Kangaroo Money

( Please see KangarooMoney’s Disclaimer. )

Remember, the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post, which has made our Lawyers extra pleased.  The KM Team hopes this will make our Lawyers happy to no end, in fact.  Because as any businessman knows, if the Lawyers are happy, we’re happy.

As you would expect, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ( the official website can be found here : http://en.beijing2008.cn/ ) certainly held the world’s attention for the past week.  There is no doubt that all of the hype and fears that were heaped on the potential problems in China were just that – hype and fears.  There were only stories about the sporting events after the unfortunate incident of Todd Bachman being stabbed to death and his wife being seriously injured by a crazed man who jumped to his death.  After that, it wasn’t about the weather, it wasn’t about the fake fireworks, it wasn’t about the fake singing and it wasn’t about the too young athletes.  No, it was all about the sports and the sportsmen that played them.  But there was other news in the world, some of it disturbing such as the lack of the promised pull-out of Georgia by the Russians, and some of it very sad such as the 3 airplane accidents that have happened this week ( 161 dead in Madrid, Spain, read here http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/20/spain3 ; 10 dead in Moab, Utah, read here http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7272053&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1 ; and finally ( we hope! ) 70 people dead in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, read here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7580107.stm ).  Did you ever notice that disasters and deaths seem to come in 3’s?  Here we have 3 plane crashes in less than 4 days after so very many months without any such incident.  But between the Olympics, the plane crashes and the still fizzilin’ Fay, the news this week swings to the West.  Denver in Colorado West to be exact.  The Olympics will close out about 15 hours before the wall to wall coverage of the Democratic Convention begins, giving the news services just enough time to shift resources to make the transisition from World Stage to National Stage.

The Democratic Convention ( go here for all official information : http://www.demconvention.com/ ) will lead every news story, get every soundbite, drive every market in the USoA and indeed the world and make for some of the most riveting and boring television in recent memory.  With the selection of this weeks MMoW second half as Vice President-select, there will be little in the way of surprise left in the convention, even with the rampant speculation of what will become of Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton and her hubby, ex-President William Jefferson Clinton.  Oh, make no mistake, the Republican Convention will draw the same level of interest during Week 36 2008 ( go here for all official information : http://www.gopconvention2008.com/ ) but for Week 35 2008 it will be all Democratic, as it should be.  Where and how will this drive the US markets?  In these waning days of Summer 2008, coming off of such a hopeful effort as the Olympics and listening to such forward-thinking views as the Democratic Convention, there is no doubt that the US markets, and most likely the world markets, will rise as rampant optimism takes hold of the public at large.  And Kangaroos, nothing in the New Normal drives a market like the public at large.  “I knew it was time to get out of the market when the cab driver started to give me stock tips.”

And now, on with the show.

You will find our weekly comments here on this page with fuller opinions and reasons following after you hit the (click here to read more) highlights.  ( Currently, we have turned this feature off so that one and all can get a feel for our openings and read all that is available.  In the future, this feature will be turned on.)  Anyone can tell you a one or two sentence blurb, but we like to back up our comments with our views so that you can understand where we are coming from. 

Below the weeks’ stories, there is the U & C section, the KM Team will give you some of the latest information concerning some of the previous comments published here as well as compare the KM Team take on things to other counterparts.  The U & C section will be a nice way to see if the KM Team is staying the true course in the ocean of Economy.

Down lower, you will find our Market Mover of the Week feature, highlighting the one person that the KM Team thought was most responsible for moving the USA markets and / or economy for the week past.

Then there is the Definitions of the Week.  These are items that will be complied into a term dictionary at a later date but that will help you now as we explain some of the power phrases of the week just passed.

An additional feature has been added called International Impact Incident of the Week.  The Triple I section will highlight an international situation either just passed or an upcoming event that the KM Team sees as a United States financial markets mover.  Somewhat like the MMW feature, we will check to see how our forecast of the Triple I event turned out.

Finally, we have added the new feature that we hope will help you to see where KM is coming from and where KM is trying to go to.  Up under the Blogroll section in the upper right hand corner of the page, is a link to a list of companies and stock symbols called the “Stock Docket”.  The link will take you to a list where there will be the companies, stock symbols, index it is traded on, the price per share the week that it was mentioned and what that price per share was as of Friday just gone by.  Also, we will highlight which stocks we supported at the time and which we did not.  While this is a considerable undertaking on the KangarooMoney Teams’ part, we do feel that this will help to determine how things are going.  Eventually, this item will also be moved to an interior page, so please comment on this feature as much as possible before that happens.  KM would love to right every time in this area, so we will see how things go as we drive forward.  There are already some very interesting up and down movements just in the short time we have been talking withyou all.  We had added the totals for the stocks mentioned on the docket, with the exception of Bear Stearns.  BSC is no longer with us as a viable stock but it is left on the docket to show what can happen to any company that does not bear the proper burden of taking care of its stockholders.  The totals shown at the bottom of the spreadsheet show winners and losers both as an overall number if you held 1 share of each stock mentioned as well as the biggest winner and loser of the week.  The KM Team revamped the sheet a little bit to show the totals more directly.  A share here, a share there, and it all starts to add up!  Keep asking for more and we’ll see what we can do little joeys!

Please remember, KM Partners and the KM Team are not accountants, stock brokers or personal financial advisers, nor are we even Lawyers.  You need to be sure that you do what YOU want to do.  If the KM Team opinions can help you have an understanding of what has happened, is happening or will happen so as to help in your decision, then our blog serves a purpose.  If, on the other hand, this is the ONLY guidance and direction that you are basing your decisions on, please do not come crying, or suing, any member of the KM Team or KM Partners.  We hope this clears up any questions to that regard.

Because we are writing for everyone, don’t be afraid to let us know how we are doing.  This is an ongoing work-in-progress where we hope to bring fresh changes, new site additions and page features as we go forward.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn!

1. When is America, the good ol’ United States, going to realize that the next Big Thing, the next Great Wonder of money making, is already sitting in our grasp?  When do we as good citizens of the country that has weaned us, raised us and set us on our chosen paths realize that the United States of America, for better or worst, own the next Stampede.  A gold rush?  A market bubble?  A corner on a commodity?  A new oil discovery?  Nope.  Of course.  ( click here to read more)  The USoA can be the major supplier not only of produced food but also of the reasons that food gets produced.  The major reason that food inflation is being felt in the United States is not because of the rising cost of delivering foodstuffs that we Americans have become overly used to having fresh every day in our grocery stores but rather it is in the rising costs of the actual production of those foodstuffs at the base level.  ( see what the latest known statics for grain production is here :
   http://www.fas.usda.gov/wap/circular/2003/03-02/tables.html )  The need of petrochemical bases to manufacture the fertilizers and pest control products that are needed to produce the ongoing bumper crops that American Farmers and the multi-national farming companies are growing, is getting larger every day by leaps and bounds.  These petrochemical needs however, are not the problem.  The true problem rests with the fact the USoA citizens fail to realize that they have a controling interest and bargining chip at the Big Table of World Trade.  The Common Public are so worried about how many MPGs their Big Assed SUVs are getting and / or going to get that they are losing sight of the Big Picture.  America can Save the World on so many levels beginning with food production that it should make us all sad to realize how greedy and shallow Americans really are.  In a country where every life is held as primary important and where the green spaces necessary are in every front and back yard, it is unfortunate to see such an opportunity being wasted.  While it is nice to be able to drive hither and yon on a whim and desire, it is not necessary in order to survive.  Food, on the other hand, is a desperate and decidedly necessary need.  It was often said in the past about what should and what should not be used as a weapon — water, shelter, fuel and food come to mind immediately — but in the New Normal, the good and decent will take second place to the wanton and desired in almost every case.  Will Americans give up their big yards, their community open spaces, their play spaces and their ideas of landscaping in order to support not only their currently accustomed eating habits but also to support the rest of the World in its effort to get 3 square meals a day?  The KM Team believes that this will only happen if the American people realize that they are now sitting on the biggest ready pool of the next big commodity there is — food. 
2. We have all heard the ‘Gordon Gekko’ character in the 1987 movie “Wall Street” explain his philosophy on greed.  The problem is that greed and selfishness usually go hand and hand, as we have seen in the mortgage and banking sector low these many months. ( click here to read more )  Per Reuters on 19 June 2008= Since March 1, 406 people have been arrested in the sting dubbed “Operation Malicious Mortgage” that saw 144 cases across the country.  Sixty people were arrested on Wednesday alone, including in Chicago, Miami, Houston and a dozen other regions policed by the FBI.”  Greed has caused a great deal of carnage of late.  If you don’t think so, then just ask anyone who has had to fill up a gas tank in their car, or just ask some of the thousands that just got laid off from their jobs, or just ask some of the workers or managers in the construction industry.  The KM Team wants you to be mindful of just how greed is one of the big factors that drive the US markets.  Especially when people are making an investment.  We as a people use it as a tool all the time.  We think through the process with a deep thinking “What would those greedy SOB’s do now?”  The proper answer is, of course, “Whatever will make them money.”  Even if that is to close a plant, or to move a business overseas, or maybe to suspend healthinsurance to the company retirees or perhaps even put out for sale software withknown bugs in it.  Greed will make weak men strong, strong men brave, brave men smart and smart men gamble.  Each step takes them deeper to an end that they might take you over into with them.  Don’t follow the crowd for the easy trip.  Sources: “Wall Street” by Oliver Stone, starring Michael Douglas & Charlie Sheen, movie of 80’s capitalism; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/ ; for additional modern comments on greed, see http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080529/bear_stearns.html http://www.cnbc.com/id/24874096
3. One of the many things that the KM Team has told you all during these ongoing weeks has been how the “herd mentality” has been taking charge of the economy.  Water cooler comments, lunch table discussions and commuter radio listening are driving the mentalities that are pulling money from the markets, out of stocks and bonds and solid banks, without any thought about what that will do to the economy.  And where do we think that will take all of us?  ( click here to read more )  Any time that the “herd mentality” takes over in any aspect, it becomes a very bad thing.  Animals, or people, make moves and decisions just for the sake of making a move or making a decision.  They run and juke and jinx all heading toward some place that they can’t suddenly see.  If the runners only took a second to look around, to try to figure out just where they are so they could see just where they might be going.  The US markets have shown that stampede style in their large daily rises followed almost immediately the next trading session with their large daily falls.  The weakness in the US markets ripple overnight around the world, first in Asia, then in the Middle East, into the European markets and out the other side back to Wall Street.  And what is the herd chasing?  Mostly their own echos it turns out.  The herd pulls their money from here and then it runs over there to pull its money and then it scampers to the bank to pull its money out and back it runs to its 401K plan to stop its withdrawals.  But has the herd, or you, been able to stop and wonder where all that money is going to?  Ever wonder what all that running and pulling is doing to decent companies?  To solid banks?  To families and friends who have few plans left to put those fistfuls of dollars to good use?  Don’t get caught up in the herd.  Pick your head up and look around.  Find out where you are at.  But, most importantly, find a spot that you are going to and go there even if the herd is not headed that way.  Actually, ESPECIALLY if the herd is not headed that way.  And then little kangaroos, hop to it.
4. Is the grass always greener OR anything to save a buck…Looks like the high cost of fuel has reawakened a sense of national pride and patriotism not seen in the USoA since the signing of the NAFTA treaty of 1993.  Especially after the way that some of these U.S. based companies couldn’t get out of the country fast enough to take advantage of the cheap labor found abroad.  And consider that while it once cost about $3,000 to ship a container from a city like Shanghai China halfway around the world to New York, New York, that same shipment now costs about $8,000, which is prompting some businesses to look a little closer to home for their manufacturing needs.  So now, here’s a true patriot, as written by Jon Chavez a BLADE BUSINESS writer — “Hal Hawk, president and chief executive of Crown, said the company is seeking financial assistance from the state of Ohio to move equipment from the plant in Reynosa, Mexico, which is on the Texas border.  It hopes to have the work shifted in three to six months.  ‘We will move everything ack to Ohio’, Mr. Hawk said.  ‘It’s kind of unusual in these days for that to happen, but we found that our people in Fremont can actually do a better battery than people working for $1.81 an hour in Mexico.’  AND he wants to get Ohio to pay for the companys’ return.  He probably wants a tax break too!  Apparently, a trained workforce and an existing infrastructure is a little more cost effective.  Not to mention the cost saving of manufacturing domestically.  What happens when the price f fuel comes back down?  Will they scamper backout of the country again?  Maybe they’ll find the next emerging country where they could find production labor on the cheap?  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s great that jobs are returning to the United States but, remember why they left in the first place.  ( Sidebar conversation ) To improve customer service the foreign call center has got to go.  I can’t understand them and it is more frustrating to call than it is helpful.  Now try these out for size:  By Sharon Alfonsi — “Furniture designer Carol Gregg used to have her signature Chinese chests assembled in China, but such a luxury no longer seems viable, considering that some of her pieces now cost five times more to ship.  So now Gregg is having the chests made in North Carolina, simply because it’s cheaper.”  And this — By Alice Gomstyn — “At least a handful of American companies who had relied on workers stationed overseas are now bringing jobs back to the United States.  In addition, foreign companies are continuing to expand U.S. operations and hiring more local residents, instead of flying in foreign staff for business.  It’s called “insourcing” or “reverse outsourcing.”  It’s the opposite of outsourcing, the oft-criticized practice of American companies’ shipping jobs abroad to take advantage of lower labor costs and other incentives.”  Kangaroos, at the rate that this reverse globalization is pacing out, the day is fast approaching when Americans are going to start wanting those American jobs that no American wants! sources: http://ozarksu.com/node/362 ; http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/BUSINESS06/710300378 ; http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=5492084&page=1 

