Caldwells Bad Investment Advice

Theo Caldwell, yes the Caldwell Investment Banker,

- Theo Caldwell, president of Caldwell Asset Management, Inc., is an investment advisor in the United States and Canada.

in the National Pest whines about Canada's support for Cuba through both business investment and tourism. He makes spurious claims, unsubstantiated by a single fact, in his opinion piece.

He claims;

"It grates against our national character that Canada continues to do business with Cuba, thereby helping to prop up Fidel Castro's tyrannical regime."

Oh really. Which national character is that? Perhaps it grates the right wing supporters of the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party, but they are far from the majority of Canadians. In fact one of the ironies is that Alberta, home of the Republican Lite Right Wing in Canada is also the source of the greatest trading partners with Cuba; Sherritt Mining.

As well Albertans travel to Cuba, as Caldwell further whines about claiming that Cubans will go to jail and be tortured if they visit Canada's Delta Hotel Resorts.

The tragic irony of sipping a Cuba Libre beside the pool in a hotel that native Cubans are forbidden from entering under pain of imprisonment, and within walking distance of one of Castro's torture chambers,

And Alberta farmers have long traded cattle and bull semen with current Cuban Leader Raul Castro, who has spent years cross breeding Latin American cattle with Alberta Angus.

He concludes;

"But whether or not the despot has gone on to his reward, passing power to his equally brutal brother Raul, tyranny is tyranny and Canada ought to have nothing to do with it."

Not good investment advice. One would expect better from a capitalist like Caldwell. But with his cold war mentality he is out in the cold on his anti-Cuba strategy.

Cuba Fund Has Biggest-Ever Surge After Castro Resigns (Update3)
Bloomberg
Castro's decision is ``a clear step towards the possibility of the US resuming trade with Cuba,'' Miami-based investor Thomas J. Herzfeld said during a ...
How to profit from Castro's resignation CNNMoney.com
Investing in a Post-Castro Cuba U.S. News & World Report
Equity revolution! Globe and Mail
Stocks with Cuban exposure rise on Castro resignation CBC News
Cuba: The Investment Play Conde Nast Portfolio

The real question here is does Caldwell live by the principles he espouses? Well not really. Sure his Caldwell Canada Mutual Fund (Caldwell Investment Mgmt Ltd.) isn't invested in Sherritt.

But they are invested in Talisman Energy, the big oil company that invested in Sudan known for promoting slavery, torture, etc. making Cuba look like a workers paradise. That offended the national character of Canadians who forced Talisman to divest of its investment in Sudan.

No thanks to Theo Caldwell or his investment fund.

Caldwell focuses on companies with at least $500 million in market capitalization, and his current Caldwell Canada holdings are predominantly mid-cap stocks. He will re-assess the portfolio at least once every quarter and expects the portfolio turnover to be 100% or higher.

He wants to be fully invested at all times and is comfortable having a stock holding of 5% to 10% of the portfolio. In terms of his sell discipline, "once stocks stop going up, we sell," he says.

Caldwell will make significant sector bets. Compared to the S&P/TSX Composite Index benchmark, as of Feb. 15, Caldwell Canada is close to 100% overweight in both the energy and the basic materials sectors, and "considerably" overweight in communications and media.

By comparison, the fund is underweight by more than 80% in financial services. "As an owner of the fund, you will be overweight in the sectors that have been doing the best," he says.

But Caldwell will limit his sector exposure. Overall, his portfolio won't hold more than double the index weight in any sector or 10%, whichever is greater.

He'll also avoid some well known "sin stocks." Along with the strategy of owning "high flyers," the focus is on companies that at their core are "deep down helping people," says Caldwell. "So we don't own alcohol, tobacco or gambling companies. I don't need to own them to make this work."

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Dictator

With the resignation announcement of Cuba's Comrade Commandante El Presidente Fidel Castro, as I have been predicting for months, the usual media reference to him is as 'dictator'.




I guess that is because he is appointed leader by his party without being directly elected.

