Ten months in office is hardly enough time to make a significant influence on anything. Our unemployment rate rises, economy lowers, businesses close, and he tries to push a nearly 9 billion dollar health care plan. This doesn’t even create jobs. It puts more stress on doctors and makes students wanting to go to med school think twice about their profession. Perhaps it would be in the best interest of Obama to give the prize back if that’s possible. Either that or donate the $1 million to an AIDS foundation where people are actually making a difference.

I’ve decided this week to look at three separate categories as they seem to be the most struggling at the moment which gives them the most potential to go up: Real Estate, Finance, and Energy

We’ll start with Energy since I have one specific pick:

Crosstex Energy (xtex): I bought this stock back at the end of March for $1.90 and currently it sits at 3.25. It peaked out at around $4.20 a couple weeks back before things started to get messy with the market. Exxon has finally (somehow) achieved a contract for the pipeline in Alaska (So much for the block Palin) with the particular purpose of drilling for natural gas, a topic that has also been very popular behind the scenes lately.

Financials have been very volatile overall so I’ll start with the less volatile stock and change course as I go through…

BB&T (BBT): I attended a conference at Wake Forest University back in September where I heard the (then) CEO of BB&T John Allison speak on why his company was able to tread water better than the other financial institutions. The reason? They did not invest in sub-prime loans. Pull up Google Finance or, if you have a e-trading account somewhere (I use scottrade) you can check there, and pull up BB&T for the past year. They’ve been pretty steady compared to the constant up and down volatility issues from other financial stocks. This is a company that has a track record of making safe, secure, reliable bets. Also, the CEO didn’t get ousted. His retirement was planned for this past December and was succeeded by Kelly King who also has an amazing track record.

E-Trade Financial Corporation (ETFC): This is pretty much a common sense stock. When there’s volatility in the market, bet where the largest volume will be betting. There are a lot of E-trade users, now more than ever due to lack of faith consumers have on Wall Street. The ideology is “hey, I gave them my money and they lost it. I could have done that. I mine as well bet myself.” New accounts for all e-trading corporations have soared as the average joe is taking matters into his own hands.

Citigroup (C): They came, they tanked, and they’re having a slow recovery. However, a slow recovery is better than no recovery at all. This stock is sitting around $3/share at the moment and with a little good news (expect late third/early fourth quarter), I see this stock hitting $10/share by the end of the year.

Now onto Real Estate; Everyones favorite topic these days

Lennar Corporation (LEN): Probably not how they wanted to have their 55th Anniversary but this construction company has a pretty solid chance of staying afloat, even during this horrible housing market. New house construction along with home sales seems to take a snowball affect when picking back up. All it needs is a spark and that spark is going to be new jobs, bigger wages, and new families. Recessions don’t last forever and neither does housing slumps. Consider this a gift from god and invest while it’s still at around $10/share.

Kimco (KIM): Lennar builds, Kimco sells. This rather large real-estate company is going to pick up with construction picks up. It also has the benefit of selling previously owned houses which is an added bonus. This too has shares around $10 and should pick up when the housing market picks up. When will that be? It’s all speculation as no one knows, but I will predict next summer-next fall.

These security picks are based on personal research and I am not responsible for any/all losses.

I would GREATLY appreciate it if you guys could take a few seconds to go to the link and vote. If you could send the link to a friend or two, it would be very helpful and I would be incredibly grateful. Thanks

So you’re asking yourself “well if this $700 billion bailout is going to hurt us, what’s the point of it?” It’s to give a quick stamina boost to insurance and investment firms in the stock market. What does this mean to you? Well, if you don’t already have money invested in the market, now is the time to do so. Stocks are at all time lows with some of the biggest firms on the cheap. I personally recommend investing in AIG tomorrow as this “bailout” injection is going to really rally the price of the stock.

If there are any “experts” or investment personnel out there that would like to give an opinion or advice on this, please feel free to do so!

Please feel free to give your opinion and a brief (or expansive) explanation as to why you think that.

