The AUD will continue strength - $1.25 anyone?

You might wonder for how long can the AUD exchange rate sustain its strong rise against the USD. I would suggest that it can do it for a while yet. We might think that the strong $A is going to jeopardise our international competitiveness. The reality however is that:

1. Until recently, the USD was being debased more than the AUD was rising. This is evident against other currencies such as the Philippines peso, a strong Asian market, which is not a significant commodity exporter. It should be, but corrupt/failed state impacts its prospects.

2. The AUD is benefiting from stronger commodity prices, but alas they have tends only to strengthen because of a weak USD, which most commodities are denominated in.

3. The Australian economy is such a commodities export machine sitting on the door-step to Asia, so there is good reason to expect strong export income growth, as well as strong business investment.

4. Australia is a net oil exporter. We must remember that whilst Australia produces little oil, i.e. about 60% of its needs if I recall correctly, it produces a hell of a lot of gas, and conventional and liquefied gas is priced based on an oil reference price, i.e. If there is a Middle East crisis, a lot more energy dollars is coming to Australia. Mind you some of it will be flowing out again as dividends to US, European and Chinese/Japanese/Korean equity partners.

5. These strong exports is driving more investment, which leads to capital inflows, i.e. strong $A.

6. High local indebtedness: The Australian private household is well-geared to property. The Reserve Bank is going to keep interest rates low so that people keep spending. i.e. It wants people spending as much as possible because the domestic economy will be a little weak...mind you unemployment is pretty good. But people will not be confident about the external world. But interest rate rises will probably depend on if housing turns into a bubble...so there will need to be some increases in prices coming...to cool that market.

It is true that tourism will be hit by a strong AUD, and the government is clamping down on immigration growth. We can also expect some weakness in the broader market thanks to weakness in property. A little weakness in the broader domestic market might actually help to curtail spending. Fears of inflation, problems in the Middle East and the US economy also help.

For these reasons....I think the currency will stay strong.

I just don't see anything negative on the horizon. I don't see China collapsing. High oil prices will hurt Asia more than Western markets, though its probably tensions in the Middle East will probably not impact oil production.

Australian dollar set to recover

The Australian dollar can be expected to recover in the next week, holding out above $1.00 parity with the USD. The principal reason I think will be a weaker USD based on the cross-rates. The USD has recovered against the Yen, but it will quickly wither, and test previous low.

The Euro also looks set to strengthen against the USD, though I'd stick with the hard currencies, not the pretend (main) ones.

-------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

EUR and JPY weakness to outpace USD debasement

I actually expect the debasement of the EUR and Japanese Yen to outpace the USD debasement, so we can expect a relatively strong USD. All these currencies will of course be weak against the commodity currencies and emerging markets. See my article about the Fed and Asian property.

The interesting aspect is the impact on the commodity producing countries like Australia, Canada, South Africa, Chile, Brazil; as well as the emerging markets like China, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

We can expect these countries to be strong. It is interesting of course because the Fed and EU are blaming the Chinese for the strong Yuan; but partially the reason for the strong Yuan is that the US and European Central Bank (ECB) are debasing their currencies. True, the Chinese are funding the US deficits, and that has artificially raised the USD, but that is with the support of the US government.

We might well expect emerging markets to survive this currency crisis fine this time; largely I think because they can expect a lot of property investment by Western fund managers. Expect a property boom in Asia, particularly the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Thailand. Small Western players are better off in the Philippines because of favourable language (i.e. English), familiar legal system, generous visa rules, and good yields of 8% on high-end apartments.

So what about the commodity producing countries? Australia, NZ, Canada, Brazil and Argentina rely greatly on commodity exports. The problem of course is that mineral commodities do not price at parity with agricultural commodities. This is has to result in these countries sabotaging their currencies with debasement, or more likely we can expect the stronger foodstuff prices to continue. This development makes investment in countries like the Philippines more attractive, or other countries which might have cheaper agricultural land. I know the Philippines does have marginal land as cheap as PHP10-20/m2 (USD0.20/metre2), however you could probably do better elsewhere. Certain higher value crops like coffee are better in the Philippines. Nestle certainly produces a lot. Some of the mountain provinces are also suitable to growing more temperature foodstuffs. e.g. Baguio City is a food basket for the Philippines. It is one of the few cities with malls in the cool mountains...aside from Tagaytay, south of Manila. Anyway, the Philippines is a distraction from the currency strength that is gripping these commodity and emerging markets. So expect stronger commodities as the central banks debase currencies with more 'quantitative easing'.

