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Yesterday's Major League All-Star Game went into extra innings (15 total) before the American League won 4 to 3, earning the home field advantage when the World Series rolls around in October. Yesterday was also the day I called the bottom of our economic woes (see Will Bush throw a change-up at Yankee Stadium?).

Calling the bottom should not be confused with the end of the pain. It could get worse but I see signs of the turn, and today the market, for the moment, is up. Oil prices are down, as I write, to $132 per barrel and I do not think we will be seeing $200 oil any time soon, as some have opined.

Today's Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) earnings report set things off in the right direction. Wells Fargo: Beating expectations by my colleague Steven Halpern will give you the details, but the highlights are lower earnings, a 10% increase in the dividend yield, and a tolerable and understandable charge for bad loans and to increase reserves.

If Bush's change-up marks the bottom, then WFC is the slugger that hit the ball back over the fence. Can one report from one bank make a difference? Yes it can, if people read it as a sign of things to come. At the same time, the capitulation I describe in IndyMac (IMB) turns to dust is another sign that we may be at the turning point.

Last Friday, June 11, 2007, the Feds basically put IndyMac Bancorp (NYSE: IMB) into receivership, even as they reminded customers that their deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) covering each individual account up to $100,000.

When I posted IndyMac (IMB) turns to stone on June 8, IMB had shut down lending. Now, as they have turned to dust from a shareholder perspective, customers are still lining up to withdraw their funds despite government assurances that there is nothing to worry about.

Some fret that this bailout will cost taxpayers money but most of the money will be coming from actual deposits as company assets are liquidated. However, while a majority of the costs are covered, the process will incur significant costs nevertheless, since this is only the tip of the iceberg and other banks are sure to fall into the abyss as well.

There are many ironies in the fact that President George W. Bush will throw the first pitch at Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in New York. For one, President Bush is the first managing general partner of a Major League team (the Texas Rangers) to become President of the United States.

President Franklin Roosevelt was the first to attend an All-Star Game and throw out the first pitch, starting the tradition. He too had to deal with a poor economy and by the time he threw out that first ball the groundwork was being laid for World War II. President Bush has had to contend with his own war.

While there are differing views as to whether we should have gone into Iraq and whether we should stay or get out, this will always be viewed as George's war, fair or not. And the state of our economy in 2008 will also be viewed as George's economy, fair or not.

The ultimate irony for me is that Yankee Stadium is scheduled to be torn apart at the end of the season. This is YANKEE Stadium and the last president to set foot in it will be George W. Bush. The stadium with the greatest heritage in baseball, the 'House That Ruth Built', is going to be torn apart while our economy is also being torn apart. It is being torn out at its roots.

We have posted numerous articles about the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) by InBev (NV) and it now looks like the deal has been done at a price of $70 per share. However, what made this deal work for InBev might have been that the dollar has fallen so far.

The exchange rate between the dollar and Euro gives InBev a 30% to 35% discount making the acquisition price seem like a great deal for BUD shareholders but an even better one for InBev shareholders. And if the the currency exchange rates shift back over time then all the shareholders win.

This means that Americans will be answering to the Dutch Belgians. If the dollar had gained against the Euro instead of becoming weaker is it possible that Anheuser-Busch (BUD) would have bought out InBev (NV)? If the dollar stays down or drifts lower as seems likely right now look for more M&A activity from abroad.

In the mean time, since 'my pal Warren', is the largest shareholder of BUD through Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) and supports the deal, will he remain a shareholder of the new company? No doubt this increases the value of Berkshire, but does this set the stage for Buffett to enter the European market in a big way?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of BRK.B.

Would it be better if the government sought to stabilize interest rates at 5% (a general goal), or is it better to change the rates willy nilly? Is it better for people to know where they stand or is it impossible given the large number of economic events that remain out of our control?

I was against the federal stimulus package and posted Fund roads & bridges NOT mad money stimulus and later Serious Money: Stimulate productivity not consumption contesting the federal governments economic approach, or lack thereof, under the current administration (White House and Congress) and this thought came to mind along similar lines.

All of the interest rate manipulations of the past dozen years have overheated and slapped our economy around. Adding to that the funding of the war effort and the price of food and energy means that almost every American household has been left in a quandary.

