12/05/2002

IN THIS ISSUE

-Welcome to THE DAMON VICKERS SHOW, the newest daily radio show sponsored by Swiss America. Damon is the voice of financial realism, in a sea of optimists. Listen daily 9am-noon Eastern -- Listen live to Craig Smith on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 AM EST for the Swiss America Market News Digest.

-Welcome to Family Net's #1 rated daily TV show, YOUR HEALTH, hosted by Doug Kaufman, the first daily TV broadcast to be co-sponsored by Swiss America. The program airs 11am-12 central on Family Net. Yes, physical, mental and financial health ARE interrelated ... but how? Stay tuned to find out and please feel free to give Doug your opinion at his chat room at Iknowthecause.com

GUARANTEED INFLATION?
"Like gold, US dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the US government has a technology, called a printing press...that allow it to produce as many US dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost...under a paper money system can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation. Sufficient injections of money will ultimately always reverse a deflation."
-BEN BERNANKE, Fed Governor, Lemetropole Cafe, 12/3/02
Read the full speech

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"The U.S. private sector is witnessing deflation, and the Federal Reserve should pay it special attention by cutting interest rates to zero. For the first time in nearly 50 years, private sector prices are falling in the U.S. economy. While the Fed is refusing to publicly recognize it and most economists are still skeptical of its existence, 'Big D' is back, and this time deflation is no longer solely in the domain of asset prices."
-JEFF RUBIN, CIBC World Markets chief economist 12/2/02

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"Historically, a typical Disney animated feature grosses about $30 million to $40 million in its first week. "Treasure Planet," an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson children's classic "Treasure Island," took in just $16.6 million on its maiden voyage. Disney also warned that fiscal first-quarter earnings would be lower."
-CNN/MONEY, 12/3/02 (See movie review below)

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"The end of the world as we have known it, EOTWAWHKI, has been postponed indefinitely, or maybe at least until after the holiday season. In the meantime, it's just like those gloriously loony fin de bubble days of late 1999. Consumers are happily spending their way to poverty...and investing their way to insolvency. It is just like old times; they are still buying the same gadgets and geegaws they can't afford...and investing in the very same tech stocks that nearly ruined them 2 years ago."
-BILL BONNER, The Daily Reckoning, 12/4/02
Read THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS by Bill Bonner

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"The stock market still appears highly speculative to us," warns Bernstein, who cut his stock weighting to 45% from 50%, upped his bond holdings to 35% from 30%, and left cash unchanged at 20%. Speculative behavior, he stresses, typically marks "the end of a market cycle, not the start of a major bull market."
-USATODAY, (see "Merrill strategist sees danger signs" below)

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"A cocktail of surging home prices and falling interest rates propped up consumer spending, but consumers are living on borrowed time, that will drag the economy."
-JAN HATZIUS, senior economist at Goldman Sachs & Co, 12/4/02

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"The talking heads on CNBC and others are putting on a "full court press" trying to convince the public that the bear market is over. This is a lie. The stock market has two phases, accumulation and distribution. When the market is up the "professional traders" (sharks) and brokerage houses are distributing stock to the suckers. When the market drops by large amounts (crashes) the sharks accumulate stock.

Before this bull trap ends, prices should be near or in resistance areas SP500 955-971, and Dow 8935-9080. Only a decline beneath key short-term support of 916 in the S&P and 8636 in the Dow (both the highs of November 18) would indicate that a top has been recorded and the next leg of the bear market is underway. Spread the word."

"The dollar will crash back to pre-bubble levels of around 80, and possibly will undershoot even lower. The world will then be on a de-facto Euro standard, as faith in the U.S. dollar and U.S. assets will have been lost. This drop is a decline of over 26% from current levels and corresponds to a gold price of around $430.

