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This summer, I successfully worked to build a portfolio that has the potential to be worth $100,000 if all my stocks again reach their 52-week highs.  Some stocks have been higher in recent times than their 52-week highs, but I didn’t want to get too crazy.  I multiplied the number of shares I have of each stock by its year-high and added up all the numbers. 

Thankfully just 50 shares of Freddie Mac were included in this calculation because as of tomorrow, my $225 worth of FRE, which is down 50% from when I bought in anyway, will be worth $0.  Where’s the money going and why now?  Forbes.com cites the timing to “grumblings oversees” from China.  After all, China is funding our war with Iraq so we better keep them happy, right?  And the Asian markets open tomorrow. 

So Freddie and Fannie Mae will be bailed out by you and me to keep China happy so that we can still get money from them to stay in Iraq.  Our tax dollars will go to help bail out bad mortgages (hey, the US is already trillions of dollars in debt, what’s another few billion?), to keep China happy, and to fund a country’s occupation.  Forget Christmas; Christmas for me has always been tax time.  Penciling in all those numbers into all those little boxes, looking up what a line means in the newspaper print tax book, licking the envelope and sending it to the office that handles returns, watching my bank account for when the refunds are credited, and knowing that I did it all on my own has always been my kind of fun.  But you can bet this year I’ll be going to H&R Block.    

So now what?  Now I will need to find a stock that can potentially, based on its 52-week high and the number of shares I buy, return the $3,350 that I’ll lose tomorrow on my 50 shares of FRE.  I’ve had my eye on Deerfield Capital (DFR), Community Bancorp (CBON), and yes, maybe even Triad Guarantee (TGIC) again.  Freddie Mac was a bet I lost, but so goes the game!