Kangaroo Money

( Please see KangarooMoney’s Disclaimer posted on 08-17-2008. )

Remember, the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post, dated 8/17/08, 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.

It is Sunday again here in the offices.  Usually, this is the quietest time of the week, granting the KM Team some thought time to shuffle through the week past, the week coming and the future places that The Economy might go.  Lately however, Sunday has been nothing more than an extra 12 hours of Friday evening and an extra 12 hours of Monday morning.  That makes the offices a little more lively and, unfortunately, a little more confusing and tiring.  Last Sunday night for example, didn’t end until after midnight as the news wires updated every 30 minutes with a new panic-driven bomb out of the world of financial institutions.  The only reason it ended then was the world of “real work” was just a few hours away.  This Sunday, there are more people here than normal, chatting up each other with the usual opening of “Oh my God, did you hear about…” and then trotting out the one type of company that we all believe actually made money this week past — the phone companies.  But those are stories for another week.  A nice way of saying that we’re working on it but they’re not ready yet.

In Week 37 and in Week 38, the talk was mostly about the Hurricanes Gustav and Ike as they battered not just the Gulf Coast and the Texas Coast but the US oil refineries and thus the world economy.  The KM Team and KM Partners did spend a great deal of time watching over Treasury Secretary Harry Paulson ( we feel so familiar with him now that we can call him Harry ) as the USoA Treasury strode onto the world stage and tried to calm the roiling waters that was the only thing on anyone’s lips.  And the KM Team and KM Partners spent an extraordinary amount of time attempting to calm a very large number of people who were running around trying to find a cup of water to throw on the flames that were burning their houses down.  We were only partially successful, as most people were, and the houses are still smoldering but the flames do seem tamped down quite a bit.  But there’s still smoke and there’s still embers which brings us to the week, and weeks, coming up.

The KM Team and KM Partners are steadfastly against the pending USoA Government Mega-Bailout and are also completely against the attempt to derail what is called “short selling”.  To begin with the MB as we’re calling it, the latest Nanny Government dressed in Republican clothes this time, is attempting to do what every Saturday morning parent of some under-skilled and over-weight 10 year old sports player have been doing for years now — “Don’t Lose.”  The “Don’t Lose” mentality is one where the parents don’t want the bigger, badder, better kids to run roughshod over their little, whiny, over-protected children so that the LWOs won’t “feel bad” about what happened.  The thinking goes that if no score is kept, there can be no losers so everybody is a winner.  As a parent, I’m here to tell you that when nobody keeps score, EVERYBODY keeps score, especially the bigger, badder, better kids.  Nobody feels better.  The parents just lie to themselves out loud while laying in bed later that night wondering why their kid can’t run, throw, kick, pass or field better than the other 21 kids on the team.  Then they go to work the next day and berate all who come near them because those other people are incompetent jerks.  So the USoA Government is going to put that “Don’t Lose” mentality stamp on the world as an official policy of the World of Capitalism by saying “We don’t care how many bad deals you made, or how much bad debt you have, or how badly you are handling the situation, or just how much your business SHOULD collapse and be sold off for pennies on the dollar — we’re from the Government and we’re here to help.”  There are businesses out there today who have run roughshod over and over and over again on good business practices who are surviving because — why are they surviving at all?  If I had done what the big names of the week had done — Lehman Brothers & AIG — I would have arrested so long ago I would have missed the Internet Age.  Now, the Government wants to shore up these Bastions of Bad Business by taking approximately $3,000 from every living USoA citizen and buying up loans that should not have been made or even asked for over the last who knows how many years.  On top of that, the Government wants to stop us and every other investor out there from doing what we know is right, short selling a stock because we think it will go down.  Financial stocks, long out of favor here at KangarooMoney, are unduly pressured by the overall public opinion that they are loosing value every day, the Government stated this week.  By preventing any bets that the financial stocks will go down, that old “Don’t Lose” mentality, by October 2nd, 2008 all will be right with the world and all of our confidences in Big Banks will be restored.  Right.

Ask yourself Kangaroos — what will be different on October 3rd from today?  Will banks charge less when you supposedly screw up your account totals?  Will they lower their lending rates to you to buy something you don’t need?  Will they forgive your past sins and start handing you a toaster for being a good person?  Will they give back all of the money they made by taking the bad mortgages they gave to us?  Will you be more secure in seeing the same group of people running all of the lendable assets of America that run the IRS and Social Security?  *sigh* Things go up, things go down.  Housing values, stock prices, gas prices, sports teams, children’s grades, marriages and confidences.  Things can not always go up.  Everything can not be guaranteed not to fail.  Chances have to be taken and yes, sometimes those chances fail and cost the risk takers and their followers everything.  That is the natural order of life here on Earth.  So aside from all of us breathing a little easier as we delude ourselves while hearing the 10 most feared words in the English Language - “Hi, we’re from the Government and we’re here to help.” - perhaps we should try to remember a different quote from a similar situation not so long ago - “The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it.  And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”   It might also be best to remember who got us into this mess to start with.

We did. 

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, we are looking at 01/01/09 at this point, 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, there is the 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.  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 and we’ve tweaked this feature yet again this week.  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. Tune in, for about hundred bucks more?  On a recent shopping trip to replace a five-year-old DVD player, I discovered that if you want a TV tuner with your video unit, it would cost 40 to 100 bucks depending on the configuration.  I was concentrating on the DVD / VCR combo player when I saw in big red letters on the side of the box “Tuner Not Included”.  ( click here to read more )  As we all know by now, in the USoA broadcast television is changing formats from an analog to a digital signal on February 17, 2009.  As has been often quoted, “FCC-Federal law requires that all full-power television broadcast stations stop broadcasting in analog format and broadcast only in digital format.”  Here’s what these requirements will mean for you and your television viewing.  Congress mandated the conversion to all-digital broadcasting, also known as the digital television (DTV) transition, because all-digital broadcasting will free up frequencies for public safety communications ( such as police, fire and emergency rescue departments ).  Also, digital is a more efficient transmission technology that allows broadcast stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, as well as offer more programming options for consumers through multiple broadcast streams ( multicasting ).  In addition, some of the freed up frequencies will be used for advanced commercial wireless services for consumers.  Therefore, all television equipment being sold after May 25, 2007 should contain a digital tuner or should be identified at the point-of-sale as not having a digital tuner.  Be sure to look for this label if you are purchasing a new TV.  As for how to determine whether your television equipment purchased prior to May 25, 2007 is a DTV, many of the DTVs and other digital television equipment will have labels or other markings on them or there will be statements in the informational materials that came with the equipment to indicate that they contain digital tuners.  These labels or markings or statements may contain the words “Integrated Digital Tuner” or Digital Tuner Built-In”.  The word “receiver” may be substituted for the word “tuner”, and “DTV”, “ATSC” or “HDTV” ( for high definition television ) may be substituted for the word “digital”.  If your television equipment contains any of these labels or markings or statements, you should be able to view digital over-the-air programming without the need for a digital-to-analog converter box.  Remember, you do not need an HDTV to view free, over-the-air digital programming.  As long as your television equipment contains a digital tuner, you can view over-the-air digital programming.  An HDTV is only necessary if you want to view digital programming in “high definition”.  Kangaroos, remember when you could connect the cable directly into your VCR player and not need the cable box for “basic cable”?  Well, it’s going to cost a little more to do that from here on out.  Some models have no 1/4 inch hook-ups for coaxial cable at all.  Looks like we’ll all change over to 1/8 -inch RCA connections.  Does this mean that the electronic entertainment makers are going to have a good Christmas retail season?  Maybe.  In some cases, they’re getting 30% to 40% more for the same units as compared to six months ago.  Most people already have digital DVD’s or VCR’s in their homes.  Check the manual and other materials that came with your television, DVD or VCR equipment in order to determine whether it contains a digital tuner.  As a note, EchoStar Technologies ( SATS, traded on NASDAQ, recommended at this time — this is a January 2008 spin-off company from DISH Network ) is a major provider of cable and satellite equipment and will benefit from these changes.  ( sources are : http://www.echostar.com/products/index.shtml and http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html )
2. As they say, let’s go to the tape — Monday was -504.48; Tuesday was +141.51; Wednesday was -449.36; Thursday was +410.03 and Friday was +368.75 — Weekly Total=down only 33.55.  So this makes it all quite alright and just normal, right?  Eh, not really.  ( click here to read more )  On the surface, the total numbers show that what we all consider to be The Market, the American Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 stocks, is amazingly resilient and capable of handling very big news in a very solid fashion.  But, that is indeed just the surface.  When you look past the weekly totals for the Dow and see things like Lehman Brothers gone, AIG down 90% in just three months and mostly likely to be gone, Merrill Lynch selling out to Bank of America, banks refusing to lend to each other even short term, Morgan Stanley selling out to a “pick-the-winner” new owner, and, the KM Team’s personal favorite, the above the fold headline of “Worst Crisis Since ’30s, With No End Yet In Sight”, it becomes apparent that the Dow Jones, and any other markets as well, didn’t handle big news very well.  Investors, people like you and the KM Team, bolted from financial stocks last week the same way that they had bolted from auction rate bonds, mortgage company stocks, credit card company stocks, home builder stocks, real estate company stocks, cable company stocks and medical HMO company stocks way back in the beginning.  People fled the rumors and caused the news and looked for someplace safe and sound to put their money where it wouldn’t be lost and they could earn big enough returns to enjoy their go go go lifestyles without fear.  Just one problem.  There is no safe place that can generate big returns without risk.  There are safe places for your money — savings accounts at local bank offices, T-Bills and mattresses — but the problem with those are that they generate little to no interest what so ever.  Why, to make a decent return on a simple savings account you would have to save 20-30% of your income for YEARS to make enough money to retire on.  That would mean you would have to cut back on borrowing and spending just to squeeze out that coin to put into the savings account.  That would mean you would have to do without a new car every three years, get by on clothes for more than one season, eat cheaper types of food at home more often, decide what was really necessary and what was actually just desired because of the fad.  Why, you would have to live in the same house for almost 15 to 30 YEARS and plan your vacations, your children, your life just to be able to live past your job.  Why, all this would be like, would be like, it would be like…just how your parents and grandparents lived.  Not on credit.  Not on brashness.  Not on fad.  But on reality.  And you had best accept that fact now, today, right this minute.  Because when Oprah and Ellen and MTV start telling me about The Economy and pointing fingers about what is wrong on Wall Street and Who is to Blame, the Kangaroos, we are as good as finished and had better start planning for what happens when the bottom really does come.  If we didn’t listen to Bush, Cox, Paulson, Bernanke, or any of the financial television gurus, what happens when people start listening to talk show hosts for financial tips?  Do yourself a favor — watch the NEWS not The View.
3. What took ’em so long?  In the early nineteen-eighties, GM Cadillac took a public beating in the general media when they came out with a great idea.  The great idea was the 8-6-4 engine or the Variable Displacement Engine as it came to be known as.  The problem was, this concept was fifteen or twenty years ahead of it’s time back then.  ( click here to read more )  The technology wasn’t there yet to put the idea to practical use.  But easy now, before you all go crazy like you did in the eighties.  General Motors ( GM, traded on NYSE ) took so much heat about the engine and received so much bad press about it, that they had to change out many of the 1981 Fleetwood engines that used it.  The car owners claimed that the cars bucked, jerked, stalled and, well, just plain made “rude noises”, so much so, that the engine was filed away under “maybe someday but not so long as the Boss is still alive and we still work here” back in the R&D files.  And we wonder why it is taking so long to bring the new GM Volt to market?  As the KM Team has said, the technology to get a man to the moon existed but not the technology to decide to run unneeded engine cylinders AND make a profit for GM.  Today, the on board computers in automobiles are light years ahead of what was available back then, similar to comparing a 1971 game of Pong to the 2008 XBox.  As proof of the viability of the original 8-6-4 concept, the 2008 Honda Accord has Variable Cylinder Management ™ ( VCM (rtm) ), a somewhat direct descendant of the original concept.  Bob Lutz, General Motors Vice Chairman and current promoter of GM product, has touched on the 8-6-4 VDR history, even hinting that the concept may come back as part of the hybrid programs between now and 2020.  While this doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, it is very telling about what to expect from automakers in Detroit and indeed, around the world.  Those old R&D files are starting to see the light of day again. Why now and why here?  The easiest answer is that the technology that would have needed to have been invented in 1981 is here today in the palm of our hands quite literally.  Another answer would be that creating more fuel efficient cars would help not just to keep oil prices consistent but also in our efforts to create a “greener” auto to suit all of our needs and desires.  But while those answer carry weight, they don’t tell the whole story behind the sudden resurrection of some 25 to 30 year old engine design that failed the first time around.  The truth is, there’s money to be made on the idea today as opposed to spending money to retool and rework the idea back in 1981.  Being “green” is great, little kangaroos, just so long as we all know what kind of “green” we’re talking about.  

