“Recovery Summer”

September 3rd, 2010 Nancy King No comments

Oh where, oh where,

Has the ‘Recovery Summer’ gone?

Oh where, oh where can it be?

With employment cut short

And recession cut long

Oh where, oh where can it be?

Unemployment rate in June—9.5

Unemployment rate at the end of August—9.6

Categories: Living Life Tags:

2000-2009 Stock Returns Funk

September 3rd, 2010 Nancy King No comments

Now, I know why I have been feeling so unenthusiastic about stocks—other than we are in a major recession with no substantial sign of sustainable growth coming our way.

I’ve been working on a lecture about economic cycles and the return on stocks, bonds, and cash. Since I do not have access to the Ibbotson data, I’ve been digging around the Internet and found a great data table from Aswath Damdaran. Take a look at the chart I created from his data, particularly for the return on stocks from 2000-2009 —a minus 0.96%. That is like, “Oh, my gosh!” I know there have been ‘up times’, but the ‘down times’ seem to have left a more lasting impression on me.

Year Stocks T Bonds T Bills
1960-2009 9.26% 4.97% 3.70%
2000-2009 -.96% 6.26% 2.72%

Stocks were up 25.92% in 2009. However, stocks were down 36.58% in 2008. Maybe that is why the Downs make more of an impression on me than the Ups.

Categories: General Investing, The Economy Tags:

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

August 15th, 2010 Nancy King No comments

Yesterday Anchorage broke the previous record set in 1951 of 27 straight days of rain—Yesterday was day 28. It looks as if we will once again have rain before the day is over–day 29. But who is counting!

It’s difficult to work on the ark while waddling around with web feet.

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Seattle Mariner Baseball

August 14th, 2010 Nancy King No comments

Watching two evenly matched teams—even if both are bad (45-71 vs 48-68)—makes for good TV while doing other mundane tasks.

Seattle has been playing so miserably that I decided to cheer for losses so they might at least beat their previous loss record of 104 games their first year. I can’t  get it right; when I was rooting for them to win, they lost. Now that I’m rooting for them to loose, they are winning.

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Moi—Resurfacing

August 14th, 2010 Nancy King No comments

It’s been a well-packed summer.

• I  spent three weeks in June “outside”. Basically a week in Chicago, one in the Philadelphia area, and another in New York. It was one of the nicest trips I have had in a long time. Great food, activities, and conversation. I had intended to take pictures and blog every couple days, but obviously that didn’t work out.

• The first of  July I started back with my educational therapy clients. My two clients turned into six and my four hours a week of  work  turned into 30+. Thank goodness school starts next Wednesday so I finished with the last two clients this week. I will take  only two or three this fall—a doable number on top of Stock Market Game activities, etc.

• In my spare time the last couple weeks, I put together a Stock Market Game Power Point (my very least favorite thing to do) and gave it yesterday afternoon at a District-wide in-service for language arts and social studies teachers. The attendance in my sectional, my PPt, and my delivery were vastly improved over the previous time I did it about three years ago.

• Now, it’s getting the house running smoothly again—I’m catching up on washing and ironing today—and getting ready to teach my two-week Economics and Stocks for Teachers class that begins on Sept. 14, plus write the bonds class I will teach October 19, 21, and 23.

• And no, I don’t see any particular rosy news on the economic/investment side of life. In my opinion, the political landscape is far  too unsettled—uncertain outcomes for the election, added taxation, and added regulation. Many  businesses and individuals are sitting on cash waiting to see which way the wind is going to blow—including me. I may have to use my spare cash for taxes rather than for spending.

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No Employment Recovery Yet

August 13th, 2010 Nancy King No comments

Sister emailed me that my blog was depressing—-I might as well add this August jobs update!

Chart of the Day: The Scariest Jobs Chart Ever Takes A Turn For The Worse

We run this chart every month that Calculated Risk puts together when the jobs data comes out, and it’s always ugly, but this time it shows something really stark.

That red line — which shows the trajectory of our recovery — has now clearly taken a sharp line back down, after (for awhile) curving back higher. Ugly.

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Ted Stevens—RIP

August 13th, 2010 Nancy King No comments

This is a small state and a small community with many interconnections. May our friends, Ted Stevens, Dana and Cory Tindall, and Terry Smith, rest in peace.

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Patricia Neal—RIP

August 9th, 2010 Nancy King No comments

What a life; What a woman!

Thank you, Daughter, for the opportunity to have had lunch with Patricia Neal at the Valdez Theatre Conference several years ago.

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