Kangaroo Money

The KangarooMoney.Com Team, KangarooMoney Partners and all our friends, families and co-workers wish you, your families, friends and loved ones, a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the peace and kindness of loved ones and, a long happy weekend.

The KM Team, KM Partners and all who work with us.

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

So, do you remember that the KM Team has decided to publish the KangarooMoney Disclaimer as a separate post, dated 8/17/08?  Have you spent a moment going to read that posting so that you can make sure you understand the writers of this blog are expressing their opinions only?  Good.  And as long as you are back there reading, make sure to check our previous postings — and the dates — to see how we the writers are doing.  The KM Team & KM Partners think that you’ll find our “opinions” are better than some other peoples’ so called “facts”.

II

A nice quiet week.  That is all the KM Team & KM Partners hoped for during Week 45 2008.  Yes, we knew that there happened to be a Presidential Election coupled with the State and Local Elections during last week.  And yes, we also knew that it appeared that the “change” we had been hearing about for the last 1000 days or so was going to come to the political landscape.  But really, all the US Markets and thus the US Economy needed was a quiet 5 trading days to let the situations of the last 8 weeks settle down and reach a calm spot so that we could catch our breath and reevaluate our positions.  A nice quiet week.

What we got was 17 1/2 hours.  And very little of that was quiet.

KangarooMoney.Com, the KM Team, the KM Partners and the staff, associates and friends will take one more moment to acknowledge the outcome of the elections on Tuesday here in the United States of America.  The victory that President-Elect Barack Obama secured was historical on many levels and was deeply felt by all citizens.  The President-Elect, his team and those who supported and still support him did a wonderful job to secure their chosen positions.  We here at KangarooMoney.com wish them the best in their efforts to bring forth the change that was promised.  We also acknowledge that the Office of the President, the Government of the United States of America and the very foundation and concept of the United States of America, is in sound hands.

Beyond the White House and the Presidency, the surprising sweep of the state and local Democratic candidates bodes more directly on the public pocketbooks as well as their current and future tax rates.  As the KM Team has said before and still continues to believe, there is little that can be done for all people and all businesses that will still allow a Free Market Economy to function as it is quoted in theory.  Because of that, the national programs like The Bailout and the Financial Industry Management laws will have a difficult time filtering down through out the whole country.  However, the local governments will have more say about what happens to and in their communities and States and THOSE programs, taxes and laws WILL trickle down to all of us somehow.  With all of the other issues affecting people’s pocketbooks and households it will be these changes that jump up and bite the public suddenly.  And that is the scary part.

Putting aside politics and the unknown future, the USoA Economy should have had a quiet week during Week 45 2008.  Most of the fears of not-your-party winning ( in other words, well ahead of the election, people sold stocks, bonds and securities because they feared that the person that they weren’t supporting might win office ) had already been factored into the Stock Market and the related prices.  The beat-down that had taken place throughout September and October should have allowed us to enjoy the election and its aftermath.  Instead, the DJIA managed to drop 921 points in two trading sessions.  The soft up we saw on Friday won’t make the pain of the still going downs go away any time soon.  The change of guard at the White House won’t make the pain of the still going downs go away any time soon.  And watching the talking heads on television tell us how bad it is today without helping us chart tomorrow won’t make the pain of the still going downs go away any time soon.  We all got us into this mess.  It is up to we all to get us out of this mess.  Throwing money at the problem, like always, isn’t working.  Let’s try some close up and personal ideas and work efforts.  That never hurt before.

Which brings us to the quote of the week — “All politics is local.”  Again, this is a fitting comment not only on the week just passed but on the weeks and months ahead of us all.  Challenging times do one of only two things: forge new leaders out of the fires of the times or burn down to ashes false leaders who get burned by the flames of the situations.  Only time will tell, only time.  On with the show little kangaroos.

