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iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF


Perfect!

It is just like cash, only it isn't cash. It's a professionally managed bond fund! Genius!

Check out the fund's chart. What's not to like? $2.4 billion in assets! Very popular!

July 20, 2009
Focus on short end of yield curve, PIMCO says

Focus as you patiently await the end of ZIRP! 5 years so far! But we really, really, really mean it this time!




This concludes today's sarcasm report. :)

Cambio reports the Internet was abuzz last week after President Barack Obama snapped a selfie at Nelson Mandela's memorial service.


To make matters worse, it turned out that the sign language interpreter at the service wasn't actually signing anything at all.

Naturally, the whole thing had SNL spoof written all over it and last night, the show tackled the "series of unfortunate events" in its cold opening.

In the skit, the show has their President Obama character (played by Jay Pharaoh) address the untimely selfie and some other important political issues, such as health care.

While he's speaking, he is joined on stage by a "sign language interpreter" and to be honest, we're not sure how Jay managed to keep a straight face through the whole thing.

Nuff said?

Click to enlarge.

Why would we need more repairs? What's the worst that could happen?







Have I mentioned lately that I have no desire to be a landlord? ;)

Evil pranks! And yet I cannot stop laughing, lol. Well, that's not quite true. A quick look back at that first chart stops me. Sigh.

Source Data:
BLS: Employment
St. Louis Fed: Population

The following chart shows the spread between the 30-year TIPS yield and the 20-year TIPS yield.


Click to enlarge.

The spread was clearly following the surface of Jeremy Siegel's head. I factored in something that most investors did not though. Yields would bounce off his left ear! Genius!

In all seriousness, we almost experienced an inverted yield curve between the 20-year TIPS and the 30-year TIPS. In hindsight (at least so far), the 20-year TIPS therefore became a relatively good buying opportunity. If the bond market is the stock market's smarter brother, then it would be hard to see it in this chart. Once the panic began, crazy things happened.

Some investors might find it difficult to invest in TIPS with his eyes peering at us like that, but all I see is Kilroy!


I'm not suggesting that Professor Kilroy is a high-level Allied spy, but there have been days when I've been convinced that he's working in counter-intelligence.



Jeremy Siegel


Shame on me for creating this chart. I just couldn't help myself! I have a twisted sense of humor and this was way too good to pass up. :)

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

August 7, 2013
Time for the gaming industry to take addiction seriously


Hey, perhaps this can be done in the tobacco and fast food industries too! Right there in the design stage!

As the new CEO of Philip Morris, it has come to my attention that cigarettes are very addicting. What can we do to stop that? I'm thinking the next generation cigarette could have a thin protective prophylaxis glued around it after it is dipped in breath freshening mouthwash. Let's brainstorm!

As the new CEO of McDonalds, it has come to my attention that Big Macs are very addicting. What can we do to stop that? I'm thinking that the next generation Big Mac could use unsweetened yogurt in place of the special sauce and the meat could be replaced with dried kelp. Let's brainstorm!

As the new CEO of 7-11, it has come to my attention that our Big Gulps are very addicting. What can we do to stop that? I'm thinking that the next generation Big Gulp cup and its straw could be mostly filled with resin to reduce both the quantity and the flow. Let's brainstorm!

Genius!

Here's the perfect ad campaign straight from Despair.com!

GERD -> BURP

PERD -> ZIRP

Got antacids? ;)