Updates and Comparisons: 

From Week 19 — During the most “newsy” time of the housing downturn, the KM Team reported that there was a $41 Billion Industry that was being impacted by the situation.  That was the fact that the KM Team expected a very high number of family cats and dogs to be booted out of their families lives and then dropped off at the local SPCA.  While some brief local stories made the rounds of the office water cooler there wasn’t very much in the way of big news stories making that claim.  Now comes the Manchester Union Leader (NH) on Monday August 18th2008 with a story about the down turn in NH’s economy and all of the animals being abandoned at shelters around the state.  ( here is the story: http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=NH%27s+economy+means+more+animals+abandoned&articleId=53baaada-9719-4ef1-be5c-02a8af684c64 )  The impacted pet orientated companies are beginning to see the effects of this trend as they feel the downward pressure in their businesses.  And you read about here 15 weeks ago at KangarooMoney.

Market Mover of the Week: The MMoW for Week 35 2008 is an easy choice, primarily because it is certain to be one of the easiest choices the KM Team has to make all year: Democratic Presidential canidate Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden.  The constant news coverage, the continuous speechgiving and the rampant pushing of what the New Normal calls news will give the Democratic 2008 Ticket a weeks worth of coverage that will pump up the US markets as a positive and forward looking view of what will be after January 20th 2009 takes center stage.  It is just what the end of the Dog Days of Summer needs to make us all feel better, even if it is just for short term gains.  Hope drives us up, as Senators Obama and Biden will faithfully do, but reality will ground us again after Labor Day 2008.

Market Mover of the Week: For Week 34 2008, the KM Team took a shot that the Mighty Wind called Fay would be the first major hurricane to hit the American shores in almost 3 years.  However, Fay was, as they say in Nor’easter Country, all blow and no go.  A heavy and deep rain that added inches of water to the state of Florida, Fay was not the storm that it appeared to be.  With a meandering and twisting course Fay went from the Caribbean to the Gulf to the Atlantic to the inland waterways of the southeast states.  So the KM Team was right about Fay being just a big old rain storm.  Even better was that all our friends, families, co-workers and everybody else in Florida ended up just fine.  And, the storm tracks for a major rain event in places that needed water so badly are still in place too.  For the KangarooMoney Partners, the whole KM Team and all their extended people, we hope that we continue to be this correct all hurricane season.

International Impact Incident: It would seem to be just another little thing that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has done over the last 5 years or so, but actually this is a major event that has been little noticed and little mentioned.  The nationalization of foreign-owned cement companies in Venezuela by itself is not a devastating thing but it is the latest of a long string of nationalizations in that country and it appears that it is nowhere near the last one to happen.  By itself, Venezuela centralizing another industry would not be a bad thing but the fact that other South American countries are beginning to be emboldened by Chavez’ actions is a bad thing.  South America does not need to kowtow to any nation, block or organization in any way, shape or manner.  However.  Those nations that are feeling emboldened these days will find that they are treading a very serious path in world trade play that they are probably not ready for.  Let us hope that this satisfies President Chavez for at least as long as it takes for the Iraqi Army to control their own country, for Russia to realize that this is not 1958 and for the United States and its steadfast allies to see that there are problems great and small where ever they choose to look.

DEFINITIONS:

Petrochemical: Chemicals made from the raw materials of petroleum or other base hydrocarbon origins; the two main classes of petrochemical raw materials are olefins and aromatics, both of which are made in very large quantities today; petrochemicals can be used in feedstock, cleaning solvents and PVC piping; primarily made in the United States and European countries, the industry is becoming larger in the Middle East region of the world.

Nationalization: Refers to the act of taking over an industry within a country or the total assets of a particular company within a country from the private holding of that business to the public governmental holding of the host country; typically it is a State Socialism policy that drives the belief that the private assets of the industry and / or company should belong and be managed by the State on behalf of the people of the country; an effort that does not typically happen in a 1st World and / or Democratic nation as it is not usually necessary to meet the needs of the people.

Another week has gone away here in the heat and dust of the Summertime and the long days grow short.  The KM Team and the KM Partners hope that everyone they care about remain safe and sound during this next week.  There will be plenty of news in this week so let’s see where the economy takes us, eh?  In the meantime, the entire team rejoices in our readers, their comments and their input.  Having you all read us and communicate with us is what makes us continue.  And what better reason for us to keep doing what we enjoy doing?  Please keep those comments coming in because we do appreciate hearing from you.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you what we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn.    R, S & D and the whole KM Team! …

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( Please see KangarooMoney’s Disclaimer. )

This week the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post.  This decision was reached as we debated if we should recommend / green light certain stocks mentioned in our posts while also not recommend / red light other certain stocks that are mentioned in our posts.  And this debate was a carry-over from the Stock Docket lay out Excel spreadsheet that we have added as a Blogroll extra each week.  The KM Disclaimer keeps us honest in regard to the fact that this particular blog is an opinion paper of what is happening at the moment the opinions are written.  In the world of opinion, commerce and The Economy, what was right and proper last week, month, year may not be exactly the same today, tomorrow or next year.  The internet and whatever it becomes in the future will hold the KM Team and KM Partners opinions forever as they were, much like a good newspaper or videotape will do.  And so, we have posted the KM Disclaimer to insure that you read and use our utterings as YOU will and not as a end-all-be-all of economic guidance.  Fair enough?  The KM Team hopes so as this will please our Lawyers to no end.  As any businessman knows, if the Lawyers are happy, we’re happy.

As you will read below, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ( the official website can be found here : http://en.beijing2008.cn/ ) has certainly been holding the world’s attention for the past week.  At this time, it would appear that no one can run faster than a Jamaican, no one can swim faster than an American and no one can dominate a team sport whether Water Polo ( go America! ), Beach Volleyball ( China WINS! ) or Team Sabre ( France comes back for the Gold Medal! ).  But just because it is summertime in beautiful Beijing, who managed to clean up it’s act just in time, that doesn’t mean that there is nothing else going on in the world.  From a regular old fashioned Brush War to native people demanding $16 Billion dollars from mean old multi-nationals, to the first appearance on the same stage–but not at the same time–for both American Presidential candidates, to the rumbling, bumbling, churning of a Gulf of Mexico Tropical Storm, the week has been anything but quiet.  And even in the dead, dry, desolate Dog Days of Summer, the markets and market makers that make The Economy do not like uncertainty or churning.  When the Asian markets open overnight from here in the USoA until Monday morning 9:30am EST, economy watchers around the world will be keeping one eye on the Olympics in Beijing and one eye on the mental Olympics in New York.  “Come to me sunrise and show me my fate!” 

