Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
"Overnight it will seem that all partisan differences have evaporated and both sides of the aisle will work together pass a flurry of sensible reforms that were once thought impossible."
Bob 123 - perhaps you have an example in mind. Mostly the "partisan difference" are a sham to maximize the shakedown of the affected interests, after which a mind-numbing field day for lawyers, bureaucrats and accountants (that is, new laws, regulatory nightmares and costs) is excreted onto the public.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
"We are getting screwed and it is a planned policy."
Yet many people getting screwed the most are the ones who care the least, starting with the young generally. While the special interest voters are worse than ever extracting special privileges and benefits for themselves. And median household net worth is down 39% in 6 years.
America today looks like the slowly boiling frog after the point of no return.
I would go further to say that Ron Johnson is exhibit A that the level of compensation enjoyed at the top tier which has "managed" the US into the ground while exacting the largest haul for themselves in history, golden parachutes and all, keeps their finances far too blissfully insulated from the results of their work product.
No, movie stars and other movers and shakers are not going to replace the budget conscious, downwardly mobile slice of middle America (the word "class" can now be omitted, following "middle"), as the Ron Johnson's of the world continue to be surprised that small benefits such as deep discount coupons that draw customers in who may buy other items, mean a lot to these people....and to JCP.
"Modern money is mostly electronic money that is regulated by the government and organized through a complex payments system that is dominated by private banks who compete to issue money as debt. We use this system because it is organized, regulated and technologically advanced (i.e., it's better than lugging around gold bars as a medium of exchange)."
Since the real reason the complex system of debt-originated fiat money is used is because the insiders clubs of Washington and Wall Street have field days gaming and obfuscating under this system so that they make out like thieves, the article, like all MMT tomes do at one point or another, loses credibility.
Bitcoins or PM's which provide honest stores of value are becoming far more appealing with every passing day under the present system in which the bankers and governments in charge present their disgusting spectacles that bear such uncomfortable resemblance to lying, cheating and stealing.
I have a lowbrow Samsung smartphone, one of several I've owned and their glitchy operation always drove me crazy. But they were free at Verizon.
Apple stuff just works smoothly and it can be a delight, which is a minimum requirement Microsoft never achieved and Samsung and Android haven't either. Apple may once again recede from the status of adulation and worship of millions as other products technically reach and exceed their offerings in some ways but until the work of Steve Jobs is completely eclipsed by corporate drone management to the lowest common denominator, Apple products will retain a vast, well-earned following.
eBay (EBAY +1.4%) is eliminating listing fees for most items and simplifying its commission fees, as it tries to sustain Marketplaces' resurgence and slow down Amazon's (AMZN -1.2%) rapid 3rd-party sales growth. Lower-margin items such as electronics will sport lower fee rates than higher-margin items such as clothing. eBay claims the moves, its first fee changes since 2010, will provide more transparency for merchants, who have complained of overly complicated pricing. Yesterday, Reuters reported of discontent among Amazon merchants over rising fees. [View news story]
Ebay fees plus Paypal fees end up costing around 14%. This is enormous when the item sold is high-priced.
Ebay used to have lower rates and it tapered down sharply above $1000. Now small sellers can add the steep rise in their monthly Ebay commissions to the doubled heating oil and gasoline tabs they pay every month and contemplate the wonders of low official inflation and Ebay CEO John Donaho's useless suspension of listing fees that were negligible anyway.
Public Relations And PCs, Not Profits, Are Microsoft's Problems [View article]
Worker's rights is an issue when the system is gamed to bring in overseas workers expressly to work for less than their American counterparts' rates via an often invented "shortage" of workers.
Public Relations And PCs, Not Profits, Are Microsoft's Problems [View article]
Yes, but Microsoft "leadership" in efforts to raise H-1B visas which they and other large corporations game and abuse in hiring to create a pretense there are shortages of domestic candidates for openings when their aren't will eventually bring on battles for "worker's rights" and all the baggage that entails.
Public Relations And PCs, Not Profits, Are Microsoft's Problems [View article]
General Motors can be said to have done well by the numbers for decades before events and the cumulative effect of their dysfunctional culture finally hit the fan.
Being large and rather preeminent in it's core cash cow area while competitors successfully nibble and then hack away will not always yield those juicy bonuses for upper management. A corporate culture is known for a backbiting system of evaluation that inhibits innovation has helped cause far less return on R&D dollars spent than at Apple. Furthermore, there is a very negative perception of the company by the public which welcomes alternatives. And government anti-monopoly oversight is a heavy burden.
They retain size, profits and advantages enough that something they're into may turn into a next big thing for them, but this would only come about despite themselves and a long-gestated consumer resistance.
The Coming Crash In The Bond Market [View article]
"Considering the slack in the economy, why would the government pay me ANYTHING not to spend right now?"
Why then is the Federal Reserve paying interest for the first time on bank reserves held there? This has caused the total of these reserves to reach about 2 $trillion, and kept them out of the economy.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
RIQ - The message of government as a problem hardly originated with Reagan and it is rampant amongst many students of history and life.
