All Aboard

All aboard
Don't you miss that train
If you miss that train
Don't miss the party train
Oh...don't you miss that train
If you miss that train
Don't miss that party train
Everybody all aboard
Oh...baby
Gap Band

I keep saying the fix is in, but it gets even easier when rails and coal stocks join the party. I think some of that is an attempt to buy laggards, but some is also a valid reaction to oversold conditions and some is just a reflection of an America that's going to make it. I have to say as an old school guy that likes to see the transportation stocks in the mix, it was pleasant to watch. Moreover, I have been burned in coal (no pun intended) and think it's oversold. In fact, the EPA's war on coal could backfire as the economy nudges back and demand increases as fewer plants means higher prices and higher profits.

If you don't believe me check www.whitehouse.gov.

I also don't think China is going to have a hard landing, and I see global demand remaining firm. In some ways it doesn't matter. Yesterday CSX gave a presentation that was confident and upbeat looking for steady growth in the economy with its business experiencing strong auto and domestic intermodal increases.

The fix is in and the party train is leaving the station—everybody all aboard!

Sour Grapes and False Gripes

So much has been made about that op-ed on Goldman Sachs, and I want to chime in, too. First of all, I would never try to justify rogue actions at Goldman or anywhere else on Wall Street. The fact of the matter is I started Wall Street Strategies because I felt investors were not getting the best service from the Street. In fact, as a broker, I saw firsthand the mentality that often puts the client second to the firm's bottom line. Sure, if you had a big enough account you were treated better, got the hot IPOs and your broker always picked up the phone. But, when they say retail broker they mean it like a retail operation that has to move inventory that's maybe old or not the best quality.

That said I see the op-ed as a hit piece designed to fold into a string of news, editorials and fake revelations where the underlying goal is to pit the so-called 1% against the so-called 99%. It's really transparent, and I think it fails because Americans still believe in the American Dream even if a whole lot are sleeping through nightmares. Goldman Sachs isn't the only proxy for capitalism. Those kids around the nation that have been told to shut down lemonade stands during the last year are proxies for capitalism. The proxy for capitalism is the person that bought a pickup truck yesterday and a magnetic sign that reads: "Odd Jobs-Man for Hire."

Goldman Sachs began as a one-room operation on Pine Street in New York doing commercial paper in 1869. The company helped to usher in the age of the initial public offering in 1906. And, the company's clients got scorched in the crash of 1929 leading the firm to become the butt of jokes by superstars of that day like Eddie Cantor who lost a bundle. A reputation was born, and it's never fully gone away. So, the notion that somehow the culture has changed in the last 12 years seems farfetched in my opinion. The fact is greed is a motivator on Wall Street and in most living rooms in the nation.

Most of us want as much as we can get-legally.

If Goldman is dumb enough to rip off their own clients, it's unlikely the firm will be around another 143 years.

But, what will be around are class warfare and a desire to form a more perfect union- based on equal distribution of wealth regardless of effort, risks, intelligence or luck. What's happening in France has me very worried about America because it's an ideology that is at the core of the White House's own beliefs and will be unleashed in a second term. It's an idea that twists the ideas of capitalism and common sense. It's an idea that's so backward and ill-conceived you wonder how it's lingered for a couple hundred years.

French Kiss-Off

New polls in France have challenger Francois Hollande increasing his lead over Nicholas Sarkozy. Sure, we have our own election and most can't see how results in France would impact or influence our results, but they would be wrong. The fact of the matter is major movements throughout history have often been global moves in the same ideological direction. Slavery ended on several continents only several years apart. Make no mistake there is a school of thought without borders and that school of thought sees 2012 as its last stand (for now). Progressives have their own network pushing the agenda hard and most of the media that swoons over the liberal agenda.

In a key poll this week Hollande would gain 58% of the vote over Sarkozy in a runoff. Keep in mind there are other candidates including Marine Pen (polling at 16%), Francois Bayrou (11.5%) and leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melechon (10%) trying to win the presidency. But, it's Hollande who scares me from across a giant ocean. His first order of business would be a 75% "millionaires" tax that begins to levy higher rates at incomes, starting with a 45% rate on households that earn more than €150,000. It is estimated the millionaire tax would impact 7,000 to 30,000 people which is a sad indictment in of itself.

At least this guy says the things that go hand and hand with the notion of punishing the rich and this is what we need to be cognizant of because the following comments are part and parcel of a mindset that aims to level the playing field through wealth redistribution and economic punishment.

"Patriotism to accept paying extra tax to get the country back on its feet again"
"The world of finance is the country's greatest enemy"
"Message of social cohesion"
"Fiscal justice"

Taking a Shot

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