And now, on with the show.

You will find our weekly comments here on this page with fuller opinions and reasons following after you hit the (click here to read more) highlights.  ( Currently, we have turned this feature off so that one and all can get a feel for our openings and read all that is available.  In the future, this feature will be turned on.)  Anyone can tell you a one or two sentence blurb, but we like to back up our comments with our views so that you can understand where we are coming from. 

Below the weeks’ stories, there is the U & C section, the KM Team will give you some of the latest information concerning some of the previous comments published here as well as compare the KM Team take on things to other counterparts.  The U & C section will be a nice way to see if the KM Team is staying the true course in the ocean of Economy.

Down lower, you will find our Market Mover of the Week feature, highlighting the one person that the KM Team thought was most responsible for moving the USA markets and / or economy for the week past.

Then there is the Definitions of the Week.  These are items that will be complied into a term dictionary at a later date but that will help you now as we explain some of the power phrases of the week just passed.

An additional feature has been added called International Impact Incident of the Week.  The Triple I section will highlight an international situation either just passed or an upcoming event that the KM Team sees as a United States financial markets mover.  Somewhat like the MMW feature, we will check to see how our forecast of the Triple I event turned out.

Finally, we have added the new feature that we hope will help you to see where KM is coming from and where KM is trying to go to.  Up under the Blogroll section in the upper right hand corner of the page, is a link to a list of companies and stock symbols called the “Stock Docket”.  The link will take you to a list where there will be the companies, stock symbols, index it is traded on, the price per share the week that it was mentioned and what that price per share was as of Friday just gone by.  Also, we will highlight which stocks we supported at the time and which we did not.  While this is a considerable undertaking on the KangarooMoneyTeams’ part, we do feel that this will help to determine how things are going.  Eventually, this item will also be moved to an interior page, so please comment on this feature as much as possible before that happens.  KM would love to right every time in this area, so we will see how things go as we drive forward.  There are already some very interesting up and down movements just in the short time we have been talking withyou all.  We had added the totals for the stocks mentioned on the docket, with the exception of Bear Stearns.  BSC is no longer withus as a viable stock but it is left on the docket to show what can happen to any company that does not bear the proper burden of taking care of its stockholders.  The totals shown at the bottom of the spreadsheet show winners and losers bothas an overall number if you held 1 share of each stock mentioned as well as the biggest winner and loser of the week.  The KM Team was surprised by the totals in respect that both the recommend and not-recommended stocks lost money from the stock first mention week up to last Friday…but the not-recommended listings lost more money as a total so we definitely felt redeemed.  Keep asking for more and we’ll see what we can do little joeys!

Please remember, KM Partners and the KM Team are not accountants, stock brokers or personal financial advisers, nor are we even Lawyers.  You need to be sure that you do what YOU want to do.  If the KM Team opinions can help you have an understanding of what has happened, is happening or will happen so as to help in your decision, then our blog serves a purpose.  If, on the other hand, this is the ONLY guidance and direction that you are basing your decisions on, please do not come crying, or suing, any member of the KM Team or KM Partners.  We hope this clears up any questions to that regard.

Because we are writing for everyone, don’t be afraid to let us know how we are doing.  This is an ongoing work-in-progress where we hope to bring fresh changes, new site additions and page features as we go forward.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn!

1. On Friday, August 15, 2008, the front page of the Wall Street Journal paper edition had three major stories above the fold–making them readable withjust a glance on any street news stand or in any commuter hands.  While not unusual as the WSJ normally tries to have three major stories on the front page above the fold, the fact that all three stories dealt with situations NOT in the USoAwas unusual.  And none of those stories had anything to do with Oil.  Of course?  ( click here to read more)  The top story was about the World Economy and how it was showing a deeper strain than before this week past.  The number two story was how recently, and suddenly, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would resign and depart the country following a collapse in his support by the Pakistani people.  And the number three story dealt withthe, at present, ongoing Russia-Georgia conflict.  ( It would seem unfair to call it “the ongoing Russia-Georgia war” as that would mean the two sides were fighting each other on somewhat something of an even footing.  No one inside or outside of Georgia remotely believes that any battles are being fought in that country on an “even footing”. )  A quick flip through the television dial during any nightly news time would reveal similar, if not the same, news stories being presented in about the same order, dragging on until halfway through the news broadcast before any domestic or local reporting was presented.  And the weekly magazines and business websites presented the full united front, reporting virtually the same reports or, worse yet, reporting on the previous reports.  Witha nod towards bothage and history, the elder member of the KM Team noted that this a typical ploy on the news front when bad times arrive in the United States.  Americans are loath to believe that they are at fault when bad things happen.  They are quick to point to other, deeper and more tragic reasons for bad times to occur, whether it be international terrorism, external but near to our hearts conflicts and wars or unfair nationalization of hard fought and hard built companies and international projects.  In the case of this week past news, in particular the WSJ headlines, this effort is playing to the overall need for Americans to start to feel good about themselves again and to be able to blame others for the way things are today.  It is now the WORLD Economy that is suffering as China, India and Southeast Asia steps up their appetite for raw materials and valuable commodities like oil, mined metals and basic food stocks.  Their newly found consumption is not OUR fault.  And here is the news to back that feeling up says the papers, websites and talking heads.  International terrorism will take many strides forward as a solid US ally but deeply unloved leader gets the boot from his country.  Who will be able to hold the country together, kill or capture all of the evil doers in the country AND supply a friendly face at the new airbases and daycaresaround the country of Pakistan now?  You see?  We give them all this support, get the one person who knows how to dress and speak in soundbites to lead them and how do they repay US?  By booting him out of the government and even out of the country.  That’s not OUR fault.  Finally, there’s this little problem in Georgia.  You know, the breakaway old Soviet Republic withthe big, fat, full oil pipeline running straight through the middle of the country.  The good ol’ US ally withthe nice modern seaport and all of the shiny new American war toys given to it play with.  Those evil Russians are beating up those poor Georgia people and why are we just sitting here doing nothing?  WE need to show the Russians just who the hell is the Big Dog on this little planet….You see?  None of it is OUR fault.  It’s somebody else’s problem, or situation, or crisis, not the USoA.  The problem is, WE more than anyone else created the WORLD Economy by mass producing so much stuff that other countries not only need but desperately want.  Does China or India NEED Cadillacs or do they just want them?  Does Pakistan need a modern day Mayor Flynn flying to every downtown fire or appearing on every nightly newscast just to say “Have a nice day”?  Or do they need a leader that will unite at least 51% of the country behind them to be able to by themselves rid that nation of all evil doers and hatemongers that might still exist?  And did anybody remember that the only way that NASA and what amounts to the entire WORLDS’ space program can still fly and be viable businesses rests on the top of Russian rockets and on the back of Russian supply ships?  That nearly 70% of all the available natural gas in the world is tied up in Russian contracts and fields?  That the threat of nuclear war is still just a single push of a little red button away?  But, that’s not OUR fault, now is it?  Good reporting every one.  Another week like that last one and you’ll all be almost as good as that major story breaking juggernaut, the National Enquirer.
2. During the weekly KM Team Roundtable discussions, there always seems to be one constant in the conversations as we attempt to explain why we have all been yelling at our television sets during the week.  As our Southern Editorial Board Member stated this week, “I don’t want to be a pessimist but, what’s changed?”  Indeed, just what has changed?  ( click here to read more)  During the week past, and indeed during the last several weeks, the talking heads have announced “this is the bottom”, “the housing crisis has reached bottom”, “the credit crisis is easing” and “oil is correcting back to acceptable levels”.  We at KangarooMoney admit that it is very encouraging that the price of Oil has fallen so dramatically and it gives us all a little breathing room.  But don’t be fooled.  Unfortunately, it is just a pause.  Ask yourself, what has changed in the World Economy to make it a trend?  Has the political climate changed?  Has Iran stopped trying to develop nuclear technologies?  What about the several wars, hot spots and civil unrest around the world?  Have we discovered new oil reserves?  Are countries like China or say, India, going to reduce their energy needs?  Or are the emerging countries going to increase their energy demands?  Have the price of raw materials come down?  Have housing inventories decreased?  Have the financial sectors stopped writing down their earnings?  How about the employment numbers, are they going up or down?  Not long ago, Pharmaceuticals and Tech were the engines that made the Market go during downturns.  But is that still true today?  And don’t forget to mention that it is Hurricane Season.  It only takes one hurricane to damage a few rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and there goes your oil produciton.  And how about the U.S. Presidential Election.  What is either candidate’s financial recovery plan?  Folks, we’re not at the bottom yet. 
3. Well, here are.  Week 34 of a 52 week year.  The sun is shining warm and bright, making for great beach weather in the Northern Hemisphere.  The Summer Olympics are on television at night from half a world away, making for great evening porch watching.  And the kids haven’t even noticed those new backpacks and dress shirts you brought home during the last state tax holiday yet.  Ah yes.  It must be Christmastime!  ( click here to read more)  No, the KM Team hasn’t been out in the sun too long just yet.  In fact, we’re all still sweating and straining during our commutes and our yard work as we reach that time of year when we feel really good about what we have already done this summer season and with what we have left to finish before our thoughts turn to Fall Clean-ups and, brrrrr, Winter.  But aside from the fact that the planners in the KM family are already looking at December for their companies, I mention Christmas because the Big Box Stores are mentioning Christmas.  Hard to believe but true.  With the domestic economy still showing its flat side, a major surprise right?, retailers are scrambling to determine how their make-or-break Holiday Season is going to go.  And in a word, their Holiday Season is going to go “flat”.  As pointed out earlier in this posting, what has changed to make anyone go out and go big for this year at Christmas time?  Nothing.  The Stimulus Package has come, been spent and is long gone.  People are beginning to worry about keeping their jobs, never mind about getting Christmas bonuses.  And any raises that might happen in the next 18 weeks probably will not be enough to cover the rise in gasoline prices that have been seen this year so far.  Yes, gas is cheaper these days having dropped about 50c in the last two weeks to around $3.50 a gallon.  And gas might even drop lower yet, to say, about $3.25 a gallon if oil does indeed drop to near $110 per barrel.  But even at that price, gasoline will be UP almost one full dollar from what it was in January 2008 and UP almost two full dollars from what it was in January 2007.  Nobody on the KM Team or KM Partners got THAT kind of raise from their base employer.  How about you folk?  So, even though you can expect to walk into any Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Sears, Sam’s Club, Costco or BJ’s Warehouse and pick up that last minute bag of charcoal or that reduced priced kiddie wading pool before the end of August 2008, be prepared to be assaulted by rotating Christmas trees, twinkling red and green lights and blasting multi-style “Jingle Bells”.  Retailers are going to need every single holiday buck they can squeeze out this year, just to be able to be around next year.  Look for announcements from stores like Toys-R-Us and Circuit City stating that this is a “make or break holiday season”, or chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video streaming out “deep discounts for your Christmas shopping”.  But don’t wait too long for the blue light specials shoppers.  Some of these stores, as well as old familiar hometown Mom-&-Pop favorites, won’t be around for New Years Eve this year.  No matter when we celebrate it. ( Wal-Mart, including Sam’s Club = WMT, traded on NYSE, KM suggested at this time; Target Corp. = TGT, traded on NYSE, KM suggested at this time; K-Mart & Sears fall under the Sears Holding Company = SHLD, traded on the NASDAQ, not KM suggested at this time; Costco = COST, traded on NASDAQ, NOT KM suggested at this time; BJ’s Warehouse = BJ, traded on NYSE, KM suggested at this time — more to come on the retail sector as the KM battles a “yay vs nay” situation for this group! )
4. When can you say “That’s not my fault!” and have the phrase actually mean what is meant?  What can you present, be it pictures or eyewitness accounts or tape recordings, that will sway the people that are needed to be swayed to see “the truth”, whatever that might be?  How do you do the right thing, for all concerned, and not give up most of your hard earned money and credit?  The answer isn’t about what’s true or what is proof but rather, only what is believed.  Just ask the oil company Chevron or the sovereign country of Ecuador.  ( click here to read more)  In a battle that would make Perry Mason proud and cringe at the same time, the multinational company Chevron ( CVX, traded on the NYSE, NOT KM suggested at this time…for obvious reasons ) is locked in mortal battle with the Pacific coastal country of Ecuador as the country is suing the company in support of poor native Ecuador citizens who claim that the previous oil explorer and refiner Texaco ( which Chevron bought in 2001 ) polluted the Amazon basin thus ruining their way of life.  To be sure, when a country such as Ecuador–a population just over 13 million people ( counted ), a land mass roughly equal to the US State of Colorado and a government leaning more and more towards the Venezuelan way of the world–decides to take on the 5thlargest non-governmental energy company in the world–they employ 59,000 people worldwide with 27,000 people drawing pay in the USoA, the company controls 12 billion barrels of oil and has a 2.2 million barrel per day refining capacity–it is sure to be about more than just a few past sins committed.  Indeed, Ecuador already took Texaco to the woodshed back in the early through mid-1990’s resulting in Texaco deciding that the oil rich area was no longer worththe effort to battle withthe locals and the government.  The ongoing payments made, the general bad press and the continued, for lack of a better word to the KM Team, blackmailing for more money by Ecuador helped lead Texaco to be sold to Chevron.  Ecuador saw a bigger pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and raised the stakes, the demands and the costs.  Now, to be sure and proper, there are big numbers concerned with what is being described as wanton environmental destruction at the worst and complete incompetent management at the best.  Consider if you will: the government of Ecuador is fronting 30,000 citizens who are suing Chevron for $16 Billion ( witha B ) over the claims that from 1972 until the final pull out in 1992 Texaco dumped back into the area ecosystem 18 Billion gallons ( again with a B ) of oil contaminated water that has resulted in illnesses and land destruction to the point that the land is unusable.  The concern from the KM Team is that as the years have gone by, ALL of the numbers have escalated in size until they are what they are today.  Simple internetsearching bears that truthout.  Also, the lawsuit has become “unwieldy” at the best, with a still operating government oil company, Petroecuador, continuing not only to do what Texaco had done in exacting oil but apparently also adding to the mess that is there and blaming the previous company.  Ecuador citizens keep moving INTO the area and thus adding to the growing list of complainant’s withoutgovernment control.  And to top it all off, the Ecuadorian President leans a little further to the Left and a little closer to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.  All of this bodes badly for Chevron, its workers and all of the myriad of stockholders that it has.  Has damage occurred that needs to corrected?  Certainly.  Can it be proved who is at fault for this damage?  Less certainly.  Will $16 Billion, US, solve the problem, clean up the environment, buy off 30,000 and move them all away to some better and easier life inside of Ecuador?  Certainly not.  What the KM Team fears is that, not only will 30,000 people lose their way of and indeed their very lives, not only will an environment not get cleaned-up but will continue to be misused by a less than forthright national organ masquerading as a business, not only will a huge multinational business that is critical to more than just American interest be sucked dry of a huge amount of cash and credit and not only will an extra large amount of stockholders will be stampeding out of one market into who knows where BUT that any money that gets sent to Ecuador for “citizen repayment for ills and suffering” will most likely never make to any other citizen unless they are a member of the ruling elite of the Ecuadorian government.  THAT would be truly, truly sad. 

