I am now Scared! Really Scared!

This morning Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson goes on TV and states, "We are going to work through this problem just fine," Paulson said. He urged patience as investors reassess their appetite for risk, saying there isn't a "quick solution" to the matter. "These things take a while to play out," the secretary said. This is pure bull crap! We are in trouble.

Then we get this this morning, "Foreclosure filings rose 9 percent from June to July and surged 93 percent over the same period last year, with Georgia, Nevada and Michigan accounting for the highest foreclosure rates nationwide, a research firm said Tuesday".

In all, 179,599 foreclosure filings were reported during July, up from 92,845 in the year-ago month, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc. A total of 164,644 foreclosure filings were reported in June.

"While 43 states experienced year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, just five states — California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia — accounted for more than half of the nation's total foreclosure filings," said RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio.

Oh Snap! And let's not forget these little tidbits:

• Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Monday it has eliminated about 500 jobs as it tries to ride out problems from a credit crunch that has rocked the home loan industry.

• In yet another casualty of the fallout in the mortgage industry, the Capital One Financial Corp. said on Monday that it would stop making residential mortgages and close GreenPoint Mortgage, its wholesale mortgage banking unit. They will lay off 1,900.

• HomeBanc, in a statement on its Web site, said it is unable to borrow on its credit facilities and was unable to meet its mortgage loan funding obligations as of Monday. HomeBanc is closed. Countrywide bought the debt and hired the employees. Wait a minute! Isn't Countywide laying off?
  

• After weeks of troubling news and near-silence from official spokesmen, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. announced Thursday night that it would shutter most of its operations and lay off more than 6,250 workers, including almost all of its 1,460-person Melville staff.

Ya'll think we are OK? What about those safe Money Market Funds? Read on my friends:

• From the online Wall Street Journal: Shares were already lower, but selling in all three indexes picked up after CNBC reported that Sentinel Management Group, a money market fund manager, had asked to halt investor redemption's, suggesting its investors were in a "panic."Sentinel's action "was a pretty drastic thing," said Stephen Carl, head trader at Williams Capital. The news stirred up the fears about the spreading impact of trouble in the credit markets and alternative investments that have dogged Wall Street for weeks. "It's just more of the same," Mr. Carl said.

• Today alone, the 3-month T-bill rate was down by over one full percentage point before recovering a bit.

• The 1-month T-bill rate has plunged from 4.52% last Tuesday to as low as 1.25% today. That's not a typo! It was actually down by more than THREE full percentage points in just four trading days!

Do you think we are safe in our MMF's? How about Vanguard or Fidelity's MMF's?

Sorry ya'll I am scared. If you have been following my post I have stated the last thing we need is the Fed's to ride in and save the day. Ya'll the only thing that will fix and save this market is the capital market process. We have to let it ride out. Our banks and credit lenders have made terrible and even criminal mistakes. Many have made millions on this credit scam. We now have to pay the price.

I am terrible worried that we are only at the tip of the iceberg right now. I predict a huge plunge of up to 100 points soon. How soon? We will see a fall out in the next few weeks. We are starting to see the signs today. Have you been watching the Gold market while all of this is going on?

Seems gold is not moving, yet. Why? Well were about to open the bank window to the world with T-bills at a super low yield rate this week. Guess who will be buying? Yes our friends the Chinese. God this scares me even more. The Chinese are buying up our debt at almost any rate we give them. This is not a good sign for the US market. Debt is going to kill us and it will be a slow painful death of the consumer market. After the sell of the T-bills this week watch the gold market. When you see gold starting to jump $3 to $4 dollars up get ready for the market fall.

What do you and I do in this market? If your long like me just ride it out and watch those MMF's very closely. Are there any good buys right now? I think Starbucks is looking good. Apple looks good but let's see how much of a pullback we get this week.

Stay the course!

Am I Scared? Should I Be? What happens next? Apple (APPL)?

Sorry but this blog will be a bit tart today. Follow me for the Apple stuff at the bottom.

I am really fricking tired of Jim Cramer and his sissy crew of "experts" stating that the market is going to explode, the world will come to and end and we will all be poor. And my very fricking favorite is the "experts" are all begging the Fed to come in and save the financial markets. Did you all catch that fool Jim Cramer fricking the hell out last week? See it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVXh4xM-Ww. I used to like him but now I realize he is a dirt bag like the others. Jim Cramer you should be ashamed of yourself as an "expert".

