Disruptive Investing

When the 800 pound gorilla in the room becomes nearly terminally ill, do the 600 pound gorillas save their leader or let him die? Do they take over and implement newer, more efficient ways of ruling the group? Do they save him to prevent and resist change? Will change disrupt the flow of food? Will change disrupt the rule of law and peace in the land? Will change open up new opportunities within the community, and for the community? When very large cap companies fail, there is an enormous buzz and fear that the industry around them will also fail. That fear may be irrational. That fear may scare us into thinking "too big to fail". That fear may be promoted by the failing company so that their executives can stay in power and retain their huge compensation packages. When industries mature and enter a decline, it is the time when disruptive technology, disintermediation and fresh, new players with fabulous ideas could enter these markets to conduct business in new and mor

  Car companies, banks, insurers, everyone is getting  or has a bailout - except average Joes like you and I . How could all this happen? How did we get here? Why can't I get a million dollars for ruining a business? T he Federal Reserve Bank  was created in 1913 to help stabilize the United States banking system. Unregulated banking and investing activities during the "roaring" twenties led to  the Great Depression . After evaluating that, the U.S. passed  the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 prohibiting banks from getting involved with investments and derivatives (smart). Then in 1999 Clinton signed a bill  repeal ing  certain parts of the Glass-Steagall (the Financial Services Modernization Act aka Gramm-Leach-Bliley ) whereby banks were ENABLED to get  back into 40:1 leverage on their deposits (DUH!).   I s it unreasonable to think that if we undo the very legislation intended to prevent the Great Depression from happening again, it will? This r

Update on YTD performance of the dollar-gold-oil and financials complex:   Dollar: off 7%   Gold: up 25% (off recent all-time high)   Oil: up 23% (coming off recent extreme volatility)   Ultra Financials: off 4% (but XLF up 16%)   SKF (ultra short financials) has been on a wild ride over 100% earlier this year down to nearly -80%.   Cut and paste this link for a graph:   http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdet=1262034000000&chddm=96968&cmpto=NYSE:UUP;NYSE:GLD;NYSE:DIG;NYSE:UYG;NYSE:SKF;NYSE:XLF&cmptdms=0;0;0;0;0;0&q=uup,gld,dig,UYG,skf,xlf&ntsp=0

We'd like to wish you all our best Season's Greetings and a very Happy New Year!   Kind Regards , Dav id Kuketz , Manager

A diversified portfolio should have protection against inflation, interest rate changes, sector concentrations that go hot or cold, and regional / global exposures. To that end, we're following four particular ETF's. So, what is happening with the U.S. dollar, Gold, Oil & Gas, and Financials (and their respective shorts)?   Year-to-Date (YTD):   U.S. Dollar {very weak} UUP; -10.5% UDN; +09.8%   Gold {at or near all time high} GLD; +37.1% GLL; -54.9%   Oil {still only a 3rd of it's all time high} DIG; +22.2% DUG: -49.8%   Financials {recovering from all time lows} UYG; -05.7% SKF; -76.4%   Is the dollar going to continue weakening? Will gold keep climbing? Is this another bubble?