4. Currently, there is no reasonable explanation to what is happening in the US Financial Sector stocks.  When the KM Team and KM Partners have spoken this week, it is to confirm and reaffirm that things are happening as predicted in the Crisis Management Team Meetings and that our positions are retaining the value that we expected.  As one of our members pointed out, when he and Jim Cramer ( he of the CNBC “Mad Money” show and the screaming reality tips on the stock markets ) are saying the exact same thing at the exact same time, you know The Economy is in deep trouble.  ( click here to read more )  So, does the KM Team plan to talk toward the finance sector mess here in section 4 after beating it up so much up above?  Nope.  Let’s talk about food prices and the higher cost of food production.  Earlier in 2008, there were food riots in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand.  Chances are that there were issues in out of the way villages in Russia, all over Africa, South America and Southeast Asia that just were not reported then.  Or now.  The cost of producing food has not gotten cheaper as 2008 has progressed.  In fact, the costs of farming has risen even while our attention has been diverted by oil and gasoline prices, political conventions, hurricanes and Wall Street situations.  Common fertilizers, insecticides and grass killing chemicals are all petroleum based so there prices have only gone up as the price of a barrel of oil has skyrocketed.  Toss in the price of diesel for all that farming equipment and farmers are having a tougher time of this New Normal Economy than any of us.  And let’s not forget that the price of land, that flat well draining property that is so cherished by housing development builders, has risen to the point that having houses even thought of being built on that land is more money making than trying to grow the crops that are so important to the rest of the world.  Farmers are being squeezed out around the world and we’re all paying for that squeeze.  The time has come where houses and manufacturing need to take a back seat to agriculture and farming.  Oil might come down in barrel price, land may fall in value for no reason and Mother Nature may change the landscape from time to time, but we all gotta eat.  And not just us in the USoA but everywhere around the world.  As the sun comes up over Wall Street in the East tomorrow, let’s cast our eyes to the West, the Mid-West in particular and realize that there is more to life than chasing a buck.  After all, a Man’s gotta eat.

5. Slow sales and overstocked to boot.  AuthenTec, ( AUTH, traded on NASDAQ, recommended at this time ) is being spotlighted by the KM Team this week.  This Melbourne, FL company manufactures fingerprint sensors that are supplied to high volume personal computer users such as those being planned to be used in airport security sections and like those currently used in chain stores to id customers using credit and debit cards.  ( click here to read more ) AuthenTec lost more than half of their value after they cut revenue and profit estimates in early September 2008.  According to AuthenTec, more than 20 million mobile phones have included an AuthenTec sensor.  On those phones, features include secure mobile commerce, touch pad-like navigation, personal data privacy and convenient security.  AuthenTec-enabled smart phones and mobile devices from Casio-Hitachi Mobile, Fujitsu, HTC, JRC, LG, Medion and Samsung products include the first NTT DOCOMO phone to incorporate AuthenTec’s TrueNav(R) user navigation features.  From an AuthenTec press release, Melbourne, FL, September 7, 2008 — “Based on order trends and discussions with customers, AuthenTec now expects third quarter 2008 revenue to range between $18.2 Million and $18.5 Million and fiscal year 2008 revenue to range between $69 Million and $71 Million.  This represents an increase from the $15.1 Million reported in the third quarter of 2007 and $52.3 Million reported for fiscal year 2007.  The Company attributes the reduction in estimated revenue to an overstocked inventory position at a new customer and the impact of lower than expected sales of higher-end notebooks, which are more likely to be equipped with a fingerprint sensor as a standard or optional feature.”  Because of market conditions caused by the financial sector situations and by other factors such as how this Bailout is going to shakeout across all market sectors, the KM Team feels that once AuthenTec sells off the excess inventory “overstock” that exists in its supply chain pipeline, its stock price should return to the usual trading range of $7.20 - $8.45 per share.  During the week of 12/3/07, the price per share of stock was at $17.50, keeping in line with both Wall Street and AuthenTec expectations at the time.  Meanwhile, a dramatic drop in price has been seen since the beginning of September 2008 that is directly tied to the companys’ forward view announcements.  At this time, the KM Team does own this stock and recommends it.  This is still a relatively small company with a successful product that works nicely in a multitude of applications.  Just what the KM Team and KM Partners like to see in a stock.

Updates and Comparisons: 

( Ah, there have been so many that they are hard to get to press before Sunday deadline!  Tune in on Monday as we fill you in how the KM Team and KM Partners have done over the last two weeks! )

Market Mover of the Week 39: The MMoW for Week 39 2008 will be Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi ( http://speaker.house.gov/ ).  Speaker Pelosi will be in the drivers seat this week as the USoA Government attempts to put together the biggest money bailout ever set up in the US history.  The Treasury Department, the Fed, the SEC and the President will all be knocking on the door of Congress to attempt to get The Bailout financed and covered by the American Taxpayer.  There can be no mistake that she will wring every possible concession out of the door-knockers so as to make sure that she, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic Party come out looking like THEY were the ones who “saved” Wall Street.  Watch little kangaroos as Speaker Pelosi becomes the MMoW this week.

Market Mover of the Week 38: For Week 38 2008, the choice for MMoW was Mr. Richard Fuld, Jr., who indeed did turn out to be the last CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., but who will have to share credit for the MMoW with Treasury Secretary Harry Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernake and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.  The Financial Dream Team Trio attempted to still the worldwide financial stocks by making unilateral moves that flew in the face of a Free Market Economy but did indeed draw down quite a bit of panic.  One must wonder what the FDT will be doing in the upcoming weeks, especially as the USoA national election draws ever closer.  For Week 38 2008 however, these four gentlemen were indeed the MMoW.

International Impact Incident: The change in Government and the change in tone of “friendship” that has been coming out of Pakistan during the past week was driven home in devastating fashion on Saturday.  A huge dump truck bomb, captured on security camera tape and played around the world on Sunday, was detonated in front of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, killing over 60 people at the last count.  However, more important to all of us kangaroos was the fact that the people of Pakistan and President Asif Ali Zardari in particular were making serious comments about the United States acting in their country against terrorists and other existing threats.  Pakistan wants to take care of itself and to handle all of its affairs without any Big Brother help or input.  This is much more worrisome than any possible financial sector meltdown or bailout.  Pakistan is not only a fragmented country struggling to find its way after dumping the sitting President but it is also a nuclear armed country that has a long history of “issues” with its neighbor India and Tibet.  If the government stays fractionalized and the public starts to re-support the still existing terrorists, this will not be the last truck bomb we hear about.  Here’s hoping President Zardari is no as proud as we believe him to be. 

DEFINITIONS:

( stay tuned — they will be here on Monday! )

( This weeks quote is from a September 15, 1986 interview with “Fortune” magazine by then sitting-President Ronald Reagan who was commenting on his particular management style.  Perhaps we need more Ronald Reagan and less management style these days, eh? )

All things considered, the KM Team and KM Partners feel that perhaps all that rain wasn’t such a bad thing after all.  While the devastation that resulted from Hurricane Ike will remain for years to come — that picture of one lone house sitting on a beachfront surrounded by empty slabs of homes no longer there will remain for years to come, see here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1055660/After-storm-Floating-coffins-prowling-alligators-amid-Hurricane-Ikes-7bn-trail-destruction.html –  the uncertainity of what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month on Wall Street will last perhaps forever.  Time will tell.  Enjoy our return to increased stories and comments as we work harder to support you all.  New features are coming and new voices are rising so stay tuned.  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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The KangarooMoney Team and the KangarooMoney Partners have watched the US banking industry attempt to implode not over the last weekend but over the last 14 months and even earlier than that.  During the past weekend as the 158 year old Lehman Brothers business was driven into the ground by a final complete loss of faith in that business, it has become clear that the non-professional American investor, and thus the associcated non-professional World investor, has taken on a complete panic mentality in dealing with any investment that they control.  Likewise, business as a whole has taken on a “we can never lose” mentality when doing any of its dealings, an almost “we are above the law” type of thought process.  Clearly, both viewpoints are incorrect.