"At the moment, the dollar uptrend is still intact, so the Fed's dangerous game still continues. Until the 104 dollar is breached, stocks and bonds can continue to rally. When it is breached they will fall simultaenously. It will be a double whammy for these assets, because not only will their prices fall in dollar terms -- as foreigners exit -- the dollar itself will be falling. In short, dollars and dollar denominated assets are overowned by the rest of the world. Once the reversal comes there will be no stopping its downward momentum in my opinion."
-RICH SPOHR, Swiss America broker, 11/27/02

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"Hot Winter For Coin Market ... Dealers concluded November with good feelings about the rare coin market. The Coin & Stamp Expo in Santa Clara, CA (Nov. 21-24) encouraged dealers with higher public attendance and new buyers. The only complaint that we hear is that not enough rare coins are available for them to buy."
-CERTIFIED COIN DEALER NEWSLETTER, 11/29/02

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"Last week mutual fund manager, Bill Miller, proclaimed that the bear market is over...finished...kaput. While Miller's fund may have bested the S&P 500, it has still managed to fall more than 40% since March of 2000. If you had lost 40% of your money buying expensive stocks, wouldn't you be proclaiming the end of the bear market, also? Among professional investors, the act of predicting what you hope for is called "talking your book." No doubt about it, that's what Miller is doing. He's predicting the end of the bear market because that's what he HOPES will happen."
-ERIC FRY, Daily Reckoning, 11/27/02

"You can stop worrying about deflation, say the experts. What, you weren't worrying about it? Well, you should be! Businesses and consumers will have a hard time staying afloat in deflation; many will sink as they struggle against it. But here at the Daily Reckoning, we always look on the bright side of things. No one would lend us money during the boom years, so we're free from debt during the bust. Unburdened by responsibility, we welcome deflation as a 10- year-old welcomes a blizzard; instead of going to school, we'll go outside and throw snow balls at tottering old people."
-BILL BONNER, Daily Reckoning, 12/5/02

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"Productivity gains best in 29 years... Unfortunately, quarterly measures of productivity are erratic, volatile and misleading at best."
-REX NUTTING, CBS.MarketWatch.com

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"Beware the "anti-bubble." That's the warning from two "econophysicists" at the University of California, Los Angeles (my alma mater). According to the esteemed Professors Didier Sornette and Wei-Xing Zhou, "The actions of investors tend to produce waves of behavior, leading to self-reinforcing phases of bull or bear markets - bubbles and anti-bubbles."

"This anti-bubble describes the bearish phase when stock market traders sell, sell, sell, as the stock market begins to slide into recession," Prof Sornette explains. Those of us without doctoral degrees might refer to this phenomenon as a "bear market."
-ERIC FRY, The Daily Reckoning, 12/5/02

MARKET NEWS DIGEST

Stocks slump on UAL - CNN/Money
December 5, 2002: By Alexandra Twin,

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A setback for struggling air carrier UAL took its toll on aerospace stocks and the broader market, pushing the major indexes lower on Thursday.

United Airlines parent UAL was dealt a blow that seemed to push the air carrier toward a likely bankruptcy filing. A federal panel turned down the company's request for $1.8 billion in loan guarantees, saying the company's business plan was based on unrealistic revenue projections.

The New York Stock Exchange halted trade of the stock prior to Thursday's open, saying that it expected news about UAL, although the company said it had nothing to announce. Prior to the halt, the stock fell in brief early trade on the Pacific Stock Exchange.

"UAL is certainly a negative for the market, but the news wasn't entirely unexpected," said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Global Partners Securities. "You're also seeing just a combination of other negative corporate news and jitters ahead of tomorrow's November jobless numbers, despite the positive weekly numbers."

Stocks were also continuing a mild, four-session pullback that comes on the heels of 8 weeks of gains for the Dow, a decline that traders said was not entirely unexpected.

The Institute for Supply Management said its services sector index rose to 57.4 in November from 53.1 in October, better than the 54 level expected by economists, according to Briefing.com.

The markets also digested a government report revising third-quarter productivity growth to a better-than-expected 5.1 percent from the 4 percent originally reported. Economists expected a revision to 4.5 percent, according Briefing.com.

Separately, the government said October factory orders gained 1.5 percent, slightly below the 1.7 percent average gain forecasted by economists.

SOURCE: http://www.cnnfn.com

U.S. Refinancing Boom May End, Hurt Growth - Bloomberg
By Simon Kennedy

Washington, Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The wave of home refinancings that bolstered the U.S. economic recovery is showing signs of ebbing next year as mortgage rates start to rise, house- price appreciation slows and the number of potential borrowers shrinks.

Homeowners will take out $751 billion in home loans next year to repay older, costlier debt, often taking cash out of equity in their homes, the Mortgage Bankers Association estimated. That would be just over half the projected record of $1.4 trillion this year and down from $1.2 trillion in 2001. Mortgage rates may rise from 30-year lows as the economy recovers.

