The markets are going up again. A lot. And I’m getting what we like to call “whipsawed”. Which isn’t a good term. September is turning out to be quite fine in the markets. New talk of stabilization and recovery. Blah, blah, blah. I’m staying short. Remember, discipline instead of emotion.

From me and Eric, we’d like to wish everyone in the USA a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I must admit, it took me many years to fully enjoy this holiday. I think it had to do something with an old high school football coach. You see, for us in New York State, Labor Day was the last official day of football training camp. Um, there was no family picnics for us. You know, double and triple practices in 90+degree heat. Never did you see sooooo many kids HAPPY that school was starting, which happened right after Labor Day, prohibiting the ruthless coaches from killing us all day, any longer. It was awesome, that after Labor Day Monday, they could only do it for 3 hours after school everyday. But the quote I still hear in my head when I hear the words “Labor Day” came from that coach, “Labor Day?!?! It’s a day of LABOR!!!” Go kill yourself coach. Hope you have a happy Labor Day too.

“See” you all on Tuesday, if not sooner. Enjoy.

I am standing in beautiful upstate New York with vacationers from near and far to participate in a time honored tradition, betting the ponies. They start today at 1pm eastern and there is a 10 race card. Out last eve, enjoying the Saratoga “nightlife”, I noticed the bars were a lot less crowded than in year’s past. Even for a Wednesday night. Other interesting facts were presented in the “Pink Sheet” today. The “Pink Sheet” in Saratoga is not to be confused with the “Pink Sheets” on the Nasdaq Stock Market showing penny stocks. But it serves a similar purpose. You see, the “Pink Sheet” is the pink insert in “The Saratogian”, the local newspaper here in Saratoga. It’s also “Saratoga’s No. 1 source of racing news since 1889″ according to them I guess. In any event, at the back of the “Pink Sheet” after all the analysis paralysis for today’s racing has been written, there is a little box showing some stats from this year versus last year.

Obviously, 2009 wasn’t so good for many industries, just like 2008 stunk and 2010 is stinking. So this caught my eye. Attendance for the track yesterday was 8,941 people. Last year the same date it was 10,893. Um, that’s a drop of close to 20%. The “On-track handle” (amount bet at the track) yesterday was $1,539,103 versus $1,712,808 in ‘09. That’s a drop of over 10%. Keep in mind too, that yesterday there was a big special Pick 6 wager that wasn’t as special last year on that day. Which means the drop was probably closer to 20% as well. A real shame. People just don’t have the discretionary money anymore. You have to understand too, that this place is not filled with a bunch of degenerate gamblers like other tracks. This is a family place where grandpa might put $2 to win on his favorite nag.Clearly a lot less grandpa’s are coming.

So if you are able, you still have time to make it to the track today! Even if you are in NYC, the legendary sportswriter Red Smith gave directions to Saratoga Racetrack. He said, “From NYC drive about 175 miles north, thenturn left at Union Avenue, and go back 100 years.” Perfect. He’s still right to this day. Oh, you want my “lock of the day”? I’m no Big Dick, but how about, in the 7th race, the #1 IT’S TRULY AHVEE, at 5-1to win. Enjoy the day. I know I will. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a little thirsty.

One particular pony I will be watching is “Lisa’s Booby Trap” in the 9th tomorrow. She’s going for her 4th straight win in 4 attempts. Her trainer bought her for $4500 by taking his last $2000 out of his boot and an IOU from the seller. He’s named for the trainer’s deceased wife Lisa (died of cancer in 2003) and a gentleman’s club in Florida. If you feel that you would like to write a movie about this story, forget it. The rights have already been purchased and a movie is probably being made now. Personally, I’m gonna take a nice long look at her in the paddock and probably bet AGAINST her and her very overbet self by all the “dreaming” public that believe in fairy tales. As you may know, I’m not much of a dreamer. Call me nuts but I think you make a lot more dough that way and when the dream doesn’t come through, you don’t feel as bad as the other saps.

In any event, I’ll give some hard hitting investigative updates from the inside track tomorrow. Perhaps before the sun is up, with my visor, stubby #2 pencil, a stopwatch and a clipboard. Studying the whole time. Enjoy and try and stay cool!

