elcopone

The Secret Paulson-Goldman Meeting

Agreed, we need to redo the entire political process. Get rid of all lobbists, trade groups and special interest groups. Eliminate campaign contributions from corporations. Put in term limits. Make it so that if you work for the government, you cannot then work for in the private sector for at least 5 years after you leave office.

That will fix this.


On Oct 21 08:56 AM jjed88 wrote:

> I think you got to the root of the problem. All this lobbying and
> political contributions is a disgrace. My state senator, Dodd, is
> the chairperson of the Banking committee. His received about $130k
> for political contributions last year from Goldman. I don't think
> he can be impartial if he had to make decisions affecting Goldman.
> He's kinda 'nowhere to be found' anyway so hopefully the next Banking
> Chairperson won't be owned.

Cash 4 Clunkers and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Comparing health care and CFC is irresponsible. People die because they do not have health care. People do not die because they do not have a new car. The consequences of doing nothing in health care are dire. The consequences of doing nothing (or something) in the auto industry are minimal.

I agree that their are unintended consequences, but using that logic as a reason to do nothing a archaic and stupid.

How Much Did Cash-for-Clunkers Boost Auto Sales?

It's interesting that the CEA does not estimate how many sales were pulled forward from 2010 as well. Nor does it estimate the economic impact of 700,000 people with fully paid off cars now taking on more debt and a car payment. It seems the real winners are the banks and finance companies who just got a lift from all those new loans.

Market Cycles: A Look at the Historical Evidence

Very interesting article. Thanks.

AT&T: The iPhone's Achilles' Heel

I haven't had a problem with my iPhone or ATT at all (I'm in So. Fla.). But the biggest problem I notice is the rediculously expensive "iphone plan". This is where opening up the iPhone to more carriers would benefit me. ATT is raping customers with the minimum iPhone plan that includes basically no minutes and no texting. Other carriers have plan that offer much more at half the price.

I hope Apple leaves ATT just so that there would be some competition between carriers.

Employment Report: The Never-Changing Story

John - You are missing the point. What direct relationship does an athelete have with the average worker? None. Now what relationship does a CEO have with the workers of his company? An unbreakable inter-dependent relationship. You don't see how comparing atheletes salaries to CEO's is terrible comparison?

Was Carl Pavano overpaid? Absolutely. Hindsight is 20/20 and in baseball there are clear winner and losers. They even keep a record of every pitchers wins/losses to boot. So of course it's easy to see if he was "worth it". But did Carl's contract cost anything to society. No, virtually nothing. It costs George Steinbrenner. That's basically it. If fans were so outraged they should stop buying tickets, $14 beers and replica jerseys. Then you would see salaries brought in.

When a CEO slashes workforce and pay so that he can get his $100M bonus by hitting profit objectives, yes I would say there is a costs to society there. Big difference from an athelete.

You are right, Costco is a good example of the right thing to do. But they are the exception, not the norm.


On Jul 07 02:05 PM John Galt wrote:

> Elcopone-
>
> Would Juwan Howard be any worse of a basketball player if he signed
> a 30 million dollar deal instead of a 100 million dollar deal? How
> about the ex Yankee Pitcher Carl Pavano who signed a 70 million dollar
> deal and was injured and hardly pitched?
>
> The argument that CEO's make 250 times the average worker, therefore
> they are overpaid... Tiger Woods makes 250 times the average worker
> for playing golf and doing commercials, is that outragous? Couldn't
> you complain that Tiger would be just fine making 5 million bucks
> per year?
>
> Not all CEO's make 50 or 100 million dollars...
>
> Let's look at Costco's CEO which Mark brought up. The CEO is in charge
>

Three of America's Best Boards

What about absurd executive compensation? How does that factor in? You touch on it with BRK.A but only with regard to the boards compensation. To me one of the biggest problems with boards is there approval of rediculous executive pay plans. To that end, take a look at Costco (looked into this after seeing someone else's post on SA). They could be mentioned here.

Employment Report: The Never-Changing Story

Wow, wow, wow! What a fantastic article and amazing responses to the discussion on executive comp. I am totally in agreement with you. Exec comp and corporate governance is out of control and is a huge problem. Would a CEO do any less of job making 20 million as opposed to 40 million? Of course not! The only one who would argue that is the CEO and his cronies on the board. The entire governence structure needs a major overhaul. And I am in total agreement with you on athletes and celebs. That is a poor comparison to executive comp. The dollar amounts they make may seem rediculous when looked at, but there comp is based on simple supply/demand economics. As long as people are willing to pay high ticket prices, purchase 19.99 DVD's and will wait in line for next $180 pair of Air Jordans, then why shouldn't they reep the rewards?

However giving a CEO a $50M paycheck while he lays off 10% of the workforce and cuts workers pay by 20% is simply taking money from the middle-class/poor and giving it to someone who is probably already wealthy beyond belief. It's outrageous and needs to change.

The Congressional Bailout of Madoff's Investors

Great article. Throughout this economic collapse you can see our entire political system being exposed for the fraud it truly is. The Dems and Repubs have both gotten too powerful and corrupt through this two-party only system. The wealthy individuals and corporations control the laws and use their lobbyists and special interest groups to legally influence. We need a legit third party and a new political system badly. A system without lobbyists and mutli-million dollar re-election campaigns and with strict term limits. Stop thinking of yourself as a dem or repub because in the end it won't matter. Vote them all out come election time.

Sirius XM: Ramp Up in Marketing of iPhone App Is a Positive Sign

Mr. Stupid and between, keep drinking your own kool aid and for a second try and look at this objectively.

