Intel Earnings/Sold 50 HEPRU at 25.4/Bought 100 of the ETF XMD:CA @ 23.62 CAD/ Congressman Rand and GOP's Messiah Ayn Rand/SOLD 1 Hawker Beechcraft Acquisition Bond at 83.5

The WSJ.com does have a long listing of exchange traded bonds, in their various flavors, and equity preferred stocks.

I was not surprised to learn that the Congressman Ryan (R) is a devoted follower of Ayn Rand, the Messiah for the modern day GOP.  His budget proposal, recently passed with overwhelming GOP support, reflects Ayn Rand's vision for America.  The Atlantic After all Ms. Rand would view all of those seniors relying on government subsidized Medicare to be a bunch of moochers. They just need to work until they drop.

For the benefit of the top 1%, the non-moochers, Ryan believes it is just better to eliminate all of those moocher programs like Medicare and Medicaid in their current form. The poor are parasites feeding off the rich in Ryan and Rand's view, so that needs correcting too. War on the Weak - Newsweek.  Might as well get rid of most environmental regulations so the creative industrialists envisioned by Rand and Ryan can pollute more freely and thereby increase their profit margins too. Ryan of course voted for the 1 trillion dollar war in Iraq and the Bush tax cuts, both adding tremendously to the budget problem.  

The GOP tribes in various states, flexing their muscles after the recent election, want to emasculate state environmental laws and to turn state parks over to industrial development in order to help "small business" in the words of Maine's new republican governor. NYT 

The GOP was recently unsuccessful in its latest push to limit financing to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and to abolish rules in order to permit more pollution. latimes.com 

As shown by the good works of another swooning disciple of Rand, our former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the solution in the financial arena was to allow the "creative" Masters of Disaster free rein to do whatever they want and the benefits would flow down to the middle class and the poor, at least in theory.   Greenspan was a great believer in the 2004 SEC rule change that allowed investment banks to police themselves and to increase their leverage beyond any level deemed prudent by a rational person who was not blinded with greed (2004 SEC Rule Change)  It took only three years for the "creative" Masters of Disaster, Rand disciples no doubt, to blow up the entire world's financial system, while enriching themselves in the process. Rand would be so proud of them.
Their conduct was certainly so creative.  Isn't everyone glad that they are back on their feet earning more than ever?

RB wants to be a Master of Disaster, after channeling Ayn Rand and figuring that once the RB is unrestrained by all of LB's rules and regulations, free of the OG's moralism, and free of all consequences and repercussions, it will finally be able to amass enough funds to buy Canada, all of it. Then, the Canadians can start working at the same wage level as staff members here at HQ in their pursuit of amassing more capital for our Great Leader Headknocker.  More power to the HK.     

Possibly Congressman Ryan needs to read some American history about what conditions were like in the U.S. for the average working American around 1900, but it is easier to just forget about history when formulating your vision about Rand's utopia. I doubt that he would care or learn anything by a review of American history. More importantly, it is imperative to overlook the more undesirable and forever predictable traits of human beings acting in what they perceive as their own best interests. Maybe Americans need to find rat meat mixed up with their hamburger, breathe more carcinogens and become irradiated in a nuclear plant meltdown.     

The general idea underlying the GOP policies is to return America to the angelic conditions that existed in the late 19th Century, before all of that Progressive crap polluted the American psyche with such moocher programs and laws like minimum wage, unemployment compensation, Medicare, workers compensation, Social Security, environmental and worker protection laws.  After all the Robber Barons know best anyway, and will act in the best interest of society in their pursuit of profits.

Any rational and remotely knowledgeable person would not agree with Rand's belief that government stifles innovation or conspires against the creative industrialists.  Anyone with a worthwhile product and idea finds funding in the U.S. to launch new enterprises, and the examples number in the tens of thousands.

Canada reported yesterday that consumer prices rose 3.3% in the 12 months ending in March:  Latest release from the Consumer Price Index. Tuesday, April 19, 2011  The CAD continued to rise in value against the USD which is the underlying rationale for my  Canadian Dollar (CAD) Strategy.  I will no longer buy CADs with my USDs, given the large price appreciation but I will continue to take distributions paid by my Canadian securities in CADs.

Obama says that he loves Texas, an unrequited love.  The Republican Governor, Rick Perry, may run for President, following in George Juniors footsteps.   I thought that the most famous statement made by Perry was that Texas could succeed from the U.S. YouTube - Rick Perry

1.  SOLD 50 HEPRU at 25.4 in the ROTH IRA Last Friday (see Disclaimer):  HEPRU is a trust preferred stock issued by HECO Capital Trust, a Delaware Trust formed by Hawaii Electric (HE) for the purpose of buying HE's junior bonds.  This sale is part of downsizing my exposure to low yielding long term bonds whose current values will suffer when inflation triggers a rise in interest rates.  This junior bond has a 6.5% coupon on a $25 par value and matures in 2034.  I am not currently concerned about credit risk, but interest rate risk.  I view any bond or bond fund purchase made over the past year or so to be a success when I am able to exit the position with any profit.  I barely accomplished that objective for this TP: Bought 50 HEPRU @ 25.05 IRA (Oct 10, 2010 Post).  I did collect two quarterly interest payments.

