Interesting arb. opp. for cash advance/float

I occasionally peruse the Fatwallet.com Finance forum and have stumbled across some interesting ideas. In addition to providing me about $1,000 in "free cash" over the last year by highlighting sign-up bonuses for checking accounts, it provides some interesting and clever ways of making successful use of unintended consequences.

One I have taken advantage of is the US Mint $1 Presidential Coin Direct Shipment program.

ETF spreadsheet updated for week of July 6-10

I've updated my custom ETF spreadsheet that covers a ton of sectors, asset classes, and related Proshares/Direxion leveraged and inverse ETFs, where available.

Refer to my earlier post for instructions on how to read/interpret the spreadsheet. Do let me know if you note any errors, or would like to see changes.

Thanks!

Ryan

What happened to the Wall Street Journal's writing?

I'm catching up on news after a wonderful 4th of July. Evidently North Korea did launch several short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan yesterday.



As distressing as this development is, I found myself even more distressed by some not-so-nuanced reporting in the Wall Street Journal on this story. In particular, this passage bothered me:


North Korea's leaders are able to push forward their weapons program because they show little regard for the impact of weapons-related economic penalties on the country's people. Moreover, they have South Korea and Japan pinned down militarily by hundreds of missiles and artillery rockets and they have China fearful that their ouster and resulting instability would send many North Koreans into northeastern Chinese provinces. (emphasis added)

How much of an impact is Twitter having in Iran?

This is a story about how I was caught gullible - twice.

Like everyone else who depends upon mass media for a fair amount of my news, I was a bit surprised that Twitter was arguably playing a significant role in the protests in Tehran over the recent presidential election. I mean, this is Twitter, whose model for communication opens itself up to breathtakingly easy parody, as Conan Seize-the-low-hanging-fruit O'Brien illustrates. (I love you Conebone.) Case closed... right?

Calculated Risk analyzes the Rockefeller Foundation report on nosediving state income tax revenues

First and foremost, if you're not familiar with Calculated Risk, it is perhaps one of the most influential and highly regarded financial/economic blogs on the Web. Definitely recommend checking it regularly.

The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government issued a report on state income tax revenue available at their website (pdf). In case you want a preview, look no further than their title: "April is the Cruelest Month". (Confused? Click here. And start reading him before I have to stop being friends with you.)

Pablo Neruda, and the Election Protests in Iran

I'm not saying that Neruda is a voice that makes sense to use for the Mousavi supporters. The poem, like the situation unfolding in Tehran, is complex, and it would be dangerous to underestimate the complexity of either. So here is, what I hope, is a complex enough concatenation of these two forces that tells a story. Whose, I do not know, and all of us wait for the next chapters to be written.

The text is from "Tu Risa" ("Your Laughter") by Pablo Neruda. The photos and captions are of the election protests in Tehran, located at the Boston Globe website.

Your Laughter