If you study the App store, you would know that most Apps are downloaded and then minutes later deleted. The true test of an App's popularity is it's ratings and reviews. The Siri App currently sports a 2 (out of 5 stars) rating based on over 30,000 reviews. By comparison, an App titled the The Moron Test even managed to get 3 stars. If you read those reviews you see they are filled with angry Siri subscribers who are very upset with lack of content available (no Howard, MLB, to name a few) and the added charge. $2.99 may not be a lot to you but to some people it is and on top of that, it's the principal of trying to nickle and dime already loyal subscribers.

Oh, and contracts get amended all day long in the business world. So don't blame contracts for the disjointed, inefficient, and flawed marketing and pricing strategy.


On Jul 01 05:37 PM between the hedges wrote:

> Good point Mr. Stupid. If this guy is so poor that he can't pay 2.99
> per mo, do we want to listen to his points on stocks?

Sirius XM: Ramp Up in Marketing of iPhone App Is a Positive Sign

Honestly, I think the iPhone App is very disappointing. A simple read of the iTunes Reviews will let you know just how their loyal fan base feels about this App. With no Howard and an extra 2.99 cost you have to question the pricing strategy. He's essentially nickle and diming his most loyal cusrtomers to death. It would be a better strategy to charge one price regardless of how you listen, so that you can attract more subscribers. The App would then be just yet another selling point.

I have to tell you, as both a Sirius subscriber and shareholder, I'm starting to lose my faith in Mel K. The whole Sirius and XM seperate packages/marketing seems disjointed and confusing. There doesn't seem to be a long term strategy in place. They should have just shut down XM totally, simplify the packages, consolidate the marketing into one message. As it stands right now it's just confusing and expensive. Who do want to be Mel? Are you Sirius or XM? What are you going to do when howard's contract is up in a year and he retires? Do you want to charge by the content or by the way the content is delivered? Many questions and not a lot of answers

Optimistic About Ford

Mad, most of the time I enjoy your comments, but this time I think you're a bit off. There is good reason why Toyota and GM will be slower to market and less fuel effiicient with their electric models. Two words for you... safety and reliability. If you take Hyundai as a history lesson you learn that they came to the US with unsafe and unreliable cars. As a result they have been spending the last 20 years trying to prove that their cars are safe and reliable. Despite independent proof their cars are indeed safer and more reliable then virtually everyone, they have yet to shed that image.

So before you start crowning some Chinese company as the next big thing, understand that they have yet to prove they have either safety standards that are required or the reliability that is demanded. Many smart companies have gone belly up trying overcome these two major hurtles before. Additionally, Toyota has not launched these products not because they have inferior technology, but because they understand that all it takes is one battery exploding to ruin a 50 year reputation. Besides, there are about 200-300 auto companies in China already competing on the same value proposition.

I'm just saying, lots of question marks there, and I'm not ready to anoint them just yet.


On Jun 30 01:45 PM Mad Hedge Fund Trader wrote:

> Yes, but will they be able to beat BYD? Like Paul Revere on his midnight
> ride, I feel a patriotic duty towarn you of the foreign invasion
> that is headed our way. No I’m nottalking about the British, but
> redcoats of a more Eastern origin. I’mreferring to the Chinese electric
> car company “Build Your Dreams” (seekingalpha.com/symbo...
> www.byd.com/company.php). CEO Wang Chuan-Fu, who Charlie Munger
> describes as a combination ofGeneral Electric’s (seekingalpha.com/symbo...)
> legendary manager, Jack Welch, and inventorThomas Edison, scraped
> up $300,000 from relatives to start a knock off cell phone battery
> company in Shenzen in 1995. He grew the company into a massive, vertically
> integrated conglomerate, employing 130,000workaholics at 11 factories,
> including those in Hungary, Romania, andIndia (interesting choices).
> BYD bought a defunct car company in 2003and re-engineered it to launch
> the $22,000 F3DM sedan last year, an old technology ferrous oxide
> based plug-in hybrid that gets 62 miles on a charge. General Motors
> (seekingalpha.com/symbo...) Volt and Toyota’s (seekingalpha.com/symbo...)
> plug in Prius,which won’t come out until next year, will only get
> 40 miles per chargeand cost more. All-electric models are coming
> out this year. WarrenBuffet was so impressed, he made a rare foreign
> investment last year,asking for a 25% stake and settling for 10%
> for $230 million. Wang, who has already earned himself a place on
> the Forbes 400 list, intends to build BYD into the world’s largest
> automaker, and quickly. Why do Ifeel like this war is over before
> the first shots were even fired?

NYSE 'Volume' Lowest Since January 5

Correct me if I'm wrong but couldn't this just be the classic "sell in May and go away" theory at work?

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/p...

Positioning for When Water Runs Out: Part II

Great articles. Thanks.

Why I'd Buy Toyota, The #1 Automaker in the U.S.

Great article with fantastic points. I couldn't agree more. As always, it all about the product. Something Mr. Toyoda clearly understand.

John, spreading lies only hurts you and your UAW buddies in the end. Evidence on 9/11 contributions...

www.snopes.com/rumors/...
web.archive.org/web/20...

Also, many GM vehicles sold in the US are actually produced in Mexico, Canada, and soon yes, China. So what really is an American car company anyway???



On Jun 26 01:21 PM John Eickholt wrote:

> Has Toyota help to build a American Hospital? Ford and GM have. What
> did Toyota give after 9/11? But Americans gave them free land and
> tax abatements for years. Toyota still imports almost 50% of what
> they sell here. I say lets hope Americans wake up and support American
> Co's.
> When our Governments lets foreign products in this country cheaper
> than where they were made. Its very sad. The Prius is 100% built
> in Japan and sold for $1000 less here.