2. Sold 1 Hawker Beechcraft 8.5% Senior Bond Maturing 2015 at 83.5 on Monday (Junk Bond Ladder Strategy)(see Disclaimer): This Hawker bond was bought in February at 75.5.  Bought 1 Hawker Acquisition Senior Bond Maturing 2015 Since its purchase, the OG has been anxious about it, accelerating the recurrence of OG's fantasies about living under a bridge and eating at the soup kitchen.  The Hawker bond was one of the highest yielding and riskiest holdings in the junk bond ladder strategy.  It recent operating performance did not soothe the OG's concerns about the credit risk. Item # 4 Hawker  I  made a few bucks on the bond plus interest for the number of days that I owned owned the bond.  

3. CNB Financial  (CCNE Stock Quote)(own: Regional Bank Stocks' basket strategy): CNB Financial, a small regional bank operating in Pennsylvania, reported 3rd quarter net income of 3.3 million dollars or 27 cents per share, up from 25 cents in the year ago quarter. As of 3/31/2011, the tier 1 risk based capital ratio was 14.07%; the total risk based ratio was 15.32%;  NPAs to total assets was at 2.03%; tangible book value was $8.31 per share; and the net interest margin was at 3.53 for the 1st Quarter.  Loans were up 11.4% compared to the 1st quarter of 2010. Deposits were up 18.8%. This bank has 26 full service branches in PA.

This is a link to CCNE 2010 Annual Report: Form 10-K

Bought 50 CCNE at 11.06  I am not reinvesting the dividend.  At a total constant cost of $11.06, the current dividend yield is around 6.15%.

4. Bought 100 of the Canadian ETF XMD:CA at 23.62 CAD on the Toronto Exchange on Tuesday (Canadian Dollar (CAD) Strategy)(see Disclaimer): On Monday I received the Annual Report from Ishares Canada. I own several of the ETFs sponsored by that firm. This is a link to their web site:  iShares ETFs  I was thumbing through the Annual Report and decided to buy XMD which contains about 189  small and mid companies traded on the Toronto exchange:  XMD Overview - iShares ETFs As one would expect, this ETF is heavily weighted in materials, energy and financials, in that order. The expense ratio is .55%.

My position in CADs is significant to me.  This is a link to a two year chart of the CAD/USD Currency Conversion.

One CAD will now buy close to $1.045 USDs.

There are several symbols used by various financial sites for foreign securities.  At Fidelity, the symbol for this ETF is XMD:CA. The symbol at Yahoo Finance is XMD.TO;   TSE:XMD at Google Finance; and CA:XMD at Markewatch.

5. Intel (own):  Intel reported an excellent first quarter.  It would have been impossible to believe these results were possible after reading several recent analyst reports downgrading this stock and Intel's earnings estimates for the quarter and the year.  Most of the youngsters, who are given the power to speak on behalf of brokerage companies when issuing their "research" reports, have no business advising anyone, including themselves.  Maybe their mothers would be interested in what they have to say.  LB made the preceding statement, the remainder of staff here at HQ disavows it.  HK thought the LB was being way too generous to the WS analysts.   

INTC reported a 25% increase in revenue to 12.9 billion dollars and a non-GAAP E.P.S. of 59 cents per share.  The GAAP E.P.S. number was 56 cents per share.  The analysts had predicted 11.6 billion in revenue, off by 1.3 billion dollars, and 46 cents per share.  The analysts were estimating 11.9 billion in revenue for the current quarter. Intel is estimating revenues between $12.4 to 13.4 billion  Intel estimates earnings for the current quarter in a range between 32 and 35 cents and the analysts are at 28 cents.  The company said there was double digit revenue growth in all product segments and in all geographies. The data center revenue was up 32%.  This report is discussed in  articles at Bloomberg and Reuters.

I have bought Intel shares between $14.46 and $19.91:  Bought INTC at 14.46 (October 2008); Bought Intel at $15.87 (October 2008); Bought Intel at 15.25 (May 2009); Added to Intel at $19.08 (November 2009); Added 40 Intel at 18.35 (August 2010);  Added:   40 INTC @ 19.16 (October 2010); Added 30 Intel at 19.91 (March 2011).  I suspect that all of those purchases were made with cash flow coming into the main taxable account from dividends and interest distributions.  I am reinvesting the dividend.