Heading off to east central Ohio to visit relatives & help out my home town.
Government is part of the problem at all levels. The foolishness of the people running the government and their waste and favoritism puts private people in cement overshoes. Let's get rid of half of it.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Only Dividends Matter
Your writer will take a reactionary stance here, contrary to most modern finance theory.
For the long term investor, only dividends matter for the value of a stock.
I chose that terminolgy for the reason that there is a "theorum" taught in business schools and by finance academics that dividends don't matter. They are totally wrong.
A simple gedanken experiment proves my case. Suppose you buy the IPO of a stock, such as GM, EK (Eastman Kodak), or AAPL and, as a long term investor, simply hold on to it ... to the bitter end.
What money do you ever receive? The "bitter end" - the eschaton of stock investing - is either a cash buyout or bankruptcy. All cash buyouts are pretty rare nowadays. Can anyone name one in the past few years? Bankruptcies are much more common: GM, EK, etc.
Suppose the firm never pays a dividend. If the end result is bankruptcy, the value of a long string of zeroes is ... a big zero.
Suppose the firm pays dividends. Then even if the end result is bankruptcy, the long term investor has received some value that he can reinvest in bonds or other stocks.
Over the long term, the bankrupcty of firms is rather common. Management squanders cash and makes bad investments. How we can marvel at the recurring "non-recurring" losses!
They buy back stock. That only benefits the sellers by propping up their selling price. Who is a seller? For one, management is. They use stock buybacks to prop up their pay.
Why is AAPL stock apparently undervalued? No dividend. They have a huge and growing hoard of cash. The "market" obviously thinks management will squander it. And continue to squander it.
GE bought back huge amounts of stock while the price was high. And then proceeded to sell huge amounts when the price was low during and after the Panic of 2008. Buy high, sell low - brilliant management. Dopes? No, self-serving hogs!
Long term investors should only pay for dividends. Period. Full stop.
For the long term investor, only dividends matter for the value of a stock.
I chose that terminolgy for the reason that there is a "theorum" taught in business schools and by finance academics that dividends don't matter. They are totally wrong.
A simple gedanken experiment proves my case. Suppose you buy the IPO of a stock, such as GM, EK (Eastman Kodak), or AAPL and, as a long term investor, simply hold on to it ... to the bitter end.
What money do you ever receive? The "bitter end" - the eschaton of stock investing - is either a cash buyout or bankruptcy. All cash buyouts are pretty rare nowadays. Can anyone name one in the past few years? Bankruptcies are much more common: GM, EK, etc.
Suppose the firm never pays a dividend. If the end result is bankruptcy, the value of a long string of zeroes is ... a big zero.
Suppose the firm pays dividends. Then even if the end result is bankruptcy, the long term investor has received some value that he can reinvest in bonds or other stocks.
Over the long term, the bankrupcty of firms is rather common. Management squanders cash and makes bad investments. How we can marvel at the recurring "non-recurring" losses!
They buy back stock. That only benefits the sellers by propping up their selling price. Who is a seller? For one, management is. They use stock buybacks to prop up their pay.
Why is AAPL stock apparently undervalued? No dividend. They have a huge and growing hoard of cash. The "market" obviously thinks management will squander it. And continue to squander it.
GE bought back huge amounts of stock while the price was high. And then proceeded to sell huge amounts when the price was low during and after the Panic of 2008. Buy high, sell low - brilliant management. Dopes? No, self-serving hogs!
Long term investors should only pay for dividends. Period. Full stop.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Poor Leadership
Bad decisions by the leaders of a strong nation weaken it massively, leading to a future downfall. History of great nations of the past shows this.
Read the history of the East Roman Empire, aka Byzantium. That nation had two falls. The first occurred circa the years 560-630 after Justinian bankrupted the Empire with endless wars. The East Roman empire was weakened by the debts, had a short reprieve but was further weakened in another war, then proceeded to lose huge swaths of territory to the Arab invaders in the east and Slav invaders in the west as its poor leaders and weakened army lost battle after battle against enemies it could have easily crushed in its heydays.
The second occurred in circa 1025-1072. The successors of Basil II reversed his decisions that aided the common farmer and small landholders. The aristocracy was permitted to gobble up huge swathes of land and reduced the people to serfdom. Thus the backbone of a loyal army was gutted. The army then was forced to rely on mercenaries who were unreliable in key battles, including the disaster of Manzikert in 1072. Further civil strife led the Seljuk Turks to occupy the crucial territory of central Anatolia. After that, the Byzantine Empire was trying to survive with one arm - its Balkan territory. Without the diversity of two economic bases, the Byzantine Empire, which at the time was far advanced technologically and economically over any empire or nation within thousands of miles, was mortally weakened.