--------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

The AUD play with a Japanese property twist

The AUD-JPY is not a currency I have been giving much attention to of late because my focus has been on the commodities (AUD-USD) rather than property. Though since I have an interest in Japanese (foreclosed) property, I was interested to look at the implications for the property market....which is offering yields of 12-13%.

We can see from the chart that the AUD might be strong against the USD, but against the Yen, the AUD has actually been a bit lacklustre. That is about to change. The Japanese yen is going to come under a bit of pressure as the govt there debases its currency. You can expect this to lead to a strong AUD against the yen. In fact I am expecting the AUD to rise to the previous high of Y107. This is a good long term currency trade, as you will never earn more spread interest than on this trade. With the unemployment rate 5.1% in Australia, there is actually scope for more rate increases as well. Stimulus in the Eurozone and Japan can only help Australian commodities demand.

The implication is that there is a good opportunity to trade AUD-JPY and then use your profits to buy a holiday house in Japan. Don't forget to get your Japan Rail Pass! God, I should be selling the things...I'd told so many people about them. I love trains. :) I take GPS coordinates for every station I stop at. That's right...I don't have a life. Glad you could join me though.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Australian dollar going to $1.15

The AUD is just about to reach parity with the USD. Followers of the currency price action might have reflected on the trends in the other currency. In this era of currency realignment, you might be thinking that the prospects for a strong USD will mean a weak AUD. I would challenge this point of view. In the short term, I would not be surprised to see the AUD find resistance at parity, but I do believe that we are looking at a stronger AUD currency in the future as a result of currency (i.e. economic) relativism. Yep, economic relativism is about debasing your currency faster than the competition. Countries like Australia have relatively hard currencies in these periods, so we can expect a sustained strong currency. I don't expect significant weakness in China. It will happily keep prospering along for decades to come. So long as there is a high household debt in Australia, we can expect measured increases in interest rates, but also a great deal of sensitivity to those rises. We will not be able to afford interest rate increases...so expect a strong currency. That is alright....all other commodity based currencies will be strong as well, so expect stronger commodity prices across the board.

I actually am expecting to see the AUD reach $1.15-1.20 in the next few years.

-------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Outlook for Australia dollar (AUD)

The Australia dollar is charging ahead in recent trading. The AUD was always destined to be a strong or 'hard' currency given its outlook. This outlook is inextricably tied to the success of China and India, which largely rests on the 'small government', 'selective government' and irrelevance of government. Basically, in China the government is incidental. Rule of law is inoperative, so market rules, albeit with little integrity. If you are expecting China to become a market paradise, think again. China is only going to develop coherent market values if the West does, and sadly ideas don't have much sway in the West either. We are in a scientific era to be sure, but science is the product of a small (2-3% minority), and under our democratic tradition, the idiots retain power.

So let's get back to China. China has a huge population. This means that farmers will be flooding into the cities in order to get higher paying factory jobs. This is great news for Chinese productivity, wealth creation, and it keeps inflation in check around the world. They get cheap raw materials from Australia, Russia and Mongolia. Fears of a Chinese melt down or ci

vil unrest are misplaced. In fact, China has a great deal of mineral resources in the outer provinces, so those areas are likely to become future centres of output....perhaps the food basket for China as we extort higher prices for agricultural products in the seaborne market place.

