by Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

Knock my favorite football team… make fun of my sports jacket… tease me about my hairline… destroy my finance books… have at it. I’ll even give you a pass for making fun of my mother.

But when it comes to capitalism, “it’s on like Donkey Kong.”

And that means you, Michael Moore. His new film, Capitalism: A Love Story, concludes that capitalism is evil.

Time to draw the line at that one.

Capitalism is no more evil than a lion, alligator, shark, or pack of hyenas. These animals are all necessary parts of the food chain, just as corporations are necessary parts of an efficient society. They aren’t evil… they’re the efficient expression of Mother Nature.

Is the outcome always fair? No. Is it always a perfect system? No. Is it “evil?” Absolutely not. This isn’t about good or evil… it’s about profit and earnings.

Survival of the fittest means just that. The fittest and most able survive. The weaker ones do not. Capitalism systematically allows that to happen. It pulls money away from inefficiency (and sometimes stupidity) and puts it in the hands of the smarter folks.

And while there are situations where an unfit organism survives longer than it should (like a male lion without young competition, or a bloated bureaucratic car company like GM), these are the exceptions to the rule. Eventually, nature puts things back in balance.

Not surprisingly, those who complain about capitalism generally find themselves on the side that isn’t smart. But knowledge isn’t static – you can always grow smarter. It’s why we do what we do: helping as many people as possible stay on the smart winning side of the markets.

Moore states that capitalism is evil and you can’t regulate evil. Ironic then, that he’s made a film about it in an attempt to make money from the very thing he rails against – capitalism!

The fact of the matter is that there is no better system that rewards hard work, intelligence and, most importantly, good ideas. These are the things that have improved the living and working conditions for humanity – and will continue to do so.

by Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U
August 10, 2009

In the past couple of weeks, as the recession has cut into traditional news and media outlets, many publishers and content generators are asking the question “Should the web be free?”

To which we reply, absolutely.

Investment U has provided its readers with fresh, new, free content for over a decade. We give actionable investment advice, education and investing ideas every day.

And we don’t plan on changing that.

Many readers ask us, “Why do we receive so many advertisements?” The quick answer is that’s how we stay open. We fund ourselves through our affiliate’s premium services that we advertise. Think of it like free radio.

The major difference is that we’re presenting investing ideas and opportunities in our advertisements – and not the services of a local plumber or smoke shop.

More importantly though, we’re offering you some of the best financial expertise outside of Wall Street. Our investing ideas aren’t conflicted by trying to get you to trade more at our brokerage, racking up large commissions, selling large blocks of our clients shares, or rolling over your 401k.

No. Quite simply, we were founded with the idea that ordinary investors, armed with the right information, can do better than many financial “professionals.” Our mission is to help our readers down the path to financial security and long-term wealth.

And it’s working.

Alexander Green, Louis Basenese, Karim Rahemtulla and our host of other experts give readers an in depth look at all aspects of the market every day – for free.

Regardless of what direction the wind is blowing with the bloated financial establishment, we’re not going to change that. We’ll continue to provide actionable investing ideas to our readers.

Investment U currently boasts over 440,000 subscribers, and we’re growing bigger by the day. If you haven’t already, I urge you to sign up for our free daily E-letter, and find out how easy and close true financial security can be.

Good investing,

Alexander Wissel

by Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U
Thursday, June 4, 2009: Issue #1011

Just over six years ago, we wrote to our subscribers about the smartest path to $1 million. Today seemed like a perfect time to revisit the five easy steps that we can all take to reach – and exceed – that multiple-figure milestone…

“What’s the best stock that I should put my money in – How do I become a millionaire?”

We get this question, or something like it, almost every day from Investment U subscribers, family members and close friends alike. And while I respect the simplicity of the question, the answers of how to begin building wealth are a little harder to vocalize.

For instance, when I was in insurance, I took calls everyday from folks who would request a quote on, say, an 86′ Chevy Nova. But that’s all the information they wanted to give. When I told them it wasn’t that simple, and that we needed to know about their driving history, zip code, mileage and a number of other pertinent facts, they typically became irate…

Insurance isn’t that cut and dry. And neither is investing.