Third, consider the great nation of Poland. In the 17th century, Poland was one of the largest and most powerful nations in Europe. Its aristocracy destroyed its unity in their greed for more power and land. Poland began a one way path to oblivion and partition.
What about America?
We have a huge debt still increasing; the money is being wasted and not spent on national improvements. We are being weakened by endless wars in parts of the world mostly irrelevant to American interests. The billionaires, CEOs and government bureacrats and thier allies grab more and more while the living standards of the common people are stagnant, National "leaders" bicker and fight for their own power while ignoring the needs of the common people.
Our only hope: the people will choose wisely ... soon. We need true leadership, a 21st century Teddy Roosevelt who will give the common man and woman a square deal, beat back the power of the Ruling Classes and their Pharisee allies, and stop fighting pointless wars that only enrich the military-industrial complex.
Read the history of the East Roman Empire, aka Byzantium. That nation had two falls. The first occurred circa the years 560-630 after Justinian bankrupted the Empire with endless wars. The East Roman empire was weakened by the debts, had a short reprieve but was further weakened in another war, then proceeded to lose huge swaths of territory to the Arab invaders in the east and Slav invaders in the west as its poor leaders and weakened army lost battle after battle against enemies it could have easily crushed in its heydays.
The second occurred in circa 1025-1072. The successors of Basil II reversed his decisions that aided the common farmer and small landholders. The aristocracy was permitted to gobble up huge swathes of land and reduced the people to serfdom. Thus the backbone of a loyal army was gutted. The army then was forced to rely on mercenaries who were unreliable in key battles, including the disaster of Manzikert in 1072. Further civil strife led the Seljuk Turks to occupy the crucial territory of central Anatolia. After that, the Byzantine Empire was trying to survive with one arm - its Balkan territory. Without the diversity of two economic bases, the Byzantine Empire, which at the time was far advanced technologically and economically over any empire or nation within thousands of miles, was mortally weakened.
Third, consider the great nation of Poland. In the 17th century, Poland was one of the largest and most powerful nations in Europe. Its aristocracy destroyed its unity in their greed for more power and land. Poland began a one way path to oblivion and partition.
What about America?
We have a huge debt still increasing; the money is being wasted and not spent on national improvements. We are being weakened by endless wars in parts of the world mostly irrelevant to American interests. The billionaires, CEOs and government bureacrats and thier allies grab more and more while the living standards of the common people are stagnant, National "leaders" bicker and fight for their own power while ignoring the needs of the common people.
Our only hope: the people will choose wisely ... soon. We need true leadership, a 21st century Teddy Roosevelt who will give the common man and woman a square deal, beat back the power of the Ruling Classes and their Pharisee allies, and stop fighting pointless wars that only enrich the military-industrial complex.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Rewards for Failure
This post is not about the Ruling Classes (CEOs, government bureaucrats and politicians) who loot the public to get richer & more powerful while failing to deliver anything to the common man and woman. This post is about the beefers, aka big, evil funds, mostly private investment partnerships also known as hedge funds, who led the hoard of financial vikings who looted the nation before and during the Panic of 2008 and its aftermath. A new book shows that nearly the entire industry is a scam. The hedge fund managers make plenty of money, but the investors get nothing cumulatively. Remember that old book and adage about the financial industry during the Great Depression - "Where are the Customers' Yachts?". The hedge fund industry is a reprise writ large.
A review of "The Hedge Fund Mirage: The Illusion of Big Money and Why It's Too Good to be True" [Simon Lack, Wiley] in the weekend Financial Times contains all you need to know. "If all the money that's ever been invested in hedge funds had been put in Treasury bills instead, the results would have been twice as good."
More: "Never in the field of human finance has so much been charged for so little."
And: "The prime purpose of the sector is to provide jobs and wealth creation for the industry professionals: managers, consultants, allocators, prime brokers, and other service providers."
The total amount of money lost by hedge funds in the Panic of 2008 - "some $450bn-odd vaporised in a single year ... destroyed all the value that hedge funds ever created."
The managers made big money. "From 1998 to 2010, the cumulative split was just $9bn to investors versus $440bn to managers." That is a breathtaking vision of pure greed and fraud.