Bust out your bow and arrows, your horses, your muskets, baby we might be having a good old fashioned western movie coming to upstate New York! Only in real life! You see our leader in NY, Colonel Paterson (you mightknow him asthe legally blind NY GovernorDavidPaterson who has afew days left in office), has declared financial war on the”En-juns” (technical term meaning Indians, and not the ones from India baby, theNative Americans!). Yep, a big scam that has occured over many years is that you could buycigarettes tax free if you went to a legitimate IndianReservation. I guess it waskind of a nice payback, along with casino licenses, to thetribes for stealingall their land and wampumall those years ago.

Buttough timescall for tough measures. The state needs money and theColonel, ahem Governor, is gonna try and get it. He even got some judge in the “white man court” in Buffalo totake his side. But bewarekee-mo-saab-ee, the last time this smokes taxing thing waschallenged, the “red man” (technical term) closed down over 30 miles of “white manpath for loud, fast, environment hurting,machine” also known as theNew York State Thruway, and it was VIOLENT.

Now today, Paterson better get the Lone Ranger,General Custer, and everyone else he can, because late last night a Federal judge from a different “white man court” has decided to rule againstPaterson and the state, and say they CANNOT collect the tax.So far it’s in thelegal system, but one false move by either side and you can be sure there will be some sort of New York versus IndianWarthat kids will be reading about in history books for years.Let me be the first tosuggesta nice nickname forthe war. “TheCancer Stick War”.

I guess the way I look at it, if you can grab $200mmin taxesrather than hit me up for it, I’m with it. Kinda like those rich assclowns who don’t pay tax, but tell you, you should. And a lot of em. Now is there some sort of militia I can sign up for?I hear this is going to hit a nerve in Western New York? I’m going to the track today and tomorrow up in Saratoga. I can “borrow” one of those horses and ride over to the war so fast the Indians heads will do an “Exorcist spin”. I’m ready legally blind Colonel, um Governor, Paterson!

Now I can’t remember the last time I saw a non-kid movie in a movie theater. I think it was “Seabiscuit” (and I saw a preview for a movie called “Secretariat” that’s coming out in the fall. I WILL be seeing that too. Notice a pattern here? I go to horse movies. I have issues.). But during a “Great Recession”, movie attendance should be off the charts. As in high. That’s what happened in the “Great Depression”. People went to the movies to “get away from it all” for a few hours. This time around its even lower than the go-go nineties and 2000s? I guess Netflix and cheap DVDs have taken over and people just stay home and save dough. Maybe the movie business should lower prices to help the “little guy”? You know, practice what they preach in Hollywood? You know, communism. Um, with the record revenues, don’t count on that anytime soon. $20 movie tickets anyone? If I didn’t have a kid, I wouldn’t be going either. Maybe we should have a “tea party” for the movie industry? Like nifty boycotts and such? Do those filthy animals in Hollywood get picked on close to the amount that people in the finance business or auto business do? I think if you got to see what these assclowns do on a daily business, we would ALL have a lot to say. And don’t give me the crap about how they entertain us and provide a service. They fleece poor families because how do you tell little junior that he can’t go to a movie that all his other pals go to? And they KNOW they can play that card for a long time. Let’s start this protest thing now! To again quote Jerry Maguire (played by “floating” Tom Cruise) in the movie “Jerry Maguire”: “Who’s Coming With Me?!”

I’ve been racking my brain for some ideas on how to get this economy going again…so I figure I’ll steal a couple!

Joe Nocera from the New York Times had a nice piece in Saturday’s Times Widespread Fear Freezes Housing Market In the piece Joe talks about something that is near and dear to the father of the Monkey Business McMansion….Dr. Richard Bennett.

Its even become nearly impossible for well-heeled investors to buy rental properties. This is no small matter. At the peak of the bubble, the rate of homeownership approached 70 percent. Now it is falling toward 65 percent which is more or less where it was before all the housing madness of the last decade. That means that millions of Americans who were briefly homeowners need to become renters again. They need a place to rent.

But somebody has to buy the homes they are leaving behind and turn them into rental properties. The most likely buyer is a professional investor who purchases rental properties for a living. Yet, absurdly, government rules have made it exceedingly difficult to make loans to investors who want to buy up rental properties. This only adds to the shadow inventory.

As Richie often points out, with financing at these rock bottom levels as well as houses that NEED to be sold, why not be reasonable with underwriting standards for investors with good credit to buy and rent these homes? Nocera’s piece rightly points out that 90% or more of housing finance that gets done in the USA right now is completely dependent on government guarantees….ala GNMA, FNMA and FHLMC. Meanwhile, these guys (Freddie, Fannie and Ginnie) are fighting the last war and the last war was lost in big part because folks bought “investment properties” to flip, with little or NO skin in the game. If the price went up…splendid. If it went down….”Here’s the keys!”