 ll

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 be 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 have 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 ) and Electronic Data Systems Corp. ( EDS was bought and absorbed by Hewlett Packard ).  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 ( see below for more details ).  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. Power to the people…We had it for a long time but didn’t use it until the recession hit so many homes across this whole country.  We chose to ignore it as long as it was the other guy who lost his job, and as long as it was those rich Wall Street Fat Cats who were losing their money.  The real change was the bad economy hitting so many Americans in the face.  ( click here to read more ) The 2008 election was about more than change than for change sake.  It was a referendum on the financial state of America.  The old ways are no longer workable.  It has gotten so bad that Americans have embraced diversity and elected the first African-American President.  Unthinkable not too long ago, many different races and ethic minorities all voting, some for the very first time and others for the first time in a very long time.  I wish I could say that a new resurgence in the democratic process was caused by an awakening of national pride.  But sadly, no.  More like bad times hitting home for so many Americans, shaking them out of their complacency.  But, be that as it may.  What’s your plan?  What, as a nation, are we changing to?  Are we going to change the backroom politics?  The pork barrel projects?  Our capacity to complain but not actually to change the problems?  On November 4th, all we did was to take a first step.  In which direction still remains to be seen.  We stepped up and made our voices heard.  Now, what will we do?  Will we step back into line and hope that the government will fix things?  The government played a big part in getting us INTO this recession.  The people’s voting needs to get us OUT of this situation or, more to the point, get out the non-performing elected government officials.  Can you feel the power!
2. Because American Business takes on so much of the American Public Psyche, it can often appear that there is little to no difference between what happens in the Board Rooms around the country and what happens in the Living Rooms around the country.  When times are good, both Rooms celebrate richly.  When times are bad, both Rooms withdraw into a cold, dark wall-staring contest.  Because times are bad now, both Rooms are unwilling to try anything that might cause them to lose what they believe is all they have left.  They stop taking chances, any chances, no matter what the payoff might be.  We at KangarooMoney call this “The Attack of the Three Percenters”.  And yes, it IS a horror show.  ( click here to read more) What can be more easily referenced and more difficult to explain than the Three Per Cent Situation?  The easy reference is that this is the number that most people will see as their pay raise for this year, providing they have crossed every T and dotted every I, gotten along with every single co-worker, especially their Boss and have done things for their company that makes the company money regardless of the toll taken to make that money.  Prior to 2008, that 3% raise would have sufficed.  However, in a year when gasoline was at one time rising at 3% per DAY in some cities, a 52 week total raise of 3% won’t keep you in your Starbucks coffee never mind your weekly gas purchases.  But how to explain what an attack of 3% means?  Well, let’s try it this way.  Even before 2008, a great deal of the unknown and unremarkable Middle Management you have always heard about had decided long ago that the best way to keep their jobs was to make sure that there was a forward progress made that would merit some reward but no real notice.  That forward progress should be enough to show upward movement so that they would not have to report on any failure but not so upward that they would have to work hard to repeat the success in the following years.  How did that great Middle Management decide on 3%?  Was it tied to great Upper Management slap in the face of only granting a bulk 3% raise and letting the Middle Managers sort out who got more, who got less and who got none?  Some how it’s too close not to think that wasn’t the case.  A 3% efficiency increase for a 3% wage increase.  The numbers match up and, as any good Middle Manager knows, that is more important than anything else.  But before we leave this situation lie for now, it has to be noted how harmful and unrewarding the “Attack of the Three Percenters” can be to a business and its employees.  By restricting a company’s growth so that extra work and thought is not required again, that company’s potential is never truly realized.  Its ideas are never fully fleshed out and tried, at times costing not just new products and profits but also costing the intellect and drive of its employees.  A person who gets the same day after day, year after year and is treated the same whether he tries hard or not at all will soon lose that ambition to succeed and help his company.  They will soon start to give just what they get — 3% additional effort for 3% additional pay.  And THAT is an attack on us all.  ( more on the “Attack of the Three Percenters” will be here in upcoming postings including some presumed case studies and major company analysis — we just didn’t want to write 25,000 words all here all now! )
3. How to explain what happened at Boeing and with its Union in a short paragraph?  And not using swear words too.  Hmmm.  Let’s try this for size: “The costs of the Machinists strike at Boeing ended up being an estimated $5.5 BILLION dollars off of the company bottom line.”  Wow.  That’s a hell of a size, isn’t it?  ( click here to read more)  In what turned out being the third longest strike at Boeing, and was that company’s 2nd strike in just 3 years, the amazing thing was that the two sides barely talked to each other as far as the Great Public knew.  Only very near a final deal was there even any acknowledgement that the two sides WOULD even talk, never mind sit down across from each other debate a new contract.  Andall this going on with the world’s 2nd largest airplane maker during a time when the financial markets were not just suffering but absolutely melting down.  Grab a calendar and look it up.  From start to finish, the strike brought in the New Financial World and led us through the forest to the edge of the woods out here in front of Oz.  And what did the two sides get as the final deal was signed and 787 Dreamliner, the workers returned to their jobs?  About what they had asked for to start with!  So why “fight” for so long and not strike a deal sooner?  For one thing, the suppliers of parts for the new yet to flown but still sold very well 787 Dreamliner desperately needed the time to get their inventories built up and straightened out.  This lack of part use allowed those companies the chance to get their supplies corrected, their parts built up with buffer stock and to catch up on back-order purchase items that was needed to stock the Boeing plant and make it ready to build again.  And then there was the just revealed, not spoken about and, one is guessing, “not attributed to anyone in particular” problem with already installed fasteners in the 787 planes that will need to be taken out and replaced.  A minor issue apparently.  Just 3% of all the fasteners installed in the existing 5 test planes will need to be removed and replaced.  A couple of hundred thousand fasteners to be inspected and corrected as necessary.  350,000 tops.  Could this be a simple 3% job done on the part of the installers prior to the anticipated strike?  Or was it poor workmanship during installation?  Was it bad inspection so that “suddenly” 350,000 fasteners need to be reviewed instead of 350?  Or 35?  Not surprisingly, Boeing is not talking.  Also not surprisingly, the Machinists Union is not talking.  And now, after a nice 59 day rest, the hard working members of Team Boeing are back on the job doing the same job all over again.  Can’t wait to get aboard one of these babies andtest fly it all around the countryside.  Kinda sounds like where we’ll land too, doesn’t it?  Guess we’ll see right after that big test flight…in early to mid 2009.  We hope…

