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Dear Mr. Berko:

Dear E.R.:

Certainly, one of the best growth stocks to own might be Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS-$156.92), providing the company does not take itself private. Goldman is the most powerful investment bank in the world, and nothing seems beyond its reach.

Goldman’s success is a result of its highly connected alumni, who left GS to take over Citigroup, the New York Stock Exchange, Wachovia, the Department of the Treasury, the New York Fed, the National Economic Council, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Bank of Canada, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Allstate, the Italian Central Bank, the World Bank, ad nauseam.

These alumni influence the uppermost echelons of governments and corporations all over the globe. This invisible hand of intelligence provides GS with unequaled and manipulative power to influence the price of commodities (especially oil), the availability of credit, the direction of the Dow Jones industrial average, mortgage rates, our economy, Congress and the president’s advisers.

And certainly, past successes validate Warren Buffett’s decision to become a large shareholder ($5 billion) in Goldman Sachs. If GS is good enough for Buffett, it should be good enough for you.

Goldman is ruthless (morality seldom plays in the quest for profits); its people are brilliant; and it has access to information that makes the CIA and the FBI look like Cub Scouts.

I may not like the company or many of its people, but I admit to a profound admiration for its business model. Morningstar thinks GS can be a $275 stock in the next few years, and other advisory services believe that Morningstar may be much too conservative.

I don’t know if the commercial real estate market has bottomed, and none of us (except Goldman) will know until after it has done so. However, the consensus suggests that this market won’t bottom out until early summer, and I agree. But if you insist on taking a position now, consider the following issues:

Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG-$76) should improve earnings about 8 percent to $5.47 a share this year, and the $2.40 dividend yields 3.2 percent.

Vornado Realty Trust (VNO-$63.76) expects to improve earnings from $4.34 to $4.84, and the $2.60 dividend yields 4.1 percent.

Boston Properties Inc. (BXP-$65.38), yielding 2.7 percent; The Macerich Co. (MAC-$33.15), yielding 7.2 percent; and Brookfield Properties Corp. (BPO-$13.22), yielding 4.2 percent, are each expecting to report lower 2010 earnings this year but may have some upside potential. Good luck on these.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@adelphia.net. © Copley News Service