...Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away On my way to where the air is sweet!...boy oh boy oh boy have I had a couple of great days...no, not flying with our dear Prez. to Europe to pitch Chicago as the next Olympic venue...nope, didn't get a Nobel Prize nomination...and missed the lottery again..but I couldn't eat for 36 hours and I got a colonoscopy! Yipee!!...and when you hear from the dear ol' doc that you have a "perfect colon" it really makes it all worthwhile...makes me just want to run out and rear up and click my heels....but if I did so you better not stand too close...
...Boy is there a lot going on in the world!...and I had the opportunity to travel to Oxford University, which was quite nice...there is an awful lot to like about the Brits...first there is the public transportation system...reliable and inexpensive...and then there are the lovely towns and buildings...walking around ChristChurch College in Oxford was just incredible in the fall with the flowers still in bloom and the lawns perfectly striped...and then there is...ummm...there is....ummm....ehhh....oh yeah....they have the Beatles...well I guess not really...they only have Paul and Ringo...and I think Ringo lives in El Lay to avoid taxes....but as I was saying...everytime I travel to England it helps me understand how the whole Colonial thing got going here a couple of hundred years ago...I mean, they still cannot make a salad!...toilets?...they use 8 gallons to flush and make more noise than a Oster blender grinding on ball bearings...so much for going green......But I did enjoy myself and attended a conference at the Said School of Business and met some fine people...and walked a great deal...and hope to go again...but next time I will bring my own salad dressing....
...Wow! What a great couple of months for the stock market! Happy days are here again!...Let's pass a trillion dollar health bill!...Yippee!!...
...Well maybe not...sorry...but I have to tell you I am really concerned about just a couple of things...well, maybe a couple of hundred things in this economy...let's start with the lack of small business capital access and a looming tax increase that will crush thousands of entrepreneurs...the exact thing our Prez and Congress need to be helping right now...but the only stimulus package that appears to be heading down the pike is similar to the one I have just experienced at the doctor this morning....ouch!...and that employment remains tepid at the best...consumer confidence stinks......and what of the GE dumping NBC?...what does that tell you about their view of the future of mainstream entertainment for the next five years?...does GE need cash that bad to sell one of their jewels at this time when deals are so depressed?...makes one think that GE may be wanting to build more cash than they were thinking a year or so ago...and they already have lots of cash........and we have idiots in Iran and North Korea that appear to be smarter than us in foreign policy...should I continue? It just feels to me like business is so hunkered down right now that the stock market gains of the past few months are just the calm ahead of the storm...and I really fear it is going to be another big storm...especially if the commercial real estate meltdown occurs...but good thing we flew Air Force 1 across the pond to pitch the Olympics to Chicago..... I wonder what other sports they could introduce if they IOOC would have placed it in Chicago...maybe gang wars...knife fights....political corruption...perhaps Acorn could have been the organizing Committee as they have done so well in other areas....
...which I think is the real wild card in this whole economy...and while so far the banks, REIT's, developers and government have been content to "kick the can down the road" there is only so much road to walk down before you hit a river, wall or pile of...ummm....manure....and while commercial real estate doesn't touch the homeowner's and ordinary consumer in quite the same way as residential real estate...it still is a much bigger thing than most of us think...and makes me glad that I am not over-invested in the stock market at this point...no more than 20% of my liquidity are in stocks...and I am sleeping better because of it......so with that I say to all of you nighty-night!
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