Meeting Minutes

We had a great time at our meeting!  However, we had only 3 attendees this time.  In fact, as we have had fewer and fewer turnouts, I have been thinking twice about arranging these meetings at all.  Perhaps it was the timing this time (being a few days after Thanksgiving), but I must admit I was very much embarrassed with the turnout this time.  The following is certainly not directed to those who do and have attended regularly.  In particular, I want to thank Jeff Harrington not only for his individual contribution to the discussions but also for his efforts to increase attendance at our meetings.

Let’s go into the reason why I decided to arrange these meetings in the first place.  I have been speaking with people like Kevin Day and Tom Murphy along with a host of other VIPs of sorts (executives of major corporations, associates of billionaire families, venture capitalists, visionaries, university professors, etc.), and have gained tremendously by my conversations with them.  I felt that if I could get these people in front of those who may not have access to them, then others could also gain as I have.  Kevin, in his prime, was a vice-president of one of the largest conglomerates in US history and has taken probably more than a hundred trips around the world throughout the last four decades; and when he takes out his time and effort to share his knowledge and perspective at our meetings, and only one person after myself shows up, I feel it to be a disgrace on my part!  After the dismal attendance at our meeting today, I don’t know whether I really want to invite Kevin Day, Tom Murphy, or Vance Hall or any other VIP, if only a couple of people show up to appreciate what they have to offer.

Another reason for these meetings is to become more aware and conscientious human beings.  Historically, wars, acts of terrorism, social strife, etc. can only be perpetuated time and again as long as most people remain voluntarily ignorant to the facts and therefore fail to act upon the issues at hand.  This is the very reason why we have a speculative bubble roughly every 10-20 years because people choose not to learn from the past.  The biggest losers are, therefore, the average worker and his/her 401k, or the day-trader who quits his/her job overnight to pursue millionaire-dom.  In my opinion, voluntary ignorance was also the reason for the September 11^th attacks, as American citizens failed to be aware of how our government was affecting the rest of the world and how our actions abroad might inevitably affect us at home.  As long as the current generation remains apathetic, like those preceding ours, there will be no end to our problems.  Perhaps, I must be an alien inhabiting earth and maybe it is only me in this world that actually sees this and wants to do something about it, but my hope is that you all see this too and want to do something about it also. 

I would like you all to think about and consider the bigger picture here.  Politicians, historically, are not really there to solve our problems; the truth of the matter is that we put them there because we don’t want to make the important decisions.  The choice is ours, obviously.  We will all collectively decide what kind of world we want to live in and leave for our children.  But the first step, in my opinion, is to become aware of the problems first.  I don’t think we get together to truly devise solutions to worldwide issues, but to just become aware of them.  This awareness will spread invariably to others around you and become a new consciousness in itself, over time.  Even if we cannot do anything about it, we’d rather be aware than be willfully ignorant.  However, if I have misjudged your characters and motivations, then I apologize, and maybe I am asking too much.  

In any case, as a result of the declining attendance at our meetings, I have decided, after consulting Kevin and Tommy, that there will be no meetings during the month of December for the holidays, and we will have our next meeting on January 4^th, 2009.  If this meeting fails to draw a sizable attendance, then I don’t feel like my time and effort is being utilized and that will be the end of the meetings.  Perhaps you could leave some comments/suggestions and let me know what I could/should do to increase attendance at our meetings.

Kevin’s Trip To Tunisia

Kevin recently returned from his trip to Tunisia and he narrated a most extraordinary incident that occurred to him.  Once while their tour bus was driving, a barrage of baseball-size stones broke the windows and were aimed at the tourists inside, some of them incurring serious injuries.  Kevin explained how this came from local dissenters of foreigners and how he felt that his life was in serious danger.  He has been to Tunisia many times to study the archaeological ruins of old Roman cities that have been preserved there and has noticed a growing anti-foreign influence throughout the decades. 

