Rick! Rick! Rick!

There's been a lot of flap lately about Rick Santelli's meltdown/rant on CNBC recently. I thought he just looked like an idiot (which isn't something I'd thought about him before- I have to watch a LOT of CNBC for my work), but now he's starting to look like a criminal mastermind.

Click through to the Playboy link, it's worth a read in its entirety.

*cross posted from Dragynsbreath

Portfolio Changes

These are the changes effective this last weekend. I'll try and post a complete list of the stocks tomorrow.

Caps

Add:

HP (Helmerich, not Hewlett Packard)

Watch:

ININ, AZZ, QSII

Comp

Add:

ADBE

Watch:

BDX, FRX, QSII

G+r1

Add:

NTES, NVEC

G+r1 XO

Add:

NTES

PS/PE

Add:

ADBE, AVP, CFBK, CSCO, CSX, FE, HWK, LH, PNR, PMACA, TOT, RCII,TSYS, UNP

Watch:

AMGN*, FRX, MBVT, STJ*, MTSC, LFL*

RoT

Add:

CRDN, JOYG, IMO, MTD

Watch:

AZZ, BJS*, MTSC, SII

MagInv

Add:

HSII, MSO, MXY, NTRI, PRGX

Watch:

ACN, ABC, TRLG, AYI*, FRX

Dump:

TTWO

* Conservative investors probably want to sell these now.

Tarp Cap?

Obama is preparing to set a salary cap of $500k for execs at companies that accept TARP funds (retroactive? if not, why not?) There is a lot of screaming (I'm looking at you, Joe Kernan!) that this will drive 'good' people out of the businesses.

My question is this: if they were so damned good, how did they get into this predicament? And exactly where will they go when they leave? There's not a huge boom in the financial services/investment/funds/banking biz these days.

If they want to make it work, they should (and probably won't) put in incentives, so that if the execs stick around for $500k, turn things around, and save the day, there's some payoff down the road (for rescuing the companies AND saving the taxpayers some money.

But, if they don't want to stick around whatever the setup, here's a suggestion for their exit package. A final check and a certificate that says 'Don't let the door hit ya!'

(cross posted at Dragynsbreath)

Great Quote

From Andrew Tobias' blog, echoing the joys and limits of diversification:

DIVERSIFICATION – THE FATAL FLAW

Overheard at a recent cocktail party: “Diversified? I was wonderfully diversified – except that all my investments were on Earth.”

Portfolio Update

Here's the info from over the weekend.

PS/PE

Add

INT
CJR
FCAL
HARL
NITE

Rule of Ten

Add

SNHY
OXY

Rule of Ten/Strict

Add

OXY

G+R1 (and G+R1 Crossover)

Remove

UEPS

MagInv

Worry

TTWO

(Conservative investors should remove TTWO)

Media Mess

I'm not a big media basher, altho I do lay into various MSMers from time to time. Dan Gilmor at TPM has a great post up today berating the media in general for ignoring, abetting, and, finally, capitalizing on the financial meltdown. Worth a read.

Portfolio Update

A couple of additions this week to the portfolios, no deletions.

Comp Rating

XRAY

PS/PE

DCM
LFL
GTIV

MagInv

AHCI
BIDZ
MSB

TTWO (Add to Worry List)

G+R1

UEPS (Add to Worry List)