"The net effect of less refinancing next year is less stimulus for the economy," said David Berson, chief economist at Fannie Mae, the largest buyer of mortgages. That means makers of autos, home furnishings and other goods may have to work harder for sales as consumers' supply of new cash runs out.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. estimated that home-equity withdrawals, or "cash outs," accounted for half the rise in household spending since 2000. The boom fueled a 22 percent increase this year in the stock value of Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest mortgage lender.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last month said money consumers saved from refinancing helped counter the effect of this year's 19 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. That has helped an economy struggling to escape last year's recession, he said. "A dollar of equity extracted from housing has a more powerful effect on consumer spending than does a dollar change in the value of common stocks," Greenspan said in congressional testimony Nov. 13.

Signs of a retrenchment are already evident. The percentage of borrowers taking out cash when refinancing fell in the third quarter to a four-year low, according to Freddie Mac. The number of mortgage applications dropped 14.1 percent in the penultimate week of November from a record in early October.

Less cash means consumer spending may fade after accounting for three-fourths of the economy's expansion in the third quarter. Companies cited diminished consumption in down- grading their economic growth forecasts for the next six months, the National Association for Business Economics said last week.

"A cocktail of surging home prices and falling interest rates propped up consumer spending, but consumers are living on borrowed time," said Jan Hatzius, senior economist at Goldman Sachs & Co. "That will drag the economy."

SOURCE: http://www.bloomberg.com

Merrill strategist sees danger signs - USA TODAY
By Adam Shell, Dec. 4, 2002

NEW YORK — After watching stocks fall for nearly three years, you'd figure a big rally like the one Wall Street has enjoyed the past eight weeks would be viewed positively — perhaps even as a sign that it might finally be safe to get back into the market.

However, Merrill Lynch's chief U.S. strategist, Richard Bernstein, who has been among Wall Street's most bearish gurus the past few years, does not subscribe to that upbeat assessment. He views the markets' heady run-up — especially the Nasdaq composite's gaudy 30.1% rise — since hitting multiyear lows Oct. 9 as a dangerous signal that speculation is alive and well. As a result, he reduced his recommended exposure to stocks and increased his bond holdings.

"The stock market still appears highly speculative to us," warns Bernstein, who cut his stock weighting to 45% from 50%, upped his bond holdings to 35% from 30%, and left cash unchanged at 20%. Speculative behavior, he stresses, typically marks "the end of a market cycle, not the start of a major bull market."

He kept his 12-month target for the Standard & Poor's 500 at 860, 6.6% below Tuesday's close.

Bernstein's bearish call comes amid a growing consensus on Wall Street that the worst is behind and now is a good time to add to stock holdings. His comments could strike a chord with investors who got burned in the '90s mania and are weighing whether to get back in. His pessimism also runs counter to the normal burst of confidence that appears at year's end, when hopeful money managers faced with a fresh start in the new year tend to be more upbeat.

Bernstein backed up his bah humbug message with a laundry list of concerns. He worries that investors are downplaying geopolitical risks, chasing stocks simply because they are going up and erroneously assuming stocks have limited downside because the Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates.

His biggest concern is the high level of risk investors are taking, paying higher premiums for low-quality stocks: Stocks B+ or better in Merrill's ranking system are undervalued relative to stocks rated B- or lower in eight of 10 Standard & Poor's 500 sectors. "The willingness to take risk has grown during the bubble and does not appear to have subsided," he says.

SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com

SEC probes Disney - NY Post
By PAUL THARP

December 4, 2002 -- Michael Eisner has dropped a double bombshell on Walt Disney's shares by announcing a federal probe of its boardroom and a surprise earnings reversal.

The company last night said profits would be about 20 percent lower than it announced four weeks earlier, blaming a box office flop of its new holiday flick, "Treasure Planet."

The company also revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the cozy relationship among four directors who put their relatives in key jobs within the Disney empire, some paying up to $1.3 million a year.

Ironically, Eisner himself divulged the corporate nepotism months ago to the SEC - primarily to neutralize the four outside directors who had been heading a board revolt to oust him.

Although the bad news came after trading closed, the disclosures sent Disney shares skidding by more than five percent in just minutes of after-hours trading, losing 99 cents to $17.55.

SOURCE: http://www.nypost.com

Manufacturing still contracting - CBSMarketWatch
By Rex Nutting, CBS.MarketWatch, Dec. 2, 2002

TEMPE, Ariz. (CBS.MW) - The U.S. factory sector contracted for the third month in a row in November, according to survey of corporate purchasing managers.