Trying to pick just one stock that is the “best” for everyone is about as easy to do as predicting where the S&P will close in 2020. It can’t be done with any accuracy. And for the record, pushing too much capital toward a single, “holy grail” stock isn’t intelligent risk-taking, either.

To get to the heart of the matter, you’ve got to ask yourself deeper, more relevant questions – ones that are very specific to your unique situation….

• “How do I create lasting wealth?”

• “How can I make enough money to never have to worry about finances again?”

• “How do I retire when I want to?”

• “How do I make enough money to get what I want out of life?

Actually pulling it off isn’t easy, but it’s not as difficult as you might think. Here are five healthy habits that will help you reach your financial goals, and why building wealth with a “Million Dollar Portfolio” isn’t far away.

Building Wealth: The Smartest Path to a Million Dollars

Just over six years ago, Investment U’s then president, Steve Sjuggerud, showed readers five steps towards creating habits that will help begin building wealth – how to become a millionaire. I’m excerpting it below from his original article, “How to Create Wealth: The Smartest Path to a Million Dollars.”

“You can create wealth and acquire a multimillion-dollar net worth by doing just five things:

1. Get to work an hour early.

2. Develop and then perfect a financially valuable skill.

3. Use that skill to earn an above-average income.

4. Spend less than you earn.

5. Invest your savings smartly.

Investment U will work hard to build you into the best investor that you can be. But we specialize in investing – which is only one of the five things above.

Building good investing habits and making smart decisions with your finances is something you must use discipline with for the rest of your life.

The 5 Steps of Building Wealth

• 1. Get to work an hour early. “By getting to work early, you can do all the little things that put you ahead of the pack. You can make extra contacts, learn useful skills, take time to write an impressive memo, polish off a report, etc. If you do it right, this will be the most productive part of your day.” My friend sometimes refers to it as “compound effort.” Like compounding interest in investing, the rewards are small at first, but in time, your value to your business increases extraordinarily.

• 2. Develop and then perfect a financially valuable skill. “To put yourself on track to make the big bucks, you must get yourself into the money stream of your own company. In business, a valuable employee is one who can make a critical contribution to the bottom line. Selling is a financially valued skill. So is producing profits. So is the ability to create growth. Other skills – making things run smoothly, eliminating mistakes, balancing books, etc. – are valuable to business, but they are not as highly valued when it comes time to determining how much of the money pie goes to you. Do everything you can to help your boss produce a better bottom line.”

• 3. Use that skill to earn an above-average income. “If you are making less than $75,000 a year now, it’s almost certainly because you have not perfected a financially valued skill. Applying a financially valued skill toward a business you work for or a business you own (or both) will create wealth. Part of that wealth should go to you. Ask for it. Beg for it. Demand it.”

• 4. Spend less than you earn. “It was as easy as that. I decided simply to get richer one month at a time. That simple promise had a profound impact on the way I thought about myself, my job, my business relationships and wealth building itself. It made me see – almost instantly – that many of my habits (including some of my spending habits) were financially unhealthy. Plus, it gave me an underlying determination to get a little bit richer every day.”"One day I had an idea. I took out a sheet of paper and tallied up my net worth. Despite earning $50,000 more that year than my previous highest salary, my net worth was still less than $10,000. I made myself a simple promise. I said that from then on I’d recalculate my net worth once a month and that I’d do everything I possibly could to make sure that each month’s total would be larger than the month before.

• 5. Invest smartly. The fifth step is something that you can do every day by reading Investment U. You’ll get actionable advice and insight on how to take advantage of market movements. In addition, you’ll understand how using simple strategies like position sizing and asset allocation can reduce your risk. In short, we’ll help you invest your hard-earned money and savings smartly.

To get to where you want to go, you must do more than read about it – you must put the plan into action. To build personal wealth, you’ll need to commit today to doing all of the following:

• Set your alarm an hour earlier.

• Identify the financially valued skill you are going to develop.

• Commit to spending less than you earn.

• Make it a habit to recalculate your net worth on a monthly basis. Then promise yourself you’ll do what it takes to grow that bottom line.

• Invest smartly.

Dr. Steve’s five habits are as true today as they were six years ago, and they will be true in another six, or 60 years. So start this quarter with a fresh perspective and take the first steps to building long-lasting wealth.

You have nothing to lose. And a lot to gain.

