Well, filmmaker Dan Abrams, Science Channel host Josh Zepps and Second City ETC founder Jeff Michalski have decided it’s time to stop crying about the economic crisis and recession ![[cnbc explains]](/CNBCexplainsicon1.gif){kind=small}
— and start laughing. They’re working on a mockumentary (think “Spinal Tap”) about the economic crisis called “False Profit.” But wait, don’t answer yet. You also get — an investment opportunity! Between them, they’ve worked with some of the most famous names in comedy, from Stephen Colbert to Robin Williams, but they’ve decided that YOU are the one to fund this project.They’ve launched a campaign on Kickstarter.com to raise money for the film. If they get $50,000, they’re totally doing it. (If they don’t, they’ll probably blow the money on cheeseburgers and hair products.) The Kickstarter page includes a trailer for the movie that includes narration in a voice that sounds like Dana Carvey doing George Bush (so read this in that voice): 2.8 trillion dollars …gone. Lehman and Bear Stearns … wiped out. Entire neighborhoods … foreclosed. Europe … breaking apart. And as the world crumbles, everyone is asking one question: “Who’s to blame?” The answer, as it turns out, is Eugene Kramer, a simple Iowa farmer who brought his folksy wisdom to Wall Street at an entry-level trading job in 2004. From the credit crash to the auto bailout, from the euro crisis to Occupy Wall Street, Eugene Kramer caused it all — and now it’s up to him to fix it.If you pledge $10 or more, you get a special digital download before the official DVD is released. At the $25 level, you get a special edition DVD/Blu-ray before the DVD release AND the digital download. For $50, you get all that AND the chance to attend a special online premier (are sequins still appropriate for that? what's the protocol for an online premier?!), plus access to several live streaming workshops on comedy with Michalski. They don't want to be around you until you reach the $100 level, where you get all that AND two tickets to a live screening. And for $250, you get four tickets, blah blah blah, AND an invite to the after-party. (Now we're talking.) You go $500, you also get an "associate producer" credit and at $2,000 or more, you get an "executive producer" credit.We’ve all been burned by some bad investment choices during the past few years, so it’s understandable if some investors are a little skittish. I mean, how can we know for sure they’re not the Bernie Madoffs of comedy and this is nothing more than a Ponzi film that you could have an executive producer credit on that could actually land you interviews with the FBI, SEC and Justice Department?!They assuage any concerns on their Kickstarter page, describing the project as a “gleefully absurdist farce,” in the vein of “Arrested Development” and “Best in Show.” Well, when you put it that way, it sounds better than any of the investments we’ve made in the past few years. Jimmy, hand me my wallet! And, scene. Disclaimer: Due to SEC regulations concerning qualified investments, Kickstarter and the aforementioned filmmakers are unable to sell equity or profit points on this project. So, you will have to be happy with the DVD, producer credit, etc., depending on the investment package you choose. Disclaimer, part deux: Both of Abrams's parents are corporate lawyers.More From CNBC.com: Email us at document.write("");document.write("ponyblog"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');or drop a line in the comment box below. More from The Pony Blog: ponyblog.cnbc.com
I lean on Skype (and Macs) pretty heavily, so when a fairly substantial update for the VOIP/messaging service goes live, my ears tend to perk up. The new Skype 5.6 update has me especially tickled — it’s now available for folks of the Mac persuasion, and it thankfully packs a handful of bugfixes as well as a slew of new (and arguably overdue) features. 
Mutual funds — the vehicles through which most mom-and-pop investors play the stock market — had lost funds for nine consecutive months heading into February.But over the past several weeks the tide has turned. Stock funds have seen inflows in three of the past four weeks, with another $1.04 billion coming in for the week ending Feb. 15, according to the most recent data from the Investment Company Institute. Unless there is a major shift in allocation, February is shaping up as a solidly positive month for stock fund inflows.Trouble is, the last time retail investors didn't take more out of their funds than they put in was last April, which saw inflows of about $6 billion. That move coincided with the end of a stock market rally that looked much like the current one — a big surge higher as the year began that preceded an ugly six-month skid that made sell-in-May-and-go-away the trade of the year in 2011.What's more, institutional investors — often referred to as part of the "smart money" in the market because of their insider position — have been slowly heading for the exits.After pulling about $100 million from zero-yielding money market funds in 2011, the folks with the deep pockets are heading back toward the sidelines. Institutional deposits have increased by $9 million in February — a relatively miniscule amount, to be sure, compared to a total of $1.74 trillion on hand, but a number that's been steadily rising.Finally, corporate insiders are taking an increasingly cautious approach as well.They've dumped $4.2 billion in stock this month, about double January's level and — here's that warning sign again — the most since May 2011 as last year's rally fizzled, according to TrimTabs.Company stock buybacks, meanwhile, are at a healthy $2.1 billion daily level, but are mainly concentrated among a few big purchasers. The number of daily buyback announcements is at its lowest level since the October to November period of 2009."The best-informed market participants — the top insiders who run U.S. public companies — are taking full advantage of the stock market melt-up to unload huge amounts of shares," TrimTabs said in its weekly market analysis.The fear here is an important one — that retail investors will be the last ones to the party, buying high and selling low as the smart-money guys get out when the getting's good."One thing we know is money goes to where it's best treated," says Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Annuities in Newark, N.J."The fact is, if the market keeps moving higher without volatility pushing the market down dramatically or upward dramatically, you're going to see retail investors put money into equities," she adds. "But what about the professional traders who take advantage of that?"Continued inflows of retail money might push those who have been in the market to start cashing out as the late money drives up prices.Insiders are considered the smart money, Krosby says, because of "the notion that they know more.""The classic rationale for insider selling at the stage we're in now is they know more than the average investor regarding the company's guidance," she adds.The bright side: Those institutional outflows could represent simple profit-taking and an anticipation that a modest correction is in the cards.Standard & Poor's strategist Sam Stovall sees resistance for the "500" in the 1360 to 1370 range, where a pullback of 5 percent or so is likely, sending the average down in the 1270 or so range. For the full year, he expects the S&P to hit 1400, which would constitute a 9 percent or so run from the pullback levels.In other words, a pullback here could make an attractive entry point, and retail investors might be better off waiting it out."March and April tend to be favorable in terms of seasonality," Krosby notes. "If we do have a pullback, I think it brings in more buyers."Questions? Comments? Email us atdocument.write(""); document.write("NetNet"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write('');Follow Jeff @ twitter.com/JeffCoxCNBCcomFollow NetNet on Twitter @ twitter.com/CNBCnetnet Facebook us @ www.facebook.com/NetNetCNBC