The author has the numbers and data to back up every conclusion ... and every smirk of disgust at the hogs at the trough. In the end, though, he blames the investors. They are the stupid cows being milked and leeched by the parasites in the hedge fund industry. They want to get ... more. And they get what they deserve - less.
Your author, the Bunkerman, has been saying and writing this for years, to the smirks and jibes of various pontificating (and well paid) pundits and some hedge fund managers themselves. It's nice to see Bunkerman proven right ... again.
A review of "The Hedge Fund Mirage: The Illusion of Big Money and Why It's Too Good to be True" [Simon Lack, Wiley] in the weekend Financial Times contains all you need to know. "If all the money that's ever been invested in hedge funds had been put in Treasury bills instead, the results would have been twice as good."
More: "Never in the field of human finance has so much been charged for so little."
And: "The prime purpose of the sector is to provide jobs and wealth creation for the industry professionals: managers, consultants, allocators, prime brokers, and other service providers."
The total amount of money lost by hedge funds in the Panic of 2008 - "some $450bn-odd vaporised in a single year ... destroyed all the value that hedge funds ever created."
The managers made big money. "From 1998 to 2010, the cumulative split was just $9bn to investors versus $440bn to managers." That is a breathtaking vision of pure greed and fraud.
The author has the numbers and data to back up every conclusion ... and every smirk of disgust at the hogs at the trough. In the end, though, he blames the investors. They are the stupid cows being milked and leeched by the parasites in the hedge fund industry. They want to get ... more. And they get what they deserve - less.
Your author, the Bunkerman, has been saying and writing this for years, to the smirks and jibes of various pontificating (and well paid) pundits and some hedge fund managers themselves. It's nice to see Bunkerman proven right ... again.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Woof! Woof!
This little rally in the morning has woken up Krypto from her nap. She has given me re-balancing sell orders in US stocks, Europe and Emerging Market stocks. All proceeds to cash. The larger orders are in Europe, next US, last Emerging Markets.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Hmmmm ...
Krypto opened her eyes to check the markets, but stayed on the couch. Close, but ...
Jobs data were better. Without Ben doing his heavy shelling, the common man would be suffering far more than he now is.
Giants win. Oh well, it was a good game. My Super Bowl feast of roast beef, sweet potatoes, sauteed red peppers & onions, Lucky Star Pinot Noir wine (vintage 2009) and a whoopie pie for dessert was suberb.
Interesting article in the NY Times about the views of an officer with mucho experience in Afghanistan. His opinions check with what I've heard from some grunts. That ten year war is another Vietnam - a complete waste on faulty strategy & tactics that is merely enriching the military-industrial complex. Thank you Bush-Rumsfeld-Barry for making the same mistake of your grandfathers. Dopes.
Declare victory for getting bin Ladin and come home.
Newt is cratering - good. What a whiner! That guy is a disgrace, self-promoter and seems to think with another organ of his body.
Davos was a non-event. Good. People are learning.
The common man and woman are still in shock and suffering much hardship. Either they or someone they know are out of work or seriously underemployed or have no hopes. There savings are disappearing. Retirement is a dream. Bagging groceries at 80 ... but wait - the supermarkets want to replace them with machines, too. Thank you, US government tax policy.
The rich & powerful comtinue to feed at the trough. Witness P&G executives. They write off billions, yet collect millions in pay without bearing the pain of their mistakes ... and try to cover up their failures with more layoffs of the innocent.
When will people begin to say the Emperor is naked as a jaybird?
CFOs contine to hoard cash in the US and overseas and refuse to pay dividends, while buying back stock to prop up the value of their restricted stock and options. Utterly dishonest behavior. Why is Apple stock at such a low P/E ratio? The market thinks they will waste the cash.
There is nothing wrong with free enterprise that a heavy dose of integrity and fair play cannot fix. Get rid of the trough and made the hogs truly perform for their pay. Cut their pay!!!
Barry is a joke. He has done nothing for three years to help the common man and woman. Without Ben, he'd be at 30% in the polls.
Oh well ... Is there nothing new under the Sun?
Yes ... the solar cycle is weak, likely a harbinger of a multi-decade cooling period with major storms.
Jobs data were better. Without Ben doing his heavy shelling, the common man would be suffering far more than he now is.
Giants win. Oh well, it was a good game. My Super Bowl feast of roast beef, sweet potatoes, sauteed red peppers & onions, Lucky Star Pinot Noir wine (vintage 2009) and a whoopie pie for dessert was suberb.