The KM Team gave the opinion beginning in late 2007 and then very loudly in early 2008 that there were businesses out there that needed to fail.  Only by letting bad mortgage companies and bad lenders fail from the fault of their own bad business models, the KM Team wrote, could the good business practices and companies rise up to take control and stabilize the economy.  Yes, it would be very painful but only for a short time of maybe 6 to 12 months.  The veiwpoint here was that we would all come out better and stronger on the other side of the “bad times”.

Now, as the markets around the world recoil and panic on a moment to moment basis, the “bad times” are going to be here much longer than originally feared.  Bad times can become a tidal wave of recession and depression both on a business climate level and on a personal level.  If someone is looking for a bottom in any of the current bad time situations, keep looking.  We are not there yet.  There is still, now, a long way to go before any one can expect to find a bottom in any of this.

At the conclusion to the dark weekend past that had been building for the last 18 months as the sub-prime loans were being sold as viable to future homeowners, the most telling comment on the Black Monday of September 15th, 2008 was in a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Ultimatum By Paulson Sparked Frenzied End” by multiple contributors.  The line reads “Either way, Wall Street over the weekend grappled with the nerve-jangling test of the theory that some financial institutions should be allowed to fail.”  It is no longer theory little kangaroos.  It is fact.

The KangarooMoney.Com Team & KM Partners.

( Please see KangarooMoney’s Disclaimer posted on 08-17-2008. )

Remember, the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post, dated 8/17/08, 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.

It is Sunday here in the offices.  That means that it is the start of a new week with all of the problems and situations that come with a new time frame.  In some ways, this is a good thing.  During Week 37 just past, KangarooMoney’s forecast of the week from last Sunday was pretty dead on.  Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson opened the week with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government bailout and Hurricane Ike spent the end of the week pounding on Texas.  The Fannie & Freddie bailout roiled the markets even while the price of oil per barrel was dropping towards $100, dragging down not only the US financial sector but also setting up the insurance sector for an even bigger fall.  Hurricane Ike saw to finishing off the insurance group ( check out AIG on the Stock Docket this week! ) as it came ashore, finally, around Galveston, Texas but only as a Cat 2 storm, not the huge Cat 4 storm they thought it might be.  In between these bookend events: Washington Mutual ( WM, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time ) forced out its CEO, ending the week at a shade less than a 90% loss in value in the last 12 months; the London Exchange ( their website is http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/ ) has been attempting to help the city of London, England to take over the title of Finance Capital of the World from New York City, New York but it suffered a major setback this week as a computer glitch shutdown the exchange for over 7 hours; Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. ( LEH, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time ) suffered a collapse of stock holder confidence, shed about 70% of its value in the five trading days of the week, and left the 158 year old firm in search of anyone interested in buying the business; Bolivia did it first ( one story here http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bolivia11-2008sep11,0,5513215.story ) which was quickly copied, eh, followed by our old friend Venezuela — although they did it a little more sketchy –( here - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091104043.html ) when both countries expelled their US ambassador due to some belief of attempted “fomenting unrest”; the Boeing strike continued with no new talks even being scheduled; and finally, there is an ever widening scandal concerning US Minerals Management Service personnel who broke government rules and, we quote, “created a ‘culture of ethical failure’ by allegedly accepting gifts from and having sex with industry representatives” — you know, you can’t make that stuff up ( from the Wall Street Journal, read it here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122107135333120223.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news ).  Oh yeah, and the nation remembered its fallen citizens as it memorialized the 7th anniversary of 9/11.

So very much happens in a week that sometimes it gets tossed all together, jumbled up and then condensed into little tidbits that makes for confusion at the end of it all.  While it can be more than interesting to watch one of the Big Media reporters tossed on their butt during a stand-up in the middle of a hurricane ( didn’t Fox News’ 65 year old Geraldo Rivera just get whacked in the head Friday night on live television ) or to watch an army attack in progress, whether it is in Russia / Georgia or somewhere in Iraq, these are diversions from reality.  Reality is the two of the world’s largest financial companies taking such massive hits in confidence that their government has to take them over.  Reality is one of the world’s largest insurance companies suffering massive hits in confidence that their value is a shadow of its former self.  Reality is a 158 year old financial institution desperately searching the world for a buyer to bail itself out the loss in confidence that has brought its value down by 90% in a week and is approaching zero value as this is written.  Reality is waiting in line for gas for the car and watching the price go up TWICE while you sit there.  Reality is bowing your head four times in the same morning while sitting at your office desk in memory of warriors in a battle they didn’t sign up for and didn’t know they were fighting in.  You can miss a great deal in just a week little Kangaroos.  Don’t search for the end of the week.  Don’t search for the end of the day.  Plan every moment as you go because those plans are sure to change on the fly.  “If your time to you, Is worth savin’, Then you better start swimmin’, Or you’ll sink like a stone, For the times they are a-changin’.”

