Very, Very Optimistic -- For Investors Only

I am finally caught up with most of the notes I wanted to post for today. I need to go through some new presentations and do some reading, but for the moment, I'm just relaxing.

I'm in a great mood. I have this hunch that we're through the rough patch of the market for the time being. Sure, it could bottom out tomorrow or this week, or next week, but skimming through the headlines, and with most companies having now posted their 2Q12 results, it looks like we've gotten through the worst.

I don't know why I'm in a good mood. Maybe it's the fact that Congress is on a five-week vacation. Or maybe it's the Mideast -- it hasn't blown up yet (sure, Syria's a problem).

The Mideast looks "bad" -- in the near term: Syria, Israel and Iran. In the long term, the entire Mideast, as the Muslim Brotherhood gradually takes control. We may yet see Pan-Arabism that was talked about when President Obama was still a community organizer, or perhaps before that (I can't keep track of the decades). But the Mideast always looks bad, and if one is invested in oil, I don't see "bad news" coming out of the Mideast.

If the Mideast gets through this saber-rattling without a shooting war, one can probably thank the US Marines. And the US Navy.  I assume a few aircraft carriers and supporting vessels off Iran's shore gets their attention.

But back to investing. I find it absolutely amazing the number of great companies that one can invest in that are paying great dividends. I think "easy money" is here to stay for quite some time, and companies are taking advantage of it. Oasis, SandRidge, Enterprise Partners, all announced new issues of senior debt in the last 24 hours or so. And that's just of the companies I tend to follow.