The United States and Denmark are the only two democratic countries that have a debt ceiling, writes James Surowiecki in The New Yorker. No one else finds it all that necessary. Why do we? Possibly because we are one of the few democracies that sends 535 mostly undiciplined numbskulls to Capitol Hill.

Agree, agree, agree.   First, TG-UK is going to be the benchmark, and, yes, the camerawork, production, and writing of TG-UK are brilliant.  That has never been lost on me.  You can see the production value runs much deeper than just the three hosts, and I still get a chuckle over the "Tutu" rolling credits for the...more

Nothing about the whole field of technical analysis tells you about the present value or future potential of the business.  It's little better than gambling based on the last horse race, or if an MLB pitcher is wearing his favorite socks.   I'm a long time holder of both Amazon and Netflix.  I would have lost out o...more

What an intellectually dishonest article this is!    For instance...Buffett, after all, is the one who attacked Wall Street CEOs for being "reckless" but invested $10 billion in Goldman Sachs Group...   By chance did you or your fact checkers note the favorable terms of the investment???  As is typical of Buff...more

What has been overlooked is that Buffett doesn't buy a company just because others have gotten fearful of its prospects or because it looks cheap to the market.  The man has an encyclopedic knowledge of companies he is already interested in buying at the right price.  Only then does his buying strategy come in to play....more

Maybe Christine figured, why bother when Lyndsay Buckingham will probably quit half-way through the tour (again) ?

@scrappingby - a reasonble question, but I suspect you already know the answer.  Which industry is a heavy user of timber, and recently tanked big time? Housing.  I only have a one-dimensional view, but if by near future you mean short term, I wouldn't touch it myself.  Maybe later when I sense a turnaround, but I thin...more

Jim109 - A pound of gold is 12 oz, not 16.  Therefore a pound of feathers actually weighs more than a pound of gold.  It has to do with using the tradition of using the troy ounce for gems.  Don't assume there's logic involved, that's just the way it is.

I wonder - are the people calling for $5000 gold the same ones who were writing books like "Dow 20,000" a few years back?  At some point the underlying value will overtake momentum. Like someone else said here - who are you going to get to buy your $5000 gold?  Nobody buys (or at least nobody should buy) without a reas...more