The government seems to be very bad at planning, and slow to react, or at least perceive a coming storm. They do appear reactionary at best and everyone cheers when they find a way to stave off disaster for one more day. That is the case today as they take over IndyMac Bank (NYSE: IMB) and bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Updating the story with the final numbers heading into the week end. The market looked sad again today, so I thought I would spot-check Serious Money: Five stable stocks for troubled times, to see if my picks, (suggested watchlist considerations) were holding up...so far so good, sort of...

The standard for comparison will be the Standard & Poors 500 Index, which closed on June 30, 2008 at 1,280.00. The following are the five stocks with closing prices from July 1.

1) Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) closed at $64.34 and pays a 2.89% dividend yield. (NOW $66.53 -- up 3.4%) finished at $66.26 -- up 2.98%.

2) Teva Pharmaceuticals ADR (NASDAQ: TEVA) closed at $45.80 and pays a 1% dividend yield.( NOW 42.58 -- down 7%) finished at $41.78 -- down 8.78%.

3) Chubb Corp (NYSE: CB) closed at $49.01 and pays a 2.64% dividend yield. (NOW $47.51 -- down 3%) finished at $47.56 -- down 2.96%.

Patrons and employees alike await the final decision about which Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) stores will be closing and who will be getting kind notes explaining why closing 600 stores is necessary, making their jobs not.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, about 50 stores have already been notified that they will be closing by July 31, and the list will be made public by July 15. The Journal writes of anxiety for the Starbucks faithful who have come to appreciate the caffeine brew and do not have satisfactory alternatives.

There are two stores in walking distance of my office and when Starbucks opened the second one about 18 months ago I was very surprised. However, I will not be surprised if the newer store is among the casualties.

No more home mortgages for the time being. The former number two originator of home mortgages in the United States, IndyMac Bancorp (NYSE: IMB), is shutting down its operations and laying off 3800 workers, more than half of its employees.

By halting its prime business, IMB might as well have announced they have turned to stone, as it seems its financial situation is frozen for now. Last quarter it announced continued losses and changed its outlook from being profitable in the fourth quarter to seeing nothing but losses through 2008.

It is always difficult to discuss one's failings, but nothing has been worse than my suggestion that IndyMac might be a screaming buy last year. The stock is down 97%. The sad truth is it was a screaming sell and my worst call since I have been writing for BloggingStocks.com. That will be a separate story.

Today, IndyMac is trading down 47% to $0.37. It will have to restructure once again and will be submitting a survival plan to the FDIC. The current market cap is about $37 million, while its losses over the last twelve months exceed $600 million.

The Bush administration has taken the approach that business can do no harm. So we have had eight years of the fox guarding the hen house. Adding a few more thoughts to yesterday's Sunday Funnies: Business should have NBA type salary cap. The subject of executive pay at public corporations sometimes raises eyebrows, sometimes raises voices, and often loud protests.

When companies perform poorly financially and it is reflected in the share price the protests are even louder and more justified.

Like they say about pornography... When executive pay becomes so high that it becomes obscene, you may not be able to define it exactly, but you know it when you see it!

Unfortunately these protests are not coming from the board room, or large institutional investors or pension funds, although they should! They come from the "hard working stiffs" that go unheard and disrespected -- and the common shareholder.

On June 30, 2008, the last PCs with Windows XP were sold (theoretically) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) went hard on Vista, its less than celebrated operating system. I was one of the hold outs, opting to buy my laptop with Windows XP last year even though Vista was being touted as the latest and greatest system. Today, I am sure the remaining XP devices are going for a premium.

What does this mean for the future of PC sales? I think there will be some measure of reduced PC sales in the short run just because the economy is already suffering and consumers and businesses are looking to stretch their devalued dollars.

It also means that some people that do not want the burdensome Vista system and all the baggage that goes along with it will be opting for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Macs. There are many people like me who have been weighing the switch to a Mac for a while. The rest of my household has made the switch (4 Macs, 1 PC) and I did consider this prior to my last purchase. I may swing the other way next time.

For other PC users who remain satisfied with XP, they may not only think to stretch their dollars, but try and hang onto their PCs longer until the value proposition for Vista becomes more convincing. I can always add more memory or speed to my existing computer.

