UGH
Yesterday’s outcome was no better for our country, in my view, than the outcomes in 2000 or 2004. These things don’t always work out for the best.
Some of the losses were heartbreaking – Congressman (and Admiral) Joe Sestak and Iraq War vet (and 1987 Altar Boy of the Year) Congressman Patrick Murphy in Pennsylvania to name just two.
There were bright spots. Harry Reid won. Democrats retained the Senate. (Not that majority rules in the Senate, but it’s still better to have the gavels than not.) Providence Mayor David Cicilline will be expanding the LGBT Congressional caucus by 33%. (From 3 to 4.) Florida appears to have passed referenda that should end the gerrymandering that protects incumbents and encourages the most extreme candidates.
But what does it say about Floridians that they would ignore the endorsements of all 17 major newspapers in the state – every one of them – and elect, instead, her opponent, whose company was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud?
When 17 editorial boards both left and right of center unanimously agree on something, are the people wise to reject it? Better informed?
MUD
Our dredging company, GLDD, reported a good quarter, and the stock closed at $6.69, up from $4.76, or 40%, when suggested most recently six weeks ago. I’m in for the long term.
A NEW SPECULATIVE BASKET
Needless to say, you could lose every penny. But let’s say you put $1,400 into each of ALXA ($1); KERX ($5.25), NPSP ($6.65), EMIS ($1.70, up 35% since suggested this past summer), OSIR ($7.35), VVUS ($7.25), and SUPG ($2.75). That’s $10,000 with the seven $8 commissions a deep discount broker would charge. A year from now, my guru’s guess is that you’d be ahead of where’d you have been in a savings bank. And even if you just broke even, you could take $3,000 in losses on the losers, lowering your taxable income by that much; and then wait until 2012 to take your (by then lightly taxed) long-term capital gains on the winners. Only with money you can truly afford to lose!
