The oil production potential in algae is beguiling….at least I thought so until data on actual yields disclosed laid bare a discomforting fact.   Algae tend to become slackers and stop working at peak efficiency when crowded in the large-scale production containers used by biofuel producers.

Quote of the day

David Swensen, “A fiduciary would offer low-volatility funds and encourage investors to stay the course,” he said. “But the for-profit mutual fund industry benefits by offering high-volatility funds.”  (Justin Fox)

Chart of the day

Since the early days of the Eurozone debt crisis, insiders have identified China and its $3.2 trillion in foreign reserves as a potential contributor to a Eurozone bailout fund. Today, Premier Wen Jiabao gave markets reason to believe this may yet be the case when Wen suggested that China is considering the options for how it may contribute to keeping the Eurozone together.

Assets Dec-11 Jan-12 Change % Cash & Savings $ 27,882.26 $ 27,618.74 $ (263.52) -0.95% Taxable Brokerage Accts $ 158,906.63 $ 164,890.42 $ 5,983.79 3.77% Roth IRAs $ 82,652.93 $ 86,835.15 $ 4,182.22 5.06% Pre-tax Retirement Accts $ 272,245.83 $ 287,564.04 $ 15,318.21 5.63% Stock Options $ -

I am always amazed how large the opportunity to “make it big” factors into the great magnetism of the market. The belief that anyone, from any background can be successful and make tons of money has quite the allure. But, in all of this euphoria people neglect to think about all of those that failed [...]