So Muhammad’s execution provided a bit of closure to his victims’ families while Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine rejected his clemency request. 

No hue and cry over his being put to death, as you undoubtedly noticed. Which struck me as more than a bit interesting, seeing as I wish the death penalty was more vigorously applied for obvious cases such as Muhammad’s. 

–Federal authorities cracked down on the violent MS-13 gang in New York City, arresting nine, after a turncoat confessed he had been ordered to assassinate an immigration and customs (ICE) agent. MS-13 is as big a threat as any faced in our country, and there is no reason why they wouldn’t hook up with Islamic terrorists down the road. 

–The Financial Times reported that two key Bush administration figures, Zalmay Khalilzad, the former ambassador to Baghdad, and Jay Garner, the retired general who headed up early reconstruction efforts (with disastrous results), are among a slew of former U.S. soldiers and diplomats leveraging their war experience for business opportunities in Iraq. While this may not be illegal, it’s more than a bit unseemly (though typical), and as the FT offers, it helps buttress the belief among some in the Arab world that the 2003 invasion was little more than a play for oil revenues. 

–Jeremy Morris died, age 99 ½ (his daughter said he insisted on adding the ½). While exercise was long felt to be important for a healthy heart, it was Morris, a British epidemiologist, who sought to provide actual data to back this age-old postulate up. For example, as Dennis Hevesi writes in the New York Times: 

“Dr. Morris surmised that the proof could be found on the stairs of those double-decker buses. In 1949, he began tracing the heart-attack rates of hundreds of drivers and conductors. The drivers sat for 90 percent of their shifts; the conductors climbed about 600 stairs each working day. Dr. Morris’s data, published in 1953, indicated that the conductors had fewer than half the heart attacks of their sedentary colleagues.” 

Morris did the same thing for postal workers, those who walked vs. clerks behind the window, with similar results. 

–Lou Dobbs, one of the arrogant and highly-overrated faces of CNN since its inception, quit on Wednesday, saying that there were “strong winds of change” in the country and he had been urged by others to “go beyond my role here at CNN.” Dobbs plans to “engage in constructive problem solving” of the issues affecting the country, “including the growth of the middle class, health care, immigration reform and climate change.” Whatever. 

–So you know the Innocence Project at Northwestern University that helped free those unlawfully convicted? Prosecutors are now alleging that the journalism students in some instances were paying off people to testify in cases the kids sought to overturn. 

–I was underwhelmed we found water on the moon because I’m depressed our manned space program is hitting the skids due to budget issues. Consider this. NASA supposedly needs $3 billion a year to keep a viable effort going and we just lost $2.3 billion in the CIT bankruptcy. Or think how the amount pumped into AIG could fund a Mars mission for the next 30 years, and employ a ton of people in the process. What a damn freakin’ waste.  

–Speaking of flotsam, former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, having pleaded guilty to eight felonies last week, was allowed to go home before his sentencing in February. But the judge imposed strict conditions, such as confinement to his Franklin Lakes, New Jersey residence while wearing an electronic monitoring device; thereby giving new meaning to the song “Oh there’s no place like home for the ho-li-days.” 

–There was a terrific story on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” program last week concerning Albania and its sheltering of Jews during World War II, a story I had no clue of prior to the airing of the segment. Albania is 70% Muslim, but even after the Nazis took over the country, not one Jew was turned over to them during the occupation. It was all about Albania’s principle of “Besa,” whereby strangers are offered protection.  

–Looking back on Berlin, the Wall Street Journal editorialized on the airlift and its aftermath. 

“Fulfilling [it’s moral obligation to defend the little enclave of freedom in Berlin] came at a price – 71 British and American servicemen lost their lives during the Berlin Airlift – that more ‘pragmatic’ politicians might have gladly forgone for the promise of better relations with the Soviets. Not a few NATO generals thought the defense of Berlin needlessly exposed their forces in a militarily indefensible position while giving Russians an opportunity to blackmail the West as they advanced on strategically more vital ground, particularly Cuba. 

“Yet if the West’s stand in Berlin demonstrates anything, it is that moral commitments have a way of reaping strategic dividends over time. By ordering the airlift in 1948, Harry Truman saved a starving city and defied Soviet bullying. As importantly, he showed that the U.S. would not abandon Europe to its furies, as it had after World War I, thus helping to pave the way for the creation of NATO in April 1949…. 

“And when Reagan delivered his historic speech in Berlin calling on Mr. Gorbachev to ‘tear down this wall,’ he did so after being warned by some of his senior advisers that the language was ‘unpresidential,’ and after thousands of protesters had marched through West Berlin in opposition. 

“It is a tribute to Reagan’s moral and strategic determination, as it was to everyone else who played their part in bringing down the Wall, that they could see through the sophistries of Soviet propagandists, their Western fellow travelers, and the legions of moral equivocators and diplomatic finessers and simply look at the Wall. 

“ ‘To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,’ George Orwell once said. That is what the heroes of 1989 did with unblinking honesty and courage for years on end until, at last, the Wall came tumbling down.” 

–Lastly, the following is from Army Times…their Hall of Valor. A stark reminder. 

Barnes, 22, posthumously received the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life to save the lives of fellow troops during the Vietnam War. Barnes was serving as a grenadier for C Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, when enemy troops attacked on Nov. 12, 1967, at Dak To in the Republic of Vietnam. 

Seeing the crew of a machine-gun team killed, Barnes dashed through enemy fire to man the gun, successfully killing nine enemy soldiers. 

While pausing to retrieve more ammunition, Barnes saw an enemy grenade thrown into the midst of a group of severely wounded troops. 

Sacrificing his own life to save the wounded, Barnes threw himself on the grenade as it exploded. 

Pray for the men and women of our armed forces, and all the fallen. 

Gold closed at $1119
Oil, $76.39 

Returns for the week 11/9-11/13 

Returns for the period 1/1/09-11/13/09 

**Dr. Bortrum notes that he is retiring at the end of the year in his latest posting. Actually, he says yours truly fired him. Well we talked it out awhile back and he said at almost age 82, it was time to focus on other things, like his care-giving. To which I said, well, then, you’re fired. 

Oh, don’t worry. Bortrum will receive his StocksandNews pension, plus a lifetime free subscription to the site. More importantly, he knows he can write any time he so chooses (and his 500+ columns will remain up), he just won’t get paid. I’ll let you know when he gets a hankering to return. 

Sometime in the first quarter there will be other significant changes around here. But that’s for another day.  

Have a great week. I appreciate your support. And don’t forget I post a podcast, perfect for dog walking, each Saturday I’m in town around 9:00 a.m. Granted, it’s just a rehash of the beginning of these columns, but repetition is the best way to learn; at least that’s what Rosetta Stone Babe tells me.