Behold The Beast Man

Moving Sale

2008-07-03T21:22:00.003-04:00

i'm now at

http://misterman.wordpress.com

check me out over there. time to grow it up a little bit.

View of a Fading Giant

2008-06-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

Gloom and Doom? Nah; Just for the U.S. - Barrons.com: "You continue to be very bearish on the U.S. But haven't there been other times when there was lots of negative sentiment toward the U.S., only to see another era of prosperity emerge? Such as the late 1980s, when there was concern that Japan would take over the U.S. economy. Look at how that turned out.

Yes, but we haven't been through anything like what we are going through now. The United States has really been living in a fool's paradise, or a phony economy, probably for more than 20 years. But our economy has been growing and getting bigger and bigger. We have been able to convince the world to lend us money and to provide us with goods that we don't produce and that we can't afford to pay for with exports. And it has gotten to the point now where the problem is so big, especially since the real-estate bubble. We've now borrowed so much money from abroad. Our trade deficits are now very big, and our industrial base and our infrastructure have been allowed to decay for so long, that we are now at a point that we can only survive as an economy thanks to the charity of the rest of the world. They have provided us with all the goods that we can no longer produce because we lack the industrial capacity. And they have to lend us the money because we don't have any savings"

I think this is a very hard point to argue against. After reading a little bit of the intelligent investor this weekend, I feel like forecasts can be deeply subject to time horizon. With the cheapness of many sectors of the United States economy right now I feel that one can't ignore large companies. One can almost dig for them like that treasured DVD at the bottom of the Wal-Mart bin, yet the cheap ones seem everywhere.

Nonetheless, the majority of my recommendations lie in multinational and international companies.

But isn't there an argument that once we clean up this housing mess -- along with the credit bubble, whenever that occurs -- the U.S. will be a lot closer to a bottom, where the outlook begins to improve?

I don't think that's true. The resolution to the housing problem is going to mean housing prices are going to be a lot lower than they are now, and most Americans are not going to have any home equity. It's going to mean that trillions of dollars will have been lost by the lenders. When the home equity is gone, Americans are broke, as they don't have any savings. All they had was their home equity. They were counting on their home equity, without which they will be unable to pay off their credit cards

I think this is not crystal in ball at this point. The while we are a nation of consumers, we are quite good at it. I believe that very many people are about to become very wealthy in the country because of the transfer of assets from the baby boomer retirement. The true test in my mind, will be if the middle class will exhaust this capital or ride the wave of international growth. The upper classes are growing as the defensive sectors like health care and utilities are strong. There are some good ideas in US Stocks as well as new the bond market.

Money interviews personal finance guru Suze Orman - Jun. 19, 2008

2008-06-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

Money interviews personal finance guru Suze Orman - Jun. 19, 2008: "A. No. I think it's absolutely possible you could see oil go to $150 or $160. I'd never tell you to put 100% of your money into anything. But I think in this economy you need to manage your money more actively."

Oh Suze Orman ye that defecates so effortlessly where you eat. You shun passive management in favor of vehicles designed to be actively traded?

Variable annuities can be an incredible deal when utilized properly. There is nothing wrong with paying an insurance company to insure you money. It is done for your house, your car, your health, why not your retirement? How else do you combat market risk in retirement, bond ladders?

I'm with you on the Target funds, their performance is poor matched with a poor strategy.

How can you find an adviser you can trust? Her answer sucks, don't gauge them on some set answer criteria. My answer?

Simple. Find someone you can trust, someone that will always take your calls. Someone that will explain things to you so that you can understand, and wants you to be educated. If you would feel awkward introducing said person to your family members, or talking to them in general then you've got the wrong adviser. Spend some time with him or her, do lunch. Ask them what they invest in, where they are from, what their goals are. Build a relationship, ask them to introduce you to other planners that will second their advice. Any adviser that you think you'll never see again with the exception of MAYBE fee based, steer clear.

Magazine Preview - Smoking, Drinking, Writing, Womanizing, Smoking, Drinking... - Mad Men - Television - NYTimes.com

2008-06-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

Magazine Preview - Smoking, Drinking, Writing, Womanizing, Smoking, Drinking... - Mad Men - Television - NYTimes.com: "“I love to be surrounded by perfectionists, and part of the problem with perfectionism is that by nature, you’re always failing.”"

That is the creator of the show Mad Men, one of the only things I'll watch on television these days. This quote is especially true for me.

