Markowski Monthly |
SAME SCAM DIFFERENT SECURITY
I wrote a column back in November of 2002 entitled Return of the Indulgence
Citigroup, UBS Paine Weber, Merrill Lynch, Bank Of America are all being sued, investigated, subpoenaed, or all of the above by the Securities and Exchange Commission, individual and corporate investors, and various state attorney generals in connection with it’s handling of sales in auction rate securities. where I bemoaned the medieval Catholic practice of selling “get out of hell and purgatory cards” to the highest bidder.
Back in 2002 the practice was being reintroduced by New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer with his handling of all the unsavory practices that Wall Street had conducted in the 1990’s. Elliot collected his $1 billion fine (big deal Merrill Lynch has written down $46 billion over the past year); what he didn’t do is protect the citizens of New York and the rest of the country which I thought was the purpose of his office. (Perhaps, he was distracted by something or someone?)
My conclusion was that allowing individuals of infinitesimal moral character to remain in their positions of power and influence is a recipe for disaster that will be repeated. Unfortunately, I was right.
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DA WITCH!
My youngest son’s favorite program is the Disney produced Little Einsteins. On this show, an eclectic bunch of kids travel around the globe on a rocket ship on various adventures. Along the way they learn about famous artists and classical music composers. On one recent episode, I noticed Nicholas was a little frightened by a witch that the Little Einsteins had to deal with. Whenever the witch would appear, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony would start to play and my Nicholas would back away from the television and say “Da Witch! Da Witch!”
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PEP TALK OR REALITY CHECK
This past May, at the Berkshire Hathaway annual conference in Omaha, Warren Buffet stunned many investors with his statement, “If a stock I own goes down 50%, I’d look forward to it. In fact, I would offer you a significant sum of money if you could give me the opportunity for all of my stocks to go down 50% over the next month.”
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RALPH WIGGUM VS. ABE SIMPSON
I had eight people call in and cancel their subscriptions to the Markowski Monthly last month due to my article Defying Economic Gravity
“How dare you quote my candidate in an honest manner?” where I quote Barack Obama directly in regards to his plan to almost double the capital gains rate to 28%. Gee...Sorry that your own candidate’s ideas are offensive. Which, if you think about it, is a weird irony in of itself.
“How dare you quote my candidate in an honest manner?” read more...
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Watchdog Wisdom |
FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE TOP 20
AUGUST 2004
This past month, Jonathan Clements of the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting piece regarding financial independence. Many of the points he made in his article were quite similar to many of the sentiments I try to get across on the radio show. His premise was that financial independence and freedom are goals that everyone should strive for. However, more often than not these are goals that are not realized. We have compiled a Watchdog Top 20 List to aid you in determining if you have that independence and freedom . . read more
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REAL ESTATE REALITY
June 2007
One bit of advice that I have given on the radio show that tends to raise eyebrows is my belief
that you should try to eliminate your home as a retirement vehicle. There is an urban myth out
there that money spent, or as some state to justify their actions, “invest” on ones primary
residence will always pay off in the long run . . read more
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HOW TO KILL A HYDRA
March 2008
Mr. Smith wants to own a home. Unfortunately, due to some missteps and financial problems in
his past, Mr. Smith has poor credit. He also did not have the funds to put money down. After
hearing an advertisement on a local sports radio station he realized that he too could own a
home. NO MONEY, NO CREDIT, WE DON”T CARE! Come on down to Easy Money
Mortgage...read more.
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THE TRUTH ABOUT TAXES
February 2003
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men, the poorest would pay nothing; The fifth would pay $1; The sixth would pay $3; The seventh $7; The eighth $12; The ninth $18. The tenth man, the richest would pay $59 . read more.
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