Shameful CEO Bonuses

President Barak Obama criticized large companies for "shameful" practice of giving CEO's excessive bonuses, despite their dismal performance. It demonstrates a blatant discrepancy between those at the top and the regular working public. While the criticism is warranted, his words will only have the effect of a pebble in a pond if no action is taken to discourage such irresponsibility in the future. Jim Webb has expressed his concern for a vast discrepancy in wages in his book "A Time to Fight." It's an indication that our society is not healthy. Ideally, the stockholders should be the ones who hold companies accountable instead of the government trying to regulate fairness. However, something should be done because the ratio of earning between high executives and the rest of the company is egregious. 

ETF vs. Mutual Funds

The past few years have pretty difficult for investors! Due to the depressed stock market, our portfolio suffered along with millions of others. In the past, I have relied upon a money manager; however, I became upset when he mismanaged my money. Consequently, I decided to invest in mutual funds in order to acheive adequate diversification as a protection against losses; however, our mutual funds provided little protection against the bear market of 2008. As we face the future, I am seeking new strategies with Index Funds in the forms of ETFs.

Zion Oil

We have invested in Zion Oil (ZN), so we are anxiously awaiting news of the Ma'anit-Joseph #3 well. Although there is downward pressure on the stock due to the new rights offering, the stock will soar if oil or gas is discovered. They are very near to achieving target depth and have recently received confirmation from expert consultants that they have finally reached the Permian geological layer.We've been waiting a few years to reach this point. Will this third well be the charm?