Interesting article in the NY Times about the views of an officer with mucho experience in Afghanistan. His opinions check with what I've heard from some grunts. That ten year war is another Vietnam - a complete waste on faulty strategy & tactics that is merely enriching the military-industrial complex. Thank you Bush-Rumsfeld-Barry for making the same mistake of your grandfathers. Dopes.
Declare victory for getting bin Ladin and come home.
Newt is cratering - good. What a whiner! That guy is a disgrace, self-promoter and seems to think with another organ of his body.
Davos was a non-event. Good. People are learning.
The common man and woman are still in shock and suffering much hardship. Either they or someone they know are out of work or seriously underemployed or have no hopes. There savings are disappearing. Retirement is a dream. Bagging groceries at 80 ... but wait - the supermarkets want to replace them with machines, too. Thank you, US government tax policy.
The rich & powerful comtinue to feed at the trough. Witness P&G executives. They write off billions, yet collect millions in pay without bearing the pain of their mistakes ... and try to cover up their failures with more layoffs of the innocent.
When will people begin to say the Emperor is naked as a jaybird?
CFOs contine to hoard cash in the US and overseas and refuse to pay dividends, while buying back stock to prop up the value of their restricted stock and options. Utterly dishonest behavior. Why is Apple stock at such a low P/E ratio? The market thinks they will waste the cash.
There is nothing wrong with free enterprise that a heavy dose of integrity and fair play cannot fix. Get rid of the trough and made the hogs truly perform for their pay. Cut their pay!!!
Barry is a joke. He has done nothing for three years to help the common man and woman. Without Ben, he'd be at 30% in the polls.
Oh well ... Is there nothing new under the Sun?
Yes ... the solar cycle is weak, likely a harbinger of a multi-decade cooling period with major storms.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Snooozing ...
Krypto is still snoozing on the sofa ... what a princess!
Her model is quiet, no orders. We are riding the bull elephant to the next water hole. My guess is that arounf S&P 1350 she will do some across the baord selling to stock up on provisions [aka cash] for the next beefer panic.
This post, while boring, proves that I still work for the benefit of my millions of readers :)
Her model is quiet, no orders. We are riding the bull elephant to the next water hole. My guess is that arounf S&P 1350 she will do some across the baord selling to stock up on provisions [aka cash] for the next beefer panic.
This post, while boring, proves that I still work for the benefit of my millions of readers :)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Too Much Government
We suffer from too much government at all levels: local, state and Federal.
Anecdotal stories of the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers acting like gauleiters abound. Permits are required for a huge numbers of activities. States impose licensing rules on numerous professions, mostly to keep out competition. And local governments use zoning and purported health and safety issues to herd and control people's activities beyond any reason.
What prompted your writer to explode after a long absence? Motivation - there are two I's in motivation.
An article in the weekly paper covering the town in which he lives described a zoning inspector acting in a rather authoritarian manner [to put the description politely] by issuing a cease and desist order to a business owner for ... selling one (1) whoopie pie.
This is not a joke, but perhaps could be an idea for a new Monty Python skit with the Spanish Inquisition.
An entire zoning board meeting was held with talk about clarifying letters, permits, and examining what it means to be a catering business vs. selling retail.
And one could wonder how a zoning inspector learned of the sale. Hmmm are there whoopie pie spies and informers around the center of the town? I suppose the prompt was a complaint from a competitor. Regulations to stifle competition is so common in America ... and it's un-American in my opinion. We should relish freedom and people live and let live.
Let's get rid of most of government at all levels. Just zero it out.
Keep only what's necessary for truly important group activities.
Let's have a new wave of freedom across the land.
Word of the Day
"Gauleiter" - noun [German] [$10] pronounces "gau - leiter" with "gau" to rhyme with "how" and "leiter" pronounced like "lighter".
Gauleiter means a head of a Nazi party administrative district.
Sentence: Why do so many government officials in America act like Gauleiters? And why do so many government police forces exist? Are we slowly losing our freedom without noticing the big changes over the decades?
Anecdotal stories of the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers acting like gauleiters abound. Permits are required for a huge numbers of activities. States impose licensing rules on numerous professions, mostly to keep out competition. And local governments use zoning and purported health and safety issues to herd and control people's activities beyond any reason.
What prompted your writer to explode after a long absence? Motivation - there are two I's in motivation.
