PaulBBrown

Have You Noticed this Too?

I’ve spent the last 24 hours or so in and about a lot retail establishments--stores and restaurants-- in suburban New York. The low end places (i.e. fairly inexpensive) were crowded. The high end (expensive) places were crowded. But the mid-priced places were virtually deserted. Is this happening where you are? More…

Aren’t We Suppose to be Striving for Exceptional?

While I vote, and keep up on the issues, I am pretty much apolitical. And Lord knows, no one is turning to this space to hear me talk about either the Republican or Democrat platforms. But I was struck by something I heard about both vice presidential candidates during the conventions. Senator Joe Biden was described “as a regular Joe.” Yes, it was a play on his name, but it was an attempt to show he was everyman. Similarly, Governor Sara Palin’s appeal, we are told, is “she just like us.” In investing, we are always looking for the exceptional. Shouldn’t it be the same standard in politics? More…

A Good Time to Buy a Car

One of the standing jokes in my house is to say, when something is on sale for a ridiculously low price, “they are actually paying you to buy it.” When it comes to the state of the nation’s car companies that may actually be true. I just saw an ad for Saturn, a division of GM. Not only were they offering “employee pricing,” which is always a good deal, but they were providing cash rebates on top of it. The economy—at least the automotive part—may be in a lot worse shape than I thought. More…

Revenge Has Never Felt So Good

I am going to write a check today for $6,000 to cover an expense I was not anticipating, and I got to tell you I don’t feel overly bad. I am buying a new furnace. Now, to be honest, I would rather be spending the money on a baseball signed by the 1961 New York Yankees, a Diebenkorn drawing, or even donating the money. But the furnace which came with the house—and has been nothing but trouble from day one—is shot. It gets colds in New England in the winter and so the new furnace comes today. So why I am not furious? Two reasons. 1. I am finally old enough not to get cranky about things beyond my control. And having a furnace die on me is indeed beyond my control. More…

...So Why Aren’t We Working Today?

Does anyone else find it odd that on LABOR day so few of us are working? More…

Are the Red Sox Gambling with Their Net Worth?

Now that my beloved N.Y. Yankees are all but mathematically eliminated, it is time for me to say “wait until next year,” as far as baseball is concerned. (Yesterday’s 9th inning win was dramatic but too little too late I fear.) But before I say good-bye to the 2008 season, I have one thought: What the heck are the Boston Red Sox doing in the gambling business? The Red Sox have partnered with the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission. Buy a scratch ticket, and you have a chance to win Red Sox tickets, merchandise and more. Have close are the ties? The folks who announced the games on television can be heard in the ads for Boston Red Sox lottery tickets. More…

Want an Idea of How Far Bank Stocks Have Fallen?

I don’t buy many individual stocks. For one thing, I don’t have the time to do all the research necessary and for another, I tend to get hopelessly attached to the ones I buy, even after common sense tells me I should sell. Still, ever once in a while—say every 18 months or so—I will plunk down a little bit of money on what I think is a good idea. (It really isn’t investing; it’s more like entertainment. I don’t play Sudoku or Solitaire.) Seeing how far the bank stocks had fallen, I figured I’d buy a couple hundreds shares of Washington Mutual. (My over-arching rationale was twofold: I figured at some point banks will have to have hit bottom, and my dad had been a huge Washington Mutual fan before he died.) More…

Couldn’t They Donate Their Money Instead?

Couldn’t They Donate Their Money Instead? There is no doubt the economy is hurting, but you would never know it judging by the record number of Presidential ads you see on television. That thought was brought home for me last night as my college-aged daughter and I watched the Yankees-Red Sox game instead of the Democratic convention. (It is not that we are a-political. We both already know who we are going to vote for. And Shannon (a passionate Sox fan) and I (someone who has rooted for the Yankees since I discovered baseball when I was seven back in 1961) have a standing date—complete with pizza and trash talking—whenever the two teams play.) More…

Maybe You Don't Need a Hybrid

The next time a car ad comes on telvevison--and odds are that is going to occur during the first 15 minutes of any show you choose to watch--pay some attention when they start quoting how many miles you can get to the gallon, mpg (That, of course, stands for miles per gallon.). What has gone pretty much unnoticed is that many traditional cars today now get the same mpg as hybrids on the highways. Hybrids are great. And they are particularly wonderful if you do a lot of stop and go/city driving because it is then that they switch over to the electric part of their engines. More…