This week has making us wonder about who will move the market, what will become the major event on an international level and how much more bad news America can ingest before the free fall starts in earnst.  Wouldn’t you love to be sitting in on the KM Roundtables this week?  Oh, by the way.  If any of you think you know where these little snide quotes come from, drop us a note.  We’re not making them up.  They’re real quotes and show some value towards our comments. Hopefully, just like all of our writings.  But for 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, we are looking at 01/01/09 at this point, 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, there is the 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.  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 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 and we’ve tweaked this feature yet again this week.  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. In this week just past, the financial institutions in the USoA have continued to take a horrible beating in both value and confidence. From Washington Mutual chucking its CEO on soft numbers to the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from Lehman Brothers losing almost all of its listed value to most of the nations’ largest investment banks — think Morgan Stanley ( MS, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time ), Citibank ( under Citigroup Inc, C, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time), Merrill Lynch & Co. ( MER, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time ), and, yes, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. ( LEH, traded on NYSE, definitely not recommended at this time ) — having a year long probe result announced where they all allegedly marketed transactions to foreign hedge-fund investors that helped to avoid Billions with a B in US taxes.  And who is at fault for this sudden lack of confidence?  We are. ( click here to read more )  Make no mistake about it, the American Public is driving the engine that is the Economy, US and World.  And this is the same American Public that in the last two recent ressionary times griped up a storm about not having control over their own stock portfolios, who stood by and watched as the “professionals” as the stock brokers and trading houses were called just a few years ago “lost” their life savings and hard earned money.  We, the young and old alike, ranted and raved about how we all could run our own finances better than somebody who we had to call up, track down and then explain our thought process to.  In theory, it was a valid argument.  In reality, it was a horrible mistake.  The same people who did not like Big Banks, who refused to pay attention to news broadcast segments on World Events and business, who overdrew their checking accounts and under paid their credit cards, who couldn’t figure out their HMO or Medicaid documents, all thought that they could run their own Las Vegas style Wall Street gambles and show the Big Boys how it was done.  So, the World of Internet opened up all sorts of online brokerages to allow each and every person who wanted to to try and make unseen piles of cash.  All for a small fee of course.  The problem?  No one has made piles of cash.  Not even A pile of cash.  Hardly even ANY cash.  But people still tried, are still trying right from years ago to the night you read this.  And the problem with that is that the Herd Mentality is driving the markets.  People hear that the maybe, could be, might be a liquidity problem at Big Bank One or Broker House Old Age or Multi National Huge and that is where THEY own 1000 or a 100 shares and they have to sell out NOW!  And they have to get on the phone and call their brother or their uncle or their aunt or their boss or their co-worker and get them to sell out NOW!  This rumor is HOT!  The business is going DOWN!  And you have to sell out NOW!  The problem is, that business was just fine but just suffering a little down beat moment, until people started panicking and pulling their money out as they told two people and they told two people and they told two people and so on and so on.  Those people buy on the rise, sell on the rumor and make a complete mess of things for people trying to read the market, research the company, read the annual reports and figure out what companies, sectors and markets are going to do.  In the meantime, 158 year old Brokerage Houses go belly up in a week, $56 Billion banks become $26 Billion banks in a week then try to merge with other banks in freefall to stop the bleeding, Governments are forced to take over companies to prevent a worldwide interactive collapse and people STILL lose all their money.  The old adage of we have nothing to fear but fear itself is coming true again.  In order to stop the panic, to slow the sell offs and to correct the markets, people have to realize that what goes up does come down but doesn’t stay down.  These people need to allow businesses to recover from bumps and dings, they need to allow down ticks to be played through as well as the up ticks and they need to pay attention to the consequences that they may cause in their panic to save money they didn’t have to start with.  Of course, the biggest problem of all just might be that it is already too late.
2. Hurricane Ike ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, tore into the Texas coast, downgraded itself to a Cat 2 storm when it could have been a Cat 4 storm and been remembered forever instead of just until the next Big One and then ground itself out by swinging through Houston and up through the central states of the US.  So what was the main story outcome of this week long horror of wind and rain?  Oil.  Of course.  ( click here to read more )  Less than a week after Gustav blew through the Gulf of Mexico and into New Orleans, the main bad news that still remains there is the lack of electricity throughout the countryside there.  While to most people, a week or two of no electricity would be on the higher side of an inconvenience bordering on complete unhappiness, the fact remains that it would not be the end of the world, that indeed, an end to the situation would be at any moment.  Now this week in southern Texas, the same type of electrical outage is just starting to impact those good folk.  So what does this have to do with oil and with gasoline? There is a little knowledge that we all need to understand about oil, gasoline and electricity so that all this makes sense.  Oil is pumped out of the ground mostly in places that are not American, like the deserts of the Middle East, the frozen wastes of Russia and Alaska, the steamy jungles of South America or the deep, deep ground spots under the world’s oceans.  When oil comes out the ground, the crude you hear so much about, it needs to be refined to be usable in the many ways that we all understand, especially to be used as gasoline.  That is why crude is shipped to American ports in huge tanker ships, so that the crude can be offloaded through off-shore pipes and sent to refineries that are inland from the seaports but not as far inland as you think.  In fact, most of America’s refineries are damn close to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.  For New Orleans as of Saturday 9/13/08, only 40% of the areas refineries had been resupplied with electricity, allowing them to operate in a normal fashion.  Ordinarily, one areas shortfall in output could be made up or offset by the supplies that were already in the supply chain.  Gasoline might rise a little bit for a short while but not so much as to cause drastic price increases.  But now, Ike has stepped in causing the same type of power outage in Texas that is still affecting the Gulf Coast to the east.  As of this writing, it is doubtful that most electrical power can be restored to the Texas coast for several weeks.  The bottom line on this situation?  A large number of America’s refineries are either offline or are running at reduced capacities.  And the bottom line on THAT situation?  Gasoline prices have risen everywhere between 45 cents to 65 cents per gallon, with prices expected to go higher, and stay there.  So, yes, oil is dropping below $100 a barrel this week, maybe even dropping to about $95 per barrel even as OPEC cuts back on oil pumped from the ground, which is good news.  But, yes, gasoline is going to go higher, probably back to around $4 per gallon if not even up to $4.25 before the end of the week, which is bad news.  Let’s hope that Mother Nature gives us all a little rest and let’s us all get back to whatever passes for the New Normal in our lives.
3. The KM Team is sure that you have noticed the large amount of television commericals that have been playing out in the last month or so for the chain restaurants around the country.  Ruby Tuesdays ( RT, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time ), IHOP, Applebees ( both IHOP & Applebees are now owned by DineEquity, Inc. — DIN, traded on NYSE, recommended at this time ), Chili’s ( owned by Brinker International, Inc., EAT, traded on NYSE, recommended at this time ), and the places like that.  They have all been assaulting the airways to get your attention.  And this is a very bad thing.  ( click here to read more )  As the restaurant chains fight for survival in this inflation and commodity ravaged world, their advertising will only get more stringent and more loud.  But the simple fact is that there are not enough dollars to go around anymore.  These mid-range chains are competing for our time and money in world that is only 30 years old for them and for us.  That is because about 40 years ago there were basically only 4 types of outside our own kitchens to eat = 1) fancy french or chinese restaurants 2) fancy steakhouses 3) sitdown highway side stop restaurants 4) truck stop diners.  And that was about it.  A schoolplace or workplace cafeteria was a place to sit and eat your brown bag lunch.  A truck stop diner was for truck drivers and down-n-outers.  And a fancy place was for New Years Eve, special occasions or a business meal on the company dime.  Then about 30 years ago, sit down restaurants took the model that they saw in McDonald’s or Burger King or KFC and began to run with it.  They started with the Denny’s ( DENN, traded on NASDAQ, recommended at this time), the Waffle House and the other late night more-than-a-diner places then they branched out into Chinese places that cooked more American style than true Chinese and before you knew it the Italian, Seafood, Steakhouse and specialty nationality restaurants sprung up from sea to shining sea.  When sitdown restaurants began to overload the senses, speciality fast food chains sprung up like Taco Bell ( owned by Yum! Brands Inc., YUM, traded on NYSE, recommended at this time ), Rally’s ( part of the Checker’s family that is owned by Taxi Holdings Inc. ), Subway, Domino’s ( DPZ, traded on NYSE, recommended at this time ) and dozens of others.  It was go go go and with improved food chain supplies as well as the growing appetite of Americans, pun intended, the sky was the limit.  Even the lowly chicken wing became the prized goal of Hooters and a dozen copycats around the country.  And now?  With the sudden rise in fuel costs, a supply chain that is being disrupted by devastating weather and an economy that is forcing a belt tightening in every household in the country regardless of income, restaurants are suffering a reversal of fortunes that could see a shrinkage of numbers as drastic as there had been a rise in numbers 10 years ago.  If you can, visit your favorite chain that you haven’t been to in awhile and use up those gift cards and certificates you have been holding on to.  But don’t go to Bennigan’s or Steak’n'Ale because they are gone.  Try Applebee’s or Ruby Tuesdays .  Chances are they won’t be around too long.
4. Is it really possible that one of the world’s largest insurers has lost almost 50% of its value in the last 5 business days?  Or better yet, almost 75% of its value in the last 3 months?  Are we such a panic stricken bunch of sheep that we could turn a huge multi-national $100 Billion company into a hat-in-hand, begging-the-Government for a loan, $30 Billion company?  Appartently, we are.  ( click here to read more )  American International Group ( AIG, traded on NYSE, not recommended at this time ) has lost money for the last 3 quarters, has lost $18.5 Billion during that time, has lost $10 per share in the last five business days and, the big number, has lost 79% of its total value since the beginning of 2008.  What has caused this drop in value?  We have.  The American people who trade stock.  AIG is another big insurer-bank-brokerage who has a large holding of mortgages.  And as anyone who has stood around a water cooler in the last few months realizes, holding mortgages is like holding Monopoly Money — fun to do until you realize its just colored paper.  The American Public has decided that any who holds a mortgage is going to lose money.  And because none of us want to be associated with a loser in any way, we are all dumping that losers stock as fast as we can log on and sell it.  Now comes the story that AIG is going to ask the USoA, i.e. you and me the USoA Taxpayer, for a $40 Billion “bridge loan” which will keep the company afloat until the good times return.  ( see this late breaking story here, one of the many sites : http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amE9cvUPd30A&refer=home )  Will CEO Robert Willumstad be able to convice the government to supply that loan?  Good question.  There is a serious downgrade in the companys’ credit rating due out on Monday 9/15/08 which is a result of its loss in value which is a result of previous downgrades which is a result of its loss in value which — enough; do you get it?  There is nothing out there that doesn’t allow AIG to be painted with the same broad brush as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac and a dozen other similarly large institutions that are writing down assets everyday like a used car salesman with a fresh batch of shineys coming into the lot next week.  But do we want to put ANOTHER big insurer, big bank out of business in a micro-burst down spin just to prove we can?  How long before NO ONE is left to issue a marginally loan, an on the bubble mortgage, a new insurance plan for your 3rd rebuild of a house in a flood plain?  Do we really want to assume all of the risk and all of the debt ourselves and suffer when we can’t make it work out?  Or do we really all want to live in Potterville where the man with all the money owns everything, including us?  This downward spiral has to stop.  Sadly, it will not stop this week, Week 38 2008.  Monday morning 9/15/08 will see a huge fall in the US Markets, led by the financial sector as at least 3 old and valuable companies are either driven to bankruptcy, driven to sell themselves or driven out of business all together.  We have to work together people.  For we will surely all hang separately if we don’t.

Updates and Comparisons: 

 ( At the KM Team Roundtable in Week 36 2008, we thought that these weeks might be a good time to check on some of our more up and more down stocks off of the Stock Docket.  So much happened this week that we decided that some of the additional reviews would need to wait.  Next week, some more comparisons and more updates about how KangarooMoney has done to date.  Also, some more recent updates, too! )

Market Mover of the Week: The MMoW for Week 38 2008 will be Mr. Richard Fuld Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., who earlier in Week 37 made the great soundbite moment of “I feel like I’m playing whack-a-mole every day.”  Mr. Fuld will need to find a buyer for his company or the company will need to be liquidated.  That is NOT the same as bankrupt or downsizing.  There is a very, very good chance that come Monday morning on September 15th, 2008, Mr. Fuld will be the last CEO of Lehman Brothers.  No matter what, he will be the MMoW of the week.

Market Mover of the Week: For Week 37 2008, the choice for MMoW was Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who lived up to the hype and came through as expected.  Secretary Paulson kicked the week off with the huge US Government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac then spent the next 48 hours explaining the reasoning behind it.  He, and thus the government, had sound financial reasons for the bailout, which was to save the financial world by shoring up all of the bad mortgages these two companies had in their control.  The seizure of these two huge financial companies put a smile on the US markets but only for about 36 hours.  Still, Secretary Paulson took charge and did what had to be done.  For that, he was the MMoW for Week 37 2008.

International Impact Incident: Who would think that the health of a dictator would be a critical situation?  Well, if you’re from Cuba or South Africa or North Korea, that would certainly be a very critical situation.  But for this week and the impact to the USoA Economy, the health of North Korean dictator Kim Jong II will take center stage.  The rumors of that leader having not just a stroke but other related serious health problems is leading for some very serious War Gaming situations taking place in Washington DC, Tampa FL and probably a couple of places the KM Team don’t know about ( or really want to know about ).  If there comes a power play for control in North Korea, the effects could be huge for the US Economy as the entire region feels the impact.  Sad to say, but instability in that country is the LAST thing skitterish brokers, traders, businessmen and just good ol’ plain folk need right now.

DEFINITIONS:

( stay tuned — they will be here on Monday! )

( This weeks quote is from the title song of Bob Dylan’s album, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” from 1964.  Can it really be that long ago??  )

Rain, rain GO AWAY WILLYA????  The destructive energies of Ike was somewhat blunted, sparing the coast of Texas from a horrible fate but none the less the hurricane was still a major reality.  Again for the third week in a row, the KM Team and the KM Partners put our hopes and prayers out to everyone they care about and especially those that need all the faith they can get so that they remain safe and sound during this next week and beyond.  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 posted on 08-17-2008. )

Remember, the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post, dated 8/17/08, 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.

The Republican Convention ( go here for all official information : http://www.gopconvention2008.com/ ) has come and gone in a spectacle worthy of a Broadway show and envied by every Academy Awards director since 1950 at least.  Senator McCain and Governor Palin have done their accepting and are now on the road.  They spoke, they smiled, they waved and they pounded their fists in driving home their campaign points.  While the convention was long on indefinite talk and short on concrete facts and promises, it provided little drama but lots of flash and solid strides forward.  There was little to lead us to believe that the Republican Convention would be any different, heavily scripted, carefully crafted and pointedly vague, and this leads us to question the need of Conventions at all any longer.  Having a big to-do to announce already known situations makes the amount of money spent on the Conventions difficult to accept.  Another good reason why the KM Team and KM Partners restate our support for a six month primary season from January to June during the election year with a month dedicated to a particular section of the country starting with New England and ending with the West Coast.  But have no fear, because the amount of money being pumped into the never ending Campaign Season will continue as is until somebody screams Uncle.  Still, the Republican Convention produced a very welcome pop to what is a typically very slow business week.

