The Motley Fool's CAPS investing service is another not-so-secret weapon investors use to work together to beat the market. Among other features, CAPS lets users blog about their picks, investing strategy, market view, favorite rugby team, or whatever floats their boat.
As CAPS blogging catches on, players add more insightful content every day. I've dug through the past week's posts to find some of CAPS' best insights. With room for only eight posts here, I can't possibly cover all the choice material in the CAPS blogosphere, so when you're done here, I highly recommend checking out others.
Occam's razor
My most memorable meeting with an Occam's Razor derivative was in my freshman year of high school, when a teacher, annoyed by my overly wordy answers on a test, scribbled "K.I.S.S." at the top of my paper. K.I.S.S. stands for "keep it simple, stupid"; it's the For Dummies version of William of Occam's famous principle.
In a really clever blog post, kitsapbabe takes the same principle and applies it to investing strategy. What follows are 10 guidelines to investing and personal financial management that can help you keep your affairs much more efficiently.
Alternative fuel algebra
It's been hard to ignore ethanol stocks like VeraSun, Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX), and Aventine Renewable lately, since they've all been showing some serious pep. But one debate just won't die: whether ethanol has any long-term viability in the global power equation.
Kristm gives us a take on the algebra of both ethanol and hydrogen in a recent blog post. Both, it seems, are far less viable than current fossil fuel sources, and similarly inferior to other alternative fuel sources such as wind and solar power.
Be sure to check out the discussion that follows the blog post too -- multiple Fools chime in with some astute thoughts on both the pro and con sides of this debate.
Reduce your CO2 emissions
Speaking of green math, abacusdude has an impressive list of ways to cut back on personal CO2 emissions on his blog. Included are the methods, the amount of CO2 saved, and the cash it puts back in your pocket. Still looking for a New Year's resolution? This blog is a must-read.
100% chance of recession in the next year
Pessimistic enough for you? The prediction comes from Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), which has just recently been woken up by an open-handed slap to the face from billions of dollars of write-downs. In a recent blog post, abitarecatania puts more color in Merrill's projections and what they could mean for U.S. stocks.
Dave Barry New Year's Laugh
It's hard to beat comedian Dave Barry when it comes to irreverence. On New Year's Eve, dwot shared a really funny quip from Barry that gives a rundown on our current economic situation. I don't think the sky is falling, but I do know Dave isn't too far from the truth!
2008 homebuilder bankruptcy contest
Is there a better way to start a new year than speculating on which homebuilder will go under in the next few months? DemonDoug kicked off this informal contest on his blog and put out Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) as his front-runner. Other entries so far include Lennar (NYSE: LEN), Standard Pacific, and Hovnanian.
Is 2008 the year of the telecommunications?
With a new year in front of us, it's anybody's guess what industry will lead the stock market over the next 12 months. CAPS player Hushuobadao thinks that the telecoms could make a big run in 2008. Among his favorites are Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T).
Four picks for '08
Chiming in with some more projections for the year ahead is LouieJunior. His New Year's post gives four ideas for 2008 -- two long and two short. One of the four is a particularly gutsy short call on Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), which has been surging on high expectations for its just-completed Christmas season.
More CAPS Foolishness:
