Boom2Bust.com

Cruel To Be Kind

All the talk about “bailouts” in the news lately reminds me of a weird episode in my life. It was the summer of 1994. I was back from college and was making ends meet by teaching tennis to children and adults at a park district in a suburb of Chicago. During one of the morning classes, “Johnny,” as I’ll call him, started spitting at the other children on my court (several instructors/courts were used during the hour-long class). I told Johnny to stop it (he wasn’t being malicious, but it was interrupting the lesson, and besides, it’s gross). Some time later, he started at it again, at which point I called him over and gave him a harsher reprimand. Johnny responded by launching one of his projectiles right at me— which connected with my arm. “Johnny,” I remember saying, “You’re done for today. Go sit outside the tennis courts. As a matter of fact, don’t come tomorrow. Because if you do, I’m not letting you back in here.”

Tomorrow came, and Johnny showed up. “You’re not coming into the compound,” I told him. He laughed, at which point I added, “You might as well go home.” After realizing I was serious, Johnny left— but returned some time later with his mother (Wup, wup, wup, clear the pad because the helicopter parent is coming in!) Johnny’s mom entered the compound, stormed onto the tennis courts (interrupting the entire class), and proceeded to chew me out in front of all the instructors and students. She pointed out that she knew all the important people in town, and I was going to be fired for “my” actions. I asked her if she was done, because she was interrupting the class. My boss, the head instructor, had to convince her to leave. She warned that this wasn’t over yet.

When word got out among the parents of the other students in class, several told me that my actions were “outstanding.” Yet, Johnny’s parents, or more so his mother (wup, wup, wup), kept pushing to have me fired. Eventually, the park district commissioner called a meeting with the head instructor, Johnny’s parents, and myself. The parents argued that their son wasn’t responsible for his actions as he had just started playing baseball recently, and was spitting because he was trying to emulate the players. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. The commissioner decreed that Johnny would return to class, but not on my court.

Regardless of his parents’ idiotic excuses, Johnny got the original message that I conveyed to him, and subsequently became a much better student and tennis player. As the years went by, I always wondered what happened to Johnny. I wish him the best, but I fear the worse. Time and time again, history has shown that the individual who isn’t held accountable for their actions will continue on with their reckless behavior, or even escalate it.

Despite the actions of Johnny’s parents, being “cruel to be kind” worked in this instance. Who knows, maybe it’s time people are held accountable for their actions once again? Just a thought…

Nick Lowe- Cruel To Be Kind (1979)
YouTube Video Link

Quote For The Week

The bottom line is we don’t think the government should get in using taxpayers’ dollars to bail a large number of people out for decisions that they made on their own and contracts that they signed.

-Representative Tim Walberg (R-Mich), whose state ranks among the top 10 for mortgage foreclosures.

Could be one of the last brave Congressmen left…

Source:

“Lawmakers, White House push for home help plan”
Associated Press, March 29, 2008

Weird Housing Tales, Part 5

Call it poetic justice. The circus atmosphere that surrounded the U.S. housing boom shows no signs of abating as the bust takes hold. This afternoon I came across an Associated Press piece on MSN Money which described how potential foreclosure buyers are crowding onto buses for day-long expeditions through empty homes in the hopes of finding bargain properties. From the article:

ORLANDO, Fla. - The white bus rumbles into the quiet suburban neighborhood, heading toward a foreclosed home that sits empty. Neighbors, young and old, cock their heads in curiosity or point at the slow-moving coach.

Once the vehicle stops, about 20 potential buyers file out and become detectives, opening and closing cabinets and drawers, knocking on walls and asking about the price, the previous owners and what repairs may be needed.

The event is called the “Foreclosure Bus Tour,” where aspiring buyers of foreclosed homes pay $45 per person (or $65 per couple) for the tour, house info, instructional sessions, and meals. During the Orlando tour, a mortgage broker, home inspector, attorney, and real estate agents were made available to participants. Organized foreclosure tours are also being operated in California, where the idea seems to have originated, and Phoenix, Detroit, Kansas City, and Jacksonville.