Now, if any of that above sounds at all familiar, it is because it is almost word for from the week before.  While the KM Team and all of our associates and families were busy flipping the television channels between the warm winds in Denver, Minneapolis / Saint Paul and New Orleans, the world and business moved on almost without us.  Indeed, it would seem that the world moved on without ANYONE noticing very much of what was happening.   Pushing out of the 3 day Labor Day Weekend into a short business week, there was plenty of news that got almost no play in the Big Media Outlets.  Let’s start with the Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda, quitting less than 1 year into his service because the current democracy of Japan is preventing much of anything from getting done, i.e., HIS policies are not getting passed — mentions in the nightly news?  Well, did YOU see it anywhere?  It happened in Week 36 2008.  Let’s jump over to Pakistan where the widow of the assassinated Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, has been elected as the President of Pakistan two weeks after the politicians of that country forced out the sitting President Pervez Musharraf.  Did we mention that Musharraf was a friend of the USoA and that Pakistan is a nuclear weapon armed country?  Yes to both.  That happened in Week 36 2008.  Let’s go to the straight up United States news with things like: Dell, Inc. ( DELL, traded on NASDAQ, not recommended at this time ) is planning to sell off all of its world-wide network of computer manufacturing plants in an effort to change its production model and become more cost efficient; Google ( GOOG, traded on NASDAQ, still not recommended at this time ) has decided to challenge the top dog Microsoft ( MSFT, traded on NASDAQ, recommended at this time for long term play ) by putting out a new browser called Chrome which will attempt to make searching the world wide wasteland of internet sites faster and easier to do; commodity prices fell across the board as the USoA recession–yes, that is what is, so say the word and take a breath–begins to spread obviously through the world, dragging down every major market in the world economy for the week by hundreds of points; Freddie Mac ( FRE, traded on the NYSE, not recommended just yet ) and Fannie Mae ( too many choices to show!  go here and good luck http://www.fanniemae.com/index.jhtml ) are going to be bailed out by the US Treasury Department which will please mortgagees and mortgage stock holders but most definitely NOT shareholders of the two huge companies; 9% of all homes in the USoA that are covered by a mortgage are now in default and foreclosure; the unemployment rate is up to 6.1% and climbing but now is reaching all business sectors not just the automakers; Boeing and their machinists could not reach an agreement so the strike is on:—-

Okay, ENOUGH!!  Right?  It is sad but true that all of the things above are happening in the last 7 days during Week 36 2008 and that for the most part, the citizens of the USoA are not making the connection about how this will affect them.  All this bad news is hammering every one not just here in the good ol’ United States but around the world as well.  While most members of the KM Team are well known, almost proud to be, pessimists in their writings and their lives, this load of devastation has buried people’s heads into the sand so deep that when they do come up to look beyond the political rhetoric and the hurricane winds they will probably wail loudly and bury their heads again.  This is no longer a “housing crisis”.  This is no longer a “credit crisis”.  This is no longer a “political crisis”.  This is a flatout “ignorance crisis”.  We have all been living the go-go lifestyle of made-up television shows, fake celebrities and loose cannon business people for too long without having a plan for the future beyond that next paycheck.  The future is here little joeys, and it is beating on our backs to get our heads out of the sand.  The winds of hurricanes–last week it was Gustov & Hanna, this week it will be Ike & Josephine–are nothing next to the winds of reality.  “Don’t be afraid to see what you see.”

Kinda makes you wonder who the MMoW will be this week, eh?  Oh, by the way.  If any of you think you know where these little snide quotes come from, drop us a note.  We’re not making them up.  They’re real quotes and show some value towards our comments. Hopefully, just like all of our writings.  But for 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, there is the 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.  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 and we’ve tweaked this feature yet again this week.  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. This week past, the Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuad, quit his position because of ongoing infighting between his party, the Liberal Democratic Party which rules the Lower House of Parliament, and the Democratic Party of Japan that is in power in the Upper House of Parliament.  It seems that he could not get his policies passed by a bi-partisian popularly elected two-house system of government.  PM Fukuad called the potential of his continuing in office in this manner a “political vacuum”.  Here in the USoA, we call it “normal”.  But, it does show that when the tough gets going, people quit. ( click here to read more )  It should come as no surprise that PM Fukuad quit after only about a year on the job.  The economy in Japan, which is so closely tied to the US and very closely tied to the European Community, has been souring of late due to the same reasons that have been running the US markets into the ground–high commodity prices, constantly rising fuel prices and sinking consumer purchasing.  The Japanese Stock Market, the Nikkei exchange ( http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/ ), is in a parallel spiral with the US Dow Jones exchange and neither appear to be headed for a Bull Rally anytime soon.  Also like the United States, it now appears that the Lower House of the Japanese Parliament is going to dissolve in October and face elections in November.  But, also like the United States, the Japanese politicians are doing so much infighting that nothing is getting done.  The only difference between the two countries is the opinion making machine in the two countries.  Here in the USoA, the radical idea of “change” is being bantered about on every television and radio station, in every newspaper and at any political speech that is given in the countryside.  In Japan, the idea that is being broadcast and preached is to hunker down and protect the status quo, that things have worked in the past and will work again if only a return to the old ways is made.  There is truth to both of these situations but the better truth lays with the US option.  Here in the US, the old “3% rise only-maintain the status quo” has been bottle-necking the economy for almost 12 years now.  But as The Economy here first stagnated and then began to reverse itself, the idea of change has become a mantra of righting the ship of business.  In Japan, the attitude of “maintain the status quo” is making itself very, very apparent.  Taro Aso, the former Japanese Foreign Minister, has announced that he will seek the Prime Minister position in the coming elections.  Mr. Aso is an avowed staunch conservative and remains popular with the electorate although his Liberal Democratic Party has been in ruling power for almost 5 decades.  Despite what Mr. Aso might say or promise, it should come as little surprise that he is seen as a hawkish traditionalist and as a person who desires the future to be as even as the past.  Mr. Aso will also see several non-traditional opponents in the race for Prime Minister, including a woman, who will challenge that view of status quo.  Chances are that the people of America will see what “change” looks like come mid-November this year, while the people of Japan will see what the same old same old looks like.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to determine which way is working until about 6 months into the situation when statistics and situations can start to be compared.  Wonder not why Mr. Fukuad quit his job, wonder why he took the job to begin with.
2. It is important to note that this is the week of the 7th anniversary of one of the most horrific events that has ever occurred in the history of the United States.  The date of 9/11/2001 is forever burned into the mind of every American who was alive that day in September when evil visited not just downtown New York City, New York, not just Washington DC but also the entire country of the United States of America and 90 other countries who lost citizens and loved ones that day.  And the pain continues to mold us all to this day.  ( click here to read more )  It might seem strange to reading about 9/11 in a business blog but then again, this is a blog about trying to understand The Economy, in particular the US Economy.  Many of the problems and issues that are driving the markets and thus the mentalities of the market movers and shakers today were forged on that particular day in early September in the soft sunlight that filtered across most of America that day.  People have since learned to really not put all their eggs in one basket, such as the trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald learned in losing 658 employees, virtually the entire business operation, in one moment of time, or in the way that the NYSE and NASDAQ trading floors found that there was almost no reliable back up to any of their information for their operations in the business blackout the long days after the attacks.  Having back up plans and redundant records in off site locations have gotten from the realms of paranoia to the business plan requirements of today.  Having investments that span not just the city but the country and even the world as well as those that cross multiple industries and sectors is now considered smart business as opposed to before then when such a business plan would have been considered excessive and even flamboyant.  And, perhaps most importantly, the attacks have caused us all to look around us, to see not just what we want to see but to actually look at what is there right next to us, down the block, across the state and even around the world.  By looking at everything and actually seeing all of it, actually tilting our heads and evaluating all that can be seen, we gaze upon a world that allows us to make a better and more informed judgement about what is happening and is going to happen.  Business and the driving economy, people young and old, civil servants and military personnel, common workers and CEOs, two opposite rival Presidential candidates and you and I will pause this Thursday September 11th first at 8:46am and then at 10:28am in order to remember the 2,974 people who died in the attacks that day.  We will not wallow in these memories but will draw a steel resolve from these moments of reflection and then drive forth back into a world that we wish to understand and thrive in.  When you wonder if 9/11 has in some way changed the way that the United States and her citizens do business, all you really have to do is compare how things were on September 10th, 2001 with any 9/11 after that day.  And then, maybe, you will understand just how different things are.
3. Reducing housing inventory the hard way…Please do not misinterpret this article.  With the number of hurricanes that have affected the U.S. recently, there has been a price.  Not just dollars and cents but, the human cost that comes withany natural disaster.  Nobody wishes for the hardships such as displacement of millions of people, the loss and / or damage of property, the multitude of personal injuries, the loss of employment or even one’s life and then add to that the expenses that we all will have to play in higher taxes to rebuild what has been damaged and lost.  And rebuild we will.  ( click here to read more ) I am making this observation on the possible affect to housing inventories in the aftermath of these recent natural disasters.  I bring this point up because as I write this article, there are hurricanes that seem to be lining up just to hit the U.S., especially the U.S. Gulf Coast.  And this should be a factor in your investment strategy.  As a KM Team member who lives in the southeast part of the country, in the past I have had to evacuate out of the path of hurricanes and have seen the devastation that they cause first hand.  Kangaroo’s, one of the problems with this economy is that there is too much housing inventory.  One of the results of the 2008 hurricane season will be the reduction of that housing inventory.  On top of that, property will have to be repaired.  Businesses like Home Depot, Inc. ( HD, traded on NYSE, recommended at this time ) and Lowes Companies, Inc. ( LOW, traded on the NYSE, recommended at this time ) just to name a very few companies that may be the beneficiaries of the situations, are already trading upward nicely in the last two months.  I hate to say it but, the more the damage that happens to people’s homes, the more investment opportunity exists in companies like this.  With all the flooding associated with these weather systems, the electrical devices such as connectors or solderless terminals, switches, heating and cooling systems and all of the stuff in between your walls and floors or in your basements that are not supposed to get wet and can not handle excess water or flooding, are going to need replacing.  So watch the weather, watch which manufacturers make what tool or heavy equipment or building material or provide what services.  And while we might be profiting off of someone else’s misery during these difficult times, don’t forget to give some of those profits to a reputable disaster relief fund to help those who have been affected. 