China will be like this for at least another 20 years, which means that it will have an insatiable demand for food and minerals for the next 20 years. The implication is that Australia will be in a strong position to benefit from exports of ores. Both strong growth in export volumes and high prices are assured. Of course there will be competition at the margin from China and Russia. It remains to be seen whether India will play a significant role. This will depend I think on political reform in that country. Representative democracy is not the 'god-send' it is supposed to be. India can only flourish, like the West, when the recognise that, and identify consensus

based democracy as a better mode of governance. It is the only way to end the tyranny of the majority, who are idiots. In India's case, uneducated idiots; and in Australia's case, morally skeptical idiots too accustomed to not paying the consequences for their actions, i.e. Not thinking. And I have yet to speak of the 'enablers', whether corporate CEOs, parents or politicians.

Anyway, back to Australia.

Australia really has no problem in future. More capital is going to flood into this coun

try than you can imagine, funding mines and energy projects mostly. A huge wealth effect for what is a very small population. Of course we might expect two things:

1. A materialistic splurge as people buy more houses, etc

2. Governments staking more of this wealth threw resource rent taxes

3. Decadence of all sorts resulting in greater crime, drugs and rock n roll. Yep, may

be even a sexual revolution. Let's hope, I missed the last one :) I was born in 1968.

Looking at the chart, its apparent that the AUD is just about to reach its 6mth high of 0.93 USD. We might expect a sell-off at this point, however its probably likely to continue to its 2-year high of 0.96, set back in July 2008.

At such times the currency has a tendency to fall back because spending gets out of control. Is that going to happen this time? Hmmm...that will depend. I suggest 'No' for the following reasons:

1. An overheating Australian economy is going to place pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates, so you will be able to spend less on consumerism, and you will be forced to pay more off your debt. You ought to already be doing this, or buying gold stocks.

2. Australia household debt levels are high, so this monetary policy will be very effective

3. The Australian govt will prefer to allow the AUD to rise rather than raising interest rates, because its constituency is the poor households rather than rich farmers and miners. You might expect the 'farmer-friendly' Independents to make a difference, but I doubt it, because I don't think they even know what monetary policy is.

What does all this mean? It means strong AUD for a while now - either way. More likely there will be a balance of interest rate rises to temper a strong economy. We need to consider the 'flow on' of that trade balance. Will it translate into benefits for Australian households? Yep, in terms of lower interest rates than otherwise, and low price pressures from imports.

4. We might expect a lot of Australians to be holidaying in the USA. We are not accustomed to being on par with Americans

5. The big caveat is how the Labor govt behaves. They are inclined to sabotage the economy of late, and the Independents do not inspire confidence.

---------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

The outlook for the AUD positive

The Australian dollar is confronting several competing forces at the moment. In the short term there is the uncertainty of an unknown election result, even if it appears as if the Coalition will have the power in the House of Representatives, given that most of the Independent MPs are alligned to Liberal-National values.

The trading in the AUD suggests that the currency is close to breaking out to a new high, or set to fall to the old 80c support.

I am confident that once the election uncertainty has cleared we are going to see a stronger AUD. The reasons will be:

1. An end to the Emissions Trading Scheme

2. An end to the Mining Tax

3. Strong mineral export revenues

4. Strong business investment by the Chinese and Indians in coal & iron ore

The economy is currently bumping along with capital inflows of $3.5-4 billion per month. They are going to keep the AUD strong for the foreseeable future. The USD does not convey such strength, but the Chinese economy does. I see no reason to expect a slump in China, which is still benefiting from a great deal of stimulus. I can see upside for the AUD to as high as 98.38c, the previous high. I cannot see that support being broken in the medium term. It is probable that Australia will witness a recovery in domestic spending by that point. i.e. When Australians know they are on a good thing they go out with their credit cards in hand.

---------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Forex market attitudes to Australian PM candidates

Interestingly the Forex markets are signalling that Australia is confronting a bad choice of leaders - between two idiots to be sure. The NZD is surprisingly strong. I think the markets are anticipating a bad choice either way. Certainly there is no question that Gillard is dire news for the AUD in the short-medium term (say 0-5 years), whereas Abbot is the opposite I feel. Really its about the Gillard risk. The considerations are:

1. Resource Rent Tax - it will kill investment in the long term, but committed projects will continue. In the long term there will be balance of payments benefits in the Australian government receiving more money through extortion, but there will be a retained distaste in financial markets in the form of an interest rate risk premium for the extortion, and its surprise introduction.

