Everyone is discussing how the market is up. The truth be known the market is up but not everyone is sure it is up for the same reasons. That is a scary thought by itself. We are also about to enter the month of October, which on Wall Street is a real Halloween scare on every trading day. The month brings back the memories of the crash of 1929 and the crash of 1987. It is almost always a bad month to check into the market and on many occasions that feeling passes on to the month of November. So if you are thinking about jumping into the market about now be careful and take a good look before you leap otherwise some Wall Street hobgoblin may get you.

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Turkey day will be late this year. This is not the best economy for a short Christmas shopping season. Every day during the end of the year tends to count almost twice as much as any other days of the year. With this in mind the economy will be short changed by the shorter number of shopping days and there is little we can do about it. However, that may not be true if we start shopping two weeks before we celebrate Thanksgiving. All that requires is a slight correction in the way we think about the traditional black Friday, which is the first shopping day after Thanksgiving day. Perhaps if we pick a specific Friday two weeks prior the black Friday and name that day the new black Friday we can start buying sooner. That would help all of us avert the shopping pressure and at the same time provide the extra spending the economy needs. So this year Thanksgiving may be late but with a little help Christmas can be early.

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I just went out to shop and the stores are fully prepared for Halloween. Somehow I was not expecting the season to be upon me this early. It was just the other day we sent the kids back to school. The whole concept did not seem to be in the proper time frame for me. I remember when I was a kid and Halloween seemed to be months away from the beginning of school. I suppose as the time has passed, and in my case a lot of time, the marketing for the great spook night started earlier and earlier. I guess when there is so much to sell the earlier one starts the better the chances of selling off all the merchandise. I love the season when it is in season but we just started the official fall season three days ago. Well I better get used to this because I do not see the process reversing it self. I guess I better go and tend my pumpkin patch.

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China has a poor track record when it comes to keeping its promises on trade agreements. When it wanted to join the World Trade Organization it made promises and to this day has kept less than half of them. They have broken many rules and agreements with many countries. The WTO has little power to make them toe the line. In general it is left to the other nations themselves to counter these broken promises by erecting trade barriers on specific products. The response from China is to openly complain and then suspend trade of the product or counter with a trade barrier on the individual countries exports to China. For some reason China does not like to play by any rules other than their own. This is somewhat problematic now but as they grow in economic strength and military power they may come to believe their rules are the only rules. The time is now to make them understand that their lack of trade responsibility to the rest of the world will not be allowed to continue.

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At present the world economy is moving ahead but not at the same speed in all regions of the globe. Many parts of Africa will do much better as the demand for raw materials grows stronger. The Mid-East will do well as the price of oil moves up and the demand for crude picks up. The pacific basin is on the move but we can expect some fits and starts in Indonesia and Japan. China is the big gorilla in the game. There economy is watchful of over production as they continue to provide jobs for the millions who have lost them. The problem is their success rate in both providing jobs and accelerating the development of their internal consumer base has slowed. There is talk of possible faltering GDP numbers in 2010. Moving on to Europe the mending seems to be under way but there is still a number of fragile elements in the game. The North American area is suggesting the recession is over but there is still a long recovery road in front of them. Central and South America are spotty relative to total recovery but as the rest of the globe improves so will their fortunes. The one caveat is that one big negative financial occurrence anywhere could bring the house down on the globe again.

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It may not be if the economy can stay on course but rather is there a strategy in place to make it so. There are all kinds of indicators that are telling us that we are going up and others that say other wise. For the man in the street there are just a few things to worry about when it comes to where the economic health of the country is going. Those things are unemployment, new jobs and the availability of tools to make every business significantly more efficient.

We must get unemployment under control as at this time it is not. We need to see not just a drop in the month to month numbers but there must also be an up tick in the number of new jobs filled. These conditions scream to the need to create new jobs in a sustainable fashion. This can only happen when inventories run down enough and the need for manufacturing becomes apparent. However the creation of new jobs is also dependent of the ability of companies to modify their process and make more product with a minimum of labor. WE need efficient operations which maximize output and minimize labor at the same time. It is a requirement necessary to keep the country on course to recovery. For those in for the long haul to outlook is favorable. For the short haul the outlook will be long and dreary.