The Obama Administration

Obama is a smart and capable politician.  However, his supporters may feel betrayed after they find that Obama is not going to be able to deliver on a majority of his promises.  It was interesting to note that his presidential acceptance speech was the first time he mentioned that really long-term nature of the problems he is confronting, mentioning how it may take more than one term to implement his solutions.  His assumed appointment of Hilary to Secretary of State will effectively kill her ambition for running against him for his second term.  Kevin, however, although lauding Obama for his political acumen, questions whether Hilary is the right person for the job.  She has the reputation for being vehemently anti- North Korea, Pakistan, and Palestine, and keeping her country’s well being first might not come easy to her nor will it be easy to convince these countries that the US has their best interest in mind.  Obama will probably pass a bill to uphold the rights of unions to satisfy a large constituent that elected him.  Kevin thinks that Geithner was a good choice for Secretary of Treasury.  As Fed President for New York, he was also a key player in rescuing Bear Stearns; Wall Street right now is looking for an assurance of trust and confidence and Geithner may provide this role.  There is a quick question that we have for you all as we did not know the answer:  for any reason if Obama is killed before Inauguration Day, who would become President?  As Biden has been elected Vice-President would he be eligible to become President?  Or would there be some other course of action?  It is clear that Biden would become President should something happen to Obama after he is inaugurated, but what about before his inauguration?  If you know the answer, please post a comment and let us know as we are curious what the answer might be.

Goldbug Thesis

Kevin, who has been trading the market for over 40 years, made it very clear that the occurrences in the financial markets in the last three months have frightened him.  He has described himself as the “last optimist on Wall Street”, but admits that for the first time in 40 years, his nerves have been shaken recently.  He spoke to us about how banks have been unwilling to part with his deposits and have effectively frozen his assets in some cases as they are all straining for cash.  With the FED pumping trillions of dollars into the system which further depreciates the currency, hard assets like precious metals may be a good investment to preserve value.  He has suggested investing in a gold etf like GLD or SLV as these funds actually hold physical gold and silver deposits.  He also thinks that the next asset class to decline is commercial real estate; his time horizon for this to start occurring is within the next 6 months. 

Recent Intelligence Report

There was a recent intelligence report purporting a decline of American influence around the world and a massive transfer of wealth to China and India in the next 30 years.  This, however, is an exaggeration.  Both China and India have a long way to go and can hardly approach the industrial giant that America is today.  The recent bombings in Mumbai are an indication of how much progress needs to be made.  Sixty hours after the initial shootings, Mumbai police were still not able to kill off the terrorists.  Kevin called it the “British officer” syndrome; the appearance of officials looking official, but are, in fact, very incapable when action is required.  45% of the Chinese labor force and 60% of the Indian labor force is engaged in agriculture today, while less than 4% of Americans are engaged in the same trade.  If one has ever been to India or China, then one can readily see the stark day-and-night differences between urban city life and rural village life.  Prosperity stays in the cities and has not trickled outside of them.

The Arbitrary in “Relationships”

After we ended our meeting, Tommy and I went to a Starbucks to discuss some very fundamental issues of the human condition.  Our discussions revolved mostly around the inherent fallacy of “relationships” (between a man and woman, etc.), and how they inherently cannot be sustained.  Most times it is not the person itself we are interested in, but the fulfillment of an idea or promise of what a person might be.  For example, first dates are only an exchange of impressions, not of the actual person itself.  For example, one might find a woman attractive in a black dress, etc., but that same woman does not assume the same attractiveness when she must perform the necessities on the toilet.  In fact, what is considered “attractive” is completely arbitrary.  The Chinese during the Han dynasty found women who bound their feet to be very attractive (foot-binding is a practice in which a girl literally binds up her feet so that the bone structure is smaller in adulthood).  There is nothing inherently “sexy” about red lips on a woman or muscled chest on a man.  The body and the ideas about it have nothing to do with the actual person itself.  The actuality of the person itself is ignored altogether.  After the “honeymoon” stage, people cannot keep up the act of impressions forever and are forced to deal with the person as he/she is, which may be very different from the expectation or initial impression of the person.  This is not to be confused with a real relationship where the actual person is concerned and there is merely the  joy of being with that person irrespective of external features (gender, attributes, etc).  In such a case, people are upfront and honest about themselves and no value judgments are made about the person, but is merely accepted as he/she is.

 

Pol Pot - Dreams Of Nationalistic Communism

 

I just finished watching an A&E biography on Pol Pot and thought I post some things that I found remarkable about his rule.  As a student of history, I try my best to understand the destructive situations that have occurred in the past and see what led to it, so that I may endeavour to leave a more constructive world for those who will live in generations hereafter.