Updates and Comparisons: 

From Week 33 — The KM Team wrote about Auction-Rate Securities and the mess that those “good as cash” paper loans and lack of redemptions made.  The KM Team pointed out the fact that new buyers of the sold ARS paper just couldn’t seem to be found and that up until Week 32 / 33 the issuers of the ARS paper just were not interested in spending any money to cover or buy back those loans.  To be honest, the ARS situation was something the KM Team had heard about back in March 2008 but it was assumed that it would sort itself out and be resolved short of the major Multi Billion Dollar shell-out that is possible from the issuers.  Now, the entire week has been spent across the WSJ, the Main Stream Media and the net about how every bank and lender house is back pedaling as quickly as possible to make the deal that keeps the media and the lawyers out of their offices.  Two things came to the KM Team pretty quickly during the week — 1) usually it takes more than a week for our opinions to translate to reality & 2) if someone tells you something is as “good as cash”, just keep the cash.

Market Mover of the Week: The MMoWfor Week 34 2008 is as dicey as calling the weather in New England.  A feisty and agitated female personality that has been called a drifter with the capacity to kill on a whim, the MMoW this week is that blowhard missy called Fay.  Having swept through the lower to mid Caribbean over the weekend, Fay is gearing up to make a run up the western side of Florida near where some of the KM Team live and work.  As of the moment, fickle Fay is only a Tropical Storm but that is enough for the drill rigs and pipeline ports of the American Gulf Coast to batten down the hatches and prepare to shut down their sites and get ashore asap as the storm decides where to go.  NOAA has the storm path tracking around the Keys, ( see the latest predicted path here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/205301.shtml?tswind120#contents ) swinging almost due North and following the coastline up the state of Florida, an unusual pathto be sure when compared with the last 10 plus years.  The KM Team thought that this year would see exactly that type of sweeping path, except off the EASTERN shore of Florida and up into the swamplands of the Carolinas.  For all our friends, families, co-workers and just any old body in Florida, we here at KM Central hope that Fay is just a big old extra rain storm and not some mean, windy bitch.  One way of the other, Fay has the best chance to drive the American gasoline prices this week and that will definitely drive the American, perhaps the world, markets as well.

Market Mover of the Week: For Week 33 2008, the KM Team was dead on target withthe choice of US President George W. Bush and Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.  These two men revived the term “saber rattling” in enough of a sense to wake the dead, as in the dead “Cold War”.  With the nasty little brush war still trying to find a conclusion, one that leaves the sovereign nation state of Georgia intact and Russian “peace keeper” free, the rest of August 2008 may find the world talking about what has, is and will happen in that area of the world.  But the KM Team made a slight understatement for Week 33 2008.  There were two additional players that could have been named as MMoW last week as well: the pro-American Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili and the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.  Both Saakashvili and Medvedev appear to be “straw dogs” for this little set-to which is why they are the sub-titles to the real script being played out.  It will be interesting to see if this twosome, or indeed foursome, make a reappearance to the MMoW status in the weeks to come.  In the meantime, the KM Team sadly accepts that we made the right call for Week 33 2008.

International Impact Incident: The probable departure of Pakistan President PervezvMusharraf will most likely bump the bogged down Russian withdrawal out of Georgia this week.  While President Musharraf has been suffering missteps going back to the Fall of 2007, his swift and untimely decision to step down just ahead of an impeachment proceeding could cause a serious issue withthe multi-national troops stationed in Pakistan to handle and help against terrorists believed to still be operating in that country.  The departure comes at a time when the US Military was proving a great number of people wrong in Iraq and also in Pakistan, where casualties and situations have been light and under control.  Again, US markets and the US economy does not like upheaval or uncertainty and this change in leadership is both, coming as it does just before the political conventions which set the tone for the next 6 months in the USoA.  Because it is not OUR fault, President Musharraf and his decision will be the major Triple I of the week.

DEFINITIONS:

Brush War: A Cold War term used to describe two smaller nations battling in either open announced war or in small battle border skirmish type conflict in place of larger and supporting nations; examples of Brush Wars could be Korean Conflict, Vietnam War, 1990 Afghanistan War and several Afrian and South American “skirmishes” that took place in the 1950’s and 1960’s

National Enquirer: A weekly newspaper that is published by American Media Inc.; the newspaper is commonly refered to as an “American Supermarket Tabloid” because of where it is mostly sold, in the checkout counters at supermarkets and department stores; the newspaper mostly carries stories of people considered to be celebrities, crimes, and fanciful if not completely false science stories; while sometimes reporting correctly on situations as the Gary Hart and the John Edwards infidelity scandals, mostly the paper pays for reports of famous people behaving badly or pictured unflatteringly.

