Newt Gingrich can't be elected President!

Could Newt Gingrich win the U.S. Presidency? No. The best looking presidential candidate always seems to be elected. The lady who reads the newspaper at Starbucks each morning vetted my theory of the best looking president; Truman vs. Dewey in 1948 and Ford vs. Carter in 1976 are the only exceptions over the last 60 years that we could identify... In the era of TV, multimedia, social media, and the web, it seems difficult for an ordinary looking person to win the U.S. Presidency. Without getting into a political debate with you, I wanted to point out that the most "photogenic" presidential candidate, who can generally articulate a vision and discuss the relevant issues, seems to win. The choice for the VP running mate doesn't seem to add much to the ticket, but an unattractive or inexperienced candidate possibly could detract from ticket. Of course, Wagner’s Law of the Best Looking President doesn't mean that the election doesn't matter; I'm just saying that a better looking incumbent has, historically speaking, nearly always has been invincible. Perhaps Obama has already won in 2012?

How to Profit from High Gold Prices

Below is an article published in April 2008 on high gold prices with which I couldn't agree more. Of course, the price of gold has risen substantially since April 2008, but the article reiterates the point that the volatility of gold prices remain a constant worry to small gold investors. In sum, this is a great time to sell gold in the form of old jewelry and current gold investments, or it is a good time to purchase stock in mining companies that bring new gold to market. However, as Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel stated in the article, "I don't think it [gold] has any place in a long-term portfolio."

Source: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1946

Don't Buy Gold as a Long Term Investment

Look, Jim Cramer on CNBC is wrong about gold as a long term investment. On Friday, November 11th, he broadcast that you should put 10% of your portfolio into gold. Don't put 10% of your portfolio into gold or precious metals! Gold is a terrible long term investment. Never even dream of rolling an IRA into Gold! Instead, put about 1% of your entire portfolio into gold, if it will help you sleep at night. Gold mining operations are trying to bring as much gold to market as possible. The price of gold is going to crash when speculators decide it is time to cash in; you'll be stuck for the rest your lifetime waiting for gold speculators to drive the price up again. Of course, I'm just guessing because I passed macroeconomics and lived through the 1980's...

Justin Timberlake's In Time Movie... Cool Cars and Awesome Scars

I went to see Justin Timberlake's In Time movie on Sunday. All I can say is... Cool cars and awesome scars, but what's with all the bad haircuts? Don't they have hairstylists in the past, present, future, or whenever that was? So will everyone drive either a Dodge Challenger or vintage Lincoln Continental, or just run from place to place? Justin and Karen from Mean Girls run everywhere stealing time, taking time, or making time. The plot was sort of borrowed from Logan's Run, The Matrix and The Island, but, hey, I liked it.

RedEye with Greg Gutfeld on Fox News

I'm completely addicted to watching Fox News' RedEye... Greg Gutfeld is the pint-sized host with the super-sized wit. The rest of Fox News is marginally watchable, with non-stop drum beating about post Liberal-Zombie-apocalyptic scenarios... The Five is also worth watching.

Jennifer Lopez Appears in Fiat USA's Incomprehensible Advertising

Speaking of incomprehensible advertising... how about that new TV ad where J.Lo drives a Fiat into her old neighborhood...? J.Lo drives? Fiat's are distributed in the U.S.A.? J.Lo drives Fiats? Fiats are a recognizable symbol of inner city empowerment? Those new ideas are something (and perhaps too much) to think about.

What's A Bookstore For? We Have Amazon.com

The other day I went to a large, magical place that had thousands of books, but I didn't specifically need any of the books on display and the books were placed in random order on shelves... And nobody in the store knew anything about books nor could they tell me exactly where to find a book. Yes, I believe historians once called this place a "bookstore"...! My discovery the other day proves that not all bookstores have been replaced with clothing stores. Still, what is a bookstore for? Convenience. We have the selection and pricing of Amazon.com that seems to outweigh the convenience though.

Mourning the Loss of Apple Computer's Steve Jobs

I'm surprising myself this morning by mourning the loss of Steve Jobs... I may even get out my Apple Computer Powerbook 100 to see if the screen still illuminates. My favorite Steve Jobs quote of all time was his recruitment line to John Scully that encouraged him to leave PepsiCo to join Apple Compuer as CEO: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” And Steve Jobs did change the world with development and marketing of lots of wonderful incompatible products... sometimes wonderful is incompatible with status quo.

Brad Pitt's Moneyball Movie and General Petraeus' Counter-insu

We saw Brad Pitt's Moneyball on Saturday. It is a great movie. Brad Pitt and Phillip Peter Hoffman turn in excellent performances. Also, Chris Pratt plays another role besides that goofy shoeshine guy on NBC's Parks and Recreation. The whole movie reminded me of Gen. Petraeus' Counter Insurgency Field Manual for the U.S. Army: the challenger in a conflict must be powerful enough to present an asymmetric threat, but the defender must be nimble enough neutralize the asymmetric threat. (cf. von Clausewitz's "mathematics of a firefight").