Now, if a guy can put 20% down and he can rent the house anywhere close to what the mortgage payment and real estate taxes are….God Bless!! Here’s a 4.5% 30-year fixed-rate loan.This way we put at least some of this enormous housing inventory into strong hands instead of giving tax credits to first time home buyers that are getting 97.5% of their purchase financed by the FHA. Perhaps many of those first time home buyers should be….renting?

Another thought I have is actually something that I blasted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about just a month ago. Sorry Chamber. U.S. corporations have $billions of revenuesoverseas that they are not repatriating because they will be taxed at the full corporate tax rate. The Chamber suggested that these corporations get a “tax holiday” similar to the one they got in 2004. Back then they got to bring the money back at a tax rate of 5.25%. Why they got this in 2004 I have no idea…..but not important now. I’m sure something can be worked out where a similar tax holiday can be arranged on the condition that the corporations use the windfall to create jobs in the good old USA. I know that is a bit broad, but I’m sure something can be worked out. If we can shoot down a missile with a missile we can figure out how to create real jobs with those billions. And if they take jobs away from our foreign friends? Tough shit. Now, is that the free market at work? Not entirely, but the tax holiday is a discretionary gift so….

Maybe the folks in Congress and the White House should stop assclowning each other, get together and start thinking and acting with a common purpose.

A lot of volatility occurs when thestock markets refers to a “triple witching hour” which is the last hour of trading on the 3rd Friday of March, June, September, and December. That’s when stock index futures, stock index options, and single stock options all expire. Crazy stuff can go on those days. September 17 is the next day to mark on your calender to see if wacky stuff goes on. I got my own version ofa “triple witching”thatJUST happened.

My charts just showed aSELL onthe following 3, as in triple: S&P 500, the Nasdaq, AND the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It’s also two days before September, the worst month for stocks historically. Followed by October, which I believe is the 2nd worst month for stocks historically. Thisis what we like to call “an uncomfortable conversation”. When those 3 major indices (S&P, Nasdaq, and Dow) are showing aSELL on my charts? It’s probably a 90% lock that we are going down, perhapsconsiderably, in the short term.Usually, in the VERY short term. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. Now it’s hot. I’m gonnatake my kid to the pool. At my sister’s “club”.I bet they have “THE tennis” on. I will askthem to put one of the TVs on”THE horse racing” (see post below). Should be interesting,asI am a mere guest.

I’m getting real tired of this constant age old practice of blaming the defenseless and the downtrodden for our problems. The reason the poor are called “the poor” is because they are f**king POOR! The old Reagan story of the welfare millionaires riding around in Cadillacs and pumping out an endless supply of babies so they can get more benefits for more Cadillacs is and always was bullshit. Ronald Reagan….sheeeeeet. That guy was playing with half a deck BEFORE he started losing his marbles in the 80’s.

You really think the poor are having a gay old time with their lives? We are the wealthiest country in the world and yet we have millions of citizens who can legitimately claim membership in the FAB club. That stands for F**ked At Birth. Your angry now? Try walking a mile in their shoes and see what a great time it is. All of this angry white man crap animals like Glen Beck push is to deflect the very real anger average Americans feel about a system that as George Carlin said, “Threw them over the side thirty years ago.”

Is it the poor man or the illegal alien that;

Raped the financial system and brought the country to its knees?

Allows a banking system to take the savings from average Americans, charge them more in fees than it pays them in interest and then allocate their money toward the loan-sharking business known as credit card lending….as opposed to lower yielding but far more important (and honest) small to medium size business loans?

Started two wars who’s purpose and goals continue to go unexplained and fought by a professional military that has been stabbed in the back by it’s civilian leadership’s incompetence?

Destroys the Gulf of Mexico and uses national land leases to poison millions of acres across the country with their natural gas wells and their toxic waste?

Allows a health care system that AFTER “HEALTH CARE REFORM” allows insurance companies to operate with outright monopoly power to shake down average Americans in search of basic health care?

Runs another “welfare program” that no one seems to ever talk about…..the freaking defense budget where billions disappear every year (and I mean disappear as in, “We have no freaking idea where the money went.”) and weapon systems that we don’t need get funded to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars every year?

This shit is endless but since we seem to be getting all political on this blog, this is what I think. You don’t agree? Bring it.

