October 2008 – Page 3 – Gavinsblog.com

"Buy American. I Am."

Is it time to start calling a bottom on the market when Warren Buffett tells New York Times readers that it’s time to start buying? I’m not sure, but it’s certainly worth a read. Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, has recently been involved in purchasing stock in Goldman Sachs (albeit preferred stock) and General Electric.

Other holdings include Coca Cola, Kraft Foods, Nike and Burlington Northern.

I have seen some very low Price/Earnings ratios on some really good companies of late. And in the current climate, the wisest course of action might be defensive stocks. Johnson and Johnson stands out for me. That or stay out of the market altogether. For now.

Reuters have a report on Mr Market’s reaction.

Nir Rosen and the Taliban

Nir Rosen, veteran of reporting from Fallujah at the height of the insurgency in Iraq, writes in the latest issue of Rolling Stone about the Taliban. Or rather, he writes about his time spent with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

By the time we reach the town of Salar, only 50 miles south of Kabul, we have already passed five tractor-trailers from military convoys that have been destroyed by the Taliban. The highway, newly rebuilt courtesy of $250 million, most of it from U.S. taxpayers, is pocked by immense craters, most of them caused by roadside bombs planted by Taliban fighters.

As they say, read the whole (rather lengthy) thing.

Russian consulate, Tbilisi

I visited the former Russian Embassy (it was reduced to a consulate while I was there) in Tbilisi a couple of weeks ago. Across the street, boards are littered with anti-Russian grafitti, while directly outside the consulate people had dumped various forms of household waste and litter.

Russia pulled their ambassador, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, and pretty much all diplomatic activity at the building has apparently ceased.

Joe Behan resigns

I can’t help but think it would have been more effective to resign as a TD, not just from FF.

Update: I’ve just heard a rumour that Noel O’Flynn has also resigned from FF. Will try and find out if it’s true. Hmm nothing confirmed yet, but at the very least he will not vote in support of the legislation. Nah, he hasn’t resigned. Gutless wonder.

New readers

My posts on Georgia have seen a spike in visitor activity and number of subscribers over the past week. Welcome to any new visitors or subscribers, I hope you like it round these parts. 🙂

Irish savings accounts

For the savers out there, First Active have launched a new savings account. It pays 5.5% AER on balances between €15,000 and €1m. It looks like one of the better deals out there.

Methodist Church destroyed

This really makes for disturbing reading:

A CHURCH that had been ‘saved’ from demolition was knocked down anyway early this morning.

At 6am, residents near Croke Park woke to the sound of a bulldozer-type piece of machinery being driven into the front of the church.

The destruction on the quiet Jones’ Road, beside the GAA stadium, comes only a day after workers at the church site were served with notification from the council to stop work.

Residents had reported work at the site to Dublin City Council and gardai over the last two days, but this morning at 6am a machine was driven into the front of the building.

Not alone that:

Residents called gardai on hearing the commotion and when they arrived the person who was operating the bulldozer ran away.

The Ireland match against Cyprus will be held at Croke Park this evening and this partial demolition of the church is located at the railway bridge very close to the stadium.

The builder in question should be ~~shot~~ jailed in my opinion. Then fined. And then forced to rebuild the church as it was. I’m surprised at Bertie Ahern’s silence, it’s his constituency.

Month: October 2008