Best Quarter Ever

I am disheartened by the fact that as the working people (including you and I) of this country are going through tough economic times, corporations and their stockholders (to include me and you through retirement and other holdings) are enjoying record profits.

I guess the question is what do we do about it as citizens and shareholders at the same time?

The New York Times story below spells it out.

Largest Quarter Ever

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bank of America Mortgage Securitization Problem

There is a big problem brewing at Bank of America. It turns out that some mortgages that were thought to be securitized actually were never given to the trustee. The story below from Abigail Field through AOL Daily Finance explains this issue in better detail.

B of A/Countrywide Mortgage Problem

Banks close to doing right

After reading this story below, it makes me wonder again, how much better financially the country would be if they EVER did the right thing instead of the most profitable thing. Their blatant disregard at times while receiving that ridiculous sum of tax money is unbelievable. When will they realize they just have to own up, take the hurt that is coming to their company quickly, and move forward.

But then again, that would hurt their stock price, which reminds me of another company worried about its stock price..........It is no wonder Jeff Skilling is hopping mad about having to be in jail while these executives still are working and receiving million dollar bonuses.

CNBC foreclosure story

Retail Sales show positive

Retail Sales show that the consumer was in a better mood last month in a New York Times story below. The encouraging part of this report is the growing strength big ticket item purchases.

October Retail Sales

Important jobless claim number

The jobless claims came out today and the long term number was telling. It is lower than the point just before Lehman Brothers troubles. The Yahoo Finance story is below.

Jobless story

productivity slowing = hiring????

Here is a story from CNBC below discussing how slowing productivity numbers might give a push towards hiring. This is about right as productivity is close to all time highs.

Productivity/Hiring

Solar Stocks

Solar stocks are in a bullish mood right now.

Google wealth vs. Microsoft wealth

Last week there was a conference at Northeastern Illinois University last week centered around the use of technology. The speakers of the conference were from Google's Chicago office, You Tube, and Motorola.

There was something I noticed very interesting before the You Tube presentation was about to begin. The You Tube executive was using an IPhone! Now, I don't know the specifics of what restrictions Google employees are put under as far as product usage, but using another company's products would not happen with Microsoft. This is a shift from the Microsoft model of employee product usage.

It is well known that Microsoft employees are required to use the Microsoft version of any product if available. The Gates family has been regularly asked by the press if any carry an Apple product and always answering that they use Microsoft products.

The YouTube employee using the IPhone (made from Apple) is in direct competition to its Google phone products. The guess is that the execs at Google, while still wanting their employees to use its products, allow them to freely choose to use whatever products they like without trouble.