It won’t take a genius to figure out that the housing crisis has finally hit home if one of these tours is running through their neighborhood…

Source: LaughParty.com

Source:

“Bus tours show off foreclosed homes”
Associated Press, March 26, 2008

Big Oil, Big Enemy

How many times have you heard this about the soaring cost of energy lately? “It’s all Big Oil’s fault.” On Monday, MarketWatch’s Peter Brimelow talked about the investment newsletter Outstanding Investments, which is currently the fourth-best performing letter over the past 12 months according to the Hulbert Financial Digest (up 45.06%) and which also boasts a 40.58% annualized gain over the past five years. Brimelow wrote about what OI editor Byron King had to say on the energy crisis in the current hotline from March 19:

King’s long-term reasoning is simple: supply and demand. Which, he argues, Americans are being misinformed about: “One of the biggest hurdles to the U.S. getting energy right is that the mainstream media infotainment circus has not prepared people… the mainstream media (MSM)— and a lot of U.S. politicians— corporately hate Big Oil so much that they won’t inform viewers and readers how little control the name-brand players have anymore.

King’s right— about how hated Big Oil is. A quick glance at some of the energy headlines over the last few days reveals:

• “We Need a New Bargain With Big Oil”
• “Skip the middle man and send rebate check to Big Oil”
• “Obamanomics: Target Big Oil, Too”

And according to legendary commodities investor Jim Rogers, he’s also right about the supply-demand story. On March 6, the chairman of Rogers Holdings told Reuters:

People have been telling me for five years that oil prices are going down. Every time I ask them where the supply is coming from. So far, nobody has been able to tell me. Please tell me where the new oil is because I want to invest in it.

On March 18, Rogers, while hosting CNBC World, told viewers:

I have no idea if there’s peak oil or not. But I do know that nobody’s discovered a gigantic elephant oil field in over 40 years. Unless somebody discovers a lot of oil very quickly and in very accessible areas, the surprise is going to be how high it stays and how high it goes. All the oil fields in the world are depleting.

King is on the same page as Rogers. Brimelow wrote:

“The MSM could help the situation if they emphasized that we live in an era of less oil, higher prices and a lot more competition for the same old stuff. They could point out to viewers and readers that the developing world is… um… developing. And we in the U.S. are not. We are just living off the past, drinking from wells we did not dig and running down the energy inheritance.”

Sources:

“Calmly contemplating a correction”
Peter Brimelow
MarketWatch, March 24, 2008

“EXCLUSIVE-Rogers says investors bet on commodity shortages”
Pratima Desai
Reuters, March 5, 2008

Leave Hillary Alone!

On Tuesday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she made a mistake when she claimed she came under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia in 1996 as the first lady. According to Reuters’ Jeff Mason:

In a speech in Washington on March 17 Clinton said of the Bosnia trip: “I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

She also told CNN last week: “There was no greeting ceremony and we were basically told to run to our cars. Now that is what happened.”

However, different news outlets have disputed her claim and offered up as proof a video of the trip, which showed Clinton walking from the plane, accompanied by her daughter, where they were greeted by a young girl in a small ceremony with “no sign of tension or any danger,” according to Mason.

The New York senator explained the discrepancies by saying:

So I made a mistake. That happens. It proves I’m human, which, you know, for some people, is a revelation.

This afternoon I was lucky enough to see some missing footage of the Bosnia trip (much obliged, Michael Rivero’s What Really Happened.com). After watching the video, I must admit— it appears the whole event went down like she said it did. Therefore, all I have to say to her naysayers is:

Leave Britney, I mean, Hillary alone! Anyone who has a problem with her— you deal with me!

-Inspired by Chris Crocker

YouTube Video Link

Source:

“Hillary Clinton calls Bosnia sniper story a mistake”
Jeff Mason
Reuters, March 25, 2007

Vacation Day!

After spending what seems like weeks upgrading Boom2Bust.com, I will be taking a “vacation day” to make improvements to my other weblog, Investorazzi.com. Therefore, no new posts on B2B today.

If you haven’t taken a look at Investorazzi yet, by all means, stop by. I’ve always been interested in the investment activities of legendary investors like Tom Barrack, Warren Buffett, Bill Gross, Jeremy Grantham, Eddie Lampert, T. Boone Pickens, Jim Rogers, and George Soros. Now, with the debut of Investorazzi.com earlier this month, I’m able to track their moves, and share them with you— for free. Hey, who doesn’t want to know what the “smart money” is doing, especially during these topsy-turvy times? Up and down, up and down…

YouTube Video Link

Ominous Signs For The Economy

All around I see ominous signs for the U.S. economy. I guess I could live in a state of denial, but that wouldn’t be fair to the realist in me. Besides, Wall Street already has that angle covered. Yesterday, Louise Story wrote in the New York Times:

Some New Yorkers said their neighbors seemed to be in denial.

