In the midst of a recession, the TSX (The Toronto Exchange) was sure full of life. The financials lead the way last week with an 18% gain and that was followed this week by an upsurge in oil and gold stocks.
Canada has some great oil and gold producers like Suncor Energy (SU), Petro Canada (PCZ), Barrick Gold (ABX) and Kinross Gold (KGC). These are well run companies with good balance sheets and they will probably buy weaker competitors during the recession.
If you want to bet on base metals for infrastructure projects here in Canada and the U.S., please look into Mercator Minerals for copper and Thompson Creek Mines for molybdenium (a material used to strengthen steel).
If you want to go with something more conservative and which follows the Canadian financial sector, try an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) from ishares (XFN)which tracks Canadian banks and insurance companies.
It's highly likely that Canadian stocks will retreat a bit over the next few days, but wait until there's some good news about the world economy. The TSX is going to resume its climb and you can get on the ground floor with some great Canadian stocks and ETFs.
Since January of this year, I've made my best stock market profit from "The Royal Bank of Canada" (i.e. RY.TO). It has climbed more than 8 dollars a share in three weeks. All of the Canadian Banks have done well over that time period.
As you might know, Canadian banks are rated the best in the world. They did not have the exposure to the subprime mess like the U.S. and European banks.
The highest paying dividend stocks in Canada are banks. Even with the recent surge in their stock prices, every bank is well below it's 52 week high.
In previous recessions, it was the bank stocks that led the recovery.
Banks attract big money from pensions and mutual funds, so I think its the best place to put your money in the first half of 2009.
Graceworld was a civilization much like Earth, it had developed to point where it looked much like the world in the 1950s and 60s which included basic rock and roll (i.e. oldies).
Unfortunately, some disaster happened to Graceworld which made it uninhabitable for any life form.
The Brotherhood contacted Graceworld about 200 years ago and found the planet teeming with spirits who were stuck in ancient memories of the events before the disaster occurred.
Our job was to separate the spirits from their past and use "thought-energy convertors" to materialize forms and objects so they could be identified and used.
Like the photo above, parts of the civilization were restored to what they once were.
It is likely that many of Graceworld's spirits were transported to Earth over the last hundred years and now form the generations which were raised on rock and roll.
Most bibical scholars are obsessed by the history of the early Christian Church and the words used in the Bible.
My particular obsession was: "What happened to Jesus and the early church after they left Earth"? There are numerous biblical quotations about how Christians are connected mystically to Christ and to other Christians(e.g. "I am the Vine and you are the branches." "We have the Mind of Christ.").
In my journey through different religious sects, I discovered that existing churches presented only dogma and medieval visions of Heaven and Hell. They battled each other for "the best interpretation of the Bible". You might say, that every denomination had its own "comfort zone" and there was an unwillingness to move away from it.
Fortunately, through my experiences with science fiction, rock and roll and new age religious practices, I have been able to recover some of my memories before this life. The most important insights pertain to The Christian Brotherhood which are listed under the topic of "Cosmic Views Of The Universe" on the right side of this page.
Graceworld is a destroyed planet where members of the early Christian Brotherhood learn about the mysteries of the universe. The Brotherhood also recovered ancient memories of the planetary inhabitants by tapping into their music (Rock and Roll).
Some memories from the Christian Brotherhood from 100 AD to present time can be accessed by people on Earth. It's like connecting to a huge mystical internet.
Discovery Channel's "Journey To The Edge Of The Universe" Mood: on fire
Every now and then, something awesome comes on television. Discovery Channel's "Journey To The Edge Of The Universe" fits into that catagory. Through the use of photos from the Hubble telescope, I was taken from Earth to the far reaches of the universe. This isn't just a trip through space but through time as well. I travelled the light waves back to the first big bang.
The trip was "deja vu" for me. As I approached the beginning of the universe, tears came to my eyes about the beauty of creation.
Our minds are really part of the cosmic consciousness of the universe. We can link up to those spiritual beings who fly through galaxies every day.
The universe is super big because spiritual beings have difficulty remembering who they are and where they come from. They need suns, planets, and cosmic vibrations to help them with their memories.
I have a category of blog links on the right side of this page called "Cosmic Views Of The Universe". I hope you can make some discoveries of your own about life beyond planet Earth.
Without a doubt, the best way to present "Queen's Music" is in an off-beat musical.
While Freddy Mercury's music was often too loud and repetitious, it did lend itself to a dark vision of the future where old rock and roll music and instruments have been banned.
The story revolved around an attempt by the rebels(i.e. Bohemians) to recover memories of early rock history. There's much humor about this and who these early performers were. (e.g. The Pelvis, etc.)
The only way Earth can be saved from the bad guys (i.e. "GlobalSoft") is for the rebels to discover "The Dreamer" who will fulfill the prophesy about the return of rock guitars and real rock music.
The best production numbers were "Radio-Ga-Ga", "Somebody To Love", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Will Rock You".
