It looks like a stupor-inducingly dull day in the market. I survived Christmas, though my Aunt's dog, Sidney, did not. In fact, it died at my house yesterday afternoon. Sidney was a very old dog, a good dog, and very loved, and will be missed very much.brbrEarlier in the day, we had fun. Along with presents, tons of food, and good friends, we played games. It's something of a tradition at my house.brbrMy team won this one: A href=http://www.amazon.com/Cranium-101010000-100E/dp/B00000DMBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=toys-and-gamesamp;qid=1230299863amp;sr=1-1strongCranium/strong/A. I highly recommend it, especially for competitive families who like screaming at each other in a mix of outrage and glee.brbrLater, I lost this one: A href=http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Grande-Games-4098395-Carcassonne/dp/B00005UNAX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;s=toys-and-gamesamp;qid=1230299958amp;sr=1-1strongCarcassone./strong/A Doesn't matter -- it's a great game, and I'll win it another time. I bought A href=http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Sports-Cards-Carcassone-Expansion/dp/B0009K6T2E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8amp;s=toys-and-gamesamp;qid=1230300041amp;sr=1-2strongCarcassone: Princessamp;Dragon Expansion /strong/Aas a gift for Cindy. She squealed with delight to find that under the tree.brbrHere's what I'm reading today (and so very little of it ...

Surprisingly enough, considering Blagojevich’s latest scandal, the political environment surrounding Obama as he prepares to enter the White House is rather calm. Leaders in the Republican party cite a “Honeymoon Phase” in which everyone would like to see Barack Obama succeed in his job has president. The seriousness of the country’s economic state seems to be kicking in, as shown in this New York Times article. Let’s hope that after a while this won’t merely be a honeymoon, but a continued spirit of responsible cooperation.

The Mind Boggles…on every conceivable level this morning.

Item: The bailout of Detroit went down in flames last night, but not because principled lawmakers devoted to the free market thought that management of the automakers should pass from weak hands into stronger hands via bankruptcy, as the Framers of the Constitution provided for.

No, it appears the Republican holdouts were more than happy to fork over the $14 billion, but only if the United Auto Workers agreed to wage cuts on the GOP’s timetable. In other words, the modern Republican party believes it’s government’s place to micromanage wages. (And let the record show the instigator of this scheme, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was all for the bailout of the financial sector that Jim Rogers has declared bankrupt.)

Item: Laid-off workers at a company smash windows and computer gear. Workers at another company travel hundreds of miles to

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to spend the weekend glued to the computer or TV waiting to see what the world’s finance mavens do at the “G20″ summit.

Yes, the British prime minister and the French president are eager for some sort of “new Bretton Woods” to come out of this process.  Yes, George Soros has remarked on a number of occasions, always with the same careful choice of words, that there is “no suitable alternative” to the dollar.  But does that mean we’re going to wake up Monday morning with a new international currency regime backed by gold?  That gold will be revalued to $10,600 an ounce, or even $53,000?

Maybe.  But not now, I’m guessing.

The most compelling argument against bold, dramatic action this weekend is the interregnum between the current U.S. presidency and the next one.  A lot of news stories speak of

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There is a serious analytical mistake gaining increasing popularity.  Once you are aware of it, you will see it several times every week. An Easy Example As we often do at "A Dash", let us step away from the world of investing.  Many important ideas can be more easily understood from a completely different perspective.  Here is the situation. In our Illinois District for State Representative, there was an open seat.  It was a hotly contested race.  The GOP candidate had a record of service on the School Board and the City Council, but this was her first effort at a bigger office.  Her Democratic opponent was a long-time teacher, and a member of homeowner groups.  This was a hot contest in our community, which is traditionally Republican, but has growing support for Democrats.  The Democratic candidate had plenty of financial help and ...

The release of the OSCE report which disputes Georgia's claims about the start of the August invasion by Russia has obviously caused quite a stir, and started a whole new series of arguments from some unwitting pro-war apologists among American liberal camps (case in point), seeking to push the new president-elect Barack Obama far clear of Russia's reclaimed "sphere of influence." Melik Kaylan has a good piece which clarifies some of the problematic thinking going on over the Russia-Georgia issue in light of the new reports, and reminds us not to overestimate either the influence of Mikheil Saakashvili in the Bush White House, nor underestimate the incompetence and disinterest of the Bushies in undertaking such Machiavellian fantasies abroad. There is an additional misconception that underlies much of the programmatic left/right, Democrat/GOP, détente/Cold War binary thinking on the matter: that the Bush administration encouraged Saakashvili to confront the ...

The US economy is much bigger than the new president, says Andrew Gordon. And it’s heading “irresistibly down”. That’s why things are almost certain to get worse before this crisis is over. And that’s why a post-election stock rally will not signify a full recovery.

This from Investor’s Daily Edge:

You really want to know one thing about the new president. Can he use his presidential powers, huge majority in the Congress, and the inevitable honeymoon period (first 100 days or so) to fix the economy?

That’s why we’re electing him, right? TO MAKE THINGS BETTER.

It works in reverse too. That’s why we’re not electing John. Things got worse with his Republican Party in power. John was the scapegoat. Voters couldn’t punish W. So they did the next best thing.

I’ve thrown myself a slow curve ball – very hittable – even for me. Here’s the answer: OF

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MARKET COMMENT October 30, 2008 Yep, it was that kind of day. Was there any good news to account for an up day? Absolutely nothing, unless you think the GDP data falling a little less than expected was something to place bets on. Nope, the market is just oversold and this is the end-of-month prop job mutual funds and a few others need. I like it since it reduces oversold levels and risks. It’s what we’ve been expecting and why we’re in cash. What’s next? An election. Despite negative investor sentiment [just my guess so everyone calm down] toward an Obama win which seems likely, a clear win by anyone could launch a further rally and a brief honeymoon period. So desperate are bullish tape painters they ignored San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen’s statement that “…recent economic data is deeply ...

I went tactically long of equities at the end of last week, expecting a sharp bear rally, and Monday's one day move, particularly in Japan (up 14%) and the US (up 11%) was what I might have reasonably expected for this whole week, so I've booked some profits. We're in a period of what veteran investor Barton Biggs has termed 'condensed lunacy'. The speed and scale of moves across asset markets are stunning, and in stocks we have seen nothing like this volatility since the huge swings during the 1929-33 Great Crash. This hasn't been a 'buy and hold' market for a very long time, as evidenced by the appalling returns generated by mutual funds over the last decade. So stepping back from the gut wrenching volatility, what's the big picture? We're still in a huge bear cycle for US equities. I wrote on 24 July that ...

Earlier today, Director of Zacks Equity Research, Dirk van Dijk, CFA, posted an entry called 'A Modest Proposal.'  Since then, a couple senior analysts from the department have issued their responses.

Sheraz Mian, senior oil & gas industry analyst: That's an interesting idea, using the $700B to buy common equity. If nothing else, it completely side-steps the thorny issue of pricing the mortgage-related securities plaguing the balance sheets at present. In a way, it is plain-vanilla version of what the 'Oracle of Omaha' did with Goldman (GS).

They key question, however, remains whether so re-capitalized entities will be able/willing to lend. Wouldn't that take us to where the Japanese banking system was in the 90's -- they were well capitalized, but couldn't/wouldn't lend due to their awful balance sheets. After all, they would still be saddled with a whole lot of toxic stuff on their balance sheets -- difficult to price and

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