In case you missed it

2008-06-14T08:25:00.002-04:00

IRB Try of the year for 2007

We have the fastest man in world rugby

Dream girl

2008-06-04T20:18:00.003-04:00

I am an athlete. My life is consumed by my sport. I spend it eating six or seven times daily, training a couple of hours per day, and doing copious amounts of cardio. I make sure I get my eight hours of sleep, and carry a gallon of water wherever I go.

I love motivation, what a beautiful and powerful woman. Apparently there are some women out there that have it all. Now if I could only find one.

Doom and Gloom

2008-06-02T23:50:00.002-04:00

International / Europe
Water Is a New Battleground in Spain
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: June 3, 2008
Spurred on by poorly planned development, swaths of southeast Spain are turning into desert.

"Climate change means that creeping deserts may eventually drive 135 million people off their land, the United Nations estimates. Most of them are in the developing world. But Southern Europe is experiencing the problem now, its climate drying to the point that it is becoming more like Africa’s, scientists say."

This, I believe is how the world will begin it's gradual decline. War brought on by a struggle for resources. We are running out.

Interesting Stuff

2008-05-27T08:35:00.002-04:00

"The highest corn prices since at least the Civil War mean U.S. feedlots are losing money on every animal they sell … Cattle prices haven’t kept pace with the grain used to feed the animals. Corn surged to a record $6.39 a bushel on May 9 from $3.6625 a year earlier.”

Also

“I’ve been lifting weights since I was 12 years old and look at me,” he said. Dr. Thompson is small and wiry with not a bulging muscle on him. He speculated that he must have a genetic inability to build muscles, no matter how hard he works at it.

I want these

2008-05-23T13:58:00.002-04:00

I just can't help but think, they are only going to improve the technology behind these blades. Soon everyone will want to run like this.

Interesting

2008-05-02T14:23:00.002-04:00

I called a potential client today and he adamantly refused to subscribe to any modern investing methods what so ever calling them a rip off, etc.. He said the only things that were worth investing in were Gold and Real Estate.

While the recent market cycle might have proven him wrong, over time he has seen relative appreciation. He offered to send me a video to explain to me the reason for these beliefs. Check it out.

There will be more blood

2008-04-29T10:16:00.001-04:00

"But the International Energy Agency estimates that current investments will be insufficient to replace declining oil production. The energy agency said it would take $5.4 trillion by 2030 to raise global output. Otherwise, it warned that a crisis before 2015 involving “an abrupt run-up in prices” could not be ruled out."

The cover of NYT today.. So where should we invest, alternative or more oil?

I'm back dear readers

2008-04-23T21:00:00.001-04:00

With some fearful news!

These men are savages...

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station."

War

2008-03-04T19:56:00.001-05:00

On Thursday, the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer, conducted a public examination of the costs of the war. The witnesses included the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz (who believes the overall costs of the war — not just the cost to taxpayers — will reach $3 trillion), and Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

Said Mr. Stiglitz: “Because the administration actually cut taxes as we went to war, when we were already running huge deficits, this war has, effectively, been entirely financed by deficits. The national debt has increased by some $2.5 trillion since the beginning of the war, and of this, almost $1 trillion is due directly to the war itself ... By 2017, we estimate that the national debt will have increased, just because of the war, by some $2 trillion.”

Go Bush...

What I've become

2008-02-26T17:45:00.003-05:00

Because of the way I look I belong to a demographic, but that demographic is not mine. I am like a budhha, with arms rooted in everything, but a soul that lives alone.

I heard today that no one can take away your integrity, you have to give it away. Also, that you if you don't know what your passion is, you have to reassess your values.

What are my values?

Made me think..

Amy is so good

2008-02-08T09:48:00.001-05:00

It is just so sad that she is a crack head. I love this song

If my breakthrough role was a gay cowboy

2008-01-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

I might find it rough to deal with life as well...

Tragic..

Disease and Man on Man action

2008-01-14T21:56:00.000-05:00

Looks like it just got a little bit worse to be homosexual...

I remembered when I was younger and I used to follow my father into the hospitals where he worked. I remember asking him why there were so many gay men always in the waiting rooms.

He explained to me, between utilizing his massive brick car phone that they all were there usually because of urinary tract infections from routine e. coli exposure.

That can't feel good.

Moving to Africa

2008-01-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

Because of great men such as this..

Good WSJ Read

2008-01-02T10:40:00.000-05:00

Jared Diamond is the man, one of my favorite scientists.

"Real sacrifice wouldn’t be required, however, because living standards are not tightly coupled to consumption rates. Much American consumption is wasteful and contributes little or nothing to quality of life. For example, per capita oil consumption in Western Europe is about half of ours, yet Western Europe’s standard of living is higher by any reasonable criterion, including life expectancy, health, infant mortality, access to medical care, financial security after retirement, vacation time, quality of public schools and support for the arts. Ask yourself whether Americans’ wasteful use of gasoline contributes positively to any of those measures."