The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly diffusion index rose to 49.2 percent in November from 48.5 percent in October. It's the third month in a row under the crucial 50 percent mark that separates expansion from contraction in the sector.

New orders fell to 49.9 percent from 50.9 percent. Production, however, jumped to 54.6 percent from 49.3 percent. Employment fell to 43.8 percent from 45.0 percent.

The index has averaged 49.6 percent over the past five months, said Norbert Ore, head of the ISM survey committee. "The sector continues to need drivers that will help end the stagnation."

Purchasing and supply executives said their business was either "flat," "depressed," or in the "doldrums," the ISM reported. Company executives were still concerned about a dock stoppage on the West Coast and were using alternative shipping methods. They were also worried about war against Iraq.

SOURCE: http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com

COMMENTARY

21ST CENTURY GOLD RUSH: Part II - Craig R. Smith, SATC
Dec. 4, 2002

The Good Book says that wisdom comes from a multitude of counselors. Therefore, Swiss America educational resources always endeavor to feature a diversity of wise perspectives from respected leaders.

Every week I do media interviews discussing the shape of things to come in the economy and markets with great enthusiasm because the message of financial prudence, protection and safety is the message behind gold.

As I speak to live callers, I'm often amazed by the high level of common sense that exists on Main street, especially in comparison to Wall Street.

Such is the case with our new soon-to-be-released audio resource, "21ST CENTURY GOLD RUSH" which may be listened to online now.

We will be pressing the best 72 minutes onto a CD very soon. In the meantime, here's a sample of what's covered ...

-The basics of gold bullion and rare coins (3:06)
-"I got that safe feeling" - (2:39)
-Coins for fun & profit (2:05)
-Retirement strategy (1:00)
-IRA - on the gold standard (1:09)
-Value, stocks vs. gold (1:16)
-Liquidity, real estate vs. gold (1:50)
-Cash & CDs vs. gold (1:43)
-Are coins depression-proof? (1:04)
-Gold confiscation of 1933 -Part 1 (1:14)
-Rare coins exempt 1933 confiscation (2:35)
-Coin prices don't always equal value - guidelines (3:49)
-Numismatic coin cautions (1:03)
-Selling your gold back (1:12)
-The buy of a generation - (1:28)
-Historical economic solutions (:50)
-New demand, bring gold prices down? (1:54)
-Should you polish up old coins? (1:00)
...And this is just the first 30 minutes!

Below is a written summary of "Gold Basics" recorded from the nationally syndicated radio program, "For the People" with host, Chuck Harder on Nov. 23, 2003. [listen in mp3]

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HARDER: When people start collecting gold coins, which is something that I have taken a position in now with some of my life savings in gold coins, what should they know?

CRS: In talking with you these last couple weeks, it's made me reevaluate my whole thinking towards gold bullion. Right now, with real rates returning being at 1%, owning gold bullion now, it's just such greater wisdom than owning stocks or bonds or even real estate at this point. I'm starting to reconsider my whole position on bullion and do a lot more research on it. And I can thank you for that because you know I've been an ardent coin guy. And I think there's a lot of wisdom in owning gold bullion right now.

HARDER: Explain what that is!

CRS: Gold bullion coins are just what they sound like. They take a 400 oz. bar of gold at the mint, they divide it up into 400 equal 1 oz. blanks that are called "planchets." If you can imagine a coin without any relief or design on it, that's a planchet. They take that plainchant and they clamp it down into a dye and then they strike it. The gold, silver or platinum bullion coin trades for a small premium above the price of the precious metal. For example, if gold is trading for $320 today, the gold bullion coin would trade for somewhere between $335 and $340. That additional cost above the bullion price is what's referred to as a manufactured premium. In the case of a numismatic gold coin. It is a gold coin that was struck similar to a modern bullion coin, only it trades for both its value of gold and it's historic, rare collectible value. The rarer the coin the higher the premium above it's value in gold. For example, there was a coin traded in an auction recently that's just like the coins you bought, Chuck ($20 Saint Gaudens) except that it traded for $7.5 million dollars because of it's rarity. That's the basic difference between a modern bullion coin and a rare, or "numismatic" coin.