It seems unimaginable that the rise in government hasn't brought more people caught under it's heavy foot to that conclusion even as the rise in recipients of government checks and risible services buys a lamentably offsetting share of pro-government votes.
Lessons From The Sudden Death Of Bear Stearns 5 Years Ago [View article]
"None of this means we're in for another financial crisis or market crash."
Perhaps not imminently necessarily but how could the greater concentration of TBTF financial institutions who are leveraging up on fraudulent collateral not create a great danger of yet another crisis? Especially as Western nations, now greatly weakened, insolvent and endlessly hemmorhaging red ink from the first round of bailouts, have already thrown all their good money after bad?
Caveat Emptor - 3 Reasons To Be Scared Of eBay [View article]
Rookieinvestor - You mention, "Ebay has been around the block but it's slow moves in technology allowed Amazon to blaze past them."
Ebay had the first mover advantage and retains a marketplace for small sellers for which you note that Ebay's fees are painfully high.
buyzjewelry mentions, "some of the highest fees charged by a platform, leaving nothing for eBay on which to fall back once the big retailers have decided to leave." And, "All in all, eBay may have built new relationships with the higher end or larger retail stores but has broken its backbone made of the creative newcomer."
There has been a huge lost opportunity here as Ebay has alienated and lost millions in a medium, the internet, which still presents the greatest opportunity in which a small startup can conduct business and grow. Ebay's auction platform was an ideal place for it when the fees and rules weren't as punishing for the small seller but they have left this potential on the table for a rival to pick up.
There has been a breathtaking lack of imagination by management that could have made Ebay THE hub of ecommerce. Instead of milking short-term profits in a marketplace that remains a cash cow even they haven't managed to kill, to pursue a "vision" as a pale echo of Amazon while focusing on mobile payments, since their resultant marketplace results have become nothing special.
Expecting leadership by Ebay in mobile payments or anything else does not present a likely profitable stretch of credulity.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
"Not sure what expertise an elected city council or mayor have that would qualify them to run an electric company."
Politics is the art of hanging around the biggest pot or stream of money and expropriating as much as possible. These are not people who are prepared to perform honest work or provide useful goods or services at a price customers would voluntarily pay for. The excessive fees and expensive and inefficient regulation of utilities already involving government aren't enough for some municipalities. US government is like any other ponzi scheme only worse, since they all need to grow but only the government has the right to force compliance on it's victims.
Until there is a turnaround from putting every item on every do-gooder crackpot's wishlist into the realm of government "solution," the US economy will continue to erode for the vast majority of it's formerly middle class, prosperous, solvent, privately employed citizens.
Caveat Emptor - 3 Reasons To Be Scared Of eBay [View article]
Ebay has always been a day late and a dollar short in it's IT investment and experience which has been covered up by the cash cow nature of it's marketplace and the millions of captive customers it provides for Paypal. In any comparison, Ebay comes out a clear second to Amazon even though it has improved it's execution recently (finally).
Profit growth has been disproportionately driven by onerous fees on small sellers who would leave Feebay in an instant were there a viable opportunity. As Google and others such as the article mentions are coming forward with selling venues and Ebay has always prioritized putting it's lush cash cow marketplace profits into management pockets rather than improvements to the site, it will likely fall short rather than lead IT developments in it's field much as Microsoft, a far more capable company, has faltered for 14 years.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Bob 123 - perhaps you have an example in mind. Mostly the "partisan difference" are a sham to maximize the shakedown of the affected interests, after which a mind-numbing field day for lawyers, bureaucrats and accountants (that is, new laws, regulatory nightmares and costs) is excreted onto the public.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Yet many people getting screwed the most are the ones who care the least, starting with the young generally. While the special interest voters are worse than ever extracting special privileges and benefits for themselves. And median household net worth is down 39% in 6 years.
America today looks like the slowly boiling frog after the point of no return.
How Low Can J.C. Penney Go? [View article]
No, movie stars and other movers and shakers are not going to replace the budget conscious, downwardly mobile slice of middle America (the word "class" can now be omitted, following "middle"), as the Ron Johnson's of the world continue to be surprised that small benefits such as deep discount coupons that draw customers in who may buy other items, mean a lot to these people....and to JCP.
Some Monetary Lessons From Cyprus [View article]
Since the real reason the complex system of debt-originated fiat money is used is because the insiders clubs of Washington and Wall Street have field days gaming and obfuscating under this system so that they make out like thieves, the article, like all MMT tomes do at one point or another, loses credibility.
Bitcoins or PM's which provide honest stores of value are becoming far more appealing with every passing day under the present system in which the bankers and governments in charge present their disgusting spectacles that bear such uncomfortable resemblance to lying, cheating and stealing.
