No, he really didn't say T-Boned, that was my interpretation. Finally, T. Boone Pickens appeared on CNBC this morning, and he said we will see $75/bbl oil before we will see $50. I not only trust T. Boone's judgment, but he speaks with a straight forwardness we do not hear very (ever) often from Wall Street.

If oil prices do in fact run up right after the November elections, we will have confirmation that the oil cartel, among others, have the power to manipulate our daily lives and we can do very little about it. As an American, I hope oil prices remain low. As an investor, I am positioned to profit if oil prices rise.

I wrote an article entitled " Watch the Republicrats", on October 12, 2005. I really think it is worth reading the article again, particularly if you didn't see it last year.

The article will give you a perspective about our current culture, and hopefully show you how to profit from the publics mistakes.

Watch the Republicrats

I want to start out by saying that I hate politics. I am hesitant in bringing this topic up because so many people are blindly associated with one side or the other. In order to be a successful investor, you can never be blindly “bullish” nor “bearish”. So, to remain open-minded and neutral, I want to discuss how many people today are no longer Republicans or Democrats, they are instead, Republicrats. This inbred breed of new political and social beliefs has had a profound impact on our economy and society.

I will get to an important investment point here soon, but we need to realize that many of the so

The stock market seems to be betting on a interest rate cut from the Fed. Some fed members are saying "no so fast." Here is an article by Bloomberg's Craig Torres.

If conventional wisdom was really an accurate indicator, then conventional wisdom would know that lower energy prices translates into more consumer spending.

According to the fed, "Members continued to see a substantial risk that inflation would not decline as anticipated by the committee.''

Also, "Policy makers discussed housing at length in September and saw no signs that the downturn had spilled over into broader consumption and investment."

Today, the market woke up to read about earnings disappointments from Alcoa, Legg Mason, and Monsanto. With the economy slowing, and an inflation picture that is still not completely under control, could conventional wisdom be wrong again ?

We have said in the past that the stock market's "Grand Finale" would end with a blow-off top. How far will the market go before it exhausts itself can only be determined by the degree of excessive bullishness.

What we are currently witnessing is a combination of short covering and some panic buying by institutions were heavily in cash, and now are afraid of underperforming their benchmark marks.

In times like these we need to keep our eye on the realities, and ignore the distorted enthusiasm of the media. Remember, the media’s job is to attract eyeballs, and they only way to do this is to sensationalize something. In this case, they are sensationalizing the Dow's recent all time highs.

These comments came from Warren Buffett's letter to shareholders, page 15;

If you have been wondering why so many companies have been buying back stock, here is one explanation from Mr. Buffett.

"Too often, executive compensation in the US is ridiculously out of line with performance. That won't change. Moreover, because the deck is stacked against investors when it comes to the CEO's pay. The upshot is that a mediocre-or-worse CEO- aided by his handpicked VP of human relations and consultant from the ever-accommodating firm of Ratchet, Ratchet and Bingo- all too often receives gobs of money from an ill-designed compensation agreement."

Take, for instance, ten year, fixed-price options (and who wouldn't?). If Fred Futile, CEO of Stagnant, Inc., receives a bundle of these- let's say enough to give him an option on 1% of the company- his self-interest is clear: He should skip the dividends entirely and instead use all of the company's earnings to repurchase sto