NOAA: Abbreviation for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce; this agency spends its efforts on the atmospheric and oceanic conditions of the planet Earth; the agency uses satilites, bouys, ocean-bottom instruments, planes and ships to gather information in order to warn about dangerous weather, chart the skies and seas and to protect the oceans, sea coasts and atmosphere against harm; this agency serves not only the USoA but the World at large as directed by the government of the USoA; the website is http://www.noaa.gov/

Perry Mason: A fictional character who is a defense attorney; originally the main character in over 80 pieces of fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner; most of these stories had Mason defending a person put on trail for murder, which through deduction and sleuthing on Mason’s part, was found innocent; from 1957 until 1966, Perry Mason was brought to life on CBS television by the late Raymond Burr; the series was as well known for its involved and tightly written 1 hour stories as it was by the opening notes of its theme song, which can be found on YouTube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHqebO8aAc4. 

Mayor Ray Flynn: Refers the Mayor of Boston MA from 1984 until 1993; a rock solid Democrat and staunch Catholic, he succeeded the late Kevin White as Mayor of Boston; upon leaving that position, he was made the Ambassador to the Holy See ( Vatican ) by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and remained there until 1997; Mayor Flynn was well known for showing up at fires, reports of high police involvement situations and for large events that were important to the communities of general Boston; he earned the nickname “Flying Ray Flynn” because of his rushing to sites around the city; well loved and much cared for, he has always been considered a friend and son of Boston and a valued “Local Politician”.

Another week has gone away here in the heat and dust of the Summertime.  The KM Team and the KM Partners hope that everyone remains safe and taken care of during this next very trying week.  In the meantime, the entire team rejoices in our readers, their comments and their input.  Having you all read us and communicate with us is what makes us continue.  And what better reason for us to keep doing what we enjoy doing?  Please keep those comments coming in because we do appreciate hearing from you.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you what we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn.    R, S & D and the whole KM Team! …

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( Please see Kangaroo Money’s Disclaimer below. )

Once again, the Kangaroo Money Partners and the KM Team are finding that their original thoughts and feelings about where the Economy was going and where it would be have been fairly on target.  The thoughts on our web-office communications have been that the bottom of this situation — the bad credit situation, the housing down turn, the worsening jobs situation and the whole financial sector “grip” for lack of a better word — is still about 12 to 18 months from turning back towards a steady, slow upward climb.  The KM Team sees this through the unemployment rates, the closing of mid-range businesses and restaurants, the continued foreclosure situations and the Presidential Campaigns, of course.  It is a great conversation starter to debate how the Presidential Campaigns are hindering the US Economy so you should try that as the summer days begin to wane.  In fact, the KM Team has added the official website link for both campains’ homepages to our Blog Roll in the upper right hand corner.  The KM Team is, naturally, split about who should be the next POTUS ( President of the United States as the Secret Service likes to call the sitting President ) which leads the Team to explore both sides of the ticket to determine where the Economy might end up.  Watch for some interesting articles and evaluations in upcoming posts.  And, for those of you looking for a Blue or Red leaning, the Blog Roll is in alphabetical order — no preference is given to either candidate at this time!

From time to time, our IT Guru Dan will be off on the ‘net exploring where our blog is being read, viewed and linked.  Sometimes the news is very heartening such as when he finds that KangarooMoney is being viewed in Austrailia — very fitting we think! — or that KangarooMoney is a big hit in London England.  Who knew that we had that kind of chops?  But sometimes, Guru will find that there are “collection blogs” out there who simply cut-and-paste quick bits of news stories and someone else’s work into some blogger gumbo and post the result for all to see.  In those cases, Guru will find that KangarooMoney is mis-linked, mis-used or mis-quoted.  Off Guru goes to correct the situation as much as possible as only he can.  Sometimes, like today, he finds a mis-link/quote that works out pretty well.  Also added to our Blog Roll today is a link for the Grace Cheng website, a well done site that bears review on all you Kangaroos’ parts.  The KM Team added the link after going over to site on Guru’s recommendation as a place of interest but only after he had backtracked a gumbo link that had mis-identified Ms. Cheng as authoring a piece that was posted on KangarooMoney.com.  We’re geting there, but we are not to Ms. Cheng’s level quite yet!  Welcome the link and vist the site.  All information is good!

Now, on with the show.

You will find our weekly comments here on this page with fuller opinions and reasons following after you hit the (click here to read more) highlights.  ( Currently, we have turned this feature off so that one and all can get a feel for our openings and read all that is available.  In the future, this feature will be turned on.)  Anyone can tell you a one or two sentence blurb, but we like to back up our comments with our views so that you can understand where we are coming from. 

Below the weeks’ stories, there is the U & C section, the KM Team will give you some of the latest information concerning some of the previous comments published here as well as compare the KM Team take on things to other counterparts.  The U & C section will be a nice way to see if the KM Team is staying the true course in the ocean of Economy.

Down lower, you will find our Market Mover of the Week feature, highlighting the one person that the KM Team thought was most responsible for moving the USA markets and / or economy for the week past.

Then there is the Definitions of the Week.  These are items that will be complied into a term dictionary at a later date but that will help you now as we explain some of the power phrases of the week just passed.

An additional feature has been added called International Impact Incident of the Week.  The Triple I section will highlight an international situation either just passed or an upcoming event that the KM Team sees as a United States financial markets mover.  Somewhat like the MMW feature, we will check to see how our forecast of the Triple I event turned out.

Finally, we have added the new feature that we hope will help you to see where KM is coming from and where KM is trying to go to.  Up under the Blogroll section in the upper right hand corner of the page, is a link to a list of companies and stock symbols called the “Stock Docket”.  The link will take you to a list where there will be the companies, stock symbols, index it is traded on, the price per share the week that it was mentioned and what that price per share was as of Friday just gone by.  Also, we will highlight which stocks we supported at the time and which we did not.  While this is a considerable undertaking on the KangarooMoney Teams’ part, we do feel that this will help to determine how things are going.  Eventually, this item will also be moved to an interior page, so please comment on this feature as much as possible before that happens.  KM would love to right every time in this area, so we will see how things go as we drive forward.  There are already some very interesting up and down movements just in the short time we have been talking with you all.

Most importantly, The KangarooMoney.Com disclaimer has moved to the bottom of the last post on the site.  Please make sure to check the disclaimer out if you have any questions about how you should enjoy our writings here.  Remember, KM Partners and the KM Team are not accountants, stock brokers or personal financial advisers.  You need to be sure of what YOU want to do.

Because we are writing for everyone, don’t be afraid to let us know how we are doing.  This is an ongoing work-in-progress where we hope to bring fresh changes, new site additions and page features as we go forward.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn!

1. As is usually the case, people don’t seem realize the bad times are upon them until they are forced to sit down and evaluate the situation they find themselves in.  These days, that is definitely the New Normal as people realize that more than just this summers’ Vacation needs to be cut out of their budget.  And people will begin to blame anything and everything else except themselves for the cash strapped situation they seem to be in.  The main blame culprit?  Oil…of course. ( click here to read more ) While it is true that the rise in oil prices and thus the rise in gasoline and diesel fuel prices has led to dramatic cost increases in the household expenses, the truth is that there are other factors out there that require a little more internal review on the part of us, the Consumer.  Consider the recent recurrence of a deep recall of ( at the moment ) 1.2 million pounds of beef that could be contaminated with E. Coli from Nebraska Beef — AGAIN!  This is is the same company, yes even the same PLANT, that had major problems with E. Coli just several weeks ago.  To make matters worse, the meat this time was distributed through Whole Foods Market stores ( WFMI, traded on the NASDAQ, not suggested at this time ) who are already having a major time keeping up with this economy. The Consumer is demanding beef and not only demanding it now but at a low price so that they can afford it around all of the additional expenses that have cropped up.  So, as the USDA is under political pressure to have meat packing plants return to normal operations, a situation such as Nebraska Beef having a 2nd recall in a short period of time for a brand new contamination situation happens.  The approximately 1,000 workers of Nebraska Beef take a major hit for working for a food company that can not seem to provide safe food.  The USDA takes a major hit for doing what it is told to do by its political masters by fast tracking a company that not only has issues with the USDA to start with but issues with having lost millions in sales due to its last recall.  And Whole Foods Market gets a major hit for being the main supplier of tainted beef.  In the meantime, the squalling, whining, complaining public who wishes for $1.50 gas, cheap food and a week at the beach rails against everyone except the one who deserves it.  That would be the person in the mirror who is living above their current means but below their current style.  Chill out people.  More drastic cutbacks are coming soon.
2. The buybacks continue in the Auction-Rate Securities section of the market as brokerages and banks are learning the hard lessons that Bear Stearns taught them.  First it was Citigroup Inc. ( C, traded on the NYSE, recommend at this time ) then quickly it was Merrill Lynch & Co. ( MER, traded on the NYSE, not recommended at this time ) as they decided to buy back $17 Billion, with a “B”, worth of the securities.  Now comes UBS ( UBS, traded on the NYSE, not suggested at this time ) who decides to buy back a whopping $19 Billion worth of the securities.  And the reason?  Trust. ( click here to read more ) In recent months, the ARS auctions had been failing to find any buyers.  As most investors had been convinced by banks, insurers and brokers that, once again, “this paper was as good as money”, the lack of new buyers on the old debt not only confused the current holders of the ARS paper but also led to their demanding that the issuers of the original loans be responsible for the ARS paper and redeem them as promised.  This led to the issuers of the loans to deny a tactile agreement to buy back the issued debt and tell the ARS paper holders that this was not how the system worked and that they should read their agreements.  As you would expect any large group of people to who held chits and were waiting for cash, the ARS paper holders revolted.  They began to yell “foul” and then “scam” and finally, and most drastically, “class action lawsuit”.  Having watched Bear Stearns, Indy Mac and at least 5 other major banks implode since March 2008 and, much more importantly, having been served with lawsuits from Massachusetts and New York, UBS folded the agreements back into their pockets and said “Sure, we’ll buy you paper back.  It was all just a little misunderstanding, that’s all.”  Sure was.  Citigroup, Merrill and UBS had all watched Bear Stearns go from 80 to 2 in a few weeks, Indy Mac go from viable to available in a weekend and now they saw the lawyers, regulators and reporters glancing their way.  No, no, no!  We’ll buy.  We’ll honor.  We’ll open our books and our doors and show you that our bottom line is rock solid and there is nothing to fear here.  And after all, isn’t $19 Billion a small price to pay in comparison to folding tent and disappearing for pennies on the dollar?  Who knows.  C, M & U might have just stopped a serious run on the bank and settled one hell of a lot nerves at the same time all while building back the type of trust that they were supposed to always have to begin with.
3. I am quite sure that we have all noticed that oil is dropping in price per barrel.  It was down around $114 per barrel last time this Kangaroo popped his head out of his pouch to look around.  And that means that gas is dropping too.  Gas was down around $3.65 a gallon about that same time.  So the good times are here again soon, right?  Yeah, much like 5 cent cigars are coming back tomorrow too.  ( click here to read more )  In case you haven’t noticed, the World did not suddenly time warp and it’s not 2006 all over again.  It’s more like 1974 all over again.  That was less than 1 year after the great Oil Crisis that spawned OPEC bashing and the greatest rejiggering of the American mindset since Pearl Harbor and World War II.  Big cars and cheap leaded polluting gasoline disappeared almost over night for cheap really small imported cars and a new brand of gas without lead and with more capacity to burn.  It caused a retooling in Detroit that sank the Big Three almost to the bottom of Lake Michigan before they were able to carry off a spectacular turn around that saved the US automotive industry not only for auto building but auto parts as well.  The major US oil companies such as Hess, Exxon ( itself born on January 1st 1973 ) and Sunoco reevaluated and reailigned their attitudes, embracing the Environmental Movement and striving for cleaner burning fuels that were better on engines while being more economical to use and make.  The people who had not gone off to Woodstock and dropped out of the struggling society that had been holding on since Eisenhower and Mayberry now shook off the humdrum 1950’s and the go-go 1960’s then decided that the 1970’s were going to be not just verbally progressive but physically progressive as well.  Businesses and attitudes certainly went bust in 1974 as a reshaping of daily life began, out of necessity as well as out of dreams being spun, but the days of the same old same old, planned obsolesce and only a plus-or-minus 3% difference in all things called work had finally come to an end.  If the nation could rise up and chase a sitting President from office than anything was possible.  All it would take was a new attitude and a new way of doing things.  Like saving for a rainy day, cutting back on excesses, taking vacations in the backyard and a do your best in all you do style of living not only at home but at work also.  So while we revel in our $3.65 a gallon gas ( it should not go any lower than $3.25 a gallon ever again by the way…and why should it? ), as we crow about saving $8 or $10 a tank on a fillup that used to only cost twice that much instead of four times that, as we all get excited about cheap gas, cheaper beef and Christmas in August at the Big Box Mart maybe we should cast a careful eye back to what happened after the last Great Fall so we can cast an eye forward to where we might be after we’ve put Humptey Dumpty back together again.  Just a thought.