“I was at a benefit last week, and a major well-known chief executive told me that ‘Everything will be just fine. People will start buying houses again,’” said David Patrick Columbia, who runs the New York Social Diary, a Web site that chronicles Manhattan social life. “Another one blamed everything on the media. He went on about how the media is creating a recession.”

Blamethrowers— death to them all. So what are these ominous signs I speak of? Consider the following:

Pay Day Loan Debt Rising

Yesterday, Reuters reported:

As hundreds of thousands of American home owners fall behind on their mortgage payments, more people are turning to short-term loans with sky-high interest rates just to get by.

While figures are hard to come by, evidence from nonprofit credit and mortgage counselors suggests that the number of people using these so-called “pay day loans” is growing as the U.S. housing crisis deepens, a negative sign for economic recovery.

“We’re hearing from around the country that many folks are buried deep in pay day loan debts as well as struggling with their mortgage payments,” said Uriah King, a policy associate at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL).

Pawn Shops Booming

David Gaffen of the Wall Street Journal’s MarketBeat Blog wrote yesterday:

Apparently, there are two lenders of last resort. The Federal Reserve is one. Pawn shops are another.

Just as the banking giants are accessing the Fed’s discount window, publicly traded Cash America International Inc., a pawn-shop chain, boosted its first-quarter earnings estimate Monday due to stronger-than-expected revenue growth, in part because difficult economic times are hurting consumers’ ability to borrow money.

“Kids” Are Moving Back With The Parents

What kind of “ominous” sign is this, you ask? This has been going on for some time now. Well, read on. According to financial news agency AFX:

Taking shelter with parents isn’t uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially when the job market is poor. But now the slumping economy and the credit crunch are forcing some children to do so later in life — even in middle age.

Financial planners report receiving many calls from parents seeking advice about taking in their grown children following divorces and layoffs.

Kim Foss Erickson, a financial planner in Roseville, Calif., north of Sacramento, said she has never seen older children, even those in their 50s, depending so much on their parents as in the last six months. “This is not like, ‘OK, my son just graduated from college and needs to move back in’ type of thing,” she said. “These are 40- and 50-year-old children of my clients that they’re helping out.”

Casinos Hurting

Viva Las Vegas. According to Thomson Financial yesterday:

Moody’s Investors Service said the slowing US economy is beginning to have a negative impact on casino gaming revenues, increasing the potential for negative rating actions in the country’s gaming sector… 11 US gaming issuers are on review for possible rating downgrade currently and six have a negative outlook… declining disposable income of potential customers and increasing travel costs are lowering overall visitation and spending per visit in many gaming markets.

And last— but not least:

FDIC Boosting Staff For Bank Failures

The Associated Press’ Alan Zibel wrote this afternoon:

Federal bank regulators plan to increase staffing 60 percent in coming months to handle an anticipated surge in troubled financial institutions.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. wants to add 140 workers to bring staff levels to 360 workers in the division that handles bank failures, John Bovenzi, the agency’s chief operating officer, said Tuesday.

“We want to make sure that we’re prepared,” Bovenzi said…

Worried yet?

Source: Techzoogle

Sources:

“With Economy Tied to Wall St., New York Braces for Job Cuts”
Louise Story
New York Times, March 24, 2008

“Housing Crisis Quicksand: ‘Payday Loans’ on Rise”
Reuters, March 24, 2008

“The Pawn-Shop Economy”
David Gaffen
Wall Street Journal (MarketBeat Blog), March 24, 2008

“Last hope in a weak economy? Mom and Dad”
AFX, March 21, 2008

“US gaming sector hit by economic slowdown – Moody’s”
Thomson Financial News, March 24, 2008

“FDIC Plans Staff Boost for Bank Failures”
Alan Zibel,
Associated Press, March 25, 2008

Goldman Sachs Predicts $460 Billion In Credit Losses

According to Bloomberg today, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Wall Street institutions are now looking at $460 billion in credit losses stemming from the subprime mortgage debacle. Bloomberg’s Zhao Yidi wrote:

“There is light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still rather dim,” Goldman analysts including New York-based Andrew Tilton said in a note to investors today. They estimated that residential mortgage losses will account for half the total, and commercial mortgages as much as 20 percent.

