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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (34266)	7/26/2005 5:11:35 PM
From: regli	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

In France it is reflect in the success of Le Pen. The rejection of the European constitution was significantly influenced by immigration issues particularly from Muslim countries. This is an issue everywhere in Europe. It will take great maturity to resolve it via integration instead of confrontation. As we know in the States, it is much easier to motivate people for the seemingly quick resolutions promised by wars and violence instead of the painfully slow road of social integration. Globalization isn't just about business, it also brought with it huge social challenges. Most societies today are faced with changes to their value systems imported by newcomers or simply brought on by internal changes required to participate and survive on the world economic stage. The challenge over the next dew years will be to welcome change in the face of economic decline in order to maintain social stability. Remembering Germany in the 1940s, I desperately hope that the dreams of fascists the world over to revert back to the good old times will not take root.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (34266)	7/27/2005 12:32:43 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Buffett Shows the Way Tuesday July 26, 11:18 am ET By Rich Smith Now here's an interesting coincidence. On Monday, in the course of discussing Palm Harbor Homes' (Nasdaq: PHHM - News) Q1 2006 earnings, I mused that "... a turnaround does appear to be possible [in the manufactured homes and recreational vehicles industry], and investors are well advised to observe Berkshire's example and take a look at companies in this industry." A few hours after that article was submitted for publication, I came across a piece in The Washington Post reporting that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKa - News; NYSE: BRKb - News) has already gone and made a second acquisition in the industry, a follow-up to its 2003 purchase of Clayton Homes. As far as I can tell, Berkshire never issued an official press release regarding the acquisition, but a little hunting around the company's website turned up an announcement of the deal. Berkshire will buy privately held RV, trailer, bus, boat, and manufactured-housing company Forest River for an undisclosed sum. The note posted on Berkshire's site doesn't give much more information than that, and it gives no details on either the price Berkshire will pay to acquire Forest River, or the valuation that's being imputed to Forest River by the purchase price. That's a pity, because a value investor can often use the valuation applied in one deal to guesstimate the takeover value of similar companies. Lacking such valuation information in a press release, my usual instinct is to turn to the free company data provided by Hoovers.com. Hoovers puts Forest River's annual sales at just $250 million and says the company has 2,400 employees, but that's it. Which is just as well, because as it turns out, Hoovers' information is woefully out of date. The Post, however, did some digging of its own and contacted Forest River's CFO to obtain more current information. According to the company, Forest River actually made $1.3 billion in sales last year, and employs 5,500 workers. That's roughly on par with competitor Champion Enterprises (NYSE: CHB - News), about 25%-50% bigger than Winnebago (NYSE: WGO - News) or Coachmen Industries (NYSE: COA - News), and nearly half the size of Thor Industries (NYSE: THO - News) or Fleetwood (NYSE: FLE - News). That's a good stable of potential takeover targets in this troubled industry. Savvy value investors should keep a sharp eye out for when the news of Forest River's price is released -- it could come in handy in figuring out who might be next to ring Berkshire's register. biz.yahoo.com