Here’s an interview with Steve Wynn from May of 2010. He talks about how badly Washington is damaging the economy by overspending and by making bad decisions that create uncertainty. Most of what he says is very accurate, and his comments about moving his company’s headquarter to Asia because “that’s where the opportunity is” strikes me as very bad for the future of the USA in general.

SSW, HUN, BAC, C, MGM, AAPL, RIMM, GE

Start with Seaspan:

This is 7 days old…

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/07/07/4-star-stocks-poised-to-pop-seaspan.aspx

I bought a little of this stock when it had a big dividend. Then, they slashed the dividend to 6.6%, and the stock price tanked. Then, it kept going down. I’ve been buying it all the way down. It’s as close to a cant-lose situation as you will find. Their business will double over 5 years because they have lots of new ships they’ve ordered that are coming online, most of which are under contract. The stock was up 2% today, and is up another 4 1/2 % in after hours.

Also, check out HUN. Pays a nice dividend and the company recently received $1 billion in cash from lawsuit settlements, plus another half billion in favorable financing. It’s a chemical company, which should benefit from an economic recovery.

My other bullish picks are BAC, C, MGM, GE, RIMM and AAPL. All of those are poised to benefit from the economic recovery.

Just my humble opinion.

When oil went to $150 per barrell last year, everyone’s expenses went up. Even businesses had to pay more to ship things or operate offices.  Now, we’re seeing the effects.

I saw an article that said we lost more jobs in January than in any other month since 1974.  Hmmm… is there anything that happened in 1973 that might be similar to 2008?

Anyway, here are Volcker’s comments:
Article with comments from Paul Volcker

They all suck, right?  Unless you want a pickup truck or a giant SUV.

Why bail them out?

I read an article the other day talking about how there was much applause for the government’s bailout of Chrysler a couple decades ago.  What they didn’t know then is that if they hadn’t bailed out Chrysler then, Ford and GM would be much stronger today and wouldn’t need bailouts.

I saw someone on Twitter today complaining that GM spent $1 Billion of its bailout money shoring up a factory in Brazil.  Ha!  Ever been to Brazil??  Brazilians actually BUY GM CARS!  That’s exactly where they should be investing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally in favor of “investing” in the US car manufacturers.  I watched Roger & Me.  However, I am worried that Japan and Korea and Europe are going to get pissed because helping our auto industry is seen as protectionist.

I’m not an Obama fan.  Don’t really like him.  Voted against him.  However, I wish him well, because he has the hardest job of any human since Jesus.

Honestly, I’m not that upset with him today (although I thought the Bush-bashing earlier this week was in bad taste).  However, Geithner, Summers, and Congress are the targets of my ire.

For the love of Pete, I would rather have a Congress made up of 100% Democrats, if they would govern based on principles rather than politics.

Here’s a lightning rod issue for me: The Republicans in the Senate forced the Dems to add a tax credit for new home buyers to the stimulus package.  The Dems in the House cut it in half today, causing the stocks of home builders to drop 8% today.  Seriously? What is the possible explanation of WHY YOU DIDNT DOUBLE IT!  The core of the problem is that the value of houses is collapsing.  The more incentive you give to new home buyers, the more you increase housing prices.  That’s positively the best way you can stop the coming depression.

But wait, there’s more.  Wanna create 4 million jobs?  Why not just hire 4 million people at $50,000 per year for 3 years.  $600 Billion.  Our payroll now includes 4 million people.  Make up a list of things we need to do to increase the economic expansion: produce steel, build cars, market cars, etc.  There are a million jobs they can do that will help society.

Or, how about this…  Go to the banks and offer to buy any mortgage or derivative or other instrument they want to sell.  We buy mortgages for pennies on the dollar.  The bank can now loan out money because the uncertainty is gone.  We go to the homeowner and re-finance their mortgage over 35 years, thereby reducing their monthly payment.  Are you 3 months behind? We’ll add all your past-due payments on to the end of your loan.  Now, the government makes a huge profit.  Or, and here’s a radical idea… the government buys mortgages and then does its own ARMs!  We buy your 6.5% mortgage.  We’ll refinance it at 3% interest for 3 years, then, your interest rate goes to 8%.  If you default in 3 years when your payment goes up, we foreclose and sell your house in (presumably) a better real estate market.

The bottom line is that Congress needs to stop thinking about “gifts” and start thinking about “investments.”  They can solve the country’s financial problems and make money in the process.