Updates and Comparisons: 

From Week 17 — The KM Team addressed the PayDay Loan situation and noted that “payday lending was primarily regulated at the state level” and that the US Defense Department had termed the practice “predatory” at best.  Now comes the Wall Street Journal on August 8-9, 2008 page A3 stating in an article entitled “States Imposing Interest-Rate Caps to Rein in Payday Lenders”.  The article points out the highs and lows of the payday lending industry and fills in where many states are putting together various bills and legislation to regulate the industry.  While the article is not an upbeat view of the situation, it is nice to see that the WSJ is catching up to KangarooMoney.  Great article Conor Dougherty.  ( http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121823792045425793.html )

From Week 21 — In an article about the hit that professional sport teams could expect to take this year due to prices, inflation and home budget costs, it was pointed out that “bad” teams like Kansas City, Seattle and Atlanta would suffer the most because people wouldn’t “go see a sub-.500 sports team with no chance to make the end of season playoffs”.  Another team mentioned with those three teams was Tampa Bay.  Much to the chagrin of the overwhelmingly New England KM Team, the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team is NOT doing as badly as it typically does.  Instead, the Rays are leading the MLB East Division and have won as many games so far this year as they did ALL of last year, 2007.  At this point, it appears that the KM Team was wrong about Tampa Bay on this subject, but we’re from New England and it’s only August.  As we used to say, “there are so many days and so many ways left to lose.”  We’ll see, now, we’ll see.

Market Mover of the Week 33: The clear choice for the Week 33 2008 MMoW is a dual award : President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.  These two gentlemen will rock and roil the world in the next seven days as they come to grips to exactly what is going on in the country of Georgia.  Hopefully it will not be World War III but it will not be a backyard game of horseshoes in Texas or a little sipping and toasting in Moscow either.  The sabers are being polished as we speak as President Bush must defend democracy in  Georgia and Prime Minister Putin must defend his country’s face and honor about Georgia.  But the unknown and the upheavals that result will spin the markets hither and yon until all is said and done.  There won’t be any fingers on the button, we hope, but the soundbites will be fast, furious and confusing.  Watch as the two men make the world markets sing and dance better than a Punch and Judy show.

Market Mover of the Week 32: For Week 32, 2008, the KM Team had chosen the USoA Senate as the MMoW.  But the Senate collective did what they seem to be best known for — nothing.  Sadly, the USoA Senate, aside from the esteemed members, McCain, Obama and Clinton didn’t even make a soundbite all week.  What does this say about that group of people?  Does it say more about them than it does about those of us who elected them?  Somehow, the KM Team believes it says very bad things about both them and us.  It is equally sad to see the USoA House of Representatives doing much the same thing, recessing for 5 weeks while some members were still trying to do the Nations’ business.  Let us all hope that the fine and honorable Senate of the United States of America finds it voice very soon and agrees to think less about themselves and more about all of us.

International Impact Incident Week 33: The opening of the China Olympics on Friday, August 8th, 2008 was indeed a show piece and fantastic sight for Week 32 2008.  However, the Triple I for Week 33 2008 is going to be the ongoing battle both physically and verbally between Russia and Georgia as they fight in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.  As of Saturday August 9th, 2008, the fighting was both brutal and ramping up.  The fighting was spreading away from pure military sites and was spilling over to involve civilian deaths.  The world will be watching the Games in China but this is something that will need attention.  With Georgia being a major US ally and Russia being, well, Russia, this situation is going to be dramatic and far reaching on all economic levels.  Even though the phrase is too often uses, the fate of the world will be depending on what happens halfway around the world.

Definitions:

ARS: Abbreviation for auction-rate security; a debt  that allows a large scale borrower such as a municipality or a Studen Loan organization to borrow money for a long term but at short rates, with the rate being reset at certain time frame auctins; until recently, this method held little risk for either the lender or the borrower or the holder of the security of losing money

E. Coli: Abrreviation for Escherichia coli; a bacterium commonly found in the lower instestines of warm-blooded animals; most strains are harmless but some can cause severe food poisoning that can lead to vomiting and / or diarrhea, that could go lead all the way up to death if left completely untreated; E. coli in some cases can survive outside of the animal body which leads to the bacterium being able to be ingested by other animals.

USDA: United States Department of Agriculture; a US government department that is at Cabinet Level; it is responsible for policy on farming, agriculture and food for the United States; goals of the department is to meet the needs of US farmers ( crops ) and ranchers ( animals ), to promote agricultural trade and production inside and outside of the United States, to work to assure that all food is safe, to protect the United States natural resources as pertains to farming and ranching, to mentor and foster rural communities and to end hunger in America and around the world; the website is found here : http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome

OPEC: Abbreviation for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; a group of currently 12 nations ( Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ), Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Ecuador and Venezuela ) whose goals are to safeguard their countries interests individually and collectively, to ensure a stable petroleum market in price and supply against worldwide demand and to supply a steady and just income for their countries balanced against a just supply and demand for petroleum; most often referred to when discussing the 1973 US Oil Embargo but group was founded in 1960 and manages its goals to this day.

The Big Three: Refers to the United triad of large surviving automakes of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, also known as the US Big Three; in the 1960’s the Big Three automakers were the largest automakers and auto suppliers in the world having bought out and / or shut down all competition for automaking in the United States except for small specialty car makers; during the period after the 1973 Oil Embargo, the Big Three became a parody of itself as the companies struggled to rediscover the market that they had owned for so long only months before; it is now said that the real Big Three are Toyota, Honda and Nissan, the three major Japanese automakers.

Sometimes the KM Team wonders if any of you really get a chance to read all the way down to this level, but some of you have written to let us know that you do indeed digest the whole meal.  For that we are grateful and feel good about continuing forward with our project here.  In the meantime, Kangaroo Money is happy to see that we continue to expand our worldwide readership and that you, the readers,  are taking the time to read and digest our writings.   What better reason for us to keep doing what we enjoy doing?  Please keep those comments coming in because we do appreciate hearing from you.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you what we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn.    R, S & D and the whole KM Team!

…

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Kangaroo Money Partners and the KM Team appreciate all of our readers and want to thank everyone for the notes of concern and questions towards how the KM Team have been and are doing in the real world.  All the KM Team want to let you, our valued readers and also our independent customers, know that while June and July 2008 have been very challenging months on a personal and family level, situations seemed to have calmed down and are now allowing the KM Team to resume what passes for normal business again.  Our lives have settled finally…much unlike The Economy and Markets!  So, not that we were ever truly gone but now we are here and ready to wade back into the fight again.  Shall we begin?  Yes, let’s!

You will find our weekly comments here on this page with fuller opinions and reasons following after you hit the (click here to read more) highlights.  ( Currently, we have turned this feature off so that one and all can get a feel for our openings and read all that is available.  In the future, this feature will be turned on.)  Anyone can tell you a one or two sentence blurb, but we like to back up our comments with our views so that you can understand where we are coming from. 

Below the weeks’ stories, there is the U & C section, the KM Team will give you some of the latest information concerning some of the previous comments published here as well as compare the KM Team take on things to other counterparts.  The U & C section will be a nice way to see if the KM Team is staying the true course in the ocean of Economy.

Down lower, you will find our Market Mover of the Week feature, highlighting the one person that the KM Team thought was most responsible for moving the USA markets and / or economy for the week past.

