investors

The bureaucratic propaganda machine has really ramped up this week. Page 7 of today’s Australian Financial Review (AFR) headlines:

“Super profit tax calls industry’s bluff”

And on the front page the AFR leads with:

“Henry ramps up pressure on miners”

With the subheading, “Claims tax will boost growth.”

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There comes a time when investors just need to let go.

Some things are just not meant to be.

Yet even so, the fascination with and the desire for some investors to buy Telstra [ASX: TLS] shares is unwavering.

Personally we don’t get it. If Telstra was the only share listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, we still wouldn’t touch it. In fact, I think I’d rather buy an over-priced property with a 100% mortgage and negative gearing than buy Telstra shares.

That’s how bad an investment in Telstra is.

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[Note: Kris is in Australian Wealth Gameplan mode this morning. So today's effort is brought to you by Diggers & Drillers editor Alex Cowie...]

Platinum has the makings of being the commodity story of 2010. Right now, the stars are aligned for this super rare metal, and this year I expect it will even outperform gold and silver.

Over the last three months Platinum prices have already risen 15.8%. And that’s set to continue.

So why are investors worldwide getting so excited about platinum? Let me tell you.

First of all, the supply of platinum is really tight.

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This morning we were going to congratulate Westpac on their mind-blowingly ingenious move of increasing interest rates by 0.45%, even though the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) had only increased rates by 0.25%.

Don’t believe all the spin about ‘higher funding costs.’ There’s much more to it than that. What Westpac has done is the banking equivalent of hitting a six back over the bowler’s head…

Forget that, it’s the equivalent of doing a reverse sweep to hit the ball for six over the wicketkeepers head.

We don’t normally praise the banks for being smart, but if we see someone from Westpac today we’ll be sure to give them a high-five.

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