The Motley Fool's CAPS investing service is another great way for investors 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 are adding more great content on a daily basis. I've dug through the past week's posts to find some of CAPS' best insights. With room for only seven posts here, I can't possibly cover all of the great stuff in the CAPS blogosphere, so when you're done here, I highly recommend checking out some more.

Visa Verbulence
The Visa (NYSE: V) IPO is the best thing since, well, at least MasterCard (NYSE: MA), right? CAPS player TheGarcipian isn't so sure. He knows that it's in the interest of investment bankers to keep their customer -- Visa, in this case -- happy, and not leave a lot of money on the table. For investors like us, that means that maybe Visa isn't the deal of the century after all.

The power of 8.4%
Using a little nifty math, CAPS blogger charlesblazer shows how homeowners can pay off their mortgage much sooner and cut a significant amount off their total payment. How? All it takes is an extra 8.4% towards principal every month. Click through to the blog post and check out the full details.

A bit of merger arbitrage
Taking a page out of the Ben Graham merger arbitrage book, CAPS player jjun0366 has taken an in-depth look at Great Plains Energy's (NYSE: GXP) proposed acquisition of Aquila. In the post, he outlines what's transpired in the deal process so far, what the profit potential is, and where the risk lies.

Builder alert: DISTRESS!
If you thought the worst might be behind us, be sure to check out this post from floridabuilder. Basing his conclusions on his intimate knowledge of the industry, floridabuilder thinks that capitulation in the housing industry is just beginning and we're about to see a flood of further bad news from the homebuilders and banks. We may see some of this as major homebuilders KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and Lennar (NYSE: LEN) report earnings this week.

Starbucks is going down
Can everyone's favorite java brewer Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) turn things around? CAPS player cybergec, for one, thinks not.

American ethanol producers are using the wrong feedstock
Ethanol producers have gotten a lot of attention, not only because of the promise of alternative energy sources like ethanol, but also because of the backlash against corn-based ethanol. Even as the drive for alternative fuel sources grows, corn-based ethanol has received a lot of bad press, thanks to the inefficiency of the process and the fuel, as well as the effect that the fuel has on food prices. In his blog, TMFSpreadsheet suggests that maybe the solution is to consider an alternative feedstock for U.S. ethanol producers.

Asta Funding is a good bet at this price
While most financial companies have earned their steep drops, CAPS player FRRElement thinks that Asta Funding (Nasdaq: ASFI) may have been beaten up unfairly. Click through to his post to find out why he thinks Asta is worth a look.

And that's our roundup for this week. Be sure to check back next week for more great blogging action. In the meantime, why not head over to CAPS and add your two cents to the community pool?

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