En Passant

With Google trading at about 550,

the media are ooh-ing and ah-ing a buy recommendation this morning, with a target of 700.
Yet if Google were trading at 55, with the same market capitalization, no one would marvel at a target of 70.

Headline on NYTimes.com sums up today's economy

Halliburton 2Q Earnings Plummet, Beat Expectations

Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart won.  Full Episode.  Outtake.

Do diligence?

Individual investors should be faulted for failing to diversify, by putting the bulk of their savings with Madoff or with an intermediary.  But they should not be faulted for failing to do due diligence.  When I buy a municipal bond from Merrill Lynch, should I do due diligence with Merrill?  When I buy GE stock through Charles Schwab, must I (or my agent) personally inspect Schwab's books?  Some things in life just have to be taken on faith.

My two favorite jokes from today's Wall Street Journal

Q: What is the capital of Iceland?  A: About $3.50.
Q: What's the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza?  A: The pizza can still feed a family of four.

The financial crisis was caused, in large part, by low interest rates.

So we're solving the problem, in large part, by lowering interest rates?

Warren Buffet's $3 billion "investment" in GE

is just another example of how the stock market is fixed against the average investor.

Let's hope the analysts are as wrong as we approach the bottom of the market

as they were when we approached the top.

With hindsight--

Sprint is to Nextel, as Time Warner is to AOL.

Most public corporations today exist primarily for the benefit of management,

and not for the benefit of shareholders.