An article in the weekly paper covering the town in which he lives described a zoning inspector acting in a rather authoritarian manner [to put the description politely] by issuing a cease and desist order to a business owner for ... selling one (1) whoopie pie.
This is not a joke, but perhaps could be an idea for a new Monty Python skit with the Spanish Inquisition.
An entire zoning board meeting was held with talk about clarifying letters, permits, and examining what it means to be a catering business vs. selling retail.
And one could wonder how a zoning inspector learned of the sale. Hmmm are there whoopie pie spies and informers around the center of the town? I suppose the prompt was a complaint from a competitor. Regulations to stifle competition is so common in America ... and it's un-American in my opinion. We should relish freedom and people live and let live.
Let's get rid of most of government at all levels. Just zero it out.
Keep only what's necessary for truly important group activities.
Let's have a new wave of freedom across the land.
Word of the Day
"Gauleiter" - noun [German] [$10] pronounces "gau - leiter" with "gau" to rhyme with "how" and "leiter" pronounced like "lighter".
Gauleiter means a head of a Nazi party administrative district.
Sentence: Why do so many government officials in America act like Gauleiters? And why do so many government police forces exist? Are we slowly losing our freedom without noticing the big changes over the decades?
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
And The Greatest Pancakes in the Universe are ...
Bunkerman's. :)
A reprise challenge cage match was held the crisp morning of December 24 on the home turf of Big Al. The participants were buff and prepared, each having a stock of secret ingredients to use.
Big Al chose the go the all-natural, greenie style route with plenty of zest of lemon for his perfectly formed citrus pancakes. Big Al's plating incorporated orange slices on a field of powdered sugar - quite attractive.
Bunkerman used sophisticated science and technology to capture dark matter and dark energy [aka red and green dark chocolate m&m's) and a few Higg's bosons (semi-dried Bing cherries) to flavor his delicate, fluffy (using cosmic inflation aka sour cream), and yes, a bit crunchy (via chopped walnuts) vanilla multigrain pancakes. Bunkerman's plating used a Christmas motif - mint leaves and fresh red raspberries - to accentuate the red & green from the embedded m&ms.
Naturally, [ ;) ] man defeated nature and Bunkerman won. The pancakes were graded according to taste (50%), texture (30%), plating (10%) and creativity (10%). The contest was a bit close, though, with a point differential of about 20 pts out of a possible 400.
Bunkerman was, of course, modest in his win, simply thanking the judges and looking at his shoelaces as his HS coach used to urge. Big Al was gracious, congratulating Bunkerman for a well-fought match.
And Bunkerman began new plans for Relativistic Pancakes to be ready when Big Al issues a new challenge.
Word of the Day
"Felicity" - noun [$10]
Felicity means 1. a. great happiness, bliss; 1. b. an instance of bliss; 2. something producing happiness; 3. an appropriate and pleasing manner or style or an instance of it.
Sentence: The contestants and judges enjoyed a morning of much felicity, partaking of good food and conversation during the preparation and tasting of two examples of supremely fine pancakes.
A reprise challenge cage match was held the crisp morning of December 24 on the home turf of Big Al. The participants were buff and prepared, each having a stock of secret ingredients to use.
Big Al chose the go the all-natural, greenie style route with plenty of zest of lemon for his perfectly formed citrus pancakes. Big Al's plating incorporated orange slices on a field of powdered sugar - quite attractive.
Bunkerman used sophisticated science and technology to capture dark matter and dark energy [aka red and green dark chocolate m&m's) and a few Higg's bosons (semi-dried Bing cherries) to flavor his delicate, fluffy (using cosmic inflation aka sour cream), and yes, a bit crunchy (via chopped walnuts) vanilla multigrain pancakes. Bunkerman's plating used a Christmas motif - mint leaves and fresh red raspberries - to accentuate the red & green from the embedded m&ms.
Naturally, [ ;) ] man defeated nature and Bunkerman won. The pancakes were graded according to taste (50%), texture (30%), plating (10%) and creativity (10%). The contest was a bit close, though, with a point differential of about 20 pts out of a possible 400.
Bunkerman was, of course, modest in his win, simply thanking the judges and looking at his shoelaces as his HS coach used to urge. Big Al was gracious, congratulating Bunkerman for a well-fought match.
And Bunkerman began new plans for Relativistic Pancakes to be ready when Big Al issues a new challenge.
Word of the Day
"Felicity" - noun [$10]
Felicity means 1. a. great happiness, bliss; 1. b. an instance of bliss; 2. something producing happiness; 3. an appropriate and pleasing manner or style or an instance of it.