The weakest tunes were done by a big Jamaican woman called "The Killer Queen" who should have been a drag queen.
With Canada mired so much in Afghanistan, the movie Passchendaele takes on extra significance.
The film doesn't totally succeed as a love story, but it definitely succeeds as an heroic war story. Without a doubt, the Canadians (i.e. the stormtroppers) are up to the task of giving everything on the grim battlefields of World War 1.
The battle scenes swing between barbarianism and humanitarianism on both sides. In the end, it's the Canadians' sense of duty that seems to win the day.
The story appeals to my patriotic pride in the men and women who serve their country in time of need. Three stars.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
Well, it isn't a bad as the Depression in the 1930s with unemployment running at 25%. Back then, it took the U.S. Government over three years to start to move on this condition. The Obama Government is moving much faster than that.
Economic forecasters were blindsided by the effect of massive "toxic debt" that was injected into the world's financial system from 2002 to 2008.
Guys like Bernie Madoff and Stanley O'Neil were able to get away with fraud and financial bogus products for some time without regulation or oversight.
Added to the above were forecasts that oil and commodity prices would keep going up and up because of the demand in India and China. The bull market would continue indefinitely.
The herd instinct among forecasters made sheep look like independent thinkers.
The subprime bubble burst first, then the oil and commodity bubble. Financials nosedived followed by energy and other stocks.
In the end, the stock markets of the world ended up at where they were in 2002 (40% down).
If I were President of the United States, I wouldn't go easy on those that perpetrated this financial crisis. All of those who made money off of toxic paper would have to pay it back to the Government. This would cover a little of the cost of the financial bail-out. If they couldn't pay it back, they would have to do many hours of community service helping those less fortunate than themselves.
Stock market speculation is much harder to control. The Government should have well-trained investment analysts who can give warnings to investors when certain stocks get over valued.
Not enough time and effort was done to protect investors from the present downturn. This has to change.
I wish you all the best in keeping your job and/or getting a better one.
The Barron Blog was created on Feb/13/2003 and now contains over 1388 entries on practically every subject under the sun.
The highlights of this Blog are listed on the right. The funniest parts are placed in "my top ten lists".
Links to Barron Blog entries through pictures can be found here.
Perhaps, my most profound or controversial entries concern "The Brotherhood of Jesus Christ" and how one would connect to it. I've taken a mystical approach on matters of spirituality and the afterlife. If it isn't true for you, it isn't true for you.
Good music is also close to my heart and my blog and connected websites contain over a hundred songs and music videos.
Over the last year or so, I've tried to put some optimism into the world of investment and finance. This was a tough go for me, but you can't give up the ship because there's a storm on the ocean. We just have to make our survival and investment skills better in a time of painful recession.
The internet is a big mind that links us together. Hopefully, you've got a smile or an insight into something from your studies. I've tried to put my best thoughts, links and experiences into it.
After more than 35 years, I've finally retired from Canada Post. It was a decent job with a decent salary and benefits, but in the end I was hanging on to get a full pension .
I never grew up with dreams of becoming a career postal worker. Unfortunately, during my early 20s, I was laid off from many jobs. I wanted a position with a degree of job security that would be there from one year to the next. Luckily, I snagged a full time mailhandler position right off the street in July of 1973.
Sure there were many CUPW strikes, but I managed to get through those ok. Check out my "CUPW Guy Website" at www.cupw.info. for my involvement with this union.
The Toronto Exchange Office (TEO) had a nice retirement party for me and Linda Roberts, a registration clerk, who was retiring at the same time. Management brought in pizza and chicken wings for our staff but posties from other staffs showed up for the free food.
The plant manager Winslow, and floor supervisor, Ervin, gave their two cents worth on the occasion. It was more or less positive. I had a reputation for stirring up trouble for postal honchos. As a member of "The Good Old Traffic Boys" down at Union Station, we had a motto that we loved to communicate to management: "When the dust settles, we'll still be here, but you'll be gone". We worked hard, but we wouldn't put up with any harassment from the bosses.
Boy, have times changed.
The Post Office is downsizing in 2009/2010, but fortunately, there are, at least, 20,000 employees retiring over the next couple of years, so no one should get laid off like in the U.S. Post Office.
The Post Office has been good to me and others. We have (had?) 15 sick days cumulative each year. We have (had?) seven weeks vacation time after 28 years and six weeks pre-retirement leave after age 50 with 20 years of service.
Why is "had" in brackets? Well, some things are going to change in the next contract, but the CPC pension plan is still one of the best in Canada.
The work in our section was often boring, heavy and tiring, but I stayed with it because it was a security blanket and an investment (i.e. the pension).
I look forward to writing more (screenplays, etc), blogging more, exercising more and acting as a film extra again. Perhaps, I might even get a small role in a film playing a bad guy of course.
P.S. My first job at Canada Post was in "The Traffic Division" down at Toronto's Union Station. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors play where the old Post Office once stood.
on fire
a-ok
St Johns