   http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main 

   https://volunteer.united-e-way.org/cng-uwa-hurricane/donate/

4. After an abbreviated week of the Republican Convention but hardly any Platform Plank laying, the KM team can formulate what a year from now might look like with President McCain in office.  It’s a solid guess as to how things might look.  But there is a wild card in the mix.  Oil.  Of course.  ( click here to read more )  Next Labor Day finds President McCain hovering around his home in Arizona pending on a call to review the latest hurricane damage to the Florida eastern seaboard.  It has been another difficult hurricane season leading to the most widely used amount of the term “Federal Disaster Area” in memory and President McCain has made a habit of reviewing as many of these situations first hand as possible, bringing with him whichever department leaders he deems necessary to take care of business.  Speaking of business, there are few signs that the long, long slump that started in late 2007 is going to clear up before the holiday season.  Even the increased Defense Department build up that President McCain began shortly after taking office in response to the continued New Soviets transgressions has done little to change the steady unemployment rate of 8.5%.  Dealing with a country tired of running from Iraq to Afghanistan to Pakistan to Georgia to South Korea and then battling pirates in Indonesia, all around Africa and now the northern coast of South America, even President Mccain’s’ staunchest military backers are explaining to him that all of these Brush Wars can not be put out by the US Team alone.  News reporters comment almost every day on how tired and drawn President McCain is looking these days.  They note his constant battles with the Democratic Congress who has refused all of his non-Cabinet appointments and have either tabled or refused to pass all of his legislation.  In particular, the battles to open off-shore drilling and additional drilling in the Alaska Wilderness Federal Lands have led to open name calling and finger pointing on both the Congress and White House parts.  These spectacles have led to a further weakening of respect in the world arena as some supposed allies attempt to expand their home power at the expense of President McCain.  In South America where Hugo Chavez has been saber rattling for several years now, in Southeast Asia where North Korea still twists promises with ease and especially in the Middle East where the male dominated society is completely chauvinistic, Vice President Palin has not made any impact at all.  The Vice President has returned to Washington completely downhearted from her latest overseas trip citing universal blame be given to the United States for the lingering recessionary times while also announcing that almost every government visited is looking for either arms or money.  President McCain is said to be working on a major policy announcement after shaking up his bi-partisan Cabinet just before the Labor Day Weekend was to start.  Rumors have it that a possible reduction in world wide assigned military forces coupled with a new format for unemployment and welfare are to be presented.  The Pundits are also frowning and shaking their heads as they comment that the Democratic Congress will not go along with the new programs.  Difficult times for a President that not only got handed a Democratic Congress by a solid margin but one who also won 57% of the popular vote just last November. 

Updates and Comparisons: 

From Beginnings / Week 15 : Way back at the beginning of this trip, the KM Team wrote about the way people were treating banks, putting runs on them and also on the large brokerage houses.  Remember Bear Stearns?  News comes this week that the 11th bank of the year has been shut down.  On Friday, September 5th, 2008, State and Federal Regulators moved in and shut Silver State Bank of Nevada, owner of 17 branches in Nevada and Arizona.  Aside from the fact that the bank had $2 Billion in assets and was still over exposed to the risky type of real estate loans that have plagued the banking industry in the last several years, there is also the fact that Presidential candidate John McCains’ son Andrew sat on the Board of Directors of the bank for 5 months up until resigning on July 26th, 2008.  All important bits of information.  However, the more drastic bit of information to be noted is that this is the 11th bank to fail this year.  In 2005 & 2006, no banks failed in the US and now the 2008 count stands at 11.  But don’t worry just yet.  The FDIC reported at the end of 2007 that its insurance fund had almost $52 Billion ( with a B ) in it.  Even after taking care of the IndyMac mess, the insurance fund still had about $35 Billion in it.  Another important fact to be aware of : the worst year for bank failures is of recent vintage — 1989 when 534 banks failed.  ( Banking facts from this very interesting site : http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/fifty-fun-facts-about-bank-failures.html )

From Week 16 : It has been reported that Thornburg Mortgage Inc., ( TMA, traded on NYSE ) is in danger of no longer existing as a viable stand alone business due to the continuing magin calls that have been put on the company.  This information comes from the company itself in information that was first released on August 26th.  As KangarooMoney first reported in the Week 16 2008 posting, Thornburg Mortgage a bad situation waiting to get worse.  Unfortunately, the situation has gotten about as worse as it could be.

From Week 16 : During this post, the KM Team pointed out the upcoming sad state of affairs of large airlines and the number of folding tents in that industry.  At that time, we explained that airlines were looking for any way it could find to save a buck, including cutting unprofitable routes, something that has happened in the last several weeks to the tune of about 1000 flights per major airline.  Now comes Alitilia, the Italian airline, that announced on Friday, August 30th, 2008 that it had filed for insolvency.  This is necessary, says it new guiding bank assigned by the Italian Government who owns 49.9% of the company, in order to split the profitable from the unprofitable in the company which would allow the good bits to be sold off and the bad bits, well, the bad bits would have to be “liquidated”.  So far, British Airways and Air France / KLM have expressed interest in hooking up with the “new” Alitilia when, or if, it comes to be.

From Week 36 : Just last week, the KM Team wrote about the potential of a strike at Boeing by the Machinist Union and it’s 27,000 members.  At the time, Boeing and the Union were still locked in a show down with a lifetime ( 72 hours ) to go to get to a finalized deal.  Despite being given an additional 48 hours to sit down and discuss things by the Federal Government, the two sides remain “far apart”.  That distance can be measured by 3 items which are defined by 2 hard numbers: 1) the cost of medical benefits to be paid for by workers 2) a pay raise of 11% offered and 13% demanded and 3) an offer of boosting employee pensions by 14%.  The real number that is being measured is $100 Million per day in losses.  The Union, mad even at their own negotiating team for going to Disney World to continue talks on Thursday & Friday, believes that they have the company in a stranglehold position.  The Company, nervous about falling even further behind on their Dreamliner deliveries, believes that the current 8 year backlog of orders and the court of popular opinion is on their side.  The KM Team regrets that either side needs to take a stand on their views and we realize something that those people do not — a prolonged strike will serve nothing to anyone as not only will both sides suffer but the associated businesses and suppliers will suffer much more so.  Strike one.

From Constantly Telling You : The KM Team, KM Partners and the authors of each weeks articles and comments have been saying all along that this recession type of reality that the USoA finds itself in will be a long seated situation that could reach well into the Springtime of 2010.  Now comes the Boston Fed Chief, Eric Rosengren, who is quoted in the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper ( http://www.unionleader.com/ ) dated Wednesday September 3rd, 2008 as saying that “on a national scale the ’headwinds’ pushing against the economy look to be a good bit stronger than those experienced in the early 1990s.”  Mr. Rosengren is putting to voice what a great number of talkingheads have been saying for many, many weeks on television news programs and on the radio news broadcasts.  The economy is not near a bottom yet either in the housing situation or in the credit situation or in any other situation for that matter.  Indeed, Mr. Rosengren continues, saying that there is a clear need for reforms in the financial market, but he predicted nothing would happen until sometime next year after the next president takes office.  Not very encouraging to say the least.  But, just in time for all your Christmas shopping, coal prices are headed downward so the news is not all bad!

( At the KM Team Roundtable in Week 36 2008, we thought that these weeks might be a good time to check on some of our more up and more down stocks off of the Stock Docket.  So much happened this week that we decided that some of the additional reviews would need to wait.  Next week, some more comparisons and more updates about how KangarooMoney has done to date. )

Market Mover of the Week: The MMoW for Week 37 2008 is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.  Secretary Paulson will be discussing the take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week–what it means to stockholders and business leaders, what it means to the mortgage holders dealing with Fannie & Freddie, what it means to the US Markets and what it means to other businesses who may be looking for government help and / or bailouts.  Secretary Paulson will also be talking with the Auto Industry, in particular the US Big Three Automakers, who are looking for a $50 Billion bailout in loan guarentees.  You can expect him to start making some noise about the Boeing-Machinist situation as well before he hands that off to President Bush.  Good luck Secretary Paulson as you travel this difficult road.

Market Mover of the Week: For Week 36 2008, the choice for MMoW was the Republican Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates doing their best to further the positive change cause and to lead the Republicans to the White House.  The tightly scripted show with all of its set pieces and timed to the second speeches didn’t hold any surprises except for the gate crashing Gustav who canceled Day One and changed some of the visitors ( No Bush or Cheney or Southern Governors ) but it also didn’t hold any bad news either.  Indeed, up until a gate crasher called Gustav hit The Street and Markets on Sunday, these MMoW were the easiest calls the KM Team has made all year.  Now we’ll see how Week 37 2008 works out for the KM Team.

International Impact Incident: Again, there is no mistake about this call in the KM Roundtable discussions this week as the weekend got closer.  Hurricane Ike will impact not just the American Gulf Coast and, yet again, the city of New Orleans but it will impact the worldwide oil markets and the natural gas markets as well.  Ike comes at a particularly bad time given that New Orleans did a fair job fending off a rather slight Category 2 Hurricane ( is “slight” even the right word here? ) but everyone who was there is trying to return again.  The cost of moving people and businesses in and out and in and out of the New Orleans area is adding up quickly and people are losing patience with the situation — both those who are coming and going and those who paying for all of this movement.  Also, the weather is beginning to take center stage on many political scenes.  And, as we all know but may not want to believe, we have no control over the weather.  If we DID have control over the weather, don’t you think that Al Gore would be President?

DEFINITIONS:

Nikkei: A stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange; the most watched Asian stock indexes; this index was first calculated in September 1950 and is currently calculated daily by the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun; a closely watched barometer of business in Asia, Japan and the USoA

Liberal Democratic Party: There are 29 different countries around the world today who have a political party who uses this name; the article above uses the term to describe the current ruling political party of Japan; called the LDP, the party is conservative and the largest political party in Japan; the LDP has held an absolute majority in the Japanese House of Representatives

Headwinds: A term that is growing in favor used to describe any situation that is considered to be holding a company, business grouping, sector or economy back from moving steadily forward; the term is replacing the more commonly used and referred to “sluggish economy” 

Insolvency: Means to be unable to pay ones debts when they come due; not the same as bankruptcy, which is a court ordered situation to present a plan to pay ones debts; insolvency is a point at which payment of debts is no longer possible and typically leads to a complete liquidation of the person and / or company that is impacted

Strike : Typically a union group working for either a company or one plant for a company will perform a work stoppage or refusal to perform work; a strike does not always shut the plant or company down completely, but the product that is impacted is usually held up from shipping to customers for want of the work needing to be performed by the union who is on strike

( This weeks quote is from Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Address of January 11, 1989.  Go here to read more http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/farewell.asp )

Rain, rain go away…come again someplace we need the water, okay?  Gosh, is everything a repeat this week?  Again for a second week in a row, the KM Team and the KM Partners hopes that everyone they care about remains safe and sound during this next week.  Much like our old winters in New England, it’s either all wet and cold for days on end or not much of anything takes place.  Once again, 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 posted on 08-17-2008. )

Remember, the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post, dated 8/17/08, 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.