2. Ideology - Gillard is a socialist who will invest long term in education. It will be inefficient spending, so considered a debasement of the currency value. Mind you? Any worse than Obama? The implication however is that wealth will unnecessarily be squandered.

3. Interest rates - I think both parties will have similar implications for interest rates - except for the Gillard 'tax premium' of say 0.25% x $750 billion of household debt for Australia. Basically they will have soft monetary policies because of the high housing debt, so they will let the exchange rate jump around with commodity prices and speculation about global economic growth.

4. Fiscal policy - Abbot could be expected to cut govt spending to repay debts.

Little surprise then that investors wanting AUD exposure are bidding up the NZD. Expect that disparity to correct after the election results.

---------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

AUD-USD close to support levels

The AUD has fallen off considerably in May. The AUD is destined to find support at the 0.8574 level, which ought to provide a good platform from which to trade forward. The critical factors shaping the AUD are interest rates and the Resource Rent Tax (RRT) under consideration by the Rudd government. A RRT would undermine a great deal of investment interest in Australia, particularly in the iron ore, coal, coal seam methane and the conventional oil & gas sectors. Several LNG terminals have been proposed. If this tax is adopted, a few more energy projects will be directed towards Oman and Yemen instead. That is how seriously Kevin Rudd has crippled the sovereign risk weighting of Australia. What an idiot! Rudd can be categorised with other infamous expropriators of private wealth - President Mugabe and President Chiraz. A 40% tax off the top is not much better than nationalisation with nominal compensation.

I would not even be surprised to see the AUD breach this support. The factors working against this are the internally strong economy, and thus its relative merits over other economies, since it promises to keep interest rates relatively high.

--------------------------------------------

Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Australian dollar has strong short term outlook

Stronger commodity prices and a strong economy are likely to give short term confidence to the AUD. The currency is currency trading within an expanding envelope, which will eventually break down.
In this case we can look for resistance at the 90c mark in the short term, before rising to 92.44c level in the medium term. I would thereafter expect weakness in the AUD down to 84.58c.
The sustainability of the current strength in commodity prices is in question, though the currency will be buoyed by rising interest rates. I believe the currency will test the 84.58c level before it goes higher.
-------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Buy AUDJPY On Dips?

It's very plausible that the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) has started the slow process of moving interest rates from emergency levels to normal.RBA Starts Rate RisesWe'll want to see what happens over the next couple of months in order to confirm this analysis. However, from now on whenever the markets are panicked about the latest downward surprise, it might be time to dip your toes in.We're

AUD set for weaker outlook

Australia has had a strong recover over the last 6 months, rising from 62c to 82c to the USD. In the next 6 months I would not be surprised to see the currency come off. There are of course some positives:

1. Some recovery in commodity prices
2. Government stimulated economic activity
3. Residual mining & energy investment
4. Continued weakness in property

The negatives are:

1. Decline in bulk commodity prices - priced annually based on Apr price fixtures for iron ore

2. Rising public deficit

For these reasons I believe the Australian dollar will pull back to 73c, but probably not before rising to 85c. Clearly the justification for a stronger AUD will be a weaker than expected USD. I don't expect this. I believe the US is looking at higher interest rates to boost savings, and higher energy taxes. I believe global warming will provide the justification for a carbon tax, but in this national emergency the proceeds will be spent on anything but the environment. In fact, the whole idea of artificially stimulating economic activity is contrary to stopping global warming. So I am expecting some Clinton-like austerity measures which will be strong on US interest rates, so a strong USD. So I'm expecting a 73c medium term target for AUD-USD.

----------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

AUD and NZD appear consolidating

The Australian (AUD) and New Zealand dollars (NZD) have recovered against the USD from their lows over the last week. There is more upside, but I would not expect it to last. There is really no basis for celebration in the coming months, so I would expect a series of short term rallies. The idea that low interest rates can stimulate the NZ and Australian economies is really false advertising. Since when is the answer to excess debt more debt. We will instead see more printing money, but give it time. In the meantime, its denial.
A stronger outlook for these economies can be expected when we see a recovery in food prices. Basically the problem with these two countries is that we need to see a lot of deleveraging. So we are not going to see a lot of spending by the private sector. Expect government public works. The farm sectors will fare the best, but they are just a smart part of the economy, but they will help the external account for both economies.
The NZD and AUD are likely to consolidate for a while. The John Keys Conservative government is saying the right things so I would expect foreign markets to be supportive of his government.

