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12/27/11

Italy is scheduled to sell $11 billion dollars worth of debt on Thursday in three and ten year bonds.  Interest rates on their existing debt edged higher this morning, to 7.13% on ten-year bonds.  For comparison, German ten-year bunds were priced to yield 1.92%.

We expect volume to be very low this week.  Friday was the lowest volume of the year.  We believe much of the “window dressing” we have referenced has already been completed.  Low volume can lead to volatility.  Any scare could cause a sudden sell-off as there are fewer buyers willing to step in front of a train.  The market feels like a lonely place today!

We are going to email an alert to our Long-Term Portfolio subscribers after market close tonight.  We want to put stop limit orders on most all of our positions for the balance of the week to protect us from an individual stock being hit or a market wide sell-off hitting us in the closing days of the year.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas weekend. My wish would be that all could be surrounded by family and friends, but alas I know this is not true for many.  We were lucky that our four girls were home.  My wife and I savor this.  It is left unsaid, but we know this gathering may have been our last.

Boyfriends or husbands will soon start to pull our girls in different directions.  As their careers flourish, the distance and time constraints will eventually limit our ability to share each other for a couple of days.

As we grow older, the distance will become greater and the time spent with our children will be less and less as their lives fill up with their own families.  When my grandfather told me “It is hell to grow old” I thought he was talking about aches and pains.  The pain of distant family spread from coast to coast seems to me much worse than any ache or pain.

My wife works in an Assisted Living Home.  This is for active adults that desire a group setting.  Meals are prepared, housecleaning and laundry is done.  There are daily activities to fill the time.

We have spent the last two New Year’s Eves there with older folks whose family is too busy to come by for Christmas or New Year’s Eve. This year we have made other plans with some other old friends.

I knew many of the residents as a young man; they were leaders in our community or church.  In some cases, I may have gone to school with their kids.  I worked with one lady’s husband who has passed away.  One’s grand-daughter worked for me years ago.  I encourage you to visit your neighborhood retirement home.  It may be cold outside, they may not be your parents, but you will leave feeling warm inside.

John

Quote:
If kids can forget their own mothers but still have a sense of comrade Lenin, then Soviet power really is here to stay.---Andrei Platonov

The information presented in this newsletter is based on generally available news releases, corporate filings, current events, interviews and the editor’s opinions.  It may contain errors and you should not make investment decisions based solely on what you believe you have read here.  Do your own research, it is your money.  If you lose it, it is your responsibility, not ours or your grandmothers!  The editor may or may not have a position in any securities discussed.  The editor may have held a position in a security earlier, or in the future.

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