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Monthly Archives: June 2009

The Newspaper Controversy Continues

June 13, 2009
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The Newspaper Controversy Continues

There is something sadly ironic about a newspaper reporting on its own demise. Certainly it’s important for readers to know what’s going on behind the scenes and for many employees, the decisions being made at their newspapers are the biggest news of the day. But it still shocks me a bit to see headlines in The Boston Globe proclaiming that its largest union rejected $10 million in wage and benefit cuts. In what seems like a “punishment,” union members will now endure 23% pay cuts. It’s almost guaranteed that the very people who wrote, edited and laid out the...

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Commodity Stocks Ready to Move

June 12, 2009
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Commodity Stocks Ready to Move

While my heart is with growth stocks, there’s no question that many commodity stocks are doing well.  My bias against them at this time is that most lack any sort of sales or earnings growth.  And my own experience investing in shrinking or money-losing operations, frankly, is not good.  I usually lose money when I toil in such fundamentally unsound stocks. However, I’m also a tape-reader, and some of the best price-volume patterns today are found in a few commodity names, so I’m going to give you a few stock ideas, and let you decide what to do with...

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Letters from Readers on Health Care

June 11, 2009
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Letters from Readers on Health Care

Now, one last post about health care … with two letters from readers. “I found your email (and responses) about healthcare very interesting. I have been a group health plan broker in Colorado for 25 years. Grew up in Jersey and went to school in VT (Castleton). I could not agree with you more on nutrition and even taxing junk food. (I have not had a soda in four years.) I might go so far as to eliminate prescription drug commercials. My doctor should be recommending my prescriptions, not my radio or TV. “From my perspective our number one...

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The Future of our Healthcare System

June 10, 2009
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The Future of our Healthcare System

Yesterday I told you my story of dealing with the healthcare industry.  I’d be happy to hear yours.  But I’d be even happier to hear a sensible non-partisan solution to our big healthcare mess that would give consumers more choice, give doctors more control, and wrest control from the insurance companies. Our healthcare system has come a long way since the 1950s, but it’s bankrupting us.  We spend more than 15% of GDP on health care–more than any other industrialized country.  We have the highest cost per person, as well.  Yet some 45 million people in the U.S. are...

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The Most Popular Column I’ve Ever Written …

June 9, 2009
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The Most Popular Column I’ve Ever Written …

The most popular column I’ve written (judging by the volume of your responses) was published nearly three months ago (March 9). The topic was health care, a subject of increasing attention by President Barack Obama these days. So today and for the next few days, I’m going to tackle it again. (I’m also including a couple more letters from readers that came in too late to be included in the original reader-response post.) But first I want to take you back in time to 1951, the year when: Harry S Truman was President of the United States. General Douglas...

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