A Day Samsung Would Like To Forget [View article]
Apple stuff just works smoothly and it can be a delight, which is a minimum requirement Microsoft never achieved and Samsung and Android haven't either. Apple may once again recede from the status of adulation and worship of millions as other products technically reach and exceed their offerings in some ways but until the work of Steve Jobs is completely eclipsed by corporate drone management to the lowest common denominator, Apple products will retain a vast, well-earned following.
eBay (EBAY +1.4%) is eliminating listing fees for most items and simplifying its commission fees, as it tries to sustain Marketplaces' resurgence and slow down Amazon's (AMZN -1.2%) rapid 3rd-party sales growth. Lower-margin items such as electronics will sport lower fee rates than higher-margin items such as clothing. eBay claims the moves, its first fee changes since 2010, will provide more transparency for merchants, who have complained of overly complicated pricing. Yesterday, Reuters reported of discontent among Amazon merchants over rising fees. [View news story]
Ebay used to have lower rates and it tapered down sharply above $1000. Now small sellers can add the steep rise in their monthly Ebay commissions to the doubled heating oil and gasoline tabs they pay every month and contemplate the wonders of low official inflation and Ebay CEO John Donaho's useless suspension of listing fees that were negligible anyway.
Public Relations And PCs, Not Profits, Are Microsoft's Problems [View article]
Public Relations And PCs, Not Profits, Are Microsoft's Problems [View article]
Public Relations And PCs, Not Profits, Are Microsoft's Problems [View article]
Being large and rather preeminent in it's core cash cow area while competitors successfully nibble and then hack away will not always yield those juicy bonuses for upper management. A corporate culture is known for a backbiting system of evaluation that inhibits innovation has helped cause far less return on R&D dollars spent than at Apple. Furthermore, there is a very negative perception of the company by the public which welcomes alternatives. And government anti-monopoly oversight is a heavy burden.
They retain size, profits and advantages enough that something they're into may turn into a next big thing for them, but this would only come about despite themselves and a long-gestated consumer resistance.
The Coming Crash In The Bond Market [View article]
Why then is the Federal Reserve paying interest for the first time on bank reserves held there? This has caused the total of these reserves to reach about 2 $trillion, and kept them out of the economy.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
It seems unimaginable that the rise in government hasn't brought more people caught under it's heavy foot to that conclusion even as the rise in recipients of government checks and risible services buys a lamentably offsetting share of pro-government votes.
Lessons From The Sudden Death Of Bear Stearns 5 Years Ago [View article]
Perhaps not imminently necessarily but how could the greater concentration of TBTF financial institutions who are leveraging up on fraudulent collateral not create a great danger of yet another crisis? Especially as Western nations, now greatly weakened, insolvent and endlessly hemmorhaging red ink from the first round of bailouts, have already thrown all their good money after bad?
Caveat Emptor - 3 Reasons To Be Scared Of eBay [View article]
Ebay had the first mover advantage and retains a marketplace for small sellers for which you note that Ebay's fees are painfully high.
buyzjewelry mentions, "some of the highest fees charged by a platform, leaving nothing for eBay on which to fall back once the big retailers have decided to leave." And, "All in all, eBay may have built new relationships with the higher end or larger retail stores but has broken its backbone made of the creative newcomer."
There has been a huge lost opportunity here as Ebay has alienated and lost millions in a medium, the internet, which still presents the greatest opportunity in which a small startup can conduct business and grow. Ebay's auction platform was an ideal place for it when the fees and rules weren't as punishing for the small seller but they have left this potential on the table for a rival to pick up.
There has been a breathtaking lack of imagination by management that could have made Ebay THE hub of ecommerce. Instead of milking short-term profits in a marketplace that remains a cash cow even they haven't managed to kill, to pursue a "vision" as a pale echo of Amazon while focusing on mobile payments, since their resultant marketplace results have become nothing special.
Expecting leadership by Ebay in mobile payments or anything else does not present a likely profitable stretch of credulity.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Politics is the art of hanging around the biggest pot or stream of money and expropriating as much as possible. These are not people who are prepared to perform honest work or provide useful goods or services at a price customers would voluntarily pay for. The excessive fees and expensive and inefficient regulation of utilities already involving government aren't enough for some municipalities. US government is like any other ponzi scheme only worse, since they all need to grow but only the government has the right to force compliance on it's victims.
Until there is a turnaround from putting every item on every do-gooder crackpot's wishlist into the realm of government "solution," the US economy will continue to erode for the vast majority of it's formerly middle class, prosperous, solvent, privately employed citizens.
Caveat Emptor - 3 Reasons To Be Scared Of eBay [View article]
Profit growth has been disproportionately driven by onerous fees on small sellers who would leave Feebay in an instant were there a viable opportunity. As Google and others such as the article mentions are coming forward with selling venues and Ebay has always prioritized putting it's lush cash cow marketplace profits into management pockets rather than improvements to the site, it will likely fall short rather than lead IT developments in it's field much as Microsoft, a far more capable company, has faltered for 14 years.