Pol Pot was enamoured by the Communistic or communal promise presented by Marx and Mao’s China.  When he took power, he immediately forced the evacuation of the capital, Phnom Penh, and imposed an agrarian lifestyle for all.  He felt a distrust of Western influences and felt that imperialism/capitalism was just a way to keep the peasants working hard for the rest of their lives for the monarchs in charge.  He ruled by what can be described as a Nationalistic Communism.  Although he was initially guided by a beneficent vision of his country, which emphasized the restoration of the ancient Cambodian culture, I saw once again the same attribute of paranoia inherent in all dictators.  Pol Pot became suspicious of anyone who might challenge his authority, and he executed (estimates vary) about 1.6 million people, or 1 in every 4 Cambodians.  Those targeted specifically included Buddhist monks, intellectuals, etc.  They were led to torture chambers and tortured until they confessed to charges that were alleged upon them, whether they were true or not.  Stalin did the same in his regime.  He became so paranoid in his later years that he even executed an aid of his who had been loyal to him for over 40 years.  The Khmer Rouge eventually arrested Pol Pot and placed him under house arrest.  The UN took over the country hereafter temporarily until new leadership could be established.  I would like you to watch an interview done by a journalist with Pol Pot while he was under house arrest.  It is about 15 minutes long, and the links are provided below:

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQMyX80jCF8

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qhgmfnRJio

It is interesting to note how soft-spoken he is; he constantly justifies what he has done.  I have to ask myself how these events occur, or where do the roots lie?  If I trace the roots intellectually, I am left with the power that is given to dictators by the people.  It seems to me that nationalism is a very dangerous concept, and when there is tremendous energy given to it, what I like to call the “mob mentality” takes over; and one thing I find very disturbing about a mob, is that is principally guided by emotional motives while leaving reason aside.  I also believe that a population capable of fully using the faculty of critical thinking cannot declare blind allegiance to an arbitrary identity like a state or country; it simply would be incapable, logically, to do so. 

What are your thoughts?  How and why do these events occur?  Please leave your comments and let me know what you all think…

(Please do not comment if you think that violence is an inherent tendency of mankind as we are looking for causes/solutions here.  We are assuming that the human nature is capable of change.)

Meeting Minutes

We had a great meeting!  Turned out we got to use a private hall at Romano's which happened to be available during the time of our meeting:

(From left to right) VJ Arjan, Andrew Wang, Jeff Harrington, Jason Pullen, and Tommy Schultze. (Click on the picture to get a larger image)

GM and Bailout

If GM gets the $25 billion from the government:

a)  A)  Nothing will happen, GM will still go bankrupt.  It has -$60 billion in net owners’ equity, and there is very little chance it can recoup while holding on to the demands of the UAW.  Expected value, therefore, is 0.

b)  B) The bailout will directly finance GM’s investment in future car technologies (alternate fuels, electric cars, etc.), and will therefore serve to bring it to the forefront of the auto industry.

In either case, they will have to wait until the Obama administration gets into office, which is in February.  However, GM has already announced that they will run out of cash by this January.  So, it is a waiting game.  Our consensus is that $25 billion cannot and will not turn around GM entirely, and that the funds are just one of many demands to come.

Stimulus Package

President-elect Obama will probably initiate a stimulus package as soon as he assumes office.  The effectiveness of the package will be determined by how it is distributed.  Jeff Harrington suggested that the stimulus package should go to the essential industries, i.e. roads, bridges, highways (projects that are utilized by everyone).  The construction workers and engineers receiving this money will then spend in other areas of the economy, and essentially stimulate from the bottom-up. Giving funds to corporations will result in what is occurring currently with the financial bailouts, very little. 

It is interesting to note that Jeff’s supposition sounds much like FDR’s New Deal, but it is important to stress that how they go about this will make the most difference.  Jason Pullen brought up economist Friedrich Hayek’s contention that if a central control agency has all available and relevant information, then the execution and the effect is more readily achievable.  He gave an example of the military being such an organization, citing the military’s role in World War II to stimulate the economy.  The lack of information in government administrations and the inefficiencies in the distribution of information  (chokehold of government bureaucracy) may be responsible for government policies being implemented very ineffectively.

FED’s Magic Trick

Up until the 1980’s, corporations would willingly buyout unprofitable corporations to use the losses on its balance sheet to write off their taxes in the future.  This changed with Section 382 in the 80s, which forbade this practice. However, Jeff Harrington noted that the FED has just this September conveniently changed and reversed section 382 to allow the recent mergers of financial institutions (Bank of America & Countrywide, Wachovia and Wells Fargo) so host companies can write off their taxes with the gargantuan losses suffered by its colonies.  Did you see it?

