Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil (NYSE:UCO) will basically return double the daily increase of oil futures while UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil (NYSE:SCO) will return double the daily decrease of oil futures, and before you decide on betting for or against oil see the prospectus for more information on these exchange traded funds.

Other options, which may be better suited and more safe for the casual investor, include buying into an energy company such as Exxon Mobil (XOM) or Cheveron (CVX) or simply buying oil futures . A more indirect approach at investing in energy prices is to buy other energy resource companies such as Patriot Coal (NYSE:PCX) which roughly follow (and in the case shown below outperform) the price of oil (See chart below).

Patriot Coal vs Oil Future

First of all, you need to find a broker (preferably one with a website and lower commission). You then need to set up your account for options trading – some brokerages require that you physically sign a document basically explaining that you understand the risks of trading options and what your experience level is etc.

There are options for from what I’ve seen all publicly traded stocks not excluding foreign ADRs. Call options can be defined as the option given to the purchaser of the option to buy a stock at a given price in the future. That given price is known as the ’strike price’ and when the stock goes over that ’strike price’ the option is said to be ‘in the money’ and the buyer of the option will most likely exercise the option.

For example, if a stock is currently trading at $3.50, the strike price is $6.00, and the option costs $0.50 a person can buy one option (a bundle of 100 stocks) for $50. Keep in mind buying the 100 shares of the stock normally would cost $350 at that same time. If the stock goes to $10 before expiration (the time at which the options can no longer be executed) the buyer of the option will willingly exercise the option and make $4 minus the price of the option ($0.50) per share which would be a $350 profit. If the stock did not go above $6 by maturity, however, the buyer of the option will get nothing. Keep in mind that usually call options get more expensive the farther out the expiration date is due to the risk of holding the stock on the writer’s side and the higher probability in general that the stock will rise above the strike price.

The person who writes the option believes that the stock will not reach $6 by expiration date and will have made $0.50 on every $3.50 stock in the 100 stock bundle in the option, not a bad way to make money on the share you own. The risk the seller (also known as the writer) of the option takes is that the stock goes below $3.00 (in which case the writer loses more than he gains by selling the option) or the stock skyrockets above the $6 level in which case the seller loses out on the profits of his stock because he is forced to sell it at $6. For the visual learner (most people) the chart below is a straightforward way of explaining how this works.

Long Call

Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, and the
unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Employment fell in construction and information, while tem-
porary help services added jobs. Severe winter weather in parts of the
country may have affected payroll employment and hours; however, it is not
possible to quantify precisely the net impact of the winter storms on these
measures. For more information on the effects of the severe weather on employ-
ment estimates, see the box note at the end of the release.

Household Survey Data

In February, the number of unemployed persons, at 14.9 million, was essen-
tially unchanged, and the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent. (See
table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (10.0 per-
cent), adult women (8.0 percent), whites (8.8 percent), blacks (15.8 percent),
Hispanics (12.4 percent), and teenagers (25.0 percent) showed little to no
change in February. The jobless rate for Asians was 8.4 percent, not season-
ally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was
6.1 million in February and has been about that level since December. About 4
in 10 unemployed persons have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. (See
table A-12.)

In February, the civilian labor force participation rate (64.8 percent) and
the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) were little changed. (See
table A-1.)

The number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes refer-
red to as involuntary part-time workers) increased from 8.3 to 8.8 million in
February, partially offsetting a large decrease in the prior month. These in-
dividuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or be-
cause they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in
February, an increase of 476,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not sea-
sonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12
months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for
work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.2 million discouraged workers in
February, up by 473,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally ad-
justed.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work be-
cause they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.3 million
persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in
the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or
family responsibilities.

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in February (-36,000).
Job losses continued in construction and information, while employment con-
tinued to increase in temporary help services. Since the start of the reces-
sion in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 8.4 million. (See
table B-1.)

Construction employment fell by 64,000 in February, about in line with the
average monthly job loss over the prior 6 months. Job losses were concen-
trated in nonresidential building (-10,000) and among nonresidential specialty
trade contractors (-35,000). Since December 2007, employment in construction
has fallen by 1.9 million.

