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    • Sun Feb 11th 15:58 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Fox Business News: The Anti-CNBC?
      Yes Mr. Ailes, please report on the nine hundred and ninety companies where nothing is going on. Ratings will be great.

      This is like the lady that stood up at my school early in the Watergate scandal days and asked why the media was so concerned about these two Congressmen who were asking for Nixon's impeachment, when there were lots of other Congressmen out there.

      The well-known reporter responded, "Ma'am, when two congressmen want to impeach the president, it's news."
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    • Thu Aug 10th 12:26 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Why The Dollar Hasn't Collapsed Amidst The Trade Deficit
      I a worker produces 1,000 widget A in an hour that have revenue - at $1.25 apiece - that's $1,250 of revenue. If this American worker makes a $1,000 widget B in an hour, the $1.25er is more productive.

      If the margin on Widget A is a bit more and/or the invested capital is a bit less, than the profit is also much more on widget A. Successful economies run on return on invested capital and productivity.

      China grows quickly because they can obtain great returns on capital, furthermore, Huawei is an example of a Chinese firm that produces telecom equipment that looks like widget B's above.

      So this widget argument is misplaced and simplistic. Comparative advantage is a better way to look at the distinctions between particular widgets produced by particular countries.

      There are reasons the dollar hasn't dropped further: Higher relative interest rates, the reserve currency status in a dollar-based global trading system that grows faster than total world GDP, etc.

      But the dollar has dropped and is in a bear trend since the year 2000. The future may see the dollar rise or fall. Just remember that Japan had the low margin lending market cornered during the late eighties with the top seven or eight of ten banks in the world financing "assets" all over the world.

      What are banks and the repackaged markets of the US finance is housing. This may turn out to be very un-productive investments. When our house-price-dependent "financing" system feels the pain of all of those homes that do not provide a return, our finance-based system will show its true colors.
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    • Thu Aug 3rd 19:58 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      On The Cusp of a New Phase in Option Backdating
      So you're saying that these people who probably broke laws are boring you? Apologists for the system that allowed yet more takings from the American investors are just as bad as the people who do the taking.

      Do you think any of this restating would have happened without the public humiliation and fear of lawsuits? Not since it's been going on since 1997.
      View article »
    • Tue Jul 25th 15:37 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Why Timber Outperforms Stocks, Bonds and Even Commodities
      This article explains THAT timber outperforms, not why.

      What reason is there to expect outperformance of this asset class to continue?

      While it's amusing the the sum total of all US equity capital markets is beat by commerical foresty, there's no reason that proves this outperformance will continue.
      View article »
    • Fri Jul 21st 08:33 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Is the U.S. Going Bankrupt?
      First of all, admiring pop music is for little girls, but pop industry hit scribbler Rod Stewart wrote this syrupy jingle about a man trying to deflower a young woman, not pop industry hit scribbler Joel. The song’s theme might be better suited to what the current (and past to a lesser extent) government have been trying to do to the Middle class.

      The idea that Moody’s or S&P or Fitch knows more than the market is interesting. They have had some many failures, some big ones like Enron, Russia, East Asia to name a few. The question is not which pop song simile to use to repackage the neo-Rightist spin that always finds that “America is great in all things”

      The question is: are the rating agency’s success/failure ability to rate bonds better than the markets. IT’s a simple back test. Do it, then you may have a statistical data point. But that’s a different query than the one than the author set out to make . I certainly wouldn’t want a big hunk of my portfolio dependent on a bunch of analysts. I certainly wouldn’t want to bet a big chunk of my portfolio on one regression for the rating agencies versus the market,

      If we’re generating 40% return on equity, why isn’t the “the wealth” increasing? It isn’t increasing by 40% (certainly not in dollars where it can be argued it’s decreasing.) We consume, and that’s why the problem of the budget is a big one.

      The truth is Washington, will one day have to cut benefits and or raise taxes. The Bush deficits bring that day forward. The neo-Rightists head-in-the0sand on the deficits will be mocked. Washington will adapt and the problem will get repackaged, then, kicked down the road. Odds are they’ll go after your 401(k) since they can change the rules about their deductibility, so don’t think you’re safe Middle Class voter.

      I’d be looking for an Index on the government raiding the private pension system, the $01(k)s and the SEP etc. There would be something to put a little money into.
      View article »
    • Tue Jun 20th 11:41 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      A New iTunes Rip-Off? Microsoft Reinventing Itself in all the Wrong Ways (MSFT)
      ...but that's what they've ALWAYS done. They are a copycat franchise, that uses their Windows monopoly to add products, drive out competitors, potential competitors etc.

      The Gates / Balmer business model is to copy and extend. They are doing exactly what they know how to do, the only thing they’ve ever done, and the US government let's them get away with it.

      All the talk about inventiveness and creativity from entreprenurial ventures is stifled or stolen by Microsoft. We’re still using the same operating system, the same word proecessor etc etc they they ripped off of Apple and Word perfect a decade and a half ago. MSN? A clone. Internet Explorer? C’mon!

      One day Microsoft will be superfluous, it will be soon, in the mean time their sclerotic management would be hard-pressed to operate a real company in a competitive market.

      I bet: their iPod clone will be late, poorly functioning, non-interoperable, and with limited selection.
      View article »
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