I’ll start by saying this is my first Mac. I’ve grown up on on PCs. My father currently has a Dell desktop and my step mom has a Mac Pro, Powerbook G4, and a MacBook (which dad mainly uses.) The first time I used a Macbook was in December over Christmas break at my dads. I loved how user friendly it was and when they released word of the MBA, I was very excited. Then there were the “problems” people found with it. Let’s go ahead and list those:

1) No Optical Drive

2) Slower Processor than MacBook

3) Small Hard drive

4) “Too thin” (people worried about durability)

5) 1 USB Port

6) No FireWire

7) No way to upgrade

8) Unable to replace battery

Alright I think that about covers them all and I’ll work these problems out in order. Before I do that, let me just start by saying this computer was NEVER meant to be a powerhouse computer. This computer was made for a particular demographic; more specifically College Students and Business “Road Warriors”. If it is power you seek, you can go the way of the MacBook Pro. This is why the MBA was meant as an ultra-portable class, not to compete against its own product line.

So no optical drive, I can see this being a legitimate argument. But how often do you use your optical drive? This is a question you really need ask yourself. The only use I have with my Optical Drive on my PC is for burning movies (that I’ve already bought of course) and playing PC games. Most applications that are available in stores like Best Buy are also available to download online and when you make an account, you can always go back and re-download it!

Slower processor and smaller hard drive. I’ll tell you what, I have a PC that’s 1gb Ram, 3.2ghz Pentium 4 with a 250gb hard drive. The MBA I have is a 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo with 80gb hard drive and it runs faster than my PC and as far as hard drive space remaining, I have 53gb worth. Speed isn’t a problem with this amazing machine.

Some people are saying it’s too thin and therefore isn’t durable. I’ve had people say “It’s a good thing I don’t have one because I’d probably break it by pushing the buttons too hard.” If anything, the MBA is MORE durable than the MB. It’s made of aluminum and is incredibly sturdy.

1 USB port and no firewire can be a problem for some people. This is the second real legitimate argument. I’ve never used firewire but I know about the speed and for those used to having it, you may have withdrawals going to a MBA (however if you’re in the field of NEEDING FireWire, you would know this isn’t a powerhouse and would go with a MBP.) As for the one USB port, I don’t mind too much. I usually use my USB port on my MBA for my digital camera and ipod. In that sense it does its job pretty well. I suppose if I get a Superdrive ($100 add-on) I would use that too but I’ve used remote disk once just to try it out and it works just as fast as installing a CD from an optical drive. What do people plug into all these USB ports on a laptop?

No way to upgrade this computer is a downer, I won’t lie. Everything is welded in and in order to replace the battery (which usually lasts a good 3-3 1/2 hours) I have to send the whole computer off to the factory.

Now as a college student who flies often to visit my Dad, I find this laptop perfect for my everyday use. I recently did a live blog which can be seen in the previous two posts. When I’m flying, the MBA fits perfectly between the barf bag and the latest edition of Sky Mall.

The computer runs all the basic programs I need at incredible speeds. iChat works great, iMovie 08′ starts up quickly, same for Garageband and it keeps up quite well with my iCal and contacts. I really love OS X 10.5.2 and based on my experience with this computer, I plan on eventually getting an iMac. I should also touch down on the fact that the backlit keyboard and LED display work incredibly well. This is by FAR the best display I’ve ever seen on a computer.

For anyone trying to decide on whether or not the MBA is right for them, I hope this posts helps! Below are a couple pics I took of the MBA:

It’s a good thing I didn’t promise getting to Session 2 this morning as I arrived a bit late. I was debating on posting a live blog from what I was watching but a broken blog just wouldn’t do. The previous session, titled “Theological reflections on work and the challenges of pluralism”, talked about faith in the workplace. 

The next session, which this is titled after, will begin at roughly 10:45 a.m. Keep it here to view coverage live. 