But then again I guess if you use that definition then this guy was a dictator for the past year

.



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Felix lll

So who does more in the region? USAID to Nicaragua is the price of a Starbuck's coffee. Ok an expensive one, but cheap is as cheap does. Luckily Cuba had medical missions in place since Hurricane Mitch. Rather than waiting for swift boat aid from the U.S.

In response to the Nicaraguan government’s request for international assistance, USAID provided an initial $150,000 to support the relief efforts, in addition to the $25,000 for hurricane preparedness provided prior to Felix’s landfall. As Felix approached the region, USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance deployed 23 disaster response experts in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico, to support response wherever the storm made landfall.

As Washington raises the profile of its assistance to the region, the U.S. military is helping victims of natural disasters. On Wednesday, it diverted the U.S. Navy amphibious ship USS Wasp from military exercises off Panama to help Nicaragua recover from Hurricane Felix. Venezuela also sent aid to Nicaragua, and 57 Cuban doctors and nurses already established on the Miskito coast on medical missions were helping as well.

Cuban doctors assist hurricane evacuees in Nicaragua

The head of the Cuban medical brigade, Luis Carlos Avila, said eight Cuban doctors along with their patients had been evacuated from Puerto Cabezas, capital city of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region(RAAN), located 536 kilometers from Managua.

Avila noted that some 57 Cuban doctors and nurses are serving in RAAN while a similar number are serving in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region as part of the cooperation agreements established between the island and Nicaragua.

He added that in Waspam to the north and also a target for Hurricane Felix there is another 40 Cuban doctors. The arrival of Hurricane Felix forced the evacuation of some 10 000 people.

Along with Cuban doctors and local healthcare personnel, those working shoulder-to-shoulder with them in these improvised facilities include 20 young Nicaraguans in their fifth year of medical school at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM, in Cuba).

The group is part of the 59 students who in the weeks previous to the disaster had been carrying out community work in remote areas of Nicaragua under the supervision of instructors in the Cuban medical brigade.

Cuban health cooperation benefits poorest hondurans

The Cuban Medical Brigades that arrived to Honduras on November 3, 1998, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch, have assisted more than 1.6 million people and continue to offer care with a staff of 280 healthcare professionals.

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua: Thousands of people on Nicaragua's remote Caribbean coast urgently need food, water, medical supplies and tools to rebuild their communities following Hurricane Felix, residents and a U.N. official said.

Felix devastated remote jungle beaches and communities along the Miskito coastline when it struck Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, destroying crops, erasing homes and killing scores of people.

The U.N. representative in Nicaragua, Alfredo Missair, said Friday that more than 100,000 Nicaraguans were directly affected by the storm and the country will need US$43.5 million (€32 million) in aid over the next six months

Nicaraguan television reported that Canada offered US$1 million (€730,000) to Central American countries affected by Felix, and 10,000 blankets for Nicaragua. Taiwan and Japan also donated money and supplies, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos said.

The U.S. Embassy in Managua said in a statement Saturday that it will donate US$1 million (€730,000) through the United States Agency for International Development to help an estimated 30,000 people.

The U.S. also sent four helicopters from the USS Wasp, rerouted to Nicaragua from Panama, and two helicopters and a reconnaissance plane from a military base in Honduras to help assess damage, rescue victims, and deliver supplies. Venezuela also sent aid and 57 Cuban doctors and nurses already established on the Miskito coast on medical missions were helping as well.

The dead from Hurricane Felix wash up on the beaches

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State Sponsored Terrorism

Looks like one of those States that sponsors terrorism and gives succor to terrorists is none other than the good old U.S. of A.

Another case of do as I say not as I do.

Rainbow Warrior ringleader heads firm selling arms to US

The French intelligence officer who led the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace ship protesting against nuclear tests in the Pacific, now lives in America where he heads an arms firm selling weapons to the FBI, Pentagon, and the department of homeland security, the Guardian has learned.

The presence in America of Louis-Pierre Dillais and the sensitive nature of his dealings with the US government has led to calls from Greenpeace for his deportation.

