Out of Little Turkish Acorns . . . October 8, 2009March 16, 2017 DON’T SELL YOUR TKF? Suggested here at $5.47 six months ago, the Turkish Fund closed yesterday at $12.83. But it’s not necessarily time to sell. Tuesday, Heckman Global Advisors told clients: “For the third month in a row, Turkey stands at the top of [our] emerging markets ranking table. The market is attractive according to a broad array of investment indicators. Its 8.9x forecast 2010 price-to-earnings ratio is well below the 11.7x emerging market average. In addition, the market continues to receive support from a favorable terms-of-trade trend, relatively strong domestic price momentum, and strong institutional investor sentiment.” So maybe sell enough to take your original investment off the table and consider the rest “free” money to be held for the long term? Or, if you can afford the risk of a second global financial meltdown, hang on to the whole thing? Relatively speaking, in Heckman’s view, Turkey is still cheap. And TKF still sells at a modest 7% discount to its Net Asset Value, which helps at least in part to counter the drag of its 1.1% management fee. MEDICARE ADVANTAGE The program health reform opponents are so keen on protecting? Turns out, it’s an advantage mainly for insurers, with just 14 cents of each taxpayer dollar actually going to health care. ACORN Bill Press puts it in perspective. (As does Rachel Maddow, with this devastating review of the “Defund ACORN Act” – and how it may wind up defunding Lockheed, Northrup, and Blackwater.) One snippet: Recently, several ACORN staffers were caught in a right-wing sting video offering advice on how to convince the IRS that their pimp and prostitution operation was a legitimate business. Stupid! But most news organizations never followed up to report that those employees were immediately fired, that two ACORN offices actually reported the phony clients to the police, and that ACORN has since hired the former attorney general of Massachusetts to conduct a full in-house investigation. . . . ACORN’s monumental good work over the last 39 years far, far outweighs its few mistakes. ☞ They screwed up, got a wake-up call, need to tighten ship – but a death sentence? Only if Lockheed and Northrup and Blackwater get death sentences, too.