Dollar down, E-bay profits up...

So I was checking out this article on BBC.com's business site.

And it appears that the weak dollar is turniung into solid profits for E-bay and most likely E-bay sellers.

According to the article:

"EBay's net income rose to $459.7m (£233m) in the first three months of 2008 from
$377.1m in the same period a year earlier."

Now if Only I can figure out how to start selling things on E-bay without getting burned. Only time will tell.

VIdeo of the week: keeping it real, 'dollar bill'

I got this from a friend - wow this is a deep-A$$ poem. Pun intended.



By the way, I'm making a little progress on my goal, just super busy due to work, new place (with the fiance) and trying to maintain. I'll start posting more once I get settled in the new place next month and get my focus back.

Is giving the 'Fed' MORE power really the answer?

I am troubled a little bit by this article I found on yahoo:

Bush seeks financial regulation overhaul


The article talks about something I've heard here and there over the last couple of weeks. It seems that the Power's that be, namely Bush and some, in my opinion naive Democrats are pushing to give the Federal Reserve Board more Power than it already has. Included in the powers and general changes that they are planning to make include:

• The Fed, would become a "market stability regulator," giving it the power to check the books not just of commercial banks but of all segments of the financial services industry.
• The proposal would shut down the Office of Thrift Supervision and transfer its functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates nationally chartered banks.
• The plan would consolidate the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates stock trading, into the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures trades for oil, grains and various other commodities.
• The plan would create a national regulator for the insurance industry (my industry*), which is now largely governed by the states (The Ohio Department of Insurance to be specific). So instead of state regulated insurance industries it would be one National Insurance department.
  
• It would create a mortgage Origination Commission
• "The role Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have been playing to shore up the financial system would be formalized in the administration plan by giving Fed officials greater power to detect where threats might be lurking in the system." - not sure I like this at all - what exactly are those 'greater' powers and what else will the Fed - an entity that has no checks or balances on it - be able to detect?
  

SO basically after the past year, or at least 6 months of a dramatically declining market and economy based mainly on latent effects of the Federal Reserves actions - we are planning to give the Federal Reserve MORE power for putting the American economy on a Collision-course with a recession that many fear has already arrived?

I personally think this is ludicrous, the other thing is I think Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and all the Power's that be who whisper in his ear have done a major disservice (at least in the long run) to the American Public but cutting interest rates so dramatically in such a short term. The fast decline of short term interest rates I believe will only serve to increase inflation dramatically over the long run.

Overall what I mean is by making money cheaper for banks in the short-term you also cheapen the American dollar in the long term for those who have less buying power as it is already. Think of the recent increase in the cost of bread, milk, and other commodities. Furthermore by giving so much power and influence to a part of economic system that is not elected by the people seems to say to me that only the elite and well-connected will have any say in the future if problems arise and they will likely only make changes that help the wealthy out rather than the bulk of America which is the lower-class (a growing Majority) and the middle-class (a shrinking minority).

Bottom line, if you were to ask me if the FED needs More power - I would without a doubt say 'NO THEY DO NOT!'

I give up - I caught the falling knife.

So, after checking my 401k and seeing it went down (again) a 2nd month I decided to reduce my risky contributions - (small -to mid caps & International funds) and instead increased my guaranteed funds and bonds.


There are a few reasons I made the decision:

1. The DJIA has lost 10% since the beginning of the year
2. The S& P 500 has lost about 13% since the beginning of the year
3. Gas hit $107 today for the first time ever.
4. People with Million-dollar homes - people who should have better credit than me, soon won't because there houses are getting foreclosed upon!
5. The dollar is losing it's traction against the Euro and the yen.
   

Hopefully, that 'guaranteed' amount will help me keep my head above water as the markets appear to tank.

Article/Newsbit of the week: Weak dollar = more trade

So this week, the Article of the week goes to -

Weak Dollar cuts US trade deficit

there is one benefit of the weakening dollar - short term anyway - our trade deficit is beginning to go down as our goods get cheaper and cheaper.


Good thing we still have a bunch of stuff to sell to other countries.

Article/Newsbit of the Week: Loonie surges past 108 cents US

So if you didn't check out yesterday's video blog about how Money is Debt you should.

The following article (which is the end result of the above documentary video) can not be easily found on my favorite News source - CNNMoney.com

Instead, I had to look to the often over-looked Canadian media - i.e., Canoe.ca for the interesting article:

Higher commodities, earnings boosts stocks; Loonie surges past 108 cents US

That's right the title says it all, the Loonie (aka the Canadian dollar) is now worth 108 American cents.

Or, put another way, Those magazines that used to say $3 American/$4 Canadian are no longer accurate - it's more like $3 American/$2.76 Canadian...those worthless Canadian pennies don't seem so worthless anymore.

Article/News bit of the week: USA becoming less valuable

I finally decided to force myself to look somewhere other than CNN.com for articles & news bits this week.

Instead this week I branched out to CNBC.com to find this article:

U.S. Assets Dumped by Foreign Investors in August

The article talks about how foreign investors are slowly divesting from the U.S. And that divesting is leading to the ever devalued dollar - I think President Bush is the main cause - but, that's just my liberal bias getting out of it's cage.

Another news article that I overheard on Fair Game - my current favorite talk radio program (Have I mentioned I'm a nerd?). Faith Salie, the host, recently had Douglas Rushkoff on who talked about Media Overdose . Basically he explained that the media persuades you into thinking things that are not necessarily true or sometimes completely off base.

I'd suggest checking out the link and listening to the program to be sure but, at one point he explained that certain Republican or at least non-Democrat entities sent mail to predominantly black neighborhoods (...wait what does this have to do with finance? - I'm getting there - stay with me) a few weeks before an election that explained to the recipient (most likely black) that if they went to a polling place to vote they would either have to pay any outstanding parking bills or fines with the city OR be arrested on the spot at the polling place. Of course this was complete fiction but on some level it kept a percentage of black voters from voting.

It sickens me that might have actually worked. But black people: pay your bills, then buy land, then harass your congress-person to stop crap like this from happening.

Bow down to your Canadian overlords....

well not quite but, maybe in the not-so-distant future.

It appears that the Canadian Dollar is no longer as worthless as yesterday's newspaper.

I was listening to this article on NPR today and it appears that the Canadian Dollar is about equal to the American Dollar and quickly approaching a value slightly above the American Dollar.

A quick lookup on an Exchange rate site shows that every Canadian Dollar is worth 99.82 cents of every American dollar as of today. So basically a dead-heat as far as the exchange rate goes.

Here's another article about the recent change in fortune -

While this may be pretty depressing to us Americans and delightful news to bordering Canadians, the U.S. still remains ahead of Zimbabwe in currency. In fact it's with mixed feelings that I can say I'm easily a Multi-millionaire ...in Zimbabwean Dollars.

The mixed feeling being the fact that the American in my African-American background is very proud of this fact.

The African in my African-American background is somewhat despaired and melancholy about this fact.