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Read about this 21ST CENTURY GOLD RUSH

THE BEST & BRIGHTEST ON WALL STREET - Ned W. Schmidt CFA
Dec 3 2002

As the calendar pages turn to December strategists have a near panic compulsion to review the past year, and develop an outlook for the one about to arrive. One of the thoughts while engaging in this activity is that the readers will hopefully lose their copies before the end of the forecast year. Regrettably, with the widespread use of computers too many are saving these discourses.

What seems to mark the review of 2002 is how things came out so far different than many had expected. The myopic analysts on Bay and Wall Street had forecast at this time last year that 2002 would be good to equity investors. In the other corner were the individual investors that had previously widened their scope of vision, and had come to understand the market dynamics at play. This latter group moved into gold, and silver. As a consequence their investment results were substantially better than those that were handicapped by an irrational addiction to paper assets.

Perhaps the one forecast of a year ago most remembered by this author is that the stock market would be up in 2002 because it had never been down three years in a row. Now the natural world does seem to be bounded by ranges that develop over time. Rarely are life and investment so predictable. Despite the decades of recorded temperatures, on a regular basis some locality will experience a new high or record low temperature. Time seems to have a knack for expanding expected ranges rather contracting them.

We suspect that another item of faith on the part of stock groupies will too go down as lore rather than reality. The same set of historical data that gave this incredibly wrong forecast for 2002 leads to the belief that one can never, ever lose money in the stock market over a ten-year period. As a rationale for managing money that assumption seems a little weak. "Cause it never happened before" is turning out to be a poor justification for an investment strategy.

One afternoon recently we listened to a regular cable news show that likes to feature a fast paced roundtable of stock market experts. And by the way, expert is defined as someone that always has a bullish outlook on the equity market regardless of what is going on in the world. Terrorists could nuke New York City and they would be talking about a rebound in technology stocks. While that may be part of the problem, it was not where we intended to go.

The voices of these experts were quivering with excitement over the giant pre-Thanksgiving (U.S.) rally. In days past one could sense the near panic within them as they looked forward to explaining another miserable year of investment results to their clients. By the time the session was over the group had the stock market so healthy that it would likely finish 2002 in positive territory. Of course that could happen, but more likely is one of Franklin's pigs learning to fly.

A lot could still change before New Year's Eve, but the results to date are not encouraging for the "We Love Allen Greenspan & Financial Paper" crowd. As we are writing, the DJIA is off 11% for the year, the S&P 500 is down 18% and the NASDAQ Composite has slumped 24%. In a former life and in a former time, we had the opportunity to explain such numbers to clients. Those scenes are not usually pretty ones.

Alternatives did exist if only these gurus had possessed open minds, able to see past and beyond their delusions over paper assets. Their clients would certainly have appreciated it. Gold over the same period has risen 15%. Even silver did considerably better than stocks, being off only about 0.4%. That's right folks, those gold and silver coins you own beat some of the best and brightest on Bay and Wall Street.

Full Story

HOMELAND DEPARTMENT DRAWS POLL SKEPTICISM - Ann McFeatters, P/G Dec. 4, 2002, By Ann McFeatters, Post-Gazette National Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The first national opinion poll regarding the newly created Department of Homeland Security since President Bush signed the law establishing it last week indicates that former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who has been tapped to head the massive new bureaucracy, has his work cut out for him.

Only 13 percent of Americans polled by the Gallup Organization say they have confidence that the new department will make them "a lot" safer. Nearly 4 in 10 Americans expect that the new department will not make the country any safer.

Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, said in an interview that from a public relations standpoint, Ridge "has two strikes against him. As the war [against terrorism] has gone on without Osama bin Laden being caught, there's been a growing cynicism that anything will be effective against terrorism. And there has always been a healthy skepticism about the effectiveness of government bureaucracy. [Ridge] has a tough row to hoe."

The Cabinet-level department is to be composed of 170,000 employees culled from 22 different federal agencies, with a beginning budget of $40 billion. Now that it's been created, Americans' skepticism that it will have an effect against terrorism is growing, not diminishing. While some critics have suggested that the department would offer Americans a false sense of security, the Gallup pollsters found no such delusion so far.

Three-fourths of Republicans polled say the new department will be at least somewhat effective and approve of it. Little more than half of all Democrats said they think it will be somewhat effective. One in 10 Democrats said they expect that the department "will not be effective at all."

Bush argues that the new department will not become a costly behemoth because it is supposed to prevent duplication in the war on terrorism. But critics note that Ridge will have responsibility for literally hundreds of government functions -- from border security to assessing the nature of terrorist threats to protecting the nation's crops from dangerous insects and animal diseases deliberately introduced for terroristic purposes.