Good Read

2008-01-01T22:45:00.000-05:00

Although the women always started encounters with a stranger with many classical solicitation behaviors, after a few minutes their actions started to reflect their real feelings. Importantly, the women also seemed to control the encounter - what the women did had a direct effect on how the men behaved next.

"You can predict male behavior from female behavior but not the other way round," says Grammer. A woman's nod, for instance, kept a man talking.

Here is a FACT:

About 5.5% of the male population in America never marries.

Of this group, about 50% of these men are homosexuals.

Ok, so i'm a wikipedia junkie

2007-12-29T18:20:00.000-05:00

I always find fascinating stuff like this little morsel on NLP

"You need only three things to be an absolutely exquisite communicator. We have found that there are three major patterns in the behavior of every therapeutic wizard we've talked to — and executives, and salespeople. The first one is to know what outcome you want. The second is that you need flexibility in your behavior. You need to be able to generate lots and lots of different behaviors to find out what responses you get. The third is you need to have
enough sensory experience to notice when you get the responses that you
want..."

Evolutionary Psychology

2007-12-29T18:06:00.001-05:00

The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is appropriate to your environmental circumstances.

Our neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history.

Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from you. As a result, your conscious experience can mislead you into thinking that our circuitry is simpler than it really is. Most problems that you experience as easy to solve are very difficult to solve -- they require very complicated neural circuitry

Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems.

Our modern skulls house a stone age mind

--from wikipedia

Hooray Beer

2007-12-20T12:56:00.000-05:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3266819.stm

It looks like I am go no for beer tonight.

Who cares

2007-12-14T12:08:00.001-05:00

Does anyone really care if you used steroids or not? No, no one really cares. The NFL wouldn't be as cool with out them. I don't really like baseball, but same deal. All these old fogies and historians complaining about records being tarnished. So what, did you think they'd stand forever? What is a record but a memory in the minds of men, that exists only because people choose to remember it. What happen when people forget or die. I am sure Babe Ruth, wherever he might be right now could give a damn about how many balls he hit out of a park.

If people want to jack themselves up, by all means it shouldn't be illegal. Isn't this a free country? If you could shoot up for a chance at millions of dollars, to become an icon, or break records I am sure given the opportunity most would do it. Just enhancing what is already apparent, it isn't like these people are getting grafts of new genetics.

Not that I take any gear or would ever. It is kind of like weed, it should be decriminalized. I know there is stuff that makes you go nuts, get aggressive, and grow boobs. Well news flash, people will abuse it if it's legal or not.

Stuff annoys me. Oh and my previous post was kind of a rant, and yes it is far fetched. It was a fun thought though.

Long Asia, Short NY

2007-12-11T19:34:00.000-05:00

Much to the chagrin of every JAP that I know I am posting this.

RandomSouthFloridaPrincess: Uggh, I just have to get back to the city, I miss it so much
Me: Yeah, I've never been to New York
RandomSouthFloridaPrincess: mouth drops WHAT? Are you serious? serious tone Oh my god you have to go..

Well, sorry to say, but an empire never lasts forever. I think Asia which has more people, more resources, more room to grow, most importantly cheaper labor and human capital.

If you are an economics nerd, like I so happen to be, then you would argue that certain areas in Asia have a surplus of relative factor endowments. True, the growth in Asian economies has been fueled by our excessive marginal propensity to consume, but our consumption will collapse with the downfall of our greatest asset in mortgage equity. With the slowdown in domestic investment coupled with the fall in the value of the dollar, NY will suffer and the financial industry will immigrate. Leaving the city fueled entirely by entertainment. A menagerie of fashion and freaks, a permanent circus attraction. Well, I've never been there so maybe I'm not qualified to say so, but I am anyway.

Five people just left the blog for good after reading all of that.

``We still are negative on the dollar relative to most major currencies, so we bought stocks in companies that earn their money in other currencies,'' Buffett said Oct. 25. Buffett, 77, is chairman of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

`Moving to Asia'

Jim Rogers, a former partner of investor George Soros, said last month he's selling his house and all his possessions in the U.S. currency to buy China's yuan.

``The dollar is collapsing,'' Rogers said last week in an interview. ``I'm moving to Asia because moving to Asia now is like moving to New York in 1907 or London in 1807. It's the wave of the future.'' -- Bloomberg

Pretty soon, it'll be "OMG you haven't been to HONG KONG? you have to go!"