I do not know what the trade-off is for Microsoft. It would make money selling the XP system as well as the Vista system. Any slowdown of PC sales or continued movement toward Apple products has to hurt revenue a little?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

This past holiday weekend my colleague Doug McIntyre gave support to a blog I wrote in May 2007 when he posted Google (GOOG): The Failure Of YouTube. In my rant I gave a detailed analysis outlining how Google had overpaid for YouTube by a fantastic amount.

In the story Doug quotes projections that 2008 revenue generated by Google might gross $200 million from YouTube. That's revenue, not profit. A 20% profit would be $40 million if that was possible. In the article I wrote: How can I say Google overpaid for YouTube? I stated the case in plain English why the YouTube investment would have to earn $300 million (net, not gross) minimum, in its first year not to be dillutive.

They missed the target by a mile. They will continue to miss the target and I do not expect it to ever justify the cost. Just because Google has lots of cash slushing around does not mean they have money to waste.

Most people in the United States and for sure shareholders of losing companies have been railing against executive pay for many years. It is generally agreed the salaries, bonuses, stock options, deferred compensation, and retirement packages have become ridiculous and do not reflect anything other then the "good ol' boy network" operating at its worst.

Compensation committees substantiate their decisions in a fashion that outlines plausible deniability not merit, value or truth. They do not reflect shareholders, employees, or customers best interest. They reflect a tight knit group that has to pay and pay big so that they can get theirs in the next round.

This brings me to the National Basketball Association and its use of the salary cap. We just witnessed an NBA finals where the better team won (Boston Celtics in six games) and that is the nature of the game. It's five on five, the best player does not take every shot and the best player cannot defend the other team by himself.

While some companies may be consolidating, others are reconfiguring and expanding. General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has acquired a small airplane engine company in the Czech Republic. Selling it's appliance business and adding more to it's portfolio of aircraft and engine capability should be a good move. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported today that GE hopes to improve its competitive position against Pratt & Whitney.

A response from a Pratt & Whitney spokesman played down the increased competition and said that although the company takes this GE move seriously it has a 45-year history producing small engines and holds a solid position in the market place. This type of comment is to be expected and has some validity, but that does not make it good news for P&W.

P&W is a division of another major giant industrial conglomerate United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). Both GE and UTX stocks were up in early morning trading today.

UPDATE: GE closed at $26.91 up $0.40 (1.51%). UTX closed at $61.05 up $1.35 ( 2.26%).

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of GE.

Last year, actually 18 months ago now, James Cramer had enough faith in the Rite Aid Corp (NYSE: RAD) to include it in his 2007 picks. At that time the stock was trading for $5.49 per share. It closed yesterday at $1.56 and is trading further down today.

When I say RAD is wrong, wrong, wrong, I mean it literally. There is a store located a few blocks from my office that I shop at perhaps once a month. Yesterday I bought a few things and was amazed at how bad their accounting was.

My primary mission was to acquire some toothpaste, but there are always a few tempting sale items. When I was checking out I discovered that the sports drink for sale at "5 for $5 dollars" was a mistake and the sign in the store display should have been taken down because the offer had expired. Another item I purchased was marked down from $3.99 to $1.99, great deal! . . . but they told me that the sale price was placed on the wrong shelf for that product and what I wanted was not on sale.

After seeing the interest in yesterday's Serious Money: Five stable stocks for troubled times, I decided to track the stocks on a quarterly basis to see how they hold up over time (otherwise, what would be the purpose of discussing them in the first place?).

I said that all five have shrewd, conservative management teams and have been in the right place, at the right time -- and prepared. The standard for comparison will be the Standard & Poors 500 Index which closed on June 30, 2008 at 1,280.00. Although my original story was published yesterday, I will be using the second quarter end point for my five stocks as well.

1) Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) closed at $64.34 and pays a 2.89% dividend yield.

2) Teva Pharmaceuticals ADR (NASDAQ: TEVA) closed at $45.80 and pays a 1% dividend yield.

3) Chubb Corp (NYSE: CB) closed at $49.01 and pays a 2.64% dividend yield.