Revolution Investing Links: Blowing up, ETFs, Bracing from Brutal earnings and more…

Here’s some of what I’m reading and thinking about today:

Thinking About What Might Blow Up – David Merkel helped me make the decision to get out of my hedge fund entirely in late 2007 when the markets were topping. He predicted the US Credit Crisis and the current Sovereign Nation Crisis in the article he’s quoting here from back in 2007.  Fast forward to today, and he says: “Aside from private equity, I was right on most of these.  But what of today?” Read his latest take and give him your opinion of what might blow up next.  What, besides the obvious of Greece/EU contagion is keeping you guys up at night? And more importantly, does any of that matter to Apple’s (AAPL) and Google’s (GOOG) and Qualcomm’s (QCOM) earnings three years from now?

ETF Update for 9/22/11 – Man, talk about someone who’s been on fire. Most recently, Jeff Miller and his crew got short last Friday. Darn near the top. Read to get his latest outlook, which I think should be paid attention to.  He’s been using some ETFs like the SH and the DOG to make some big money lately. Yes, DOG really is an ETF.

Wall Street Braces for Brutal Earnings Season – The more pessimism we see heading into the earnings season, which rightly kicks off next week. I’m actually quite bullish, in particular on the technological sector fundamentals, heading into the earnings season.  Which leads me to the next link…

Buying Some Corning – Years ago, I rode a Corning (GLW) short from $18 to $2 where I covered, as Corning refinanced the business model and turned the company around. I even caught part of its recovery as a long in 2003/4. I did a little bit of buying in a name I hadn’t touched in many months having gotten back in initially too high this go-round. I truly had to double and triple check my math when I updated my fundamental models. Read the article for more, but it’ll blow your mind how cheap Corning has become.

With a Joint Statement, the Leading Economies Try to Reassure World Markets – As Yves Smith put it: This was the political equivalent of administering a placebo. How come these banks like Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) and their idiot shareholders who have continued to risk their money on these companies that would be admittedly insolvent without ongoing welfare and suddenly-legalized accounting gimmicks can’t just take their losses and move on?