Good investing,

Alexander Wissel

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

We’ve heard how over the past few months Americans have closed their wallets and started saving more. The national savings rate has climbed for the first time in decades.

This newfound zeal for saving money has been a boon for many companies that help consumers save or cut back. Companies like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), Rewards Network (Nasdaq: DINE) and Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) have thrived on cost conscious consumers.

The question is how long can this last?

The latest reports from Gallup have noted a trend for consumers spending less. But are the cost cutbacks voluntary or forced. Consumers cutting back to be frugal is quite different from bargain shopping because you have to.

Time will tell if this newfound frugality will remain. But if history shows us anything from the dot.com blowup and mortgage fueled resurgence, our return to careless spending is right around the corner.

Regardless of when it ends, the longer this mindset lasts the better it will be for Dollar Tree (Nasdaq: DLTR) Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) and Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO).

Symbols mentioned in this article: NFLX, DINE, WMT, DLTR, BIG and FDO.

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

We keep hearing over and over again that we’re vacillating on our market position and that we’ve taken bullish and bearish stances over the past few weeks. Specifically, readers have cited Alex Green’s article for its bearishness and Mark Skousen’s article for his bullishness.

If Alex Green’s article title suggested bearishness, then I’ll admit fault and suggest that the addition of “Red” might incorrectly indicate that he is bearish when he is not – Alex remains cautious, but bullish.

Let me set the record straight if there has been any confusion concerning our outlook…

In the long-term we are, have been and will continue to be, bullish on the future. In the short-term, we see a number of challenges – some which lead us to bullish conclusions while others require us to be more concerned.

Our biggest concern is the potential for a pullback in the near-term. It could impact short-term trades. However, anyone with money in the market should have a timeline of at least five years or more. With that kind of timeline, equities look undervalued.

One of the other concerns we see on the horizon is the “consumer recession” ­– the result of hundreds of thousands of layoffs, little savings and record consumer debt levels. Our economy has always relied on the free-spending American consumer.

What happens when they cannot afford to spend any more?

It’s an open question, but the concern is that if Americans don’t start getting back to work soon, we could see the residual effects of this recession last much longer than anyone thinks.

One of the most interesting things we’ve seen over the past week has come from the think tank over at Bespoke. The lined up the charts from the current 2007-2009 period with the 1936-1939 crash. The similarities are interesting to say the least.

Based on these charts, we could see a pullback in the near-present future.

Generally we try not to pay too much attention to the market’s fluctuations and churning other than looking for buying opportunities – and that hasn’t changed.

But with the carnage we’ve seen over the past year and a half, we’re more likely to caution readers on short-term pullbacks, lest we upset their fragile confidence.

Regardless of the short-term pressures, we can be positive that we’re going to see a volatile summer and fall. And as investors we need to keep our wits about us and our eyes peeled so that we can pounce on the opportunities as they arise.

And it’s a lock that we’re going to see buying situations and bargains present themselves in the next year that we may not see again, conceivably, for our lifetimes.

Good investing,

Alexander Wissel

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

Listening to the reports that keep coming out of “talks” with General Motors ownership groups: bondholders, government officials, and just about everyone else it seems. We are struck by the notion that somehow the UAW thinks that this wasn’t their fault.

With the dysfunction between management and workers at GM and Chrysler, no one saw the slippage – no one noticed the problems. No one took ownership of them.

No snowflake ever thinks it caused the avalanche…

With unions bloating the budgets, overtaxing the finances and putting out sub-par products, innovation at American automakers fell by the wayside while thousands of union snowflakes sat by and watched it happen.

Let’s face it; the unions have been parasites to our automotive industry. They have slowly bled these once great and proud companies to death. And only now that they see their hosts about to die – and looking at the losses of millions in union dues – are we seeing any movement from these slugs.

Unfortunately the movement consists of strong-arming the government to protect “American jobs.”

And the loss of those jobs is unfortunate. Many of these factory employees have little marketable skills other than building vehicles. And even if the skills were marketable, where would they go?

Most are in small towns where “the plant” is the biggest and only major employer. And sadly the towns around them never diversified enough to become more than a one factory town.

The fact of the matter is that it will be painful for the economy to absorb the losses of hundreds of thousands of jobs from the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors.