On February 29, USA Today reported that research by Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius and others showed total credit losses from the mortgage meltdown could total nearly $400 billion.

Bloomberg’s Yidi added:

Goldman said the $460 billion in credit losses it foresees may “result in a substantial tightening in credit conditions as these institutions pull back on lending to preserve their reduced capital and to maintain statutory capital adequacy ratios.”

Besides residential and commercial mortgage losses, it was noted:

Credit-card loans, auto loans, commercial and industrial lending and non-financial corporate bonds make up the rest of the $460 billion in credit losses.

As I write this, one of the financial news websites is running a story with the headline “Credit Disaster? Maybe It’s Not So Bad After All.” Yet, Goldman Sachs isn’t alone in their predictions for total credit losses dwarfing the amount disclosed to date. In a post from February 29 I talked about how analysts from UBS AG, Europe’s second largest bank, were predicting total industry losses from the ongoing credit crunch would reach $600 billion, with banks and brokers accounting for $350 billion of these losses.

Sources:

“Wall Street May Face $460 Bln in Losses, Goldman Says (Update1)”
Zhao Yidi
Bloomberg, March 25, 2008

“Credit losses from mortgage crisis could hit $400B”
Sue Kirchhoff
USA Today, Febraury 29, 2008

For Whom The Bell Tolls

The first in a new “series” on Boom2Bust.com, similar to “Signs Of The Time” and “Weird Housing Tales.”

Bloomberg’s Yalman Onaran tallied up the job losses so far on Wall Street since July 2007, when securities firms started letting go mortgage-related personnel:

Firm & Positions Cut
Citigroup 6,200
Lehman Brothers 4,990
Bank of America 3,650
Morgan Stanley 2,940
Washington Mutual 2,600
Merrill Lynch 2,220
HSBC 1,650
Bear Stearns 1,550
WestLB 1,530
UBS 1,500
Goldman Sachs 1,500*
National City 900
Credit Suisse 820
Royal Bank of Canada 500
Fortis 500
Wells Fargo 500
Wachovia 443
Deutsche Bank 370
JPMorgan Chase 100
_____
TOTAL 34,463 positions lost

Some company names have been abbreviated.

*Goldman Sachs said on January 25 that its job cuts reflected the firm’s policy of weeding out underperformers.

Onaran noted that after the Internet bubble burst, 39,800 jobs were eliminated during the same period. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said this number climbed to 90,000 over the next two years. Jo Bennett, a partner at New York-based executive search firm Battalia Winston International, told Bloomberg:

This crisis is much worse than 2001 and we don’t know how long it’s going to last.

She added that job cuts “could be more than 100,000 in a few years,” as a number of Wall Street firms “haven’t fully disclosed their job cuts because they don’t want to appear financially weak.”

Source:

“Wall Street Firms Cut 34,000 Jobs, Most Since 2001 Dot-Com Bust”
Yalman Onaran
Bloomberg, March 24, 2008

Forget Tomorrow, It’s A Hard Knock Life

The following headlines appear on a financial news website this afternoon:

• “As Stocks Rally, What Should You Buy?”
• “A Dollar Rebound? Assume A Best-Scenario”
• “It’s a Good Time to Buy Your First Home”
• “Is the Financial Crisis Over? Some Believe It May Be”

Spring is in the air, and with it, a renewed sense of optimism for the U.S. economy despite the fundamental problems which plague it. Reflecting this upbeat mood, CNN Money reported last Friday that a national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found that 60% of respondents think economic conditions in the United States will be “good” in 2009. Of the more than 1,000 American adults surveyed from March 14-16:

• 83% are “confident” they will maintain their standards of living in 2009.
• 85% are “confident” they will keep their jobs over the next 6 months.
• 90% are “confident” they will be able to meet their monthly mortgage payments for the length of the loan.