Then there is the Definitions of the Week.  These are items that will be complied into a term dictionary at a later date but that will help you now as we explain some of the power phrases of the week just passed.

An additional feature has been added called International Impact Incident of the Week.  The Triple I section will highlight an international situation either just passed or an upcoming event that the KM Team sees as a United States financial markets mover.  Somewhat like the MMW feature, we will check to see how our forecast of the Triple I event turned out.

And finally this week, we add a new feature that we hope will help you to see where KM is coming from and where KM is trying to go to.  Up under the Blogroll section in the upper right hand corner of the page, is a link to a list of companies and stock symbols called the “Stock Docket”.  The link will take you to a list where there will be the companies, stock symbols, index it is traded on, the price per share the week that it was mentioned and what that price per share was as of Friday just gone by.  Also, we will highlight which stocks we supported at the time and which we did not.  While this is a considerable undertaking on the KangarooMoney Teams’ part, we do feel that this will help to determine how things are going.  Eventually, this item will also be moved to an interior page, so please comment on this feature as much as possible before that happens.  KM would love to right every time in this area, so we will see how things go as we drive forward.  There are already some very interesting up and down movements just in the short time we have been talking with you all.

Most importantly, The KangarooMoney.Com disclaimer has moved to the bottom of the last post on the page.  Please make sure to check the disclaimer out if you have any questions about how you should enjoy our writings here.

Because we are writing for everyone, don’t be afraid to let us know how we are doing.  This is an ongoing work-in-progress where we hope to bring fresh changes, new site additions and page features as we go forward.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn!

1. One of the comments that has been running rampant on the Net, through the Main Stream Media and, lately, rushing through the halls of the United States Congress like a Congressman running for re-election, is that there has to be some breaks put on Oil Speculators.  In keeping with our Wall Street roots, we at Kangaroo Money respectfully say — Bull!  ( click here to read more)  It may seem anti-American to say that speculation on items, especially oil, should be allowed to travel its natural course and to let the markets dictate the value of what is being speculated on.  Does this mean the KM Team likes to pay for a tank a gas almost 3 times what we paid in January 2008?  Of course not.  But neither is the KM Team ranting and railing for the US Government, or any OTHER world government, to attempt to prevent speculation in collectibles, art, gold, orange juice, pork bellies or companies and their stocks.  Speculation is basically betting that some thing could go into short supply will go up not only in demand but also in price, and that ownership of that “some thing” could result in extra profits for the owner.  It’s a great investment plan when YOU own that “some thing” and sure enough, it goes up in value so you then sell it for more than you bought it for.  BINGO — Profit made.  Of course, speculation does not always work that way.  Just ask the Hunt family of Texas.  In the early 1970’s, the Hunt family of Texas was one of, if not the, richest family in the United States.  During 1973 the family decided to buy precious metals as a hedge against the sudden and dramatic inflation rise that was occurring due to the OPEC induced oil crisis.  Along with some (even then) wealthy Arabs, the Hunt sons, Nelson & William, began to create a silver pool or cartel.  With silver trading between $1.75 and $2 per ounce, the Hunts and their Arab partners pretty shortly had about 200 million ounces of silver under their control, roughly half of all the deliverable silver available in the world at that time ( deliverable meaning mined and known to be mined silver, not necessarily all of the known silver in the world at the time ).  As this purchasing of silver was not all at once, silver rose in value from the low price in 1973 to about $5 per ounce in early 1979, until it reached about $50 per ounce in early 1980.  As this rise of about 40 times 1973 value was finally noticed by other commodity traders and speculators the great Silver Rush was on.  But wait!  The New York Metals Market ( COMEX, a link to this market data site is http://www.nymex.com/index.aspx ) changed the rules of trading at that time and then the Federal Reserve also responded to demands to affect the situation.  The result?  While the supply and ownership of the deliverable silver did not change, the price and value sure did.  The price of silver began an almost uncontrolled slide downward finally resulting in a nearly 50% loss of value on March 27th, 1980 as the price that day dropped from $ 21.62 down to $10.80 per ounce.  The Great Silver Bubble had burst.  The Hunt Brothers ended up declaring bankruptcy and by 1987 found themselves on the wrong side of the equation which had them owing debts of $2.7 Billion dollars versus having $1.5 Billion in assets.  In 1988 they found themselves in court and convicted of conspiring to corner the silver market. ( http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Hunt,+Nelson+’Bunker’ , one of several well informed articles on the subject )  Just what we all want to happen for oil and the Evil Speculators, right?  Well, before we start to wish for the 70’s again, consider this — During the Silver Bubble time, the Dow Jones had reached a peak of 903.84 on February 13, 1980 BUT after the bubble burst on March 27th 1980, the Dow Jones had dropped to a low of 759.98 as it fronted the economic nightmare that saw the Prime Lending Rate hit 22% later in 1980 ( as compared to about 6% as of this writing ).  Are you ready for lower oil prices but for everything else to be skying in price?  Think about it.  Oh, and you should also remember that even today, not everyone in the world is impacted by a daily use of silver but they are impacted by a daily use of a depleting speculated commodity — oil. 
2. Please understand that the Kangaroo Money Team is now living, working and contributing from around the country of the United States.  But, the KM Team was forged in the cold and wiley New England states where the only other facts that were constant besides snow in the winter and freezing water in the ocean in the summer was that the Boston Celtics were great when we were kids, the Boston Bruins used to win when they played in a 6 team league, the Boston / New England Patriots would never win the Big One and the Boston Red Sox would never, ever, EVER win the World Series no matter what the score was in the clinching game.  Times, they change. ( click here to read more)  The reasons that times have changed for Boston sports teams and, indeed, for all of New England natives, sports fans or not, have been on display since the year 2000.  Not the End of Days as some have speculated but rather the Play of Teams.  From the Team Introduction at Superbowl in 2002 against the Saint Louis Rams to the Bunch of Idiots taking a 0-3 “lead” to win against the Evil Empire 4-3 to the New Big Three Team Celtics crashing out an “unbeatable” old enemy Los Angeles Lakers’ team and even to the surging force-a-game-7 Boston Bruins, the last eight years has seen one word drilled into every New Englander and into every college, high school and grade school athlete — TEAM.  Prior to the 2001 Superbowl, an almost unnatural emphasis had been placed on individuals playing on teams rather than that emphasis being placed on a team of cooperating individuals.  After that time, Sports as a whole seemed to harken back to playing up a Team rather than the single stars.  Now comes a business story, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal no less ( read the story here : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121667673378471533.html ) that points out the lessening value of team play and touts the individual as most important.  The first line of the story tells all : “A-Rod is going Hollywood.”  It seems that Alex Rodriguez, of the New York Yankees, has signed a contract with the William Morris talent agency, with an eye towards a present-day but mostly post-baseball building of a business empire similar to Tiger Woods and the Williams Sisters.  While this would be a great chance for any sport player ( think Joe Namath for you older Kangaroos and Magic Johnson for you younger Joeys ) it would seem to send a very bad message to non-professional players of the world — you are more important than the Team.  While this decision by Mr. Rodriguez does not explain the poor play of the New York Yankees ( or Evil Empire as the KM Team much prefers ) it also does not explain how this is front page news on such an important media outlet as the Wall Street Journal.  Perhaps it can be better explained by the fact that the WSJ is now owned by News Corp of Rupert Murdoch fame.  Or, just perhaps, it reflects the New Normal as Fox News touts so much of these days.  The New Normal where nobody works for a company for more than 3 to 5 years unless that person has been there for 25 or more years already.  Perhaps the Decade of Team is about over and we are about to resume the New Normal of Just Me.  Well, everywhere but New England of course.  You know.  The place of Teams of Champions.
3. Now that the KangarooMoney Team is back together after our trials and tribulations, the KM Team Roundtable discussions have been much more lively and business like than the previous few months.  As we have gotten back to topic, one thing that has been coming up is just what is driving the Economy and the Markets here in the US.  The agreement has been–not Oil.  Of course.  ( click here to read more ) For most of our regular readers, the decision that Oil is not the prime mover in the US would lead you to believe that we thought it was the Housing Bubble or maybe the Credit Crunch.  While those things were discussed, they were not the top vote getter.  What we worked out was that the change in the way the common American investor can now buy and sell stocks and bonds is what is driving the Economy.  Or to put it more correctly, Fear and Loathing ( thank you Hunter S. Thompson where ever you are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson).  The office water cooler and the nightly news now command more of the attention of the stock trading public than the facts and figures coming out of any company that is doing business in the US today.  Both of these areas are full of gossip, rumors and possibilities, perhaps the nightly news more so than the water cooler.  People tend to herd together and stampede when they get heavy doses of bad gossip or bad news.  Would Bear Stearns Company been pushed off the cliff so very quickly if the professionals had been the only ones trading back in early 2008?  Probably not, as the pros would have made that more of a free fall instead of a nosedive which would have allowed another company to buy out Bear before a Federal bailout became necessary.  But would that have been better or worse knowing what we know now?  The bottom line is, Bear Stearns was a dead man standing that didn’t know to fall down.  A buyout would have eased the company to the ground and allowed for some organs / funds / dollars to be saved and passed on to be correctly used by the new owners.  Instead, internet traders, bloggers, shareholders and international competitors pushed the body to the ground, jumped up and down on it to make sure it was dead and then they rifled the bodies’ pockets for any loose and easy cash.  Not quite the same thing is it?  But the New Normal, where you and I have as much skill as any talking head on television, where you and I can trade stocks around the world 24/7 with a click of the mouse, where you and I can talk, chat and BS about a company without too much fear of reprisal or problems, have driven the whole Economy to nothing more than the Financial Pages of the National Enquirer.  Oh, Bear Stearns was wrong in many ways and it was a dead company as more and more “news” was released about how things were being done there, but is it any different than how YOUR company is being run?  Would you like to see all of the rumors and truths that come out around YOUR water cooler printed on every blog, email service and stock evaluation website for all the World to see?  Fear and Loathing isn’t just for Las Vegas any more Kangaroos.  And what happens in the office doesn’t seem to stay in the office any more.
4. Again, regular readers of KangarooMoney will remember that the KM Team has pushed for hard copies of newspapers, magazines, books and financial reports to be the backbone of any research that you do when trying to come to the best decision you can make given the information you can find that you believe.  And what one person calls useless trash another person calls research material.  Case in point: The front section of the Wall Street Journal dated Wednesday, November 23, 2005. ( click here to read more) The section of the WSJ in question is paged number A1 through A18 and is of the old style size that gave a column more type space to the paper. ( The WSJ lopped 3 inches off of the width of the paper, from 15 to 12, beginning in January 2007 as a move to save up to $118 Million per year in newsprint costs. )  While the familiar uncomfortable size reminds us of what was, it is the news stories that scream out of the past and pound in the present.  Starting with the right column headline “Google’s Growth Helps Ignite Silicon Valley Hiring Frenzy” ( GOOG, traded on the NYSE, traded that day at $390.43 per share ).  In explaining that after only 15 months of being a publicly traded stock, Google had an 87% increase in employees on the payroll and was hard pressing more each day to join.  Who of us missed that gravy train?  In the “What’s News” Business and Finance section, also on the front page and above the fold was the comment that “The FED may stop giving strong hints about where rates are heading…”  True enough it would seem, as the FED now needs a bullhorn to be heard about what it IS saying instead of what people think will be said.  Moving to the inside, on page A3 is the headline “Fitch Takes Dim View of GM Moves”, as the Fitch Ratings commented that the plant-closing plan didn’t go far enough.  The expectation then was to return GM to positive cash flow by 2006.  ( GM, traded on the NYSE, traded that day at $23.37 per share, down 31 cents or 1.3% ; in retrospect GM announced $15.5 BILLION in losses in 2008 Q2 ) .  Seems Fitch Ratings had the mojo on GM.  Moving further in, on page A4 is the article “Ford Seeks Tax Breaks for Alternative-Fuel Vehicles”.  This effort by these Ford “proposals seek to help the domestic auto industry catch its Japanese rivals on production of fuel-efficient vehicles.”  ( F, traded on NYSE, traded that day at $8.32 per share )  Almost 3 years later, the public still waits for Ford to prove what it has for “alternative-fuel vehicles”.  Further in on page A13, in the middle of the page, Brown-Forman Corp. reported that Q2 earnings “rose 7.3%, fueled by volume growth and margin improvement for its Jack Daniel’s whiskey brand and continued growth for the Finlandia and Southern Comfort liquor brands.” ( BF.A, traded on the NYSE, traded that day at $68.29 per share, up $2.26 that day & BF.B, traded on the NYSE, traded that day at $67.01 per share, up $1.76 that day )  As we now know, breweries and liquor companies are very much in vogue.  If we had all paid attention to Brown-Forman back in 2005, you would have been riding a stock that had been traveling all this time in the $65 to $75 per share range and doling out dividends at least every 3 months between 30 cents and $1.65 per share the whole ride.  Nice ride.  And on A14, there was the story about “Sharing of Data On Air Travelers Is Called Illegal” where the European Union’s high court called the “deal giving data on US-bound airline passengers from Europe to US customs authorities as part of antiterror efforts” illegal.  Safe to say that that deal has now been rendered non-functional as most airlines of the world just try to get a full plane in the air each time they fly.  The ads from this section, full of new phone companies, big shiney new jets and sleek but larger cars show alot about the go-go frame of mind that was around just a short 33 months ago.  A simple throw away sheaf of newspaper that at the time carried less weight than the paper it was printed on.  Upon review, the stories make for eerie tales of times past and times to come.  Makes me want to see Wednesday’s paper this week that much more.