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902155_pf.html

The U.S. Debt

The truth of the matter is that a large part of our debt post-WWII has been in the underwriting of securities and emerging technologies worldwide.  Let’s take an example.  The government uses our tax dollars to research and develop a vaccine for cancer.  This is then distributed throughout the world. The world benefits although there is no monetary payback.  Then why more debt? (Hint: Inflate away the U.S. debt with more debt; solve the problem of debt by inflation with more inflation)

http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/inflate_inflating_away_debt_continentals_weimar_inflation_051720082

War In Iraq Is Good News To Russia And China

Russia’s invasion of Georgia while America was at war in Iraq was not a coincidence.  As America is distracted at the moment, Russia has its chance to fool around and bully a rapidly westernizing Georgia into submission.  In fact, many of us feel that Vladimir Putin is striving to impose a stranglehold on former Soviet Union colonies to further his personal ambitions.  His puppet, Medvedev, has recently extended the term for Presidency from 4 years to 6, which means 12 more years instead of 8 for Putin.

China is also doing things it would not normally do.  Andrew Wang talked extensively about mainland China, the country he is originally from.  He also stated that China has been recently paying other countries to stop recognizing Taiwan as a separate entity from China.  For example, it just gave Costa Rica $5 billion to do just that.

Agricultural Foodstuffs

The government’s fling with ethanol may be causing the rise in most livestock commodities.  Corn feeder which was being used to feed animals, is now being used to produce ethanol.  

(http://tfc-charts.w2d.com/)

Corn

Live Cattle

Lean Hogs

Conagra and World Hunger

As I have studied and am very passionate about the problem of world hunger, I thought I’d bring up what I explained to the other members at our meeting.  Currently 35,000 children under the age of 5 are dying of starvation every hour.  When I first heard the statistic, the enormity really did not sink in.  What is more interesting is that the hunger epidemic did not even exist before the 1950s.  So what happened?

Defendants of major corporations usually say that there simply is not enough food in the world and that the high birth rates in hunger-striken countries only make the problem worse.  This is what is not being told.  Let’s take agricultural monolith Conagra, for instance.  It has for the last 4 decades gone into third world countries and has bought up farmland en masse there.  What does it do with that land?  Nothing.  Larger supplies of crops decrease the prices of foodstuff, so by eliminating potential sources of supply, they are able to charge more for their products and be more profitable.  In fact, Conagra is notorious for flooding a market with below-market prices to take out local competitors and then raising the prices once the local farmers are forced to sell their land to them.  Essentially, Conagra and other foodstuff corporations like it, have artificially created a shortage of food.  For more information, please read World Hunger: 12 Myths by Lappe, Collins, and Rosset.

Technology and Work

We discussed extensively the role of technology in our future.  We are at a point wherein a majority of jobs that we have, can be automated even today if corporations put their greed and differences aside and instead work together to do so.  Capitalism functions, however, based on human desire for self-interest, even at the expense of the rest of society.  Corporations have time and again programmed into the system designed obsolescence to maximize profits.  For example, lightbulbs, the patents for which are owned by General Electric, can last lifetimes if they are built correctly.  An original lightbulb produced by Thomas Edison is still burning bright in Washington D.C., a hundred or so years after being created.  To maximize profits, GE has deliberately designed lightbulbs to fail every 6 to 9 months.  The same goes for cars, which are programmed to start failing in about 5 years, the average note on a car loan.  If, however, the world decides to put first the common good and welfare of mankind and use technology accordingly, the standard of living of the entire world would skyrocket.  As one cannot pay a machine a salary and a machine does not tire, it is possible to create things in complete abundance very cheaply.  Everything from homes to clothes to airplanes is currently being built by robots. 

Scarcity is a myth.  There is no scarcity of oil, just as there is no scarcity of diamonds.  Not all of the oil is produced, or all of the diamonds are released, to keep the price artificially inflated.  However, if we indeed move to solar and/or wind energy, how can one control a natural resource as abundant as the sun or the wind?  With the advent and implementation of technology, which actually exists today we can, as a race, eliminate the scarcity of resources. 

What would happen if virtually everything were done by machines?  Well, humans certainly wouldn’t work.  Obviously one cannot automate the function of a politician, etc., but most manual labor or processing/service jobs can be automated.  It is possible, as suggested by some members, that we would just end up like those living in trailer parks, disincentivized, and (pardon the bluntness) have sex all day long.  After we parted, however, Jason Pullen, Andrew Wang, and I discussed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and predicted that most people after having the necessities taken care of, would look for other things to fulfill them (Love, Art, a hobby, a charitable cause, religion, etc.) until they are self-actualized.  Also, if an abundance of things that provide our necessities exist, why would one country go to war with another?  Usually, countries go to war sometimes because there is legitimate cause, but sometimes because there is a profit is to be made.  Would a country ever go to war for a natural resource like oil, if it could technologically tap the sun for all the energy it needed?