-----------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

AUD and NZD range trading at best

The AUD and NZD are likely to range trade for the next month, as the focus is on the EUR trade. There is still some play in the Yen, as it falls to the Y83-85 on weaker economic news out of the USA. We are going to see a weaker USD, and that I don't see adding either weakness or strength to the AUD or NZD. I would nevertheless expect a volatile AUD trading between 58c and 70c.

The NZD is likely to trade between 50c and 60c. I don't see any reason for a fall at this point to its historical level of 40c in the short term, though I can see that as a possibility in the longer term. The John Keys government is shaping up as a disappointment. A swear the guy is the illegitimate child of John Howard the way he is running policy at the moment. He must have been stillborn for the last 2 decades because he has learnt nothing, and he is fully against the trend. Counter-cyclical or just stupid? You be the judge.

-----------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

Oi, Oi, Oi.Yeah, okay, it's a big honking rate cut.Scuttlebutt has it that there might be some coordinated activity in the works, which this RBA rate cut is a sign of.I'm a bit skeptical of this, but you never know.However, with their rate now down "all the way" to 6.00 percent, a very high employment rate and a huge public works infrastructure project in the pipeline, funded by recent record

AUD-JPY faces a consolidation period

The AUD-JPY exchange rate is an important indicator of the carry trade. At this point, we are witnessing a consolidation in the AUD after it hit support around Y86. This consolidation is occurring because of the mix of good and bad news facing the Aust economy. The focus is on Australia because we see notthing happening in Japan. No reform, no significant stimulus. Just a reshuffling of party leaders. One day they are bound to get it right. The factors likely to underpin some strength in the AUD include:
1. Weaker interest rates is likely to see a rebuilding of interest in property investment
2. Certain metal commodities have remained fairly strong - coal, iron ore, alumina, gold
3. Australia's commodity focus & position in Asia mean it will fair better than other commodity producers - except perhaps South Africa (gold, platinum focus)
4. Increasing takeovers and investments by Chinese companies in Australian resource projects augers well for the country's future. Remember the impact Japan's investment had on investment. China's participation will likely be more significant.
5. Stronger food prices and rains I suggest will likely see a stronger rural sector, also helped by mining.

Those factors undermining the AUD are:
1. Lower interest rates is likely to place pressure on the yen carry trade, as funds are shifted out of Australia. NZ?
2. Business investment is going to result in greater outflows, mainly for mining. These projects will see the AUD rise high in future, but investors are short term focused so they will focus on the current account deficit, although it does strengthen economic activity, it does not flow through greatly to the retail sector.
3. The weaker global economic outlook is placing pressure on commodity prices, and thus those countries with commodities exposure.

Short term I am expecting a stronger Australia equity market, initially from the broader market, but thereafter the commodity-based markets should kick back in, and will rejoice in the greater interest by Chinese investors (mostly government enterprises) in our mineral & energy resources. I actually don't see a lot of weakness in interest rates because inflation is still high and spending will likely recognise the bottom. Until the global economy can see a problem, I think we are looking at the AUD going sideways against the JPY. The greater action will be the AUD-USD until we see more positive recovery in commodity prices.
--------------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

AUD-NZD breaks previous highs

The AUD is fairly strong at the moment due to the strong export revenues from coal, iron ore and gold, and metals in general. The agricultural commodities are also providing mixed support. This is one of the reasons why the AUD is strengthening against the NZD of late. The other reasons are the interest rate differential is opening up. NZ interest rates are showing signs of peaking and growing inflation pressures in Australia are prompting a desire by the RBA to increase rates. It therefore seems likely that the AUZ will sustain its premium over the NZD having breached the $1.25 historic cross rate, last reached in early 2006. Thats not to say I see the NZ central bank lowering rates significantly or at all. I think they have just as much need to worry as Australia. NZ'ers have never been good savers. Australia has a better track record on this statistic. So I do expect the AUD-NZD to continue its rise to about $1.33, but then I suggest there will be profit taking. This will have big implications for NZ in terms of investment - see here.

