Two Way Radio Directory - Blog

I know I will probably offend some folks with my comments, but here goes.

First let me say that I have been successful several times over the past 25
years winning grants from Federal, State and even commercial sources (yes,
some corporations have grants to support local public service).

What I have never been able to understand is why a fire company exists in an
area unwilling to provide more than $10,000 a year in annual funding. If the
people in that area are unwilling to protect their own property, they will
end up paying one way or the other, either by higher insurance costs, or
lost property and lives.

To me this is like people who spend all they make while working, never
setting aside anything for retirement, and then expect the rest of us to
take care of them.

Why should I in my state have federal tax money extracted from me, when I
buy insurance and pay high local taxes to support fire services, in order to
support some community far away unwilling to take care of themselves? Don’t
reply to me about helping my neighbor. My paycheck reflects the fact that I
am helping plenty of my neighbors already.

I invited two neighboring counties twice in the past five years to join us
in grant applications that required 25% matching funds. Both declined. I
believe the primary reason they declined was not due to lack of need, but
rather due to timid people who are intimidated by amounts of money multiples
of their annual personal income. They are literally afraid to go to their
governing officials and request what they are sure will be considered an
outrageous amount of money. We proceeded without them and easily obtained
millions of dollars, which has been very successfully applied to our own
needs.

The recent forced sale of Bear Stearns to J. P. Morgan, while spooking the markets initially, seems to have been the pressure valve that was needed. Market tensions had wound tightly wondering how the crisis would eventually pop the cork. This brutal, controlled uncorking seems to have eased pressures. The Fed’s Uncle Ben has shown that he is able and willing to use tools that folks had forgotten were in the Fed’s shop. The Treasury Sec visited foreign money troughs and invited them to invest in our weak financial institutions albeit with some gentleman’s agreements not to accidentally take over our country’s mismanaged financial houses.

So, looks like the sky is not going to fall after all. But, there will be dark clouds for at least months to come.

A look at the 6 month chart and you could easily convince yourself you see the beginnings of an upturn. But a glance back at November reminds us how easily the markets can bluff us.

I will remain in the S&P 500 tracking fund.

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In my personal trading:

An option on Apple bought 3/12/08 is currently at a 20.6% gain.

An option on ValueClick (VCLK) expired worthless Thursday.

I am still eagerly learning to trade the Foreign Exchange markets. This month I have focused on the Euro/US Dollar (EUR/USD) pair. I have been able to increase the balance in the FX account by about 5% so far this month. This is a fascinating trade. If I buy the Euro when it is at 1.5440 to the dollar, and it rises to 1.5540, that is an increase of .0100, or 100 “pips”. The 1 lot trades I am doing yield a $1.00 gain or loss for each 1 pip move. A 30 pip move can happen in minutes or hours and generate a $30 gain or loss. To me, the secret of this trade, like most things traded is to limit the downside and take all the upside move you can capture. My current strategy is to limit the downside to 20 pips, and try to get 30 - 100 pips on the upside moves. (I also work this in reverse on the downside, selling high, and buying back low.) Generally, many of the financial actions taken in the U.S. have led to continuing weakening of the dollar. As the dollar falls, the Euro increases in comparison and I am able to profit from this spread.

This week I added positions on the British Pound/Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY), and the Australian $/ US$ (AUD/USD).

The focus on FX this month has distracted me from my trading of the Dow Futures contracts. My gains on that contract this month have only amounted to $25.00. However, after hearing sad stories from others who attempted to trade futures and lost large sums before giving up, I am happy to have gained the experience at no cost. I will be actively trading the futures again.

I noticed at the local gas station this morning that diesel fuel is $3.99/ gal. That will be reflected in the cost of everything we buy when we go shopping. The dollar rallied some this week, and oil and gold pulled back in response. But, since we are probably looking at a new administration not favorable toward big oil or domestic exploration, I suspect we will be looking at much higher oil prices next year.