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The economy is not good and everyone is a little up tight but the time has come to lighten up. If you see the world as such a glum place and with little hope for yourself then it is time to break the gloom with a laugh at something or least at our selves. To laugh at our personal plight is in one way a blessing. Such laughter lets us release the pent up energy from anger and despair and channel it in a way that lightens the load and releases the appropriate chemicals into our system that make us feel good. Laugh at how foolish we tend to be by pretending everything is OK. Laugh at how we discover that we are not as smart as we and others think we are. Try to laugh at the next mistake you make and find the funny side of life. Laugh because there is a saying that states: If you don't laugh you will surely cry so laugh it must be.

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If you have not noticed in the last several weeks just about every credit card you hold and or use has updated their rules of operation relative to these cards. The new rules require payment on time as of 12:00 P.M. on the day due. If they do not process your payment, even if it is their fault, on time they will charge you a late fee and move your card interest rate up as much as 28.5% annually. And that rate does not go away until the balance on the card is paid in full. There are many more conditions but the reality is they are providing little to no service and will do anything to obtain those excessive fees. One individual was surcharged for a late payment and it took him weeks to prove that they had cashed the check five days prior to the deadline. The bank reversed the actions but then another bank upped his annual fee because his credit became risky as reported by the first bank to the credit agency. This type of theft must stop and everyone needs to tell their Congressman and Senator these rules are wrong and must be changed.

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The last five days has seen some great football. It has been a long time ago that I saw an opening week of games that were as good as we have just seen. There was not one team that had it all right but almost all of the teams seemed to be playing at what one might expect in the sixth week. Where the teams were bad they were bad but the bad was always complemented by good solid playing. I was surprised to say the least but it also fed my appetite for what is to come. It may be too much to hope for a year of extraordinary footballs but hope does spring eternal. The only downside was the talk of the labor issues and the new contract negotiations scheduled for 2010. The question is going to be will there be a strike or will the two sides figure out how to work it out.

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All things are relative but noise is one of those things that we can point our finger at and identify as having been there all the time. The relativity here is that all sound is noise and at some level even the most pleasant of sounds can put us over the edge. Bold and loud noises tend to obscure the lower levels of sound when they are all orchestrating at the same time. But, as the other sounds diminish around us the bold loud noises that we have become accustomed to, as background noise, make us aware of the squeaking and chirping noises still there. After a time these sounds eat away at your focus and seem to become louder even though they are not increasing in volume. After spending a bit more time in its presence one would swear that it is changing the beat of the heart. At this point you can tell it is sending mind bending signals that can only be blocked by putting layers of tin foil over the head in the form of a hat. I have discovered that metal food strainers also work quite well for this purpose. Eventually we do identify from where the sound emanates and we go and stop the swing of a small piece of steel and eliminate the noise. Peace at last. Yes, just peace. No, wait, I do not believe it. Good heavens, now what is that sound?

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The world is starting to shake off the troubles of the past year but some areas are doing much better than others. The Asian markets are working reasonably well but there are a few hot spots that have a better tale to tell. Hong Kong and Singapore are doing very well in most sectors. China is also a really good bet because it seems to be adjusting to change better than most everyone else. It has the momentum going for it as well as a huge population that is being encouraged by its government to join the consumer game and play purchase a product. For the American investor I would recommend ETFs as the way to go. They trade fast and function as a fund with the trading characteristics of a single stock. For anyone looking to enter the market soon I suggest this is the way to go.

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The anniversary of the day the Twin Towers fell has come again. There are many things that have been said and have yet to be said about this horrible day but you will see few of them here. I pause quite often and ponder the events of that day never exiting that pondering trance with any additional insight or answers. What I have discovered, over time, is that each year there seem to be more distasteful anniversaries and events to remember. They all come with a bit of pain but the 9/11 event replays in my head with greater strength than the voices of the anniversaries of other times. As all the other voices grow faint as the years pass I believe this one event will haunt me with a loud voice until I die.

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I am tired of hearing from the citizen base their parroting of the information presented by each political party. Republicans are fed their brand of bull from the spin doctors on their side and the same is done by the spin doctors on the Democratic side. It almost seems the American people have forgotten how to think for themselves. They do not even challenge the dead wrong and misleading information presented to them. They just take it on faith that what their political side says is true. Well it almost always is not and "We the People" had better learn that soon or we will become a second rate country in no time at all. To set the record strait I totally dislike Republicans and what the have come to stand for because their brand of truth is designed to make you afraid of everything that they do not support. I feel the same way about democrats except they do not want to make you afraid they just tell life will be better if we spend and tax a bit more. The truth is in the middle of what these two moronic groups tell us their version of the truth is. I have had enough with these self serving creeps on both sides. We will not have a real government again until we all start to think for ourselves and stop listening to these idiots. That does not mean we all have to think the same but it does mean we have to come to conclusions by our selves, then state what we believe and discuss it with the other guy that sees it differently. It is time for the people to take back the streets and the government based on what we know and understand through our own discovery. Challenge the morons in power and do not believe a word they and/or those tied to them say.