Even strong backers of the new department say they don't envy Ridge for his challenge. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., one of the first in Congress to propose a Cabinet-level new department, said when Bush signed the bill creating it that Ridge's task would be "monumental, ... like asking Noah to build the ark after the rain has started to fall."

SOURCE: http://www.post-gazette.com

THE CHURCH'S CONDEMNATION OF USARY - Moneymuseum.com

POPE INNOCENT IV (1250-1261) wrote if usury were permitted rich people would prefer to put their money in a usurious loan rather than invest in agriculture. Only the poor farm and if they didn't have the tools, famine would result.

Burudian (d. 1358), a professor at the University of Paris wrote that: "Usury is evil... because the usurer seeks avariciously what has no finite limits". This places its results outside of nature. St. Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) observed that usury concentrates the money of the community in the hand of the few.

Divine and human law: All mankind's moral/legal codes censured usury, normally with mild limits on interest rates. But the Old Testament stricly forbade Jews form taking usury from their "brothers" (other Jews), and discouraged taking it from strangers. The Scholastics looked on all mankind as brothers.

Other codes restricted usury: Code Of Hammurabi (2130-2088 BC) limited usury to 33%; Hindu Law - Damdupat - limited interest to the full amount of the loan; Roman Law limited interest; Justinian’s 6th century Code reduced the 12˝% limit of Constantine the Great, to 4-8%, and accumulated interest could not exceed principal. The Koran totally forbids usury, from the 7th century; Charlemagne’s laws flatly forbade usury in 806 AD. The Magna Carta placed limits on usury in 1215 AD. Most States of the United States enforced usury limits until 1981.

Fall Of The Usury Prohibition: As economies became more dynamic, with real growth possibilities, it became clear that charging interest on business loans where the borrowing merchant prospered, couldn’t be condemned and by 1516 the idea of a lending institution charging interest had been overwhelming accepted.

Calvin’s Reformation; John Calvin finished off the usury ban in 1536. "Calvin deals with usurie as the apothecaire doth with poison" wrote Roger Fenton. He considered usury sinful only if it hurt ones neighbor and that it was generally legitimate in business loans.

SOURCE: Money Museum

Further Study: True-Wealth

TREASURE PLANET: A Fun, Family-Friendly Fantasy -Movieguide

TREASURE PLANET is an excellent movie for the whole family. In fact, it may be the best animated movie of the whole year. Many moral, biblical lessons are played out, such as the ugliness of personal greed, the emptiness that children can feel when they have poor or absent fathers, the resulting rebelliousness in such abandoned children, the ability of father figures to draw younger men into the joys and challenges of life through encouragement and example, the seriousness of betrayal and false accusation, the need for repentance and forgiveness, and the redemptive triumph of good over evil. Some of the space monsters might scare very little children, but the movie is very tame in its portrayals of violence and evil. Parents, therefore, should have no problems with taking any of their children to see this funny, exciting, family-friendly animated adventure.

IN BRIEF:

In the animated TREASURE ISLAND, young Jim Hawkins finds that a spaceship has crashed nearby. The dying captain gives Jim a golden ball with some markings on it and tells him to guard it . . . and to beware of the cyborg. With the help of Dr. Doppler, Jim discovers that the ball is a 3-D map, showing a hidden planet filled with treasure from a legendary pirate. Jim and Dr. Doppler take a space galleon away on an intergalactic expedition. Jim befriends the rough cook, Long John Silver, who tells him he has the makings of a fine "spacer" as he and the crew battle supernovas, black holes and space storms. Jim discovers, though, that his new friend is actually a scheming pirate with mutiny in mind. Jim must grow up quickly as he faces life-and-death challenges.

TREASURE PLANET is a brilliantly written, exciting, often funny animated adventure with many good moral lessons for both parents and children. It provides a great mix of adventure, mystery, humor, and heart. The writing and directing team of John Musker and Ron Clements have created another classic example of Disney animation for the whole family.

SOURCE: Movieguide

ABOUT THE EDITOR

David Bradshaw is the editor of Swiss America's Market News Digest and Real Money Perspectives. He is the founder of Idea Factory Press... publisher of Rediscovering Gold in the 21st Century... and The Big Picture...Contact at ideaman@swissamerica.com