Updates and Comparisons: 

Have you checked out The Stock Docket for this week yet?  You will notice that this week, of the 75 total stocks listed, only 5 went up in value from their original list dates in the past week.  Again, in today’s wild swinging economy, having ANY stocks up over their mention price prior to the Fall “collapse” is remarkable in itself.  But, that led the KM Team to question if the Stock Docket totals were providing a full picture of value as the numbers were being presented.  If EVERY stock was down in value from just 4 weeks ago, how could the KM Team be showing anything except negative numbers across the board?  Which brings us to an updated feature that was added to the Stock Docket beginning this week.  To the far right hand side of the Stock Docket, we have added a new column titled “Variation Last Week”.  This column will show the gain or loss of value for that companys’ share price from this just passed Friday market close and the previous Friday market close.  It’s a quick 7 day look-see at how the company has done for the week and should give a clearer snapshot of how that company is doing.  This week confirmed what we all knewto be fact.  That the stock market tumbled hard over the last week as 61 of the 75 listed stocks finished lower on the week-to-week measurement in price.  Pretty tough to find a winner in that bunch!  Also, there was a major move by Brinks Co. as it split off a major organ of itself to a new company.  AND the company decided to delist itself from the NYSE!  A busy week indeed.  So use the Stock Docket to your advantage and seek out the values listed there.  Look for some updates and additional information to the Stock Docket in the next 8 to 10 weeks.  The KM Team thinks you’ll like what you see there…

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

Market Mover of the Week 46: The incoming President-Elect chose this weeks MMoW by naming his Chief of Staff to be as Rep. Ram Emanuel.  The former Clinton aide will show a different side of the political world than the calm and easy talking President-Elect, perhaps a bit straighter and more to the point if history is to used as an example.  Rep. Emanuel will make people think, this week and well into the future as he takes his place in this administration of change.  For those facts and possible facts, Rep. Emanuel is Week 46 2008 MMoW.

Market Mover of the Week 45:As we stated, the not overly imaginative choice we made of the American Voter as the MMoWforWeek45 2008 was both easy and definitive.  Once again, the Average American strode forth and made their respective voice heard.  No where else in the world does this simple act take place as easily and naturally as it does in the United States.  And that is why the MMoW for Week 45 2008 was all of you and all of us.  Voting — it does the future good.

International Impact Incident: The Group of 20 meeting called by President Bush for the upcoming weekend ( November 15-16 2008 ) will play a major role in the financial situation of the World Economy and the ongoing multiple crisis’s roiling the world financial houses and markets.  It is easily the most identified Triple I of the week and certainly the easiest item the KM Team had to make a call on.  President-elect Obama’s decision to not sit in on the meeting, citing the simple and correct fact that the United States of America has only 1 President at a time, shows some style if not outright class on his part.  It may also have a deeper meaning similar to when FDR refused to meet of work with the Hoover Administration prior to FDR being sworn in.  Can the Group of 20 work with a Lame Duck President Bush and make enforceable policy?  We’ll see and comment here, next week.

