Cry For Me, Venezuela; Apple Surpasses Google To Reclaim Title -- May 27, 2015

Iraq says they "will flood the market with crude oil."

Not good news for Venezuela.

Barron's is reporting that Venezuela is running on fumes.

Even though Venezuela tapped the International Monetary Fund in recent weeks to keep itself afloat, shoring up its currency is another matter.

The low price of oil has crushed the energy exporter’s budget. Russ Dallen, who contributes to a newsletter for investors, and writes about Latin America, writes today that “Venezuela’s situation continues to unravel at increasing speed as the bolivar tumbled 30% over just the last week, while the country’s international reserves simultaneously hit a new 12-year low, closing at $17.5 billion.”

He says the weak currency and decline in reserves means the country is “essentially running on fumes.” 

*************************

Investopedia

Six stocks recommended by some contributor over at Investopedia:

• PSX -- leads the list
• Apple -- #2 on the list
• Google
• General Mills
• Amazon.com
• Disney

This is not an investment site. Do not make any investment or financial decisions based on anything you read at this site or think you may have read at this site.

This is kind of cool: Apple surpasses Google (again) to reclaim title as "World's Most Valuable Brand."  The list for 2015:

• Apple
• Google
• Microsoft
• IBM
• Visa
• ATT
• Vertizon
• Coca-Cola
• McDonalds
• Marlboro

******************************

For The Archives
Some Nice Graphics

Some Nice Data Points

Investopedia contributor looks at EPD.

*****************************

A Note for the Granddaughters

From wiki: 

Historian Richard B. Morris in 1973 identified the following seven figures as the key Founding Fathers: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. 

I like to think of four founding fathers. The general, the ambassador, the thinker, the banker: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton.

There's a new book out on the founding of America, Quartet by Joseph J. Ellis. According to Ellis, the quartet took the "nation" from the chaos of the Articles in 1783 to the constitutional convention in 1787, that supplanted the Articles. The quartet were the "dissenters" who saw the need for a strong central government: Washington, Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

A reminder -- the authors of the Federalist Papers: Hamilton, Madison, and Jay.

It will be interesting to read the role played by Thomas Jefferson in the constitutional convention which this author "demotes." Benjamin Franklin was still alive in 1787 but he would be dead three years later (1790). Jefferson was still relatively young in 1787; he was 44 years old.

The book is reviewed in last weekend's Wall Street Journal; if the review mentioned Thomas Jefferson, I missed it.