Odds n Ends...........

With the Braves losing yesterday it started to rain in Atlanta. Is that a correlation we can trade? As of late the Wall Street Journal is so full of stories on accounting firm indiscretion that it defies being ordinary news. Hundreds of millions of dollars of fines are levied and the beat goes on. KPMG being a real scoundrel. Scum is more like it. And no one goes to jail. Today we have a Marine being fingered as a spy in the White House. Interesting. Guess he was trying to get out the information to his Filipino's pals. Good thing somebody was doing something in the White House to catch him. George W. Bush won't do anything on social security, tax reform or shutting down our borders. Of course, neither party will shut down the borders lest they offend the all-important Hispanic vote in 2008. Does anyone really care about OUR country anymore? We need this correction in the market. It is healthy. A wall of worry is healthy. Believe it. COSTCO today announced a share buy-back program. More of the same. Publicity stunts. Corporate America wants you to believe the best use of corporate assets is to buy back stock in the open market, decrease the number of shares outstanding and drive the earnings-per-share number higher. Oh, if it were that easy. There is no way that shareholders can STOP the massive dilution of earnings by the insiders themselves in issuing and exercising their stock options. Which is why real estate is such a beauty. No dilution. Believe it.