For those of you wondering, yes, the major Triple I of Week 45 2008 was indeed the US Presidential Election.  From dancing in the streets around the world came the simple idea that voting was a major high.  How true that statement is. 

DEFINITIONS:

GROUP OF 20: a forum started in 1999 that includes the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of 19 different nations and the European Union; the goal of the forum is to stimulate discussions and cooperation between industrialized and developing nations on financial issues; besides the European Union, the 19 nations are — India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States

( stay tuned — they will be more here…we promise! )

 

( This weeks quote is from a time that seems so just yesterday but is from what we consider long ago today.  The phrase “All politics is local.” comes from the 2nd longest sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives, the late Thomas Phillip “Tip” O’Neill who served 34 years as a Congressman from Massachusetts.  As a man known as an outspoken Liberal Democrat, he made the most of his opportunities from getting elected to then Senator-elect John F. Kennedy’s House seat, to being mentored by Speaker John McCormack, and made House Majority Leader after Rep. Hale Boggs died in an Alaskan plane crash to being elected Speaker of the House after Carl Albert retired from Congress because of the Tongsun Park affair.  But, first and foremost, “Tip” O’Neill was a man of the people he represented.  He enjoyed them and cared for them deeply.  Which is why his comment was correct then, and is correct now. Let us all remember it. )

The KM Team and KM Partners think that the more control we seek to have over situations, the reality is we end up having less control.  The Free Market functions on supply, demand and belief.  Control is not one of those functions.  A person once said that the tighter you grip, the more that will slip through your fingers.  The attempts to control the economy may not work.  They haven’t worked so far.  Will time tell?  As always, Little Kangaroos, as always.  In the meantime, enjoy and relax.  Don’t forget, 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.  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.

( Due to the election this week — yes, there WAS a national election here — the KM Team is publishing a little short this week.  But don’t worry.  The Economy is providing enough celebration fireworks to get us all in gear for more of the articles and thoughts that you have come to appreciate. Have a great week.  The KM Team. )

As KangarooMoney.Com noted last week, the “financial news overload” was beginning to get to everybody.  The wild up and down swings of the US Markets, which were also finally felt in the World Markets, were much like the rocking to and fro of a cheap overcrowed tourist ferry in some 5th world sightseeing area.  As the Tour Guide would announce that there was some sight to see on the left side of the boat, all of the passengers would rush to that side and tip the boat over quite a bit to the left.  The Tour Guide would get nervous and quickly announce some sight to see on the right side of the boat, thus having the exact opposite effect.  Which, as you have probably already guessed, caused the Tour Guide to quickly announce yet another sight to see on the left side of the boat.  On and on it goes until the ferry reaches the dock…we hope!  If you replace the phrase “sight to see” with “stock to sell”, it’s not that hard to see how the KM Team is drawing this comparison.  What the markets need, what the world needs, what we ALL need, is a quiet financial week so that the roiled waters of the Wall Street Ferry can settle down and let us all relax.

So along comes a USoA Presidential Election right in the middle of our “quiet week”.

Actually, the KM Team and KM Partners believe this is just what the ferry captain ordered,sort of speak.  For the last two plus years, the only sure thing that could be said about 2009 was that a new US President would be sworn into office in January.  The maddening and lllllooooonnnnnnggggg pre-primary sessions that took place in 2006 and 2007 gave a slightly clearer picture of who might be that person but the crowded fields on both sides of the political aisle gave no clear winner.  And then, in only 4 weeks for the Republicans, the winner strode forward in the shape of Senator John McCain.  The final situation took a bit longer but the yelling was all done by mid-February on that side.  The Democrats took their show down to the last “public” votes and then made all of their followers extra nervous by thinking that the party might split because the race had been so close.  In August, the final and clear choice was Senator Barack Obama.  By the end of the Conventions before Labor Day 2008, it looked like a nice solid 10 weeks of yelling back and forth “Oh yeah?” was about to break out and the real fun was going to begin.

Then, the rest of the world caught up with KangarooMoney.Com and its readers — the financial world went haywire and the world economies were rocked to their cores.