Even still, it’s a distasteful medicine that must be taken in order for the United States to move into the future.

There was a time when unions were the only entity that looked out for workers. Without OSHA and without government protection, employers rode roughshod over their workers. Unions were needed to balance out the equation.

But that was close to one hundred years ago… times have changed.

And at some point in the union/host company relationship, the system broke down. The employees started answering to their union instead of their company. The workers worried more about their benefits than the fact the products they produced weren’t that great.

Over the past 50 years unions have become little more than spoiled children asking for more and pitching fits when they don’t get their way. Unfortunately, this has affected the auto industry worst of all.

And with GM and Chrysler we can look up and down the management structure to find fault. Bloated union pay packages are just as disgusting as bloated executive compensation – neither one deserves what they are being paid.

It’s sad that employees have felt entitled to high hourly wages and benefits that average hourly employees don’t get. They’ve felt slighted when a company decides to outsource their positions, or upgrade to robotics. And the unions have weighed heavy concessions from their hosts when they did.

If you think about it, we’re all replaceable.

Very few people are so rare or so gifted that they can’t be replaced. None of these employees are really special, or irreplaceable – and the easier you are to replace, the less you should make.

Instead of forcing more concessions out of these companies and getting upset that jobs were going overseas, American workers should have been looking for ways we could be more productive, more cost effective and more valuable as employees.

I firmly believe that American workers are some of the greatest workers in the world. But not for reasons you’d think. It’s not because we work longer, stronger, faster, or better than anyone internationally.

It’s because we are all entrepreneurs, and we can all find better ways for our companies to profit more – whether we own them or not. That’s how we protect our jobs and that’s how you become irreplaceable.

That’s how we will maintain our economic independence – not through protectionism or trade tariffs.

My optimistic spirit looks at the hundreds of thousands that could lose their jobs and sees many who would look at themselves in the mirror and say, “I can do better.”

These are the people that will build new business models for the next one hundred years – the next Google, the next Microsoft, and the next great American automaker. These individuals are the phoenix’ that will rise from the ashes of the automakers.

They will start over and get it right.

It’s the greatest part of our capitalist system and the American spirit.

We’re now seeing the logical result of a failed business model made worse by a union stranglehold. The bankruptcy for GM isn’t going to be pretty, we’re not going to like it, and everyone ultimately will pay for the mistakes and missteps here.

There will be no winners, only losers.

Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed above are the positions of this writer and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Investment U or The Oxford Club.

by Alexander Wissel, Guest Editorial,
Monday, May 11, 2009: Issue #994

Did you miss the perfect insider buying opportunity? You might have.

Over the past two months stocks have climbed almost 40%. After hitting historical lows – and being completely oversold – the markets have been clawing their way back up, week by week.

And even with the ugliness caused by the release of the banking stress tests last week, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing values plunge. There’s simply too much money sitting on the sidelines, and it’s slowly creeping back in.

Since 1987 the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) has conducted a monthly survey on how we allocate our money between stocks, bonds and cash. And per the most recent survey, the percent of direct investments in individual stocks is at an all-time low of 17%, nearly half the historical average of 31%.

Thus, a mountain of cash remains on the sideline. If even a quarter of that cash returns to the market – and I suspect more than that will – we could feasibly march another 15% to 20% higher from here.

Investors who have been waiting for the perfect entry point could be quite disappointed to learn that we’re not going to get it. We may not see a second bottom or this “perfect entry point” everyone expects.

Even if there is a slight pullback, we may not see these price levels from March 6 again – realistically, in our lifetimes.

So what is a careful investor to do? Easy. Follow the time-tested steps we use to pick out undervalued companies in any market – including this one. Chief amongst them is insider buying…

Follow the Insiders to Undervalued Stocks in Any Market

Quite simply, one of the best buy signals that investors can get is strong insider buying. Heavy insider trading is the surest way you can tell if the management believes their company is undervalued.

• Insiders are the officers who run a company, the directors who oversee the officers, and 10% beneficial owners of the stock who are presumed to be more than ordinarily well apprised of the company’s business and future prospects.

• Insiders know virtually everything that can be known about the company they run. They know the pace of sales day to day. They know of new products in development. They know whether the company is a takeover candidate or is already getting unsolicited offers.