Wachovia economist Sam Bullard told CNN Money’s David Goldman:

Most people realize that the economy has cycles of ups and downs. Fortunately, the last two recessions were some of the shortest on record, so in 2009 we should be pulling up out of this… The Fed’s rate cuts will start to take their toll later this year, and the economy should bounce back by the end of 2008.

…so the optimists say.

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

-William Arthur Ward (American writer. 1921-1994)

Personally, I prefer pessimists over optimists. You can’t win with pessimists, but at least they sometimes have a “Plan B” ready to go in case of emergency. Optimists, on the other hand, are usually lax in their planning and are more often than not helpless during and after a crisis. Think “bailout.” They sing “Tomorrow” when the situation really calls for “It’s A Hard Knock Life.”

YouTube Video Link

As a realist, my conclusions are based on evidence rather than hopes and fears. The fact is, my research does not show any halt in the deterioration of the U.S. economy. Yet, that’s not to say economic stimulus efforts won’t pay off— at least in the short-term. By then, the risk may be that Washington runs out of “magic bullets.” I’m not the only one who thinks this. Referring to last week’s action by the Federal Reserve to decrease the federal funds rate to 2.25% amidst a 19.7% drop in the S&P 500 Index since its October high, legendary investor Jim Rogers told Bloomberg last week:

What are they going to do when it’s down 30 percent or 40 percent or 50 percent? They’re not going to have any bullets left. They’re not going to be able to solve the problems at that point.

David Gaffen from the Wall Street Journal’s MarketBeat Blog wrote last week:

In fact, some believe the Fed’s move Tuesday was a compromise — a 0.75 percentage point cut instead of a full point in order to “save some bullets in its arsenal in case the market and macro backdrop deteriorate further,” writes David Rosenberg, chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch.

And what will happen should the Fed run out of ammo, or if it proves ineffective? Possibly a double-dip recession like in the early 1980s, according to Lehman Brothers analysts. Reuters’ Richard Leong wrote last Thursday:

The persistent slump in housing will continue to drag on consumers and growth while tight credit conditions, a weakening job market and record energy costs are also taking a toll on the economy, according to economists at the bank…

Lehman economists predicted the U.S. economy will contract 0.5 percent in the first quarter and 1.0 percent in the second quarter, followed by a rebound in the second half. “We expect a feeble recovery in 2009, with the economy threatening to fall back into recession,” Lehman economists Michelle Meyer and Ethan Harris wrote in a research report.

Sources:

“Americans confident in 2009 turnaround”
David Goldman
CNN Money, March 21, 2008

“‘Big Rally’ for Stocks to Continue, Jim Rogers Says (Update2)”
Carol Massar, Eric Martin
Bloomberg, March 19, 2008

“Is the Fed Running Out of Ammo?”
David Gaffen
Wall Street Journal (MarketBeat Blog), March 19, 2008

“Lehman sees risk of double-dip U.S. recession”
Richard Leong
Reuters, March 20, 2008

Signs Of The Time, Part 8

Prior to today’s Easter activities, I happened to read the Chicago Tribune real estate column by Mary Umberger. Ms. Umberger had this to say regarding Florida’s battered housing market:

Real-estate ravaged Florida has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

This month, the civil court system in St. Lucie County announced it would set up a night shift to handle the avalanche of foreclosure filings there.

Photo by Gözde Otman, stock.xchng

Historically, the county averaged 40 to 45 filings a month, according to media reports there. However, filings jumped to 815 in February, so the court clerks in Ft. Pierce now will be on hand until 9 p.m. four nights a week.

Source:

“2 states want to air their clean laundry”
Mary Umberger
Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2008

Quote For The Week

Bear Stearns has made it obvious that things have gone too far. The investment community has morphed into something beyond banks and something beyond regulation. We call it the shadow banking system.

-PIMCO’s Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, in a New York Times piece this morning.

Source:

“What Created This Monster?”
Julie Creswell, Nelson D. Schwartz
New York Times, March 23, 2008

The Failing Fed

Following through on a recommendation yesterday, I read the post “5 Reasons Why the Federal Reserve is a Failure!” from Bankaholic.com. It’s a great piece (especially the part about the Fed awarding gold stars to those deserving detentions), and I think you’ll enjoy reading it over the Easter weekend. Having obtained permission to re-post it, here is the article in its entirety:

No single quasi-private institution has as much influence on the worldwide economy as the Fed, and as a leader can head this institution for an indefinite term, no one man is as influential on the markets as the Fed Chair.