What has followed has been less political and more atypical than people want to admit.  Despite the fact that warning signs have been on this ruinous route for years ( oh yeah? well check out this article from a great myth debunking site http://www.snopes.com/ that shows an article from the New York Times claiming potential disastrous results with Fannie Mae if they continued to ease credit : http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/easescredit.asp ) common people and politicians want us to continue following this path.  And why not?  These past 10 to 12 years have been pretty good ones, right up until everyone realized that you really can’t live on good looks, smoke and no hard cash in your pockets.  Now the Piper has presented his bill and wishes to be paid.  The US Government and governments around the World scurry from one side of the boat to the other side, trying to find the correct balance, faltering with each step they take.  Perhaps instead of trying to control the situation these governments should let the natural business flow take its course?  Don’t tell people where to look and what to see but let them discover the sights for themselves.  The KM Team believes that instead of a guided tour that gets everyone wet it would be better to let the boat float on its natural trip and let the group arrive at safe harbor that way.  Too much help can be just as bad as not enough help, so it would seem.

Which brings us to the most calming quote we could find this week but from a very most unlikely source.  It’s such a fitting comment it’s like it was written for the week!  See if you can figure out who said “Everything that goes up must come down.  But there comes a time when not everything that’s down can come up.”  Fitting for who said it and fitting for the times we live in.  On with the show little kangaroos.

 ll

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 KangarooMoneyTeams’ part, we do feel that this will help to determine how things are going.  Eventually, this item will also be moved to an interior page, so please comment on this feature as much as possible before that happens.  KM would love to be 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 have 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 ) and Electronic Data Systems Corp. ( EDS was bought and absorbed by Hewlett Packard ).  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 ( see below for more details ).  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. SORRY BUT WE HAVE BEEN OUT VOTING AND HELPING TO GET OUT THE VOTE — BACK IN WEEK 46!

Updates and Comparisons: 

Please check out The Stock Docket again for this week.  You will notice that this week, of the 75 total stocks listed, nine went up in value last week, tripling the total of Week 44.  It is important to note that these nine stocks went up over the amount of value per share from the time that the KM Team first mentioned that company in an article.  In today’s wild swinging economy, having ANY stocks up over their mention price prior to the “collapse” is remarkable in itself.  But, that led the KM Team to question if the Stock Docket totals were providing a full picture of value as the numbers were being presented.  If EVERY stock was down in value from just 3 weeks ago, how could the KM Team be showing anything except negative numbers across the board?  Which brings us to an updated feature that was added to the Stock Docket beginning this week.  To the far right hand side of the Stock Docket, we have added a new column titled “Variation Last Week”.  This column will show the gain or loss of value for that companys’ share price from this just passed Friday market close and the previous Friday market close.  It’s a quick 7 day look-see at how the company has done for the week and should give a clearer snapshot of how that company is doing.  The numbers also opened the eyes of the KM Team as the hard numbers showed us what we felt we already knew to be true — that US stock prices had fallen so low that people could not help but to buy what they felt were undervalued stock.  Indeed, for the week just past, 65 of the 75 stocks mentioned on KangarooMoney.Com and listed on the Stock Docket went UP in value on a week to week basis as opposed to the 66 stocks that remained listed as going DOWN against their first mention price.  Let us know how you like this feature and the Stock Docket as a whole.

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

Market Mover of the Week 45: This week the KM Team is picking the MMoW for Week 45 as the American Voter.  It is not an overly imaginative choice but it is the most definitive choice that can be made when talking about who might move the US and indeed, the World, markets for the week.  At no other time in our collective histories has such a decision had to have been made than on this coming Tuesday, November 4th, 2008.  Regardless of what financial reports come out or what companies release their business numbers or what the final prices of oil, gasoline, gold and wheat end the week at, the only important numbers for the markets, for the country, for the world, will be reported on Wednesday morning.  Be a Market Mover of the Week — go out and vote.

Market Mover of the Week 44: It was an easy call last week by the KM Team to announce that  Senator McCain and Senator Obama would pick up the markets and give them all a good shake.  As the numbers and the situations showed, the DJIA finished an slow upward climb of 946 total points for the week.  While the Dow Jones is not the end all be all of stock numbers, the economy did show a good and positive number and attitude for the week here in the USoA.  While the news was lost in bulk of the US political news and Halloween, the rest of the World did not fare quite so well in the past week.  Still, Senators McCain & Obama were the MMoW for Week 44.