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Over the past week information that North Korea still has not fully suspended their nuclear testing program and the information that Iran is further along with its yellow cake stage of nuclear development seem daunting conditions. There was also a rumor that Israel was about to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities. At the same time Israel did announce it would begin to build new housing developments in the West Bank on land Palestine wishes to use as part of its future new state. The world is looking at North Korea, Iran and others as bad boys but can not seem to get its act together as to how to stop them in their tracks. We know with North Korea the big stick resides with China. China can topple the North Korean government in a heart beat and that would put an end to the nuclear question on the Korean side. To accommodate their purely internal political reasons China has moved slowly on this issue. Unfortunately Iran is a different story.

There is no one country that can topple the Iranian government short of war. However, there is a way to stop the Iranian government and the nuclear process there quickly. That way is for the young people of that nation to unite and reject theocratic rule. The riots of the recent past show us there must be better organization among the young. In addition they will need and a stronger leader to orchestrate the actions of such a revolution. The point here is there are enough young people in Iran to pull it off if they are organized effectively. They do not have to dispose of or reject their religion they merely have to say that their modern nation cannot, and must not, be governed by the present theocratic constructs of government.

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Unemployment is officially at 9.5% but the real numbers are closer to 19% if you count accurately. The 9.5% number only includes those receiving unemployment benefits. Those who have dropped off the charts are not counted. Those who have not found work in two years and no-longer have skills desired by their local labor pool are not counted. Those who are working three part time jobs are not counted even though their pay check for three jobs does not cover the pay they lost when their job went away. Local unemployment facilities cannot keep up with the needs of those who are still counted. There is a lot of misery out there and the celebration of Labor Day does not hold water for me. It is now, in my eyes, an odd reason to celebrate.

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Somehow we all know that time is our enemy but as we pass through our life the reason behind the concept changes. For the young, time is a barrier keeping them from a special date, game or event such as graduation from high school. After we reach twenty five or so time becomes a different enemy as we struggle with life changing event horizons such as weddings and the birth of a first child. The process proceeds as we endeavor to stay above water and make a good life for our family. During this period the individual struggles to meet time commitments on a daily basis. Then there comes a day when we think of time as a limitation to our individual existence. At the moment that particular concept truly attaches itself to us our life changes. Time has now become finite and it marches on no matter how we address it. Each individual prepares a mental list of what the want to do and how they wish to ride out the time, in human terms, they have left. The funny thing is time never changes but we do.

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Writing more about the start of WWII was something I considered. I dismissed that thought because my purpose was to remember an important anniversary. Those who know about the war do not have to be told of its history. WWII was not a war story but a horror story from almost any direction one wishes to look at it. By acknowledging the anniversary of the war I hoped to give those who wished to think of the past the opportunity to do so. For the balance of the community of man they seem to have glossed over the lessons taught and somehow never learned the meaning of the lessons. To such a crowd the time, energy, and words would be wasted on the deaf ears they mostly possess. The vast majority of those in this world are consumed with their own daily self interest. They fail to apply meaning to what is now happening or has happened to the world as long as it does not interfere with their daily life. All I can say at this point is that is not the way I choose to live.

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Seventy years is a long time for the memory. Many things are lost to the mind in that seventy year period of time but for those who lived during and after the war have not lost any memory of it. The war was brutal but allowed the United States to emerge not only as victor but also as the true world power and leader. These powers would be used over the next decades for good and practical needs around the world. As a world leader the United States was trying to fill a leadership void that was never ever filled in the history of the world. It was a new day and the power was great.

There is one thought that I wish to leave my readers with. The United States was slow getting into both the First and Second World Wars. We waited until we were slapped in the face before we entered each war. After 1945 the United States was sitting on the other side of the fence and now felt it was their duty to threaten war if the rest of the world did not comply with its wishes. We are still taking that position so the question is: has the power gone to our heads and moved us too far in the other direction?

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