-----------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Reiterating AUD support

The merits of the NZD are however overshadowed by the outlook for the AUD. The AUD:USD offers better exposure to commodities for several reasons. I think the Australian food commodity export prices are rising faster than NZ food exports, Australian natural gas exports cover its oil imports, making it effectively a slight net oil equivalent exporter. Subdued property market is slowing consumption like in NZ, but Australia has solid buisness investment in mining industry - thats future productive capacity. Iron ore, coal, gold, copper prices remain high, and most of these revenues are locked in for the next year. For this reason I think the AUD is the currency to hold at least until September, then I would be switching to USD I suspect.

----------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Westpac second to call $A-greenback parity

According to the SMH Online "Westpac has become the first major Australian bank to predict that the Australian dollar will achieve parity with its US counterpart". Having forecast that the USD parity twice in the last 2 months, I'm glad the banks finally recognise the reality. I was hounded on Japan Forum for my bold forecast. The error of many was to overstate the importance of the current account deficit and foreign debt (55% of GDP). These factors are not as important in the current context as they were back in the 1980s. The reasons are:
1. The current account deficit (7% of GDP) will fall as interest rates rise
2. A significant amount of the CAD is due to capital inflows which are actually financing much-needed mining & energy production capacity. That capacity of course is going to increase our export earnings.
3. The outlook for metal prices looking forward 10 years is very good
4. We have yet to see the farm sector make any real contribution to our exports, and food prices are starting their own price rally. This is truly the era for commodities.

The implications is that rising interest rates will curtail spending, and thus imports, whilst exports will continue to increase. As far as the foreign debt is concerned, its a sign of Australia's attraction as an investment destination. In fact, we have good quality housing stock as collateral, aside from the mines. Who wouldn't want to invest in Australia's high yielding currency. Actually the AUD can be considered a 'hard currency'.

Westpac forecast today that the Australian dollar will reach $US1.01US by the start of next year as interest rates in Australia stay high and the benefits of the resource boom remain strong in the economy. I personally think the AUD will perform even better. I can see it topping out at $1.05 by year end because of rising rates in Australia, but falling rates in the US. That situation will reverse come year-end, though I still see the AUD staying in a high range, with $A0.95 a likely support in coming years. The Australian dollar was 94.84 in the New York after the Reserve Bank left official interest rates at 7.25%.

The AUD will benefit from further cuts in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve, and this is occurring at a time when the AUD is under pressure to raise rates. Its possible the RBA will hold off too, as I suspect it will not want to push the AUD higher, particularly if it too perceives the Fed as subsidising the US banking system prior to an election. There is potential for a widening in the so-called yield gap between US and Australian rates. Apart from the yield gap, there is the attraction of portfolio investment in the Australian mining industry. We have yet to see any significant investment in gold companies, and I believe we might yet see a lot of Chinese investment in Australian mining, just as the Japanese did decades ago.

The reality is that the banks never understood the metal sector. They thought this was just another unsustainable commodities rally. "Before today's update, Morgan Stanley had the strongest Australian dollar outlook among major financial firms with its prediction the currency would be at 96 US cents by the first quarter 2009". Pathetic. Can one expect their fund managers to be any better? Overpaid dicks.

------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

AUD-USD going to parity with USD

I have long argued that the AUD is moving towards parity with the USD. I can see the AUD rising as high as 1.05USD, however I remain to be convinced of that. Technically the AUD looks like gathering momentum, and I see the Fed keeping interest rates low in the lead up to the US presidential elections. Post-election I actually see US interest rates being raised aggressively, which will send the AUD into a tail-spin. So it will be a short term ascension for the AUD. I expect the Fed to start raising rates just prior to the election, if only to create the perception of independence. Who are they kidding?

------------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com