Updates and Comparisons: 

From Beginnings ( Week 15 ) — The “Secrets of Magic Exposed!” article by KangarooMoney pointed out that there appeared to be more than a little hookum, smoke and mirrors to the Bear Stearns and J. P. Morgan Chase deal.  Now comes word that more than $1.2 Billion, with a “B”, dollars in value of the Bear Stearns holdings has, shall we say, “evaporated” or, less politely, simply gone away.  While this is not enough to cause the United States Taxpayers ( that is you and me by the way ) to start paying out to cover this decrease, it is enough to start sounding a warning to all of us about the slippery slope that this deal started.  At the very least, it should get us all to look at the business deals we make each day in our own world. ( article of choice is : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121512941642228217.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news&apl=y&r=502767 )

From Week 16 — KangarooMoney pointed out that Starbucks had lost “it”, that they had gotten away from their proven business model and that they were losing market share because of it.  Now, 16 weeks later, here comes Starbucks with the announcement that in the remainder of 2008, 600 stores will close, only 250 new stores will open, and 12,000 employees will be laid off.  The KM Team feels badly about the employees that will lose their present jobs.  But, the KM Team would like to point out that the problems with Starbucks was identified well before this latest announcement.  And you read that information here.  ( http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121494400432420449.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news )

From Week 20 — KangarooMoney noted that Circuit City was heading the wrong way in trying to target higher paid workers for layoffs and in general was making some very bad business decisions.  At that time, Blockbuster had made a $1 Billion, with a B, offer to buy the struggling company with the intent of merging the two businesses in a synergy mating that looked like a pretty good fit.  Word comes that Blockbuster has pulled out of that offer leaving Circuit City to try to re-wire itself on its own.  Again, you read about it here.  ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25485206/ )

Market Mover of the Week: The KM Team choice for the MMoW for Week 32 2008 is going to be, well, it’s going to be a whole lot of people.  One hundred of them in fact.  The KM Team has tagged the United States Senate all one hundred including Vice President Dick Cheney as being the MMoW for Week 32 2008. But it is because of their collective LACK of movement concerning oil, electricity and total energy that our valued Senators are getting this nomination.  While the KM Team wholeheartedly agrees that the US Government should stay completely away from regulating ANY domestic product that would hinder free market pricing from being driven by consumers, the KM Team also believes that the utter and complete lack of position statements as to WHY the Senators are not doing anything to explain to the value of a free market economy.  The impact for the US stock markets, and thus for the World stock markets, should be a deepening of the gloom that is already prevailing.  We shall see, and very quickly we feel, too.

Market Mover of the Week: While it seems a bit of “you’ve got to believe us” we really have no reason to lie.  The KM Team choice for MMoW for Week 31 2008 was Senator John McCain as he spent the week responding to Senator Barack Obama and his Middle East and European “fact finding” trip.  Sadly, as also happened during Week 30 2008 with Senator Obama, it seems that someone forgot to alert the US Markets about Senator McCain’s responses and very little economic impact came from either corner. 

International Impact Incident: The opening of the China Olympics on Friday, August 8th, 2008 is easily the driving force in the International situations this week.  That is, barring some huge explosion to prove a point or some act of God that devastates a large number of human lives.  The Chinese so very, very desperately want to become seen as one of the valued New Millenium countries that it will go to any lengths to make these Olympics the best ever.  And THAT will have far reaching impacts not only during the time that these Olympics take place but quite possibility for the rest of 2008 and into 2009.  Sports as a financial hammer.  Ah, what would Jim McKay have to say about that?  

DEFINITIONS:

COMEX: Abbreviation for Commodities Exchange, Inc.; once one of two divisions of the New York Mercantile Exchange ( the other was the New York Mercantile Exchange itself ) the divisions have been merged and are publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol NMX; was the controlling US market of commodity items ( copper, gold, silver, orange juice to name several ) until merging with the NYME; the NYME floor is controlled by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, a separate agency of the United States of America government

SPECULATOR: One who assumes the risk of forfeit or loss in return for the possible reward of greater value; a person or cartel of individuals who purchase and / or control certain items in the attempt to force a high value to be assigned to the items by others who wish to purchase and / or control those items; most often used with to describe a commodities-type trader who is guessing the prices will go up ( pork-bellies is often the humorous description but it applies as does oil, gold, silver, real estate and other items of that type ).

UNITED STATES SENATE: The upper body of the 2 house system of publicly elected national officials of the United States; each State is allowed 2 Senators to be elected to this body to 6 year terms of office; 1/3 of the Senators are up for election every 2 years; the Vice President of the United States serves as the President of the Senate but votes only in the event of a tie; a President Pro Tempore is selected by the Senate to fill the times the US VP is not sitting; this body of the US Congress serves in different capacities from the lower body ( House of Representatives ) as it has been assigned by the US Constitution to advise and consent on important Executive Branch appointments ( judges and ambassadors for example ) and on treaties that the United States may enter into.

OLYMPICS: Short for Olympic Games, a multi-sport event held every 4 years in Summer and in Winter events; nations from around the world send athletes to compete against each other in the hope to win First Place Gold Medal, Second Place Silver Medal or Third Place Bronze Medal in an individual or team event; the honor of hosting an Olympic Games is greatly desired both by the host country and the host city as to show the best of the best their location has to offer; at one time the Olympic Games was a purely amateur event but now a great number of athletes are considered to be of professional level, most notably Basketball and Hockey players in their events.

JIM MCKAY: Well known and widely respected American sports journalist who passed away on June 7th, 2008; best known for 37 years of hosting the weekend sports show “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” and for being the on air broadcast host of 12 different Olymic Games, including the horror of the 1972 Munich Games; a professional sports reporter who involved himself only as necessary to make the reporting possible, he not only covered a wide field of sports from cliff diving to golf to auto racing to horse racing but he brought a steady and solid view and voice as to what sports should be played and should be reported.

The last several months have been a difficult time for us here at Kangaroo Money due to the many impacts of our daily lives but we hope that you still enjoy and learn from the time we spend to write to you.  All of us at KangarooMoney.Com and KM Partners send our hopes and prayers to our friend and team member as a difficult situation concludes.  In the meantime, Kangaroo Money is happy to see that we continue to expand our worldwide readership and that you, the readers,  are taking the time to read and digest our writings.   What better reason for us to keep doing what we enjoy doing?  Please keep those comments coming in because we do appreciate hearing from you.  As the days go by, we won’t forget to tell you what we think we are doing — so don’t YOU forget to tell US how you think we are doing!  For now, enjoy, learn and earn.    R, S & D…

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