The Democratic Convention ( go here for all official information : http://www.demconvention.com/ ) has come and gone in a spectacle worthy of a Broadway show and envied by every Academy Awards director since 1950 at least.  Senators Obama and Biden have done their accepting and are now on the road.  They spoke, they smiled, they waved and they pounded their fists in driving home their campaign points.  While the convention was long on indefinite talk and short on concrete facts and promises, it provided little drama but lots of flash and solid strides forward.  There is little to lead us to believe that the Republican Convention will be any different, heavily scripted, carefully crafted and pointedly vague, and this leads us to question the need of Conventions at all any longer.  Having a big to-do to announce already known situations makes the amount of money spent on the Conventions difficult to accept.  Another good reason why the KM Team and KM Partners restate our support for a six month primary season from January to June during the election year with a month dedicated to a particular section of the country starting with New England and ending with the West Coast.  But have no fear, because the amount of money being pumped into the never ending Campaign Season will continue as is until somebody screams Uncle.  Still, the Democratic Convention produced a very welcome pop to what is a typically very slow business week.  Makes you wonder who the MMoW will be this week, eh? 

The KM Team and KM Partners want to point out that when we are not watching political conventions, reading the financial tea leaves that drive The Economy or searching for arcane historic or musical references to use, we are searching the ‘net for other websites to review and enjoy.  For some of these websites, we have decided to add them to KangarooMoney.Com’s Blogroll.  The Blogroll is up there in the upper right hand corner of the front page of the site.  By clicking on any of the names up there, the system will take you directly to those sites.  And those are some excellent sites — Grace Cheng puts forth an excellent site with a very professional set up; “The Economic Advisor” by Stacey Derbinshire gives views and opinions well worth the reading; and “Energy Power Alternatives” has caused us to think and nod about other possibilities – that the KM Team has decided are worth sharing with all of you.  But we here can not let pass the fact that we have not only the major political candidates websites added to the Blogroll but also Marketplace from American Public Media is also included.  We’re very big on Marketplace because of the ease of listening to the half-hour show while we commute home.  That being said, the KM Team & KM Partners note that a founding member of that show, an on-air contributor for the past 19 years, has decided to leave the program.  Stockbroker and business analyst David Johnson, a regular Friday commentator on the business week just past and those things to come, has decided to make August 29th, 2008 his last regular appearance.  All of us here wish him well and grant our appreciation in his reporting for the last 19 years.  Fair wind to you sir and good luck going forward always.

He will be difficult to replace but I think Mr. Johnson might reflect that he was just a windy sort of fellow and thus easy to replace.  Perhaps.  But we feel that there might be too much “good wind” out there in Business Land that might fill that void. That is, unless it is filled by some unwelcome alien who has decided to bust into the Gulf of Mexico and shut down most of the oil and natural gas industry in the USoA.  We speak of that evil known as Hurricane Gustav.  As of this writing, Gustav was on a crash course towards New Orleans and the Gulf Coast as a Catogory 3 storm with the potential to reach higher levels.  It is with a dreaded devu feeling that the KM Team, KM Partners, their friends and families watch as a major storm bears down on that old city and attempts to finish what Katrina, and bad local politics, did not finish three years ago.  And yes, we stated “bad local politics”, not bad Federal Government politics.  As we watch the news, most of the KM Team from a very safe distance, the scene is completely different than three years ago on August 29, 2005. ( this CNN site page is just one of thousands about that day, it is a good place to start : http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/hurricane.katrina/ )  As of this moment, the State and Local officials make no bones about the situation and what is to happen.  This time, personal responsibility and pre-planning at all levels will make the difference in what happens to people in the area of the US Gulf Coast.  All associated with KangarooMoney feel that the nations’ financial markets will respond in a favorable manner to what happens during the next 36-48 hours.  Gasoline may go back up to about $3.50 per gallon on Monday September 1st but let’s face it little joeys, gasoline wasn’t going below $3.25 per gallon to start with.  We all need to understand this and accept this.  “Breathe in, breathe out, move on.”

Oh, by the way.  If any of you think you know where these little snide quotes come from, drop us a note.  We’re not making them up.  They’re real quotes and show some value towards our comments. Hopefully, just like all of our writings.  But 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, there is the 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.  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 and we’ve tweaked this feature yet again this week.  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. We have seen record numbers of foreclosures hit in the last 6 months especially in areas hardest victimized by mortgage frauds and money huskers.  At last count, there have been 9 bank closures in 2008, including the implosion of IndyMac.  The economy is still turning downward and now most of the talking heads finally agree with the KM Team that this could easily turn into a Recession that will last until at least next Summer if not through the 2009 Christmas season.  So what do some 27,000 professional grade machinists getting paid an average of $27 per hour decide is best for them and their families?  Well, to go on strike of course!  ( click here to read more )  Understand that as of this writing, those machinists working for the Boeing Company ( BA, traded on the NYSE, originally suggested by the KM Team but we think you might want to watch this stock now and wait for the shakeout to take place this week ) in Washington, Oregon and Kansas are not yet on strike. ( one of very many stories on this situation can be read here — http://www.miamiherald.com/business/AP/story/664607.html ) Their union management and leaders have suggested that at this time they refuse the latest offer from Boeing, who for their part call this offer its “best and final” offer.  As most of the KM Team has worked on one side of or on the other side of the union contract negotiation table, we here understand that the remaining 3+ days in the contract, and thus in the contract negotiations, is a lifetime in discussion terms.  The two sides have almost 85 hours to work a deal that by all accounts have left them only separated by 2 per cent ( 11 from the company, 13 from the union ) along with some of the typically wiggle points to be added or subtracted, like medical coverage and retirement benefits, and that much time is a HUGE amount.  But let’s be fair for a moment and say that both sides have equal arguments and thus a strike comes to pass.  What will be the impact?  Estimates are claiming that Boeing could lose up to $100 Million per DAY for every day of the strike.  And that is just the impact to Boeing and those plants that would be directly impacted and closed.  What of the suppliers, the vendors and associated supply chains that reach into every nook and cranny of the United States?  What of the world impact that can be seen not just in delayed airplane deliveries but also in those suppliers and vendors that are located in other nations?  A strike of just one business week, 5 work days, which is a rather typical time for a strike these days, that would impact the company by 1/2 a BILLION dollars just to their bottom line.  That is NOT a ripple out into the economy, that is a bow wake that could be felt through every facet of the USoA marketplace, with a ripple felt throughout the world.  And that’s just a week.  But that’s Boeing, a multi Billion dollar company whose money will only be delayed not removed.  What about the workers, not just the machinists but the other associated workers inside the plants and around the plants as well?  A strike fund will cover the machinists at least for a little while but the Mom and Pop places that surround the plants will suffer, maybe terminally.  The suppliers and vendors will suffer as they see their inventories build and their bottom lines sink, maybe terminally.  And over what?  Yeah, it’s tough out here and people should expect to at least carry on their lives at the same rate that they have become accustomed to.  But Kangaroos, there is a limit isn’t there?  Watch this situation and determine when to get into Boeing if that is your choice.  Don’t jump on the rumors but act on the news.  The KM Team will review and report back next week as necessary.
2. And now comes President Hugo Chavez who has decided that this is the time to push the limits of his power on the International Stage.  Already known to be a cliched power hungry dictator who rules his country through his agents in the Venezuela National Assembly, Chavez is again making the obvious play to the small common folk by screwing over the delivery system of gasoline to the local 1,854 filling stations of Venezuela.  So again, it’s all about oil.  Of course.  ( click here to read more )  There are many sites that are out there this month touting the situation that currently exists in Venezuela.  The KM Team is putting this site at the forefront of this article — http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3761 – due to the nature of the writing and information.  The situation is that President Chavez has decided that the “Organic Law of the Reordering of the Internal Market of Liquid Fuels”, whatever THAT might be,  will solve many ills in his country.  It will cut out a middle man in the supply process by eliminating their profits.  It will stop these same people from sending an estimated 27,000 barrels of assorted fuel types across the borders out of the country, again eliminating their profits.  And it will reduce the cost of fuel at the pump locally as well as tightening the control and flow of that same fuel so that the supply chain is more efficient.  So goes all of the rhetoric.  The truth is, this stunt is going to endear Chavez to the common folk and make it that much more unlikely that anyone could supplant him from power.  It is also going to centralize the control of the western hemispheres’ largest known reserves of oil even more so than before.  Now it does call to question if President Chavez and his choice of timing is controlled or unfortunate.  If it is controlled, then Chavez has been playing the music just perfectly, staying one step ahead of any major power coming down on him for his imperfect world view.  Perhaps he has even been trying to show the New Soviets just what he is capable of so that he can get a bunch of new toys to play with.  But then again, perhaps President Chavez has been trying to make some major Socialist statements and his timing has been unfortunate due other world events that has overlapped his announcements.  After kicking out the major oil companies, for the most part as they are still interact in minority status with the state oil company PDVSA, giving away free heating oil to New England disadvantaged families last winter and verbally abusing his South American neighbors who disagree with him, it seems doubtful that Chavez has mistimed a damn thing.  But like all good egocentric dictators who hardly ever leave their countries, the time is coming when President Hugo Chavez oversteps his bounds and his mouth writes a check his country can’t cash.  How the world reacts then could disrupt our economic lives for many, many years.
3. Staying with the theme for this week, there was a story that came across the wires that didn’t seem to get very much play in news circles or mainstream media.  It also plays on one of the KM Team favorite subjects.  The USoA has decided for the last 35 years not build a single new oil refinery in this country.  At the same time, the country has been whistling down the dark in the belief that we had all the oil refineries that the country needed.  But now comes a new twist to the story and it has a major impact on oil.  Of course.  ( click here to read more )  The same reasons that have prevented any new oil refineries from being build have now led a group of 12 states, the District of Columbia and New York City to file suit against the EPA for failing to regulate global-warming gases from these oil refineries.  The 12 states are New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, California, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico.  The KM Team understands the New England, New York and Delaware states reasons for suing the EPA in US Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia as they are the areas that almost always end up with all of the air pollution from the rest of the country and these plants.  The addition of California is a moot point as this suit seems tailor made for that wonderful state to take part in.  It would seem that Oregon & Washington is following suit, if you’ll forgive the pun, to show their usual solidarity with Cali but the joining in of New Mexico confuses us.  A quick review shows little impact to that or indeed to the Western States of what the EPA is accused of.  The lawsuit claims that the EPA’s own air-pollution-control reulations for refineries are violating the Clean Air Act due to the fact that those regs do not include standards to control greenhouse-gas emissions from new and / or updated equipment that has been added to the refineries.  The good news in this situation is that the States’ Attorney Generals are suing the USoA Government via the EPA, attempting to slam the Bush Administration’s perceived lack of effort to control perceived global warming, and they are NOT suing the oil refineries and their owners directly.   There is little question that the refiners would not be able to survive a settlement attempt like the tobacco companies settled on, regardless of who their final owners might be.  And while the EPA continues to get slammed from pillar to post about what outside influences are saying that departments’ actual job really is, the EPA is not being handed a solid factbook about the science that they are supposed to be chasing down.  In the meantime, is it any small wonder that no additional refineries have been built in the US for the last generation and a half?  Who would want the aggravation and lawsuits and the mess and clean-ups that would go with it?  And yet, we all continue to complain about gas prices.  Kangaroos, we can not have everything both ways.  Fuel comes at a price.  Cheap fuel comes at a higher price.  But understand that the economy needs fuel to run.  Not cash from a lawsuit, not sometime in the distant future, not half-assed like the situations in the last 150 years that led to rivers and harbors catching fire in states like New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania to name a few.  ( Please look this up — the last and best well known river fire was the Cleveland Ohio Cuyahoga River Fire of 1969! ).  The Economy needs fuel we can all use regularly unless we would all like to go backwards and go back to the woodlands.  Perhaps Redwoods?
4. After a weeks worth of Democratic Convention but hardly any Platform Plank laying, the KM Team can formulate what a year from now might look like with President Obama in office.  It’s a solid guess as to how things might look.  But there is a wild card in the mix.  Oil.  Of course.  ( click here to read more )  Next Labor Day, President Obama will be attending many events in the Chicago area.  His need to go back to home and safe ground will come from the fact that the economy has not yet rebounded as he had hoped.  Despite being given a Democratic Congress by dint of the November Elections electing a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate, not enough bills have been sent to his desk to make an impact.  Congress has refused to enact, and thus killed, any effort to expand off-shore oil drilling and all talk of drilling for oil in Alaska on or near Federal Lands has been silenced again.  This while the dollar has weakly floated during 2009 and kept a barrel of oil around the $120 level all year.  Stable yes, but too high so that gas has remained at or near the $4 per gallon level.  The rapid removal of the American troops from Iraq has been countered in that country by the Iraqi Army stepping up ala Germany in 1950 and taking control of their country.  But, the return of the troops has led to a 1.5% rise in the unemployment rate in the US as the returning troops resume their law-mandated jobs, moving out the people who had been working them and those people not finding replacement jobs.  Promised tax cuts for the Middle Class has stalled as programs have been beefed up or added to help the people deemed to be in need of Government help.  The Media continues to talk of the beginning of the return of the Welfare State but President Obama refutes that every week.  His meetings with the House Leaders have been reported to be contentious and several of his vetoes have already been over ridden by the Congress.  Through no fault of his, an additional 11 banks have failed so far this year as the continuing economic downturn keeps rolling on.  This time around, it is not the housing and mortgage situation that has driven the economy down but the credit tightening that resulted because the banks swung all the way to the other side of the lending curve, saying only NO and never, never yes for anything that might go sour on them.  Imports are again rising and exports are struggling due to the imbalance of the dollar.  Even the long rumored, long awaited appointment of Senator Clinton to the Ambassadorship of Great Britain has not been enough to smooth the noise out in Washington.  The Dow Jones has continued its slow bleed that it started in 2007, now bouncing just above and just below the 10,000 point mark.  While the Financial Stocks have settled down now that the mortgages have been washed out of the bottom lines and the Government has floated easy money to most of the major banks, the collapse of 2 major airlines and the bankruptcy of one of the US Big Three automakers has shaken the core of the common investor.  Needless to say, Bonds and CDs are the new hope as every television station prepares their Holiday Shopping Season blitzes in hope of raising the American Retailers bottom lines.  Word out of Chicago and DC is that President Obama is working on major policy program that will help the majority of the country without starting up a large defense building program.  The news media also reports that he will need something big as Vice President Biden has once again come back from mid-level discussions concerning both trade pacts and defensive treaties once again empty handed.  Difficult times for a President that not only got handed a Democratic Congress by a solid margin but one who also won 57% of the popular vote just last November.  ( Yes, we’ll get a look at the Republican point of view next week!  Stay tuned Kangaroos. )

