Is Murdoch right?

Is the future of the newspaper business to give up print editions and all those expensive plants, paper and circulation expenses, as Rupert Murdoch recently suggested?
Then you'd just hire reporters and programmers and put the news out there free, selling ads to support the business.
Unlike my former boss, the Newsosaur Alan Mutter, who believes newspapers need to stop putting content online, I suspect Murdoch will be right, eventually, with an intervening step -- free circulation tabloids. Right now, the free online model is still not universally accepted ... but those who think readers will pay for content ignore the facts that there will always be free news put out by who a) crave attention b) have a political point of view or c) brazenly think they can attact enough advertising to make a business out of it.
Interestingly, I've heard that the free-replacing-paid model is happening in another industry as well -- online porn.

billgatesisevilportfolio

one of the best investors I know on the Internet, Boston Bill is up 22 percent year to date. These are what he reports as the largest positions in his portfolio.
31% ASI
27.6% KSK
18.1% YRCW
15.1% ELN
4.2% CMO-B

hmm, may have to buy some more ASI. It's a reinsurer that does things like construction liability. It's been hot lately.

The Bradley situation

here's my post in the Drumbeat about the David Del Grande column alleging racism in the Milton Bradley situation. I thought the column was pretty appalling, nonetheless, the A's have to know that there's a signficant proportion of the East Bay fan base that agrees, you can hear it on talk radio.

portfolio today

If I were starting a new portfolio today, which of the 30-some stocks and funds that I own would I begin with. How about KSK? -- the synthetic Ford CORTS that are supported by senior bonds. They're still yielding 10 percent and haven't gone up with the common. In fact, they're trading for a buck less than the underlying value of the bonds. At 18.30, there's quite a bit of room before they return to par (25) and the common is signaling that the company is recovering. It's pretty unthinkable that the Ford Motor Co. would go bankrupt.
I have about a 20 percent gain in these already over the last couple of years, plus that high dividend. Looking for it to go up some more with relative safety.

dumb pun no. 1

noid noid
recently, I've had a paranoid outlook.

hello world

I've used the handle baycommuter on various message boards for at least 10 years. Plan to blog about three things, mainly: investing, the Oakland Athletics and whatever else I'm interested in. (As it turns out, the third thing has mostly been books.)