The panelists for this session are as follows:

Blake Morant- Dean, Wake Forest University School of Law
Anita Allen- Henry Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
Robert Grey Jr.- Partner, Hunton & Williams
Barry Sullivan - Partner, Jenner & Block
Chris Whelan - Associate Director of International Law Programs, University of Oxford

10:49 a.m. - Blake Morant opens by introducing panel.

11:00 a.m. - Mr. Morant introduces Mr. Grey. Open panel discussion begins before Dean Morant asks questions. 

11:05 a.m. - Mr. Grey opens by talking about his inspiration of his generation of lawyers to help establish a common ground with those “less fortunate”. Talks about his predecessor of the President of the B.A.R. association.

11:08 a.m. - Mr. Grey talks about continuing with a new breed of lawyers that may help to continue a sense of common ground and have lawyers do work for the “good” of the people and to help strengthen the judicial system.

11:09 a.m. - Mr Grey passes the dicussion onto Mr. Sullivan.

11:10 a.m. - Mr. Sullivan starts to talk about facing issues in the legal system with lawyers and the public service.

11:13 a.m. - Mr. Sullivan talks about law firms being partnerships and having a self-recognition in the past compared to todays new “breed” of lawyers who may start at these “elite” law firms with high salaries and how those law firms over-shadow todays small law firms who can only compete for small ground.

11:15 a.m. - Mr. Sullivan says these changes within law firms are due to many factors including globalization and a need to gain the best young and experienced lawyers.

11:16 a.m. - Mr. Sullivan talks about how it is hard for small firms to really grow as they have to compete against these larger, “elite” law firms who pay higher and, therefore, are more appealing to young lawyers.

11:18 a.m. - Mr. Sullivan mentions a “brighter side” to this. Small law firms usually end up with more “meaningful” cases in terms of public service than the law firms (think small Personal Law vs Corporate Law)

11:22 a.m. - Mr. Sullivan closes and Ms. Allen begins.

11:24 a.m. - Ms. Allen talks about numerous stories about lawyers, judges, and surprisingly, the fictional Michael Clayton and how there are psychological problems in the law industry.

11:25 a.m. - Ms. Allen starts to talk about Elliot Spitzer, as they were both classmates along with Spitzers wife.

11:27 a.m. - Ms. Allen begins talking about “work” (first time in the past hour and a half I’ve heard someone talk about the event we’re in)

11:28 a.m. - Ms. Allen talks about working as a reason, of course, to make money and also touches on the past session about faith in the work place and the ethics that follow.

11:30 a.m. - Ms. Allen I think just said it best, “It takes money to make lawyers and lawyers expect to make money”

11:31 a.m. - Ms. Allen talks about the stress of a lawyer and decisions in personal life to take (balancing things going on the family with a big case they may be working on that requires constant attention)

11:36 a.m. - Ms. Allen touches on an issue about how 1 in 5 Americans each year experience some type of mental issue. She says we should ask ourselves “Should we reveal to our colleagues that we have a mental illness? Should we tell our clients or reveal to our Universities that we have a mental illness?” 

11:39 a.m. - Chris Whelan is introduced

11:40 a.m. - Mr. Whelan notes how law has always been a tough, hard, and stressful job

11:42 a.m. - Mr. Whelan talks about the numerous challenges lawyers undertake during cases such as threats, hostilities, and family problems.

11:45 a.m. - Mr. Whelan explains that some lawyers try and gain business in ethical ways while others may tend to go in non-ethical ways (i.e. bribing)

11:47 a.m. - Talks about a law firm in Australia that is in the stock market showing that Law firms are becoming less of a client specific base and more of a consumer base.

11:50 a.m. - Talks about how law firms are becoming “hired guns” to “help” people get through a divorce (and mentions that law firms tend to encourage it….if you use their services)

11:54 a.m. - Talks about Mentoring and Monitoring. All early lawyers spend two years being mentored. The mentors are monitored by other lawyers

That wraps up this session. There is a small Q&A session going around and this session will be done. Thanks for tuning in!