International Impact Incident: There are reports still of the President of Iran being ill with something listed as between exhaustion and up to “something” much worse; of North Korea leader Kim Jong-il having already suffered one stroke as having another one during Week 44; of the Tamil Tigers getting an air attack on Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka; of recession being acknowledged finally in England and France; and of the beginning of public unrest in Iran and Venezuela as oil prices slide to half of what is needed to prop up the Socialist programs in those countries.  And yet, the Triple I of Week 45 2008 will still be the US Presidential Election.  Again, not very imaginative but like the Olympics or the World Cup Finals, the event will dominate every news broadcast where ever news IS broadcast during Week 45 2008.  You can believe that every trader in the Free and in the un-Free Worlds will be listening for that news.

 

DEFINITIONS:

 ( stay tuned — they will be more here…we promise! )

 

( This weeks quote is the from a man we all knew but who appears to be rather fogotten — God himself.  Well, not actually but rather the man we most recognized as playing God, GerogeBurns.  People forget just what a pithy and witty man he was, as shown by this quick quote.  But after all, George Burns was a stand up and movie actor for almost 80 years.  You’d be quick on your feet and sharp of wit if you had that much practice too!.  Now, let’s all be patient and clam this week everyone.  Let’s all go back to doing the work and keeping the faith and then all will be well.  Just take it from God, eh, we mean George.)

All things considered, the KM Team and KM Partners feel more than optimistic as we make our way forward through the long mire of the Endless Campaign and into the New Day.  As we have written above, the country and the world have been here before.  Tomorrow is never as bleak as we fear it to be.  And yesterday is never as bad as we remember it to be.  Coming from a bunch of head shaking, hand wringing “I-told-you-so” people like the KM Team and KM Partners, can there be any doubt that business will find a way to not only improve but to be better than it was when “things were good”?  Think of today as November 1932 just to keep the FDR references flowing.  In the meantime, enjoy our 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.  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 members of KangarooMoney.Com, the entire KM Team and KM Partners would like to congratulate President-Elect Barack Obama in winning the 2008 United States of America presidential election and in becoming this country’s 1st African-American President.

His anticipated popular vote margin of 6%, while large enough to show strong support in getting elected, will still present some opposition to policies and programs that will be asked to be put forth by this country.  The sweeping election in the US Congress however, should help to get passage of many, if not most, of these ideas and goals as President-Elect Obama and the nation struggle back from a difficult economic breakdown over the last 14 months.

The long, long campaign has finally finished.  Most of the votes have been counted.  The parties and celebrations are winding down as this is written.  Now comes the hard part of selecting the best people for the right jobs and plotting a new course through these difficult times.  We wish the new administration all the skill and luck it needs to be successful.  President-Elect Obama, the two houses of US Congress and all of new local leaders have been selected by the majority of the people to take us forward from today.  May all be up to the most difficult task ever devised — leading the United States of America.

Congratulations President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President-Elect Joseph Biden.

The members of KangrooMoney.Com, the KM Team and KM Partners.

VOTE!!

The KangarooMoney Team and KangarooMoney Partners can not repeat this enough times during the next 48 hours.  For the United States of America, the most important national day of 2008 is tomorrow, November 4th, as our citizens go to the polls to elect our next President.  No matter who each of us supports it is critical that we go and cast our ballots.

VOTE!!!

Americans do not seem to always care enough about this right and privilege that has been granted to us by the sweat and blood of our forebears.  We all talk a great game about who and what we stand for but it also seems that sometimes the mere inconvenience of actually taking 30 minutes out of our life to vote is just too damn hard.  We as a country need to change this attitude.

VOTE!!!!

Start changing YOUR attitude tomorrow, November 4th 2008.  If you are an American citizen living in the United States and are able to vote, then do so.  No one knows better than the KM Team and KM Partners from the worldwide readership that we have been so kindly granted that not everybody reading this note has the ability or the granted right to vote for their leaders.  Americans need to realize this fact, to hold it dear and to use it to their advantage.  That can be done by doing just one thing.  Getting out of their comfort zone and going out to their local polling place to do just one thing, regardless of who or what they support.

Vote.

It’s your privilege.  Use it.

The KM Team and KM Partners.