As this topic is certainly an interesting and revolutionary one, I am wondering what you all think about it.  Please leave your opinion in the comments; I’d love to hear your perspective!

My hope is that you may benefit by some of this, and that it may help you develop or further enhance your perspective of the way the world is! Let me know if you’d like to receive an invitation to the next meeting, which will be the Sunday after next, November 30th. I will send out the invitations and details close to a week in advance.

Thank you all and I hope you all have a great week ahead of you!

Meeting Minutes

We had a great time at our meeting!  Although we initially started on the discussion of some global financial and political issues, we certainly ended up on very different tangents!  In total, we had 6 members attend:

(From left to right) Andrew Whatley, Eric Chen, myself (VJ Arjan), Rolando Mestanza, Tommy Schultze, and Jeff Harrington. (Click on the picture to get a larger image)

Our meeting lasted nearly 3 hours and 45 minutes, I think that's the longest it's been yet.  We spent a good deal of time listening to Rolando talk about the financial and political situation in his home country, Peru as well as the rest of the Latin American countries.  We then discussed a little about what would occur if Obama is elected President.  And then we started talking about some really intriguing things and for a good deal of the time, Tommy Schultz, who has spent extensive amounts of time making a study of handwriting, analyzed each of our signatures as well as numerous those for other important figures.  It was lots of fun and I think we spent over an hour doing just that as it was so fascinating how much a signature can reveal about one’s inner character/personality.  As a result of the way this meeting went, I've decided not to limit the topics of conversation to economic, social, and geopolitical issues, but rather to just let it flow as it may.  I feel there is a time for all things, and so it may be for the discussions at these meetings also.

Latin America

Peru

Rolando spoke to us about the Peruvian economy, which is mostly mining gold, silver, and copper.  According to him, Peru is one of the largest miners and exporters of these metals.  Grupo Mexico, the largest mining corporation in Mexico and the third largest copper producer in the world, has been buying up copper ores in Peru.  The Free-Trade Agreements between Latin American counties and America is leading to the outsourcing of American jobs and the outflow of money to poor laborours in Latin American countries.  This is a godsend for most people in these countries who are being kept poor by a ruling elite that is hoarding the wealth. 

Chile

Rolando considers Chile the most advanced of the Latin American counties.  They have privatized retirement funds there, to the point where it comprises 50% of the stock markets.  He noted that President Bush wanted to implement something similar here in the US, but his plan was struck down by both houses.

Venezuela

Since Chavez has taken control, oil production has declined 20%.  The nationalized oil company is now an enormous conglomerate that produces everything from furniture to foodstuffs.  Chavez has implemented a cunning policy there; although he states that he wants to free the Venezuelan worker from the clasp of the ruling elite, he is not providing direct aid to them to help them rise financially.  Instead, he has opened a series of comedars (eating places), where he literally gives away food to the masses.  However, it may be wise to remember the old proverb: feed a man a fish and he is fed for the day; teach him how to fish and he is fed for life.  Chavez wants the keep the people dependent upon him, so that when he decides to abolish the current constitution, which has already tried to once, he will have the willing support of the people.

America

Subprime Continued…

We joked today that Bank of America has become the corporate motto for all companies.  (Merrill) LYNCH (Bank of) AMERICA COUNTRYWIDE!  But seriously, there is outright favouritism going on here.  Essentially the Fed has given the largest banks funds to start buying up the smaller/weaker ones.  Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are simply too big to fail.  Interestingly, however, the $50 billion provided by the Fed to these banks to start initiating money into the system via loans is going strangely enough to paying out executive bonuses.  In fact, Jeff Harrington noted that $20 billion of the original $50 billion has already gone out in this way.  So much for helping the American people…

Social Security

“Welfare is the Hugo Chavez of the Democrats!” – Jeff Harrington

There seems no way out of the Social Security debacle if the Democrats control all three seats of office (President, House, Senate).  Obviously, if Obama is elected, he will not be able to deliver on all he is promising – no candidate, historically, has every done so.  But if he diligently executes what he has proposed then we will become like Germany, Italy, and Britain, where the government takes on a more dominant role and oftentimes a not-so-efficient one.  Taxes will increase to European levels.