But the Bush administration's record in enforcing its own regulations is inconsistent. Washington has consistently resisted demands from Venezuela for the extradition of Luis Posada, a Cuban exile who is accused of blowing up an airliner with 73 people on board. He denies the charge.

Documents show Luis Posada link to terrorism

A Venezuelan employee of Cuban exile and indicted terrorist Luis Posada Carriles conducted surveillance on targets "with a link to Cuba" for potential terrorist attacks throughout the Caribbean region in 1976, including Cubana Aviación flights in and out of Barbados, according to documents posted today by the National Security Archive.

Miami Herald Publishes Evidence Incriminating Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles

The Miami Herald published an article, just last Sunday, which commented on declassified FBI and CIA documents revealing the participation of the notorious terrorist in the plane sabotage.

Prison sentence cut for Cuban-American in illegal weapons case

A U.S. judge reduced the prison sentence Wednesday for a prominent Cuban-American businessman with connections to anti-Fidel Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles after an arsenal of weapons and high explosives was turned over to the U.S. government.

A U.S. District judge cut 16 months off the sentence of Santiago Alvarez, who pleaded guilty in September to a conspiracy charge after the FBI seized a cache of military arms, including a grenade launcher and machine guns. The judge also reduced by 13 months the sentence of Osvaldo Mitat, an Alvarez employee.

India: Lawmakers Urge Washington to Extradite Luis Posada Carriles

The lawmakers reminded Condoleezza Rice and Nancy Pelosi that Posada Carriles is a confessed criminal that masterminded plans which resulted in the murder of nationals of different countries. They recalled that he is being accused in Venezuela for several terrorist crimes, including the 1976 bombing in mid air of a Cubana jetliner off the coasts of Barbados, which killed 73 innocent lives.

The Indian parliamentarians expressed their deep concern for the release of Posada Carriles and they expressed their full support of the resolution signed by Non-Aligned member nations, which denounces the double standard of the George W. Bush administration in its proclaimed "war on terror."

See:

Venezuelan Contras

'El Comandante' Fidel Spoils Party

State Security Is A Secure State

Paranoia and the Security State


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More Critics of Bio Fuels

The truth about bio-fuels is spreading.

Biofuels and the destruction of the rain forest

Murray Dobbin's Last Stage Of Denial: ethanol will save us!

A H/T to Driving the Porcelain Bus.

See

Bio Fuel

Bio-Fuels

ADM

Ethanol


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CPC Bright Idea

Before the Conservative Party of Canada declared incandescent light bulbs illegal in Canada the Communist Party of Cuba beat them to it. And Castro like the Harper Government is promoting Bio-Fuels, though not the way they are.....

Under the headline "It is time for an energy revolution right now," Castro, 80, addressed US-Brazilian cooperation on biofuels, and urged that the issue be discussed on International Workers' Day.

"Insatiable in its demand, the empire has called on the world to produce biofuels to free the United States from dependence on imported oil," Castro wrote in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

"Nothing is stopping US and European capital from financing biofuels. They could even give the funds to Brazil and Latin America.

"And the United States, Europe and other industrialized countries would save more than 140 billion dollars every year, with no concern whatsoever for the fallout in terms of climate change and hunger, which will affect developing countries the most.

"They will always have enough money left over for biofuels and buying at any price whatever food is available in the global market."

Among other things, Castro called for a wholesale replacement of incandescent lights with fluorescent bulbs, and massive replacement of domestic and commercial systems using older technologies that require two to three times more energy than new systems.

SEE:

The New Cuban Revolution

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'El Comandante' Fidel Spoils Party

Bad news for all those folks planning their Post-Castro celebration at the Orange Bowl

New video shows improved Castro

And socialism in Cuba will not collapse with the passing of Comrade El Comandante Fidel.

Post-Castro Cuba already a reality, experts say

Castro, 'El Comandante', is most often known to his people as 'Fidel', even to his face. They 'argue with him, they claim him', writes Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

See

Castro

Cuba

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