Employment in the information industry dropped by 18,000 in February. Since
December 2007, job losses in information have totaled 297,000. In February,
employment in transportation and warehousing continued to trend down.

Employment in manufacturing was essentially unchanged in February. Small job
gains in a number of component industries were offset by job losses in motor
vehicles and parts and in chemicals.

Retail trade employment was unchanged in February, after a sizeable increase
in January. Over the month, job gains in building material and garden supply
stores (7,000) and in department stores (6,000) were offset by declines in
food and beverage stores (-9,000).

In February, temporary help services added 48,000 jobs. Since reaching a low
point in September 2009, temporary help services employment has risen by
284,000. Health care employment continued to trend upward in February.

In February, employment in the federal government edged up. The hiring of
15,000 temporary workers for Census 2010 was partially offset by a decline
in U.S. Postal Service employment.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined
by 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours in February. The manufacturing workweek for all
employees dropped by 0.4 hour to 39.5 hours, and factory overtime decreased
by 0.2 hour over the month. In February, the average workweek for production
or nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.2 hour to
33.1 hours; the workweek fell by 1.0 hour in construction, likely reflecting
the unusually severe winter storms. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In February, average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls increased by 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $22.46. Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.9 percent. In February, aver-
age hourly earnings of private production and nonsupervisory employees rose
by 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $18.93. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised from
-150,000 to -109,000, and the change for January was revised from -20,000 to
-26,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Jim Bunning

Jim Bunning was voting against an extension of expiring stimulus programs that would cost 10 billion dollar. He was the only Senator standing against it because all of the other Senators are seeking re-election (votes) or simply believe in unemployment aid amongst other temporary stimulus measures to be the right thing to do. If Congress fails to pass an extension, the National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.2 million people will lose their benefits in March.

Perhaps Jim Bunning was wrong in taking such a stance, and maybe his intentions and motives were not in the right place, yet eventually our leadership must stand up against more spending. Of course 10 billion dollars spent locally seems more wisely spent than what we are spending overseas – it’s about the same cost as paying for one month of the Iraq war. Additionally as others have explained unemployment money goes directly back into the economy, as those that are unemployed usually need the money to buy necessities while looking for work. Apparently another addition to the stimulus is paying for satellite television through the ‘broadband stimulus package’.

If you’re interested in a visual explanation of what happened, view below:


[This article is in its beginning stages and may change as more details come out]

Here is a small clip of Senator Cornyn from Texas supporting Bunning’s reasoning.

Let me summarize a few key points that will often be brought up in these grim yet true commentaries and tidbits. Public debt is another name for government debt, and the debt I refer to is that of the Federal government. It is called public because the government traditionally draws income from the public through taxes. Of late the government has had to draw upon other sources for money including loans to other countries accomplished through treasury bills and other instruments where the government promises to pay interest provided they are loaned the money.

The national deficit, which is the difference between Federal government revenue and spending, was $1.4 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2009 – the largest on record and in terms of purchasing power the largest any country in history has ever overspent. The deficit is possible through the trust of the dollar and the US government – yet history has shown that national debt and high deficits are rarely actually paid off through painful budget adjustments and shrinkage of government.

In fact quite the opposite is true, the government will actually either destroy its own currency or heavily increase taxes – the first of which will be good for manufacturing yet destroy whatever wealth families have accumulated over the years in order, and the second of which stunts growth and would result in less jobs locally.

Let us hope the less trodden path is taken and prudent budget adjustments are made and expensive and useless wars are avoided. In this way the dollar may survive and people wont be forced into bartering for goods and going back to the financial stone age.

Another important point to bring up is the actual production of goods and wealth. If the US was able to increase economic output in areas which haven’t already succumbed to the manufacturing advantages of certain Asian countries it could also reduce its deficit via a shrinking trade deficit (which I should are proportional to national debt). As it stands, each working person in the United States owes over $60,100 if the national debt was evenly distributed amongst them. Over 10% of 2009’s tax income will go towards paying public debt, the amount of debt the U.S. bears is around four times its annual income (compare that to a person who makes $100,000/year whos debt is $400,000). Another interesting blog I read puts the US in the ’subprime’ category for buying a house.