• They know everything that reasonably can be known about their company’s business prospects, employees, customers, suppliers and competitors…

In short, insiders have an unfair advantage when they go into the market to trade their own company’s stock shares. After all, they know not only all the public information about their company but a great deal of non-public information as well.

For this reason, the U.S. government requires all insiders to report their transactions to the SEC by the tenth day of the month following the month in which they buy or sell their company stock shares.

It’s how “Uncle Sam” helps level the playing field for smaller investors. It opens a window on what the insiders are doing with their money. It also gives us an insider advantage when deciding whether a value play truly is undervalued.

Why It’s Risky To Base Your Investment Decisions on Insider Buying

It’s important to be careful when basing your decisions on the movements of insider buying. They can easily give you mixed signals. And while insider buying is the clearest signal you can get, insider selling is about the cloudiest.

Take a look at most publicly listed stocks and you might be surprised at how many sales are being recorded. Every day executives and officers are selling their company stock. But unlike purchases, there are a number of reasons why.

It could be that these officers have a large amount of their salary given to them as stock. Many executives receive salaries of $1 and the rest of their multi-million-dollar compensation packages are paid in stock. The only way they get that money is through regular stock sales.

It could be that these individuals are going through a nasty divorce, putting kids through college, building a new house, supporting a family member, or even has a gambling addiction.

Either way, the point is clear: Insider stock sales are not a clear signal to sell.

Bill Gates has been a regular seller of Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) for decades. So has Larry Ellison at Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL). Yet if you’d held these stocks for the past 20 years, you would have done okay. In fact, you would have earned many, many times your original investment.

Even in the case of Enron where company executives were dumping billions of shares en-masse’, we cannot guarantee that there were no other motivations outside of the companies performance.

On the other hand, there is only one reason an insider purchases a stock: They believe it’s undervalued. That’s why insider buying is the best buy signal that you can get when trying to find undervalued companies.

Three Insider Buying Triggers To Watch For

Here are three “insider buying triggers” you should look out for:

• Purchases around price points. Keep an eye out for upper management, executives and directors consistently buying large amounts of stock around a specific price point. You’ll start to notice that they stick below a certain price level.

• Insider purchases relative to their current holdings. A director who owns a million shares, and who buys 10,000 more isn’t as interesting as one who’s buying two million more shares. Are they buying larger amounts than their current holdings?

• Salary levels of insiders. A director making $40 million who risks $30,000 isn’t as interesting as a middle manager that risks a majority of his annual salary on the same $30,000 purchase. The size of their purchases relative to their salaries lets you know how sure they are of their investment.

These are some of the biggest tips that the insiders give us that the markets are undervaluing a particular stock. By taking these simple cues, we can turn their insider knowledge to our advantage.

Following the insiders is one of the easiest, and most profitable, ways used to beat the markets year after year.

Good investing,

Alexander Wissel

Today’s Investment U Crib Sheet

Following the insiders isn’t the only time-tested way to outperform the markets year-in and year-out. But all of our methods and strategies would be useless without a firm foundation that starts with our “Four Pillars of Wealth.”

Building upon the Four Pillars, we use a rock solid Asset Allocation model. In fact, Dr. Harold Markowitz won the 1990 Nobel Prize in economics for this wealth building investment formula.

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

More often then you would imagine, the editors at Investment U see echoes, reflections and sometimes, downright copies, of the ideas we publish on a daily basis. And it’s flattering really.

It’s a sign that we’re exposing something the Wall Street “establishment” recognizes as valuable. And while its not always easy – or popular – to endorse ideas that are outside conventional thinking. We take pride in knowing that we are on the front edge of the “learning” curve.

In fact, last Friday we published an article on the looming disaster in Commercial Real Estate. He showed readers why banking stocks aren’t the place to be right now because of the proverbial “shoe dropping” fallout in commercial and industrial loans.

Six days later, Time published “The Looming Crisis in Commercial Real Estate” espousing the exact same point of view. Michael Weisskopf has done a nice job of expanding upon Dave’s article and fleshing out a few of the numbers behind this potential disaster.

Now it’s clear that this isn’t a plagiarism issue, but rather a continuation of the ideas that we brought to life at Investment U. And ultimately, a good idea is a good idea, regardless of where it comes from, or how many people promote it.