In this morning’s paper is an article about a distant star blowing up, as all stars, including our Sun, are destined to do. NASA says it was so bright you could have seen it with the naked eye, had you been looking at the time. What is amazing to me about the story is that this star was 7.5 billion light years away. This means that the flash of its death, seen here this week, began its travel (at 186,000 miles per second!) toward us 7.5 billion years ago! One day, our Sun will do the same, and all trace of us here will be eliminated. Just as the Bible suggests, the earth will be destroyed by fire. Keep these distances and vast time periods, and destinies in mind when you start thinking about how significant we actually are in all of creation. While we fight over “critical issues”, the rest of the universe doesn’t even notice we exist.

Keep things in perspective. Have a good week.

I have just finished reading The Gospel According to the Son, by Norman Mailer. I was drawn to the novel after seeing recently deceased Mailer interviewed on a Charlie Rose TV program repeat.

Mailer, a Jew, wrote the 256 page book from the perspective of Jesus of Nazareth. While a work of fiction, based on the familiar Gospels, it provides an interesting study on the life and times of Jesus.

The treatment of Jesus’ confrontation with the Temple leadership and Roman authority is insightful. The book gives one an interesting perspective on Jesus’ relationships with such people as the Samaritan woman at the well, and the disappointing of Judas and Peter in their betrayal and denials.

If you read it, just keep in mind that this is but one man’s interpretation of the Gospels, not the Gospels themselves. The manner in which the book deals with Jesus knowing his Father’s will, may not be in keeping with the way, if any, you have considered this before. But, nothing in the book caused me any particular conflict, although occasionally I did have to remind myself it is a novel.

Jesus’ miracles before his crucifixion, and his appearances after his resurrection are dealt with in a way that for me, presented them powerfully.

If you find reading the King James version of the Gospels often leaves you wondering what was said, you will find reading this book very easy, yet with a use of language that conveys a sense of reverence and antiquity.

Obviously, this book is controversial. You can read comments made about it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-According-Son-Novel/dp/0345434080

One thing my Mother taught me was, when you do something wrong, you will always eventually have to pay a price for it. Mom was right.

Just as Governors and Presidents who are unfaithful get caught, so do the unethical, irresponsible, greedy leaders of financial organizations.

We have seen CEOs of some of the most prestigious financial companies be forced to resign for their mismanagement. Now another financial giant, Bear Stearns is about to be brought down. What has these companies stumbling is nothing more complicated than they invested in billions of dollars worth of mortgage backed investment packages of whose true value they knew almost nothing. One infuriating aspect of this is the millions many of these CEOs made, while bringing down their companies. Keep in mind, that each one’s compensation had been approved by a so called Board of Directors. These complicit board members are as responsible as the CEOs for the current state these companies, our country, and the world economy is in.

In a James Bond movie, the villain trying to ruin the world is gone after at all costs. In the real world, the villains are paid handsomely. At the moment, these Wall Street Ben Ladins have done more to hurt the world than our opponent in the War on Terrorism ever hoped to do. I remember as a child hearing Nikita Kruschev saying at the U.N., while he pounded his shoe on the podium, that the Communist World would bring down capitalism without firing a shot. I am sure his ghost is having a great chuckle today.

Whenever we hear politicians, high level bureaucrats, and corporate executives talk in lofty terms about their virtues and wisdom, we should always remember, that in the end, they are made of the same material as the rest of us. There are no messiahs amongst them, and in the end, like the rest of us, they are standing around watching the effects of corruption with little power to correct it. As in all areas of life, things tend to correct to a mid point. Mountains weather down, valleys and rivers fill.

The human desire to go on is the primary driver of the markets. It is this unstoppable force that will bring us through the current mess. We are probably in the midst of electing a fresh group of corrupt politicians, who will appoint corrupt new bureaucrats, to regulate corrupt new corporate leaders. But as millions of us are born, each reaching for our own goals, we will continue to struggle upward.

