Pluto…still a planet? US financial empire over?

Hey everyone,
So, get this. I went yesterday evening to the Miami Museum of Science since they were having a professional networking event. It’s always nice to have a drink and have the opportunity to chat it up with intelligent professionals. I always say that if you want to feel young, surround yourself with older people. Likewise, if you want to feel smart, surround yourself with smarter people. Well, after having a drink and some good conversation, I decided to take a walk around the museum and check out the science displays. One of the hallways had planetary exhibits, which showed Pluto as being the 9th planet. Am I wrong or do I remember poor Pluto being demoted not too long ago? As expected, I was a bit of a smart elic (of course, all in jest) in explaining this to the museum owner. She agreed this definitely needed to be changed. However, I was the first person at this event to point it out! Either I failed in surrounding myself with smarter people or people didn’t care since the drinks were pretty good. I opt for the latter since I definitely indulged in a few drinks myself.

I read through several investment letters and online news articles today and here are two I found to be of particular interest:
- Germany proclaiming that the US financial dominance is over
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48O2L020080925
- US economy is busted under the weight of ever-increasing debt
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2008/09/25/chris_powell/doc48db9d8625518811197071.txt

I agree with the Germany article that there needs to be some form of an international set of standards for regulation of financial entities. This would prevent the overleveraged investments (derivatives in particular) that have characterized the revenues of the i-banks and hedge funds, rather than being derived from core business.

The Bush speech today seemed to indicate that the Republicans have finally stopped fighting and there may be an agreement on the $700 billion bailout/rescue plan sooner than later. That would mean the printing presses are going to be in high gear. Have you bought any gold? Another investment I failed to mention in yesterday’s blog is PRPFX (permanent portfolio). It has been a solid performing mutual fund this year (about a 2% return YTD…not too bad when you compare it to the Dow and S&P) and double digit returns the last few years. It’s holdings include: gold, silver, Swiss franc assets such as Swiss franc denominated deposits and bonds of the federal government of Switzerland, stocks of U.S. and foreign real estate and natural resource companies, aggressive growth stocks and dollar assets such as U.S. Treasury securities and short-term corporate bonds. Also, if the plan goes through, I think we will see a short term increase in the stock market and then things could get nasty.

It looks like McCain has finally decided to continue with tonight’s debate with Obama. I am glad that this will happen since there is roughly about 40 days to go until we decide who the next president will be. Plus, there is still so much for the voting public to learn: more granularity on Obama’s plans, actually see the candidates debate head to head, is Palin ready to step in if something were to happen with McCain, can McCain remember his comments from a week ago or how many homes he owns. I plan to order a greasy pizza, have a beer, and enjoy the debate at 9pm EST. All of you are welcome to come over and join.

Enjoy your weekend!
Moolah