Sentence: The contestants and judges enjoyed a morning of much felicity, partaking of good food and conversation during the preparation and tasting of two examples of supremely fine pancakes.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Education Cost Addendum
When I went to Harvard in the early 1970s, the cost of tuition, room & board was about $4,000 per year. Let's assume that $3,000 was tuition. For eight courses of one semester each, the tuition amounts to $375 per course.
Hmmm ... that number is not too far off from the current cost that I computed in yesterday's blog for the cost of a technologically modern course to be delivered to a student.
Thus we see that the entire gains and more from productivity over 40 years have been grabbed by the pharisee class as monopoly profits to themselves by price increases; nothing was passed through to consumers of the education services.
The true cost of college education per course: about $100 for the lectures on the material, $100 for books and reading, and about $200 for grading services and Q&A. By technology, this could be kept at early 1970s cost, BUT the pharisees want more ... for providing nothing extra.
Hmmm ... that number is not too far off from the current cost that I computed in yesterday's blog for the cost of a technologically modern course to be delivered to a student.
Thus we see that the entire gains and more from productivity over 40 years have been grabbed by the pharisee class as monopoly profits to themselves by price increases; nothing was passed through to consumers of the education services.
The true cost of college education per course: about $100 for the lectures on the material, $100 for books and reading, and about $200 for grading services and Q&A. By technology, this could be kept at early 1970s cost, BUT the pharisees want more ... for providing nothing extra.
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Cost of College Education
... is out of control and a bubble.
The bubble is caused by the monopoly of credentials that seem required by employers in both the private and public sectors.
To deem the cost of college education as a bubble, we must look at the cost and whether a cheaper substitute could accomplish the same result - aka knowledge.
The tuition and fees at Harvard for 2011 runs about $40,000. The standard load is four courses per semester, making eight per year. Thus a course costs $5,000 each. For that, one gets two or three lectures per week, some access time (usually with a graduate student), some assigned papers and and an exam or two graded.
At Ohio State University (I'm not using that pretentious and linguistically false "The" with which the state pompously likes to prefix the name), a year's tuition and fees is about $10,000. Computing an equivalent eight Harvard style courses, that makes $1,250 per course.
I know the content level of undergraduate and graduate college courses in science, math, humanities and social sciences. My numerous degrees and extensive, broad course work gave me a very wide exposure at a high level.
The Teaching Company offers DVD and CD courses that provide lectures at the good undergraduate college level for prices (on sale) at around $100 each. One can buy books on Amazon for around $100 per course or go to the public library and order them. Thus, a diligent student can reproduce a good course and with study, learn the material, for about $100-200. Missing is the ability to ask questions. At Harvard, one can get that (at least when I was there). At OSU, I don't know. Maybe. And have graded exams/papers.
How much would it truly cost to provide access for questions? With today's electronic communication, not much. How much would it cost to have graded exams and papers? Ditto: not much using modern electronic communication.
This won't teach one how to write, BUT it would teach you the facts - the knowledge of the material.
A diligent, self-learner can get college level knowledge of one course for about $200. Or one can pay Harvard $5,000 or OSU $1,250.
The "overpayment" is between 600% and 2,500%. That's a bubble - an obvious sign of a monopoly.
Can student learn the material themselves? Yes. I have done it, first in high school over 40 years ago and now.
Consider the TV show, Star Trek. In numerous scenes, that great script writer, Gene Roddenberry showed computers of that period teaching people knowledge. We have those computers today - even the voice recognition.
Even at the advanced [AP] high school level, free or low cost lectures are available. For example, MIT open courseware provides lectures by top professors in physics suitable for engineers and scientists for freshmen and sophomores.
Modern technology should be cutting the cost of education by many multiples. Why isn't it?
The Pharisees [ = professional classes, knowledge bureaucracy ] prevent these savings from being passed thru. They are propping up that bubble to control access to milk money from the common man and woman wanting to provide their children with the opportunity that a good education brings.
It's really a despicable crime, to overcharge youths, burden them with huge loans that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, all to enrich and overpay the pharisees.
Over time, this bubble needs to be burst.
[ By the way, the cost of graduate and professional schools likkely cannot be cut as much with technology. For those graduate courses that require special skills and knowledge, technology can help some, but in my experience, would not be able to replace the direct interaction with good professors with experience at the forefront of the field.