The charts show that the past week was more or less flat, but the longer term trend downward continues. Until the true value of all the corrupt mortgage holdings are fully revealed, and the losses are taken, and the corrupt companies are closed or taken over, things will probably continue as they have for the past six months. But eventually, our economy will rise like the Phoenix, and due to the growth of the world’s population, and the emerging aspirations of all those folks in China and India, we will probably see a recovery like has never been seen before.

Don’t let the current rhetoric in some political camps about protecting American jobs confuse you. The days of us being able to isolate ourselves from the world’s job and product markets is past. This is the season of “telling them what they want to hear”.

I am remaining in the S&P 500 tracking fund. I believe that great recovery will come sooner rather than later, and I want to participate in it.

However, If I were expecting to need my 401k funds for retirement related expenses in the next 2 or 3 years, I would probably be moving into the money market funds.

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In my personal trading, things have been interesting.

I have opened an option position on Apple and after a few days, already have a nice profit position.

I have positions in Microsoft and Yahoo as these two tangle over the former taking over the latter. I have also taken a position in a company named ValueClick. This is an internet marketing company that I believe to be a good takeover target in this climate of merging in the internet space.

Motorola has continued to tumble as no offers have come forth in their efforts to sell off their poor performing cell phone business.

As the long anticipated buy out of Transmeridian Exploration (TMY) has dragged on, the stock has fallen in price. I am still hopeful for a buy out closing soon, but the current climate of tight credit is probably hurting the effort.

I am pursuing new trading interests. I have been doing a great deal of reading to learn about trading Futures contracts and more recently Foreign Exchange, known as Forex or FX.

I have been trading a futures contract based on the Dow Industrial Index. I am currently trading at a 7/3 win/loss ratio. This is very acceptable, especially given that I am risking only small amounts on each trade, and that my exit stop orders on my wins is at a level 1.5 times the stop loss order on my losing trades. I see this as a very conservative way to trade this futures contract. Each time I win, I make $150. Each time I lose, I lose $100. It then becomes a matter of keeping the winning trades outnumbering the losing trades. These trades typically last 4 to 15 minutes.

In the FX markets I am trading the Euro against the US $. This is known as the EUR/USD pair. As the dollar falls in value, the value of the EUR/USD rises. For me, trading this FX position is very similar to the min-Dow futures contracts. My current method is yielding a win/loss ratios of about 6/4. My winning trades yield about $100 each, and my losing trades lose about $50 each. Again, it is a matter of having more wins than losses. One thing I like about this global market is that it opens at 5:00 pm on Sunday our time, and trades continuously, 24 hours a day, until 5:00 pm on Friday. I often place trades just before going to bed and rise in the morning to a nice reward. Fine way to start the day. By bracketing my opening order with orders that will automatically close my position at preset loss or win levels, I can sleep well. These trades typically run a few hours to 2 or 3 days.

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Things that are affecting us daily:

Wheat has tripled in price. This is driving up costs of bread and meat products. Italians have demonstrated over the price of pasta flour. Mexican farmers have demonstrated over the low price of U.S. corn due to our government subsidy, which many argue violates the NAFTA. Corn is a staple in the Mexican diet and Mexican farmers are losing business to American imports.

The rise in wheat is driven by the rise in corn prices, which is driven by the volume of corn going into ethanol fuel (a stupid thing to do) as a result of U.S. government incentives to raise corn.

One of the strongest economies currently is Brazil, a socialist state that has used sugar cane for converting most of their national vehicle fuel to ethanol, with no impact on food prices. We could learn a few things from the rest of the world.

Customers in communist China would consume all of Ferrari’s sports car production if Ferrari did not not limit sales in that country.

Gold has gone over $1000 an ounce, twice what it was a couple of years ago. This hurts the jewelry trade, and could hurt those in places such as India that also use gold as a hedge against inflation. Other metals are rising similarly as world growth demands more copper, steel, and nickle for construction and manufacturing.

Oil was over $110 a barrel this week. Some areas in the U.S. already are seeing $4.00 a gallon gas. This will drive up the price of almost everything we consume.

We live in interesting times.