The Dollar has plummeted in the currency markets and shows few signs of recovery or even stabilization. The new style and policies that accompanied Bernanke into office have made the Forex markets more volatile than ever and even more difficult to predict. An examination of what has gone awry can help Forex traders understand this new era at the Fed.

1. The Fed ignored the signs
The Fed has stated that it will never act as a regulator in any financial market, but it has the duty to use its influence for reform when it sees signs of consumer exploitation. Since as early as 2001, at least two senior officials inside the Fed urged its board to call for tighter regulations in the housing markets, especially in abuses that were clearly evident in the handling subprime mortgages. At the time, the White House was singing the praises of America’s new society of ownership, so the Fed took this cue and did nothing.

These deceptive loans were making possible the dream of home ownership to millions of Americans, even to those who could not come close to affording it. Now these same Americans are living through a nightmare of foreclosure and debt, much in thanks to the Fed’s willingness to ignore long-term repercussions and revel in immediate accomplishments, no matter how hollow and transitory they might be.

2. The Fed did too little too late
Other than advocating for reform, the Fed should have fully committed to a strategy of lowering target interest rates. Instead, Bernanke procrastinated, and when he did finally announce a cut, it was insufficient and ineffectual, at best. On December 11th, the Fed dropped its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percent rather than the half of a percent that had been called for by analysts and investors. Wall Street promptly responded, as the Dow plummeted nearly 300 points in one day.

The Fed might argue that this cut was prudent and that a more drastic cut would have unnecessarily fueled a rise in inflation. However, many view the Fed’s temerity in this matter as merely an extension of its inertial proclivity towards inaction.

3. The Fed kept interest rates too low for too long
Though this may seem to contradict the statements above, one of the reasons that the Fed might have hesitated in cutting rates is that they were already too low to begin with. Greenspan’s long tenure at the Fed was defined by a tendency to aggressively cut interest rates, which he began to do frequently in 1987 after the drastic correction in the stock market.

This initial move helped stave off disaster, but the further rate cuts of the late 1990s eventually led to the dot-com bubble. Rates should have been raised again in the early 2000s; if this had been done, the US might have avoided the furious borrowing that has led to the current credit crunch.

4. The Fed’s view of inflation is flawed
The Fed seems rather befuddled by this important economic indicator. The soaring costs of food and energy are a phenomenon is the US and worldwide, but the Fed does not take these developments into account.

The Fed’s analysis focuses on “core inflation,” which excludes a number of indices that it views as transitory, including energy and food costs. “Headline inflation,” which does take these costs into account, is favored by European economists, who view high energy prices as a long-term trend. By choosing to disregard the rising costs of a barrel of crude oil and a bottle of olive oil, the Fed is ignoring reality.

5. The Fed gives gold stars to those deserving detentions
Fed policy following the recent economic slowdown has done nothing but reward those who helped caused it. The majority of financial stocks have suffered of late, and justifiably so. However, the Fed seems dedicated to bailing out even the worst of the perpetrators with the recent set of economic interventions that it has enacted.

While working to eliminate any downturn in the market might seem feasible for short-term success, it is a purely shortsighted endeavor that will hurt the economy in the long run. In order for a free market to truly exist, bear markets must coexist peacefully with bull markets. Unfortunately, the Fed has its bright orange vest on and is going bear hunting. This is a doomed outing, and one that is going to get us all hurt in the end.

Source:

“5 Reasons Why the Federal Reserve is a Failure!”
Bankaholic.com, March 15, 2008

Internet TV For Finance Junkies

Print media giving you headaches? For all you finance junkies out there with high-speed internet access, you might want to check out this post on the CurrencyTrading.net website that was recommended to me. “Must-See Investing TV: 20 Free Online TV Channels for Finance Junkies” has a list of the top 20 free online financial TV channels. Divided into three categories (Major Business Publications, Regular TV Meets Online TV, and Online Specials), it’s a nice collection of resources.

Check it out!

Source:

“Must-See Investing TV: 20 Free Online TV Channels for Finance Junkies”
CurrencyTrading.net, January 28, 2008