Editor’s Note–For some of you who are new to the site, and aren’t aware, we have a pretty damn fine sports prognosticator here at the blog. His name is Big Dick. With certain bookmakers, just mentioning those 2 words “Big Dick” can cause angst and turn supposed tough men into little lambs. When we last heard from Big Dick, he was giving us a 13-1 winner in the Belmont Stakes and the $145 exacta (top 2 finishers) in that race for a $2 wager. As an aside, Big D does NOT wager just $2. Today, on a glorious day, in upstate New York, “the Mid-Summer Derby” will be run. It is also known as the Travers Stakes. $1mm purse. 1 1/4 miles. The very best 3 year old ponies in the country. Sure sounds like a Derby to me! Anyway, Big Dick please give us the winning formula. Well, don’t give us the formula, just give us the winners. Go!–R.B.

Ahhhh Richie, it’s good to be back in the saddle (pun intended!). I’ve been sunning myself on my private island since our big score in the Belmont in June, but I’ve realized it’s time to come out and play some horse race at around 5:45 pm eastern time today. That horse race is VERY intriguing as almost any of the 11 entrants can win. When that’s the case, we start trolling for value, and we’ve found it.

Back in July, we received word that Richie, your 6 year old, while at the track with you, went up to a certain Mr. Todd Pletcher, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner, SUPER SAVER, and said, “Mr. Pletcher my favorite horse is SUPER SAVER. Your’s too?” The stoic Mr. Pletcher got a grin about a mile wide and proceeded to chat with the 6 year old for about 15 minutes, dropping an autograph, and a nice horse pin. Now SUPER SAVER hasn’t run great since the Derby but he’s been training well and Mr. Pletcher has been absolutely killing it at Saratoga this summer with all of his runners. He’s gonna be 7 or 8-1 at least. We smell value. Take #11 to win, place, and show.

For the exotic wagerers, lets do an exacta (top 2 finishers in order), a trifecta (top 3 finishers in order), and for you really brave souls, a superfecta (top 4 finishers in order)! The classiest tough guy who hasn’t won but always seems to be right in the hunt is #4 FIRST DUDE. He’s got the master on his back, RAMON DOMINGUEZ who has won ata 25% clip this year. He will also be 8-1 at least. The intriguing horse in the race is only racing for the 2nd time. The #3 ADMIRAL ALEX ran so well in his debut a few weeks back that his trainer felt he could run with the big boys. He really thinks he has a shot. At 12-1, we’ll play along. The crafty KENT DESORMEAUX rides “the Admiral”. Finally, we really can’t dismiss the favorite A LITTLE WARM who has done absolutely nothing wrong. His price just might be a little “tight” at 5-2. So what does this all mean?

The winning wagers in the 12th race at Saratoga today, The Travers: #11 SUPER SAVER win, place, and show. An exacta box #3 ADMIRAL ALEX, #4 FIRST DUDE, #11 SUPER SAVER. A trifecta box with the same numbers #3, #4, #11. Finally a superfecta box with #3, #4, #11, and #5 A LITTLE WARM. We’ll be seeing YOU in the winners circle! And of course, good luck and god bless!

I guess Big Dick has emerged from his exotic island to place another horse investment cause I think I just saw him walk into a NYC OTB shop! Oh geez, that’s right tomorrow is the Travers Stakes in beautiful Saratoga Springs, NY! The Travers is also known as “The MidSummer Derby”. Personally, I think its an awesome race since they weed out all the contenders and throw out the pretenders from the spring and what you have is really an All-Star horse race. For example, SUPER SAVER, the Kentucky Derby winner, is the 3rd choice in the early betting for tomorrow’s Travers! Yowsah! Now I don’t pretend to have the connections and inside skinny that Big D has, but I am hearing that the general theme is that ANY of the 11 horses entered could win the race. That’s exciting.

What also is exciting is that the last time weheard from Big Dick, he smashed the Belmont Stakes for us with a13-1 winnerin DROSSELMEYER. He also clicked an exacta with DROSSELMEYER and FLY DOWN (who is entered in tomorrow’s TRAVERS, hmmmmm!) that paid $145 for a $2 wager. And as many of you know, Big Dick does NOT beta mere $2. So I’m going to chase him down now and see if he wouldn’t do us another solid and putup his choices exclusively on monkeybusinessblog.com? With my cunning marketing skills, I would say that isa good bet. Stay tuned latertoday, or possibly even tomorrowif Big D hasn’tquite completed his analysis, or is waiting for some last minute tips from thewaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay inside, for his selections. This is gonna be great! (Said like Flounder in”Animal House”)