It’s nice to be first though…

To read David Fessler’s full article, go here. To read the follow up story from Time, go here.

Kudos, Dave.

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

We get many interesting reader comments here at Investment U. We see our fair share of positive and not-so-positive comments.

Recently our article on dollar cost averaging elicited a host of responses that questioned why we are favoring using this strategy…

“Dollar averaging is a technique promoted by institutions to keep people invested long-term without deliberately managing their investment.”

And the reader is absolutely right about that. Mutual fund companies would love nothing more for investors to invest blindly – either through retail brokerage or their 401ks – their goal is for investors to keep their money with them as long as possible.

More than a few of use have sat behind the “mutual fund service desk” giving the company line to a customer who’s lost a substantial sum in their mutual funds. If it’s not a retirement account the correct answer should be “yes, sell those shares, take a tax loss and buy back in after 30 days if you really believe in the fund.”

Unfortunately, the conversation doesn’t go like that. It starts with something like “…mutual funds are a long-term investment and shouldn’t be traded as a short-term investment. Stay invested in this fund and trust that the fund will come back, and that long-term results will etc., etc.”

Mutual funds are in the business to hold money, not let their shareholders trade. It’s why we recommend ETFs. They give investors the same diversification advantages without the hassles of mutual fund fees, expenses, and bureaucracy.

So we agreed with the first point, but we strongly disagree with the next few.     

Investment U does not “favor” investing without a disciplined plan for selling. It’s why we use trailing stops. Trailing stops are a disciplined “sell strategy” for locking in gains and preventing small losses from becoming big ones. You can read more about them here. 

The next point really stuck out to us as needing some review.

“Anyone who wants to make serious money would NEVER use dollar averaging.”

Dollar cost averaging is a strategy for building up a position in a stock, mutual fund, index, ETF or any other investment. It allows an investor to limit their risk of buying in at the peak for whatever time period they invest over.

However, you could also use the same strategy to leverage out of a position. As opposed to selling in one large sum, you could sell in smaller amounts (the way money managers do). It would lower the risk that you sold out at the wrong time.

We also received a comment on the transaction costs involved with multiple smaller transactions. There are brokerages like Sharebuilder.com that allow you to purchase on a consistent basis at a reduced commission – $4 or lower depending upon your plan.

Hope this helps clarify some of the misunderstandings surrounding dollar cost averaging and its benefits and downsides. Our goal at Investment U is to give you impartial, no-nonsense advice on how to build long-lasting wealth.

by Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

Dear Investment U Reader,

We’ve heard everyone from the far right to the far left criticize the administration’s plan to kick out General Motors (NYSE: GM) CEO, Rick Wagoner, and the resulting “back to the drawing board order.” The outcry has been a little on the ridiculous side. Let’s face it – he deserved it.

What seems to be scaring investors is that they believe the very essence of our capitalist society is on the verge of breaking down. But that’s simply ludicrous. Wall Street has plunged over the news in the past couple of days, still with no idea of what to make of it all.

In many ways it reminds us of teenager who just found out their parents are “joining them” in going to a movie theatre with friends – not happy.

But lets face it, The government was asked by these companies to lend outrageous, and many times obscene amounts of money to keep these private companies going. Without which, they surely would be liquidating or already in bankruptcy.

We’ve written about the U.S. automakers before, here, so its no surprise that they got what they deserved. Ultimately, any organization needs to be wary of who they allow to take a majority ownership stake. Not all majority shareholders are benevolent Warren Buffett types.

For example, a politician who takes large sums of campaign contributions from a tobacco/nuclear waste/drug/oil company pretty much has to realize that they are beholden to that company if they get elected.

It also means that when they accepted that money, they knew the risks, and accepted that their contributors would own their official positions.

It works the same way in the boardroom. Whoever owns a majority of the shares makes the rules and sets the agenda.

These companies who have accepted large amounts of TARP, Bailouts and Handouts had to understand that they were giving over control. And now they’re crying foul.

The smart companies are already figuring out ways to give the money back, and get the government out of their books. The ones that can’t… well, one of the great things about our capitalist system is that these company’s corporate ideals, systems and principles will die with them.

And in some of these cases, they probably should have been put out of their misery a long time ago.