[ I suspect the same applies to grade school and average high school courses. Students need a teacher to show the way. But technology should permit larger class sizes and cost cutting ]
Word of the Day
"Nonplus" - verb and noun [$10]
Nonplus means (verb, transitive, usually in past tense as nonplussed, or the participle, nonplussing] completely perplex; 2. (noun) a state of perplxity, a standstill (at a nonplus, reduce to a nonplus).
Sentence: Don't be nonplussed by the extremely high cost of college education; recognize it as a monoploy induced bubble.
The bubble is caused by the monopoly of credentials that seem required by employers in both the private and public sectors.
To deem the cost of college education as a bubble, we must look at the cost and whether a cheaper substitute could accomplish the same result - aka knowledge.
The tuition and fees at Harvard for 2011 runs about $40,000. The standard load is four courses per semester, making eight per year. Thus a course costs $5,000 each. For that, one gets two or three lectures per week, some access time (usually with a graduate student), some assigned papers and and an exam or two graded.
At Ohio State University (I'm not using that pretentious and linguistically false "The" with which the state pompously likes to prefix the name), a year's tuition and fees is about $10,000. Computing an equivalent eight Harvard style courses, that makes $1,250 per course.
I know the content level of undergraduate and graduate college courses in science, math, humanities and social sciences. My numerous degrees and extensive, broad course work gave me a very wide exposure at a high level.
The Teaching Company offers DVD and CD courses that provide lectures at the good undergraduate college level for prices (on sale) at around $100 each. One can buy books on Amazon for around $100 per course or go to the public library and order them. Thus, a diligent student can reproduce a good course and with study, learn the material, for about $100-200. Missing is the ability to ask questions. At Harvard, one can get that (at least when I was there). At OSU, I don't know. Maybe. And have graded exams/papers.
How much would it truly cost to provide access for questions? With today's electronic communication, not much. How much would it cost to have graded exams and papers? Ditto: not much using modern electronic communication.
This won't teach one how to write, BUT it would teach you the facts - the knowledge of the material.
A diligent, self-learner can get college level knowledge of one course for about $200. Or one can pay Harvard $5,000 or OSU $1,250.
The "overpayment" is between 600% and 2,500%. That's a bubble - an obvious sign of a monopoly.
Can student learn the material themselves? Yes. I have done it, first in high school over 40 years ago and now.
Consider the TV show, Star Trek. In numerous scenes, that great script writer, Gene Roddenberry showed computers of that period teaching people knowledge. We have those computers today - even the voice recognition.
Even at the advanced [AP] high school level, free or low cost lectures are available. For example, MIT open courseware provides lectures by top professors in physics suitable for engineers and scientists for freshmen and sophomores.
Modern technology should be cutting the cost of education by many multiples. Why isn't it?
The Pharisees [ = professional classes, knowledge bureaucracy ] prevent these savings from being passed thru. They are propping up that bubble to control access to milk money from the common man and woman wanting to provide their children with the opportunity that a good education brings.
It's really a despicable crime, to overcharge youths, burden them with huge loans that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, all to enrich and overpay the pharisees.
Over time, this bubble needs to be burst.
[ By the way, the cost of graduate and professional schools likkely cannot be cut as much with technology. For those graduate courses that require special skills and knowledge, technology can help some, but in my experience, would not be able to replace the direct interaction with good professors with experience at the forefront of the field.
[ I suspect the same applies to grade school and average high school courses. Students need a teacher to show the way. But technology should permit larger class sizes and cost cutting ]
Word of the Day
"Nonplus" - verb and noun [$10]
Nonplus means (verb, transitive, usually in past tense as nonplussed, or the participle, nonplussing] completely perplex; 2. (noun) a state of perplxity, a standstill (at a nonplus, reduce to a nonplus).
Sentence: Don't be nonplussed by the extremely high cost of college education; recognize it as a monoploy induced bubble.
Friday, December 9, 2011
The Dumb Rich ...
... are also dangerous.
First, the stupidity.
From FT online today: "The average hedge fund manager has lost 4.37 per cent in the year to the end of November, according to data just released by Hedge Fund Research – losing money in six of the past seven months."
The Rich pay big fees for this non-performance. Trillions of their dollars go to support the lifestyles of southeast Connecticut (Greenwich, Stamford, etc.) and Manhattan and the tony suburbs of New Jersey. They are wasting their money.
Krypto is up almost 3% for the year as of a couple days ago. A dog, albeight a very sweet and noble dog, is outperforming the "best and brightest" of the Street by about 7%. Per trillion $ invested, that is $70,000,000,000, yes, $70 billion of value year to date has been squandered by the Dumb Rich.
