turar

Bill Gross does monthly podcasts of his newsletter, you can find them on iTunes.

I wonder if all the action of the past two days was due to expectation of this.

I haven't been using it much so far, but I think I will start more and more in the future. By the way, if anyone wants a G+ invite, leave your email address or send it to me privately.

On taxes: It's interesting that top tax rate is pretty low currently as compared to other periods in the last century, when the US was prospering and growing: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=213 On spending: Seems like military spending is #2 after SS/Medicare currently. Seems like significant cuts there would go a long way in resolving the spending issue. Are tea partiers OK with those spending cuts?

I've come across a link to this article on another site I frequent, and thought it would be interesting to board members: http://www.grist.org/sprawl/2011-06-22-the-american-suburbs-are-a-giant-ponzi-scheme While the title is a bit too catchy, I thought the points raised were interesting, although I'm curious to see some of the sources for numbers cited. If true, this might have pretty scary consequences. Does anyone know how close to reality the claims are?

RIMM killed my year, probably negative now. I've been adding all the way down since high 40s. :(

I believe it was Shiller who came up with that data in the first place.

How do you mean?

Is there an online service to check prices of Canadian options like TRE, besides your broker?

Seems like a lot of those videos are from internal "all-hands" meetings, which are meant to be a little crazy and funny.

I think it's both, you have both options. Also, in the money 2013 calls with strikes like $15 are selling for $9.50; i.e. 15+9.5 = 24.5, with current price at 24.2. Or 12.5 + 11.8 = 24.3, vs 24.2. That way you don't have to worry about expiring options. Eric, what do you mean by "One can use puts for leveraging a short position, and that's risky"? Are you just talking about risk of the premium for a put?

By the way, reminds me of the Playboy stock picking contest, where Playboy bunnies were picking stocks. The winner bunny completely killed most of the mutual funds and hedge funds. http://dealbreaker.com/playboy-stock-picking-contest/

Which area of Atlanta are you finding houses selling for 60K with 1100 rents? I know Atlanta varies significantly from area to area, and some neighborhoods can be downright scary to even drive through.

Wow, I wonder what else they're up to.

Is there a difference in markets within Florida? Say Miami-Dade vs something like Naples area? Are there areas with more potential than the others?

I think Feynman said it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBCDTsgZomw

He didn't "run tyranny" over them, in fact he had wide popular support, in my understanding. And yes, that's what I'm implying, although "client state" is a more accurate term. That's what Afghanistan government is, and there's no need to demand anything, the US can just order it. Again, the 24 hour thing is a joke in light of other circumstances. There's no hard and fast requirement of "24 hours", there are always exceptions, and I really don't think the US military cared that much about it. Anyway, I'm gonna wrap up on my end about this issue. Just wanted to see if anyone else found it a bit surprising.

From what I've read, it was an assumption on the part of the US government/military. They didn't actually ask any of the governments whether this in fact was the case. And like I said earlier, the US effectively controls the government of Afghanistan, for example, so that explanation is somewhat nonsensical.

I suppose. They could have just buried him anywhere in the US, on any military base with restricted access, or something like that. It's not like there's not enough land under US control. Then there's Afghanistan, which is under US control, or at least Kabul and surrounding areas. The sea option is quite unusual in Islam, and doesn't add up well with the explanation for quick burial out of respect for Muslim tradition. I hope there was enough serious evidence gathered and there were credible third-party witnesses besides just a single wife. The optics of quick burial at sea are not great, that's all I'm getting at. They had to realize that.

The speed is due to Muslim beliefs. Burial at sea is acceptable as I'm sure that theres no Government that would have wanted him buried on their lands. I hope they gave him the proper send off according to Muslim beliefs. It doesn't make sense to me though. They killed the guy, shot a bullet through his head, which is clearly against Muslim beliefs, and a much greater sin in Islam, and now they're worried about proper burial? And at sea, no less?!? They haven't even asked any government, from the sound of it. Very, very strange.

I'm still confused why he was buried so quickly, and at sea for that matter. The official explanations given do not sound very persuasive.

There's no Target in Canada. It just recently bought Zellers chain from HBC and now plans to enter Canada soon, and there was a lot of hoopla about it and how it's going to affect Canadian retail environment. In Canada, prices are generally higher, and selection poorer across the board, so yes, it's easier to make money for Canadian retailers. When you enter today's Zeller's or HBC stores, they're really not that much different or better than Sears stores.

I think the competitive landscape in Canada is significantly weaker.

This is somewhat off-topic, but I wonder if anyone here would know. I lived in the US for sometime, and then I moved to Canada. I still had some bank and brokerage accounts in the US as of 2010, and so they sent me 1099 forms -- for dividends, capital gains, and for interest. Do I need to file this income with the IRS? I'm not a US citizen or permanent resident, and I was not a US resident for tax purposes in 2010. I will be paying taxes on that US income in Canada. I'm just a little a confused whether I even need to bother with filing 1040NR this year at all. Thanks in advance!

That's interesting, Grantham seems to be of opposite view. Do you have a link to that newsletter?