United States v. Tobacco Companies

In 1999, the United States government sued the major tobacco companies for promoting their product while deliberately knowing that nicotine was an addictive substance.  I explained how I saw on C-SPAN History that none of the corporate executives and CEOs of these tobacco firms would admit that nicotine was addictive.  Tommy Schultz then brought up the power of underground marketing.  I admit that I had not known such a method existed.  In essence, it can be a waitress at a restaurant that suggests a certain product, or a pile of boxes in front of a store with a logo that is paid for by companies to promote their product.  This is how the tobacco companies remained profitable while information was publicly available (Surgeon General 1960s) that deemed smoking deleterious and addictive.

If Obama Wins…

In reference to the stock market, if Obama wins:

·         Alternative energy stocks will rise

·         Pour-it or weld-it commodities (concrete, steel, etc.) will rise

·         Oil stocks will rise (many oil companies own alternative energy patents; this will make the   Middle East become dependent upon us, as opposed to the way things are right now.  For example, think if a patent exists on a certain technology that will yield 300 miles per           gallon.)

·         Auto companies will rise (Democrats will support the unions and will, in turn, have to keep the auto companies afloat to do this)

Marriage Paradigm

Most people who practiced marriage in the past had a life expectancy that oftentimes did not reach past 30 years.  The common complaint from those who divorce after decades of marriage is that the other person has changed, etc.  Tommy explained his contention that relationships have become expendable, while before they were perhaps tolerable and held together by a sense of duty or responsibility. Add on top that that many women have built within a biological imperative to be attracted to more aggressive men, the exact trait that does not lend stability and constancy needed in a long-term relationship.  Tommy brought up the practice in the army unofficially termed Army Key Parties.  As those in the army are away from their spouses months at a stretch and know that this gives the other a chance at fooling around, many have decided to knowingly let this occur with other fellow army officers whom they might trust.  Here's what happens.  Let's say army officer Tom from Little Rock, Arkansas has a spouse Amy, and Tom is stationed in Iraq for the next two years.  Well let's assume that back home in Little Rock, he has a few friends that trained with him.  Well Tom would arrange a Key Party at a hotel where these officers would select a key to rooms where various partners of officers overseas are waiting, etc.  It certainly is a unique way to solve a problem and one that I was not aware of at all.  It is conceivable that as relationships become more and more expendable, the concept of marriage could break down completely.  We did not delve into what would take its place.

A Study Of Handwriting

Tommy Schultz explained for more than an hour his lifelong hobby of studying a person’s signature to elicit the personality.  He stated that people’s character traits are naturally and unconsciously expressed through one’s writing, a means of communication.  As there was so much information, I’ve decided not to detail it all as it would take too much time.  I may update this further in the future if and when I have some time, but all I would suggest is to come to the next meeting and ask Tommy yourself to assess your signatures.  His analysis of our signatures was spot on, I believe, and we all very much enjoyed comparing our signatures with each other and analyzing the signatures on the US dollar bills, etc (John Snow, Henry Paulson).  

Simulated Portfolio

I’ve decided to put together an investment portfolio based on suggestions from members in previous meetings and post it online for you all to see how it is doing.  The contention so far is in favour of international ETFs and commodity stocks.  You all are free to submit any suggestions, however, I cannot guarantee any of them will be used.  Email your suggestions to vj_arjan@yahoo.com. So, here it goes!

Date	Security	Entry	Profit/Loss
October 31, 2008	FXI (iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index	$25.16	$0
October 31, 2008	ILF(iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index)	$26.60	$0
October 31, 2008	EWZ(iShares MSCI Brazil Index)	$37.69	$0
October 31, 2008	PBJ(PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage)	$13.27	$0
October 31, 2008	GUR (SPDR S&P Emerging Europe)	$29.74	$0
October 31, 2008	FCX (Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.)	$29.06	$0
October 31, 2008	WLT (Walter Industries – metallurgical coal)	$38.75	$0
October 31, 2008	RIO (Companhia Vale do Rio Doce – gold mining)	$13.12	$0
October 31, 2008	GVA (Granite Construction Inc.)	$35.67	$0
October 31, 2008	MT (Arcelor-Mittal ADR)	$26.25	$0

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My hope is that you may benefit by some of this, and that it may help you develop or further enhance your perspective of the way the world is! Let me know if you’d like to receive an invitation to the next meeting, which will be the Sunday after next, November 16th. I will send out the invitations and details close to a week in advance.

Thank you all and I hope you all have a great week ahead of you!