Archive for March 23rd, 2009

An interesting story I was sent by a reader, which I have fact checked by calling into the main Amsterdam Police Headquarters:

When you travel to Amsterdam in The Netherlands, you can legally pay for sex in the famed ‘Red Light District‘. However if you are ripped off by a prostitute, you have no recourse other than to sue her in civil court. You cannot complain to the owner of the building or the police. You can enter a room, agree on a price, hand her the money, and then have her flatly say to you ‘leave now, I am keeping your money’ and there is nothing that can be done-other than you taking her to civil court.

The person who sent me this was evidently also attacked while arguing with a girl there over her ripping him off, and he reported both the theft and the assault to police in Amsterdam-they would do nothing about either incident other than recommend he find legal counsel and sue the woman in court. What assets is a prostitute going to have to sue for exactly?

A terrible law in my view, and one paid little attention because – much like smoking, or porn – there are few advocates for consumers being abused-as most people are not proud of the fact that they are consumers-many probably wishing they were not.

At the opening I added AXP (American Express) to my portfolio. Together with BAC (Bank of America) and GE (General Electric) I think I have an amazing group of Blue Chip stocks that have:

a) been hit particularly hard by the current downturn
b) stand to return to record highs – once markets recover their sanity

-One day into my investment AXP is already up 18%.
-Three weeks in BAC (75% of my overall investment) is up over 120% – and gained over 20% today.
-Three weeks in GE is up over 50% and gained nearly 10% today.

Not a bad start. I don’t expect the gains to be as large and as quick forever, but I expect a steady upward slope for the next 2 years+ or until the stocks are back to record highs, whichever comes first.