So we have a pullback in the market. Should I be scared? Well no way. Why? I own everything I have and I have no debt. God what a novel concept. Did you all know that when our great, great grandparents came to the USA they said a prayer each night at dinner? That prayer went like this "Dear Lord may we never be indebted to any man". Where have we gone wrong in this society? Why is debt, Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan so cool? What is debt? go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt

Is it my fault that the guy down the street from me makes $60k a year and lives in a $600,000.00 home with an interest only loan of 2.2% that resets to 15% next week? Is it my fault that the average United States citizen carries over $22,000 in credit card balances and will never be able to pay them off? Is it my fricking fault that the mortgage companies made bad loans and now they have to pay up? Who in God's name ever said that the Fed had to bail all these people out?

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY NOW FOR YOURSELVES! Nobody and I mean nobody is responsible for you except yourself. You want that new car? Can't buy it for cash? Then get a bike or walk! Do you make $60k per year? Well you can't live in a $600,000 home you ding dong! The very best you can do on a $60k salary is maybe a $240,000 home. Do you want that new plasma TV to watch Jim Cramer on and it cost $2400? Don't have the cash for it? Then too fricking bad. Don't buy it. Debt is the devil and now a lot of people are having to sell their souls.

So how does this pertain to Apple (APPL)? Well it is pretty simple. The hedge fund "experts", mortgage companies and hell the mutual fund world has had the dreaded margin call. Except this time they don't have the money on hand. So what do you do if you are one of these retards? Sell you liquid shares. What are liquid shares? Apple, Google, etc.. are liquid shares. Any idiot knows that buying low is the way to go. And you can bet your butt that there is lot's of foreign interest buying up these super cheap stocks now.

So what happens now to Apple? Apple will get hammered for being a liquid stock and we have to suck it up. Would I buy now? I sure would! Will the stock go lower? I think it sure as heck will but I like buying on the dips. So my advice to you normal investors is stay the course with Apple and the other stocks I recommend. Defense stocks look real good now and so does the Vanguard S&P 500 Index fund.

Ignore the cries for help from Cramer and the other "experts'. You all know they are millionaires right? They are just mad the bet's they made are not coming in.

If you are a young person reading this, take responsibility right now for your debt. Don't ever spend more than you make and don't buy crap you can't have for life. Debt ain't worth it. never, ever, ever ,ever!

By the way have you all noticed all the for sale signs going up in the neighborhoods? God I would not want to have to sell in this market.

Apple (APPL) Rockets Down and I am stuck in a Regan National Airport

Well you all did it. When I say you all I mean you Ding Dong Hedge Fund Managers. Yes I am calling you out, come and battle me, Goldman, Morgan and the MoMo's at UBS. You had to do it. Sell your Apple (APPL) shares to cover your butt's for the losses on the hedge funds you made a killing on.

So you true Apple investors, stay the course. See these great money managers and analysts that you all know I hate, have had to close out their positions on profitable shares (APPL) they owned to cover their losses. Yes huge losses. Good job to the hedge fund guru's at Goldman and Morgan and Merrill Lynch. When, in the name of whoever, are you going to offer me a job?

So as we move on in this ride I beg the Apple loyal to stay the course. Why? Wait until you see what Job's has to offer you in the form of video email. Man o man you are going to love it!

As for the analysts of Apple. I am now calling each and every one of you out and too a duel. I will battle you all on the pro's of Apple any day of the week. And I swear, if I ever hear those weak butt questions that you all ask Apple management on the Con call's, I will throw you all under the web bus of pain.

By the way I have decided to name Steve Jobs' as my "Hero". Steve you have won the "Hall Hero" Award! Call me so you can pick it up the next time you are in Atlanta. For those of you all out there keeping track I now have three hero's. My Grandfather, Richard Branson and Steve Jobs'. My Grandfather got three Bronzes Stars and two purple hearts. Man, this makes me feel like a real stud writing this blog.....