Updates and Comparisons: 

At the KM Team Roundtable this week, we thought that this week might be a good time to check on some of our more up and more down stocks off of the Stock Docket.

Looking at Ford and GM as they matched up to Toyota found that Ford is continuing to stay below $5 a share while GM is poking around the $10 mark again.  The KM Team does own Ford and we do believe that their long challenge still has another year to go.  The company needs to get not just their hybrid models out to the showrooms but also they need to get more attractive models onto the road.  They’ve started but not quite enough yet.  GM on the other hand appears to be about 2 years behind Ford in most respects.  This is a company that is still talking about the Volt but that vehicle is not being rolled out until 2010.  Maybe.  So, now we match those two companies to Toyota tracking out around $89 on a regular basis.  They’re the Big Dog for now but, like all car companies, they are starting to trend down.  Why?  Their models are popular and their assembly plants are literally state-of-the-art in green tech.  They sell cars successfully around the world.  Well, all three of these companies have the same problem.  Inventory.  Unfortunately it really is just a math problem = build 3,000 cars per month, sell 1,000 cars per month, repeat for years and you have an inventory problem.  All three companies need to get their workers in a room and explain math and the impact of raw materials costs to them.  These companies won’t do that of course, but that is what they need to do.

Looking at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Triarc Co., Burger King, Krispy Kreme and Starbucks, it would seem that the KM Team made obvious comments leading down obvious paths and arriving at obvious end points.  McDonald’s is up smartly, not surprising in this downward economy, and Krispy Kreme has been trending upward again after a couple of difficult years.  The rest of these stocks are all down since KM mentioned them, led by the strong drop by Starbucks.  The Starbucks company has finally gotten itself out of the news and it is hoped that they are returning to what they do best.

An even split in the basic food stocks.  General Mills and Kellogg are both up sharply while ConAgra and Hormel Foods Group are both down sharply.  This is a bit unusual as the basic needs for all four companies would appear to be the same.  It would appear that the less diversified you are, the stronger position you find yourself in.  At least this week anyways.

And our final match-up for this week, BlockBuster and Circuit City going against the typical large retailers Wal-Mart, Target Corp. and Sears Holding Co.  No big surprise to anyone on the KM Team as BlockBuster has lost a third of its value in the last 16 weeks and Circuit City has survived but has lost more than half of its value during that time.  At this time, it is doubtful that Circuit City will survive past the end of 2008 so you shouldn’t be buying any extended warranties from those stores.  On the flip side is the Big Box Stores.  While only Target Corp. is up over the last two weeks, these retailers are holding their own.  Does this mean the ENTIRE retail sector is holding its own and is a good place for your money.  Most definitely not.  Pick your spots and hit your marks.  May Stores, Dillards and Macy’s are not the same thing.  Pay attention and bet on the news, not on the rumor.

Next week, some more comparisons and more updates about how KangarooMoney has done to date.

Market Mover of the Week: The MMoW for Week 36 2008 is again an easy choice, primarily because it is certain to be one of the easiest choices the KM Team has to make all year: Republican Presidential canidate Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin.  The constant news coverage, the continuous speech giving and the rampant pushing of what the New Normal calls news will give the Republican 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 start of the fall Season needs to make us all feel better, even if it is just for short term gains.  Hope drives us up, as Senator McCain and Governor Palin will faithfully do, but reality will ground us again after Labor Day 2008.  ( If this sounds familiar, it is an almost copy of last week, mainly because it this week WILL be almost a copy of Week 35.  Just watch. )

Market Mover of the Week: For Week 35 2008, the choice for MMoW was the Democratic Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates doing their best to further the positive change cause and to lead the Democrats to the White House.  The tightly scripted show with all of its set pieces and timed to the second speeches didn’t hold any surprises but it also didn’t hold any bad news either.  Indeed, up until a gate crasher called Gustav hit The Street and Markets on Friday, these MMoW were the easiest calls the KM Team has made all year.  Now we’ll see how Week 36 2008 works out for the KM Team.

International Impact Incident: Again, there is no mistake about this call in the KM Roundtable discussions this week as the holiday weekend got closer.  Hurricane Gustav will impact not just the American Gulf Coast and, yet again, the city of New Orleans but it will impact the worldwide oil markets and the natural gas markets as well.  Gustav comes at a particularly bad time given that Iraq has finally concluded its re-negotiation of a $3 Billion deal to have China develop a major oil field that will continue to pump oil for 20 years.  It can be assumed that China will be very happy to have not only this deal but also to see Gustav rip up the American off-shore oil fields again, especially during not just an election year but during the Republican Convention.  Hurricane Gustav will make a lasting impression no matter what it does or where it goes once it makes landfall.

DEFINITIONS:

Machinist: Idenitifies a person who uses a machine to make or modify parts, primarily metal bases but also might include wood, plastic and / or ceramic; typically describes a skilled person who has received specific training to do their job on the machines; popular belief is that all machinists are unionized but this is not a proven fact

PDVSA: The acronym for Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the state owned petroleum company; the company dominates the petroleum industry in Venezuela having interests in all aspects of the business in that country; the company was formed in 1986 when the company purchased 50% of the in country assets of Citgo from its US owners; the remainder of Citgo was purchased in 1990  

EPA: The abbreviation for Environmental Protection Agency; created in December 1970 during the height of the US environment awareness movement, the agency was proposed by then President Nixon; the agency is charged with protecting human health and protecting the natural environment of air, water and land; the methods of carrying out these assignments are to see to the enforcement of federal laws and guidelines that have been passed specifically to protect the above areas; in the last several years, the EPA has been sued numerous times by several States and cities who have cited that the EPA has not been broad enough in its enforcements and interruptions of the laws they have been given to enforce 

Clean Air Act: One of the many pieces of legislation passed during the1960’s and 1970’s with the specific aim of cleaning the air of smog and air pollution; the original act was passed by the United States in 1963; amendments were added in 1967, 1970, 1977 and 1990; supporters claim that human health has improved since the CAA was passed and human life spans have increased; critics claim that the CAA is too severe and have drained corporate profits while doing little proven good

Welfare State : The concept that the governing state at the time will provide most or all needs of its citizens for little or no effort; the idea that the very rich of the governing state will provide so much income, either voluntarily or involuntarily, that the bulk of the population can be provided for although they do little or nothing in return

 Rain, rain go away…come again someplace we need the water, okay?  Again, the KM Team and the KM Partners hopes that everyone they care about remains safe and sound during this next week.  Much like our old winters in New England, it’s either all wet and cold for days on end or not much of anything takes place.  Once again, 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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