How can you protect yourself from this? Aside from education, I would suggest either buying silver, owning land, steer clear of keeping large amount of money in low-yield bank accounts or checking accounts, and most importantly invest wisely. Of course spending money, while ironic, is one of the best ways of not accumulating it. Spending it on things that retain value is also a good idea. If you have any more ideas feel free to comment.

The Facebook Matrix

Everything in moderation – that includes viewing photos and news about your friends and uploading photos and news of yourself. Of late I have come to realize that if a person spends on average 1 hour per day on a site like facebook starting at age 15 and lives until 90 (not an unreasonable life expectancy), then that person will have spent over three years non-stop on Facebook. Think about what can be accomplished in three years – a college degree, a three year prison term, etc.

Facebook and online social media including the blog you are reading right now are sapping people of time that they would have otherwise hopefully used in a more productive way. This blog, while in my opinion better than Facebook in that it belongs to me, the ads are mine not Facebook’s and much of what I write requires research and learning, is still most likely going to take up at least a year of my life before I’m finished (literally and figuratively).

In essense, what I’m trying to say is next time you want to ‘poke’ someone on Facebook consider driving over and phyiscally giving that person a poke (after considering the legal implications and of course the social acceptability of the action). Next time you decide to peruse someone’s photo album, take a moment and consider whether it’s worth it – perhaps the time would be better spent getting on the ground and doing 50 push-ups.

A few things to consider:

• Facebook will never tell you how many hours you have spent on the site, it would reduce popularity!
• Advertisements can utilize any information you put on Facebook, such as exact age, political party, music interest, religion, etc. in order to fool you into thinking they are specifically catered to you!
• All photos submitted to Facebook may be used by law enforcement, employers, news papers, etc. without your permission – the photos are no longer yours.
• Blackmail – Facebook rarely deletes your information, even if you change or delete it from your profile.
• Profiles are never deleted, they are only archived and put into hibernation until your revive it.

“Now when you step on the gas, instead of yanking the throttle open via a cable, you are inputting the engine control computer, which opens and closes the throttle electronically.” (Flint)

This is the same computer that limits driving speeds, can automatically shut down the engine, and electronically opens and closes the throttle. Aircraft fly-by-wire is a cheaper alternative to hydraulic controls.

For more information on the engine control computer, please see Engine control unit.

THE F-16 WAS THE FIRST FIGHTER AIRPLANE TO USE FLY-BY-WIRE TECHNOLOGY

While Stack may have been angered by certain tax laws and government financial actions, it certainly only hurts his cause when he resorted to violence.

Possibly looming ahead for the US dollar is rapid inflation due to less backing by China and the printing of money out of thin air otherwise known as ‘quantitative easing’. To reduce or slow the effect of inflation the Federal Reserve just announced a rate hike (increasing the discount rate .25%), and while prices have been stable in the past few months (where non-food and energy goods actually fell in price) very few people want to see price increases analogous to the 80’s.

For speaking at the National Tea Party Convention Sarah Palin was paid $100,000 to deliver an inspirational speech, and Tom Tancredo began the event by supporting the revival of the Jim Crow laws which in essence forbid those who have limited English literacy skills from voting. Tancredo shamelessly insulted the President by calling him a ’socialist’ and emphasized his middle name in a racist manner. In my opinion, it is a great feat to become the first president with African heritage – and one’s middle name is nothing to be ashamed about or ridicule. Tancredo, after all, isn’t the most sonorous name. Palin spoke after Tancredo, and after the joyous applause in response to the Tancredo tirade, proceeded to call Obama the teleprompter king while taking a look at three talking points scribbled on her hand which were so generalized that a four year old would have a hard time missing them.

The funny thing about Tancredo’s literacy test proposition is that there are hundreds of documented photos of signs showing the tea party protesters with the most blatant misspellings (see below).

In all seriousness, independents, libertarians, and republicans must find an alternate to Sarah Palin or even worse Tom Tancrapo.

*any misspellings on this document were created purposefully with humorous intent