Now for the hardcore investors that read my blog. Watch out for the REIT's. Get out while you can. Stick with Apple and the Defense Contractors. You will see a drop in the Defense stocks this week but buy in the dips. Also keep an eye on the the finance stocks this week. AIG looks good but be careful. If we continue the dip don't panic, we are all in this for the long run, right?

Mac (or iMac), iPhone, YouTube and the rest of the world

Hi everyone! Well it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote. I was recently at the unveiling of the Mac and the new software updates that Jobs put in place. So my thoughts.....as I listen to the Chili Peppers as I write

The new Mac. Looks good, smell goods and works great. OK. So what is the hoopla about. Well silly rabbits don't you know that the aluminum casing is so cool and keeps the aliens away. You all know that I think Steve Jobs is from another universe. The man is just to dang smart for us mortals to understand. (By the way you think Jobs is smart? You ought to speak with Larry Ellison about databases.... Man he will blow your mind). Anyway, the new Mac is pretty and cool. Go figure. Let's dig deeper.

The new Mac is beefed up with more processor power and the ability to handle more "video" content than before. Ya'll key in on the "video" word here. Why? You will see later.....The Mac is also coming with Numbers to keep up with Microsoft's Excel. Hell both of them are work well but I still love the Mac. Other then that well not much else to report except that beefed up processor power.

Pay attention big house analysts! Here is the skinny on why Apple did this to the new Mac. The new Mac will now be the hosting center for all the video applications that are in place. YouTube, Break.com, etc... What will happen is that these Mac's will be able to host and play thousands of video's and be the hosting center for those who have iPhones, Apple TV or other cool future release Apple R&D products. Wait what is a hosting center you ask.

Apple is building a mother ship to host and hold the future of technology. This is video. A iPhone, iPod, Apple TV etc just do not have the capacity to hold all the videos that will be the future of technology. When I say videos I also mean video email (analysts write this down) and video books. Think picture albums here. These applications will take a lot more horsepower to manage. Apple is setting themselves up for success with the new Mac. Oh did you see how Cisco is partnering with Apple on video technology? Gotta love this partnership.

So there you have it. Apple releases the new Mac and new software applications. Apple makes the basic Mac's more powerful and nobody even picks up on this. This is why the Apple investors read my blogs. Not to forget, let's chat about the iPhone before I go. Um, have you ever seen Youtube.com? If not go now! Have you ever seen video email? No, well get ready. Your iPhone will have it soon. Why is this cool? Can you imagine being able to watch a message to you and see the person and the body language vs. reading a text message? I can!

Apple needs to listen... This could get UGLY!

Before I start. Did you see the iTunes sales numbers? Over 3 billion downloads! Sweet music to my ears!

Well it is not looking good for the iPhone battery: "Apple should revamp those policies and set cheaper fees for the service", according to a letter sent to Apple CEO Steve Jobs by Mindy Bockstein, the chairperson of New York's Consumer Protection Board.

Apple did not return calls for comment. An AT&T spokesman referred all battery questions to Apple. AT&T is the sole mobile-phone service provider for the iPhone.

Damn, not even AT&t will take a call on the Apple iPhone battery issue.

Here is what I think will happen. Apple will comply with the States request (so far 2 States are coming after Apple. More will follow). Apple will allow you to take the iPhone into an authorized Apple battery replacement center (AT&T stores, Best Buy, Circuit City, Apple Store, etc...) where you can have the battery changed while you wait. This model is exactly how Omega and Rolex watches operate for battery replacement.

Here is the catch. Apple will also allow you to replace the battery on your own. But once you do this you void the iPhone and software warranty. Smart move on Apple. We should see this in place before the Winter starts. Hey at least you have options now.....

Does this hurt Apple? No way man! They will still get the revenue, extra foot traffic in their stores will cause impulse buying and Apple continues to make money. And our stock continues to climb.

As for the stupid news about the iPod, ignore it. God I hope they stop making that weak looking iPod and go to the slick screen iPod. This will be a good move for Apple. Apple can sell all the old style iPods to the folks in the mid-west....

Ignore the noise out there ya'll. Apple will kill their number as usual and we will be loving life!

On a parting note, this was a cute note I found from some poster:

The iPod's permanent battery has not generated many complaints because users are more willing to live without music than phone service, according to comments on several Apple blogs, and to the foundation's letter. Sure you wanna bet?