Merry Christmas To All...

Back To Reality...

Trades for 2011, with Doug Kass, Seabreeze Partners Management.

5:15 - "...I also think it has consequences with the Greenwich Connecticut residential real estate market which should collapse."

What he seems to be saying here is that the SEC is going to crack down on the hedge fund community and go after fraud. Greenwich Connecticut is ground zero for hedge funds and it is the place where Wall Street people live. Think of the now long gone LTC -- Long Term Capital. If he is eluding to something to the likes of LTC then there will be a major bust for the players involved.

LTC was located just on the other side of the Boston Post Road on the back side of The Food Emporium in Greenwich Connecticut. Not much of an office building but LTC almost brought down the country -- they made movies about LTC and the LTC bailout.

He is saying that this kind of disruption will affect Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Meryl, etc. Is he saying that if active trading seizes up that there will be a cash flow problem for the traders that all live in Greenwich and that they will scramble to sell assets such as their homes creating a residential real estate collapse?

For example if you are working for the hedge funds, if you are working for Morgan Stanley, Goldman, etc., and you are making the big bucks -- millions -- and if all of a sudden the bottom falls out you will move fast to sell what you can as fast as you can. Will everyone run for the door at the same time?

I think he knows something's up... he's part of that crew.

The rush is on...

Up in smoke... that's where my money goes...

Click on the picture above to use an interactive tool calculating how much money you have spent on cigarettes in the past or how much you will spend on them in the future. When computing future costs, this calculator does not take into account inflation or the rising cost of cigarettes or the taxes on them. The actual amount you spend will be higher.

A pack of cigarettes now costs more than $5 on average—with some states tacking on additional taxes that raise the price even more. In New York City, local taxes have pushed the cost of a pack to about $10.

Cost of smoking: Based on $10/pack

10 cigs a day x 1 year = $1875
20 cigs a day x 1 year = $3650
30 cigs a day x 1 year = $5475
40 cigs a day x 1 year = $7300

How 'bout 20 cigs a day @ $10/pack x 10 years?
Answer: $36,500.00

(BTW, I have and continue to smoke my fair share, I have also quit for years at a time. Right now this $10 a pack thing may just be the deal breaker, there's a serious financial cost involved here regardless of all the other reasons to stop smoking.)

IMAGINE... 30 Years

John Lennon said he didn't want to become a "dead hero" three days before his death.

The singer, songwriter and peace activist said how he had no desire to die before his time on December 5 1980, three days before he was assassinated by a crazed fan outside his home in New York, 30 years ago today (12-08-10).

Speaking out against fans and those who criticized him for taking a five year break from music in his last print interview, John told Rolling Stone: "What they want is dead heroes, like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not interested in being a dead f***ing hero..."

Download a podcast of the interview via iTunes.

John Lennon: The Rolling Stone Interviews By Rolling Stone