Gustav!

Well, the democract party convention is in full swing and last night saw the typical typicals come out and speak. I was actually surprised. There were no "victims", no real people with "stories of hardship". Maybe they're saving it for later in the convention, but I expect to see at least: one person, probably a single parent with nine kids, talk about how hard it is to get by in today's economy and how the economic policies of the last eight years have left he/she unable to afford to leave any tooth fairy money on her kids pillow; another will talk about how high oil prices have forced them to sell their home and how they don't understand how "ordinary Americans" are supposed to get by on $3 pesos an hour while Exxon takes home $11B in profits. Stay tuned, they'll show up.

I was about to sit down and type up how McCain and Obama would affect your investments, then I found someone already has, so we'll start there: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/how-obama-mccain-affect-your/story.aspx?guid={93C57CD0-8A08-4632-AAD1-EFEAFEF80563}

Hurrican Gustav is bearing down on Haiti and meteorologists are giddy with glee at the possibility that a Category 5 hurricane will follow its most likely path and arrive full steam in New Orleans sometime early next week. Of note, if you day-trade and play the market you might want to consider shorting airline stocks and going long with some non-Gulf refining companies. If the refiners in the Gulf have to shut down, other refiners will stand to reap the rewards.

I should get back to work. More on the conventions and why drinking wine and cheese doesn't always taste good awaits the next post. Until then!