Second, the danger.
Much of those trillions of the Dumb Rich are "invested" in trading strategies and trading funds and in collateral for derivative "bets". None of that money builds a factory or hires people for services or does anything productive. It's all being wasted and bled by the money manager leeches of Connecticut, Switzerland, London and the Cayman Islands.
Those billions of wealth are completely doing nothing productive .. they are a pool of mud around the legs of the world economy striving to climb to a better world. Those trillions might as well be on the Moon, or even gone, squandered in a stupid war. The world would be better if that money was spend hiring people to dig holes and fill them up. At least the laborer digging the hole would spend the money. The Dumb Rich neither spend it nor invest it.
The Dumb Rich are part of the problem. They seem too stupid and selfish to recognize it. Sure, they get a bit of applause when they appear in black tie at some gala in NYC or London or wherever. But does that philanthropic money really help anyone? Some does. Ted Forstmann really did help poor youths get a better education. I've written about others in the past, too. Mostly, no. The money goes to build a monument to themselves.
Hello Dumb Rich! Do something productive.
Here's an idea. Buy homes for some baby boomers facing homelessness, people who have worked hard all they lives and now face destitution. $1 billion can buy 10,000 homes @ $100,000 out of foreclosure. All you have to do is pay the taxes and let them live there, and keep the home up with sweat repairs. You will have made a real difference for at least 100,000 people, maybe as much as 400,000 people counting children and others who might now have a home.
Or make some real investments.
Listen to Linus Larrabie (played by Humphrey Bogart) from that great movie, Sabrina:
***Quote spoken by Linus Larrabie explaining to David Larrabie the reason for business. From the movie, Sabrina, 1954 with Humphrey Bogart & Audrey Hepburn & William Holden.***
Linus: Making money isn't the main point of business. Money is a by-product.
David: What's the main objective? Power?
Linus: Ah! That's become a dirty word.
David: What's the urge? You're going into plastics. What will that prove?
Linus: Prove? Nothing much. A new product has been found,something of use to the world.
A new industry moves into an undeveloped area. Factories go up, machines go in and you're in business.
It's coincidental that people who've never seen a dime now have a dollar and barefooted kids wear shoes and have their faces washed.
What's wrong with an urge that gives people libraries, hospitals, baseball diamonds and movies on a Saturday night?
***End of Quote***
Hello Dumb Rich!
Do something productive. Don't just count your gold and work to get more.
Word of the Day
"Obsequious" - adjective [$10]
Obsequious means exhibiting a servile attentiveness.
Sentence: Obsequious hosts on Billionaire-vision (fka Bubblevision) make me puke as they kiss the butts of the innumerable billionaires whom that put on TV. We want to hear the common man & woman!!!
First, the stupidity.
From FT online today: "The average hedge fund manager has lost 4.37 per cent in the year to the end of November, according to data just released by Hedge Fund Research – losing money in six of the past seven months."
The Rich pay big fees for this non-performance. Trillions of their dollars go to support the lifestyles of southeast Connecticut (Greenwich, Stamford, etc.) and Manhattan and the tony suburbs of New Jersey. They are wasting their money.
Krypto is up almost 3% for the year as of a couple days ago. A dog, albeight a very sweet and noble dog, is outperforming the "best and brightest" of the Street by about 7%. Per trillion $ invested, that is $70,000,000,000, yes, $70 billion of value year to date has been squandered by the Dumb Rich.
Second, the danger.
Much of those trillions of the Dumb Rich are "invested" in trading strategies and trading funds and in collateral for derivative "bets". None of that money builds a factory or hires people for services or does anything productive. It's all being wasted and bled by the money manager leeches of Connecticut, Switzerland, London and the Cayman Islands.
Those billions of wealth are completely doing nothing productive .. they are a pool of mud around the legs of the world economy striving to climb to a better world. Those trillions might as well be on the Moon, or even gone, squandered in a stupid war. The world would be better if that money was spend hiring people to dig holes and fill them up. At least the laborer digging the hole would spend the money. The Dumb Rich neither spend it nor invest it.
The Dumb Rich are part of the problem. They seem too stupid and selfish to recognize it. Sure, they get a bit of applause when they appear in black tie at some gala in NYC or London or wherever. But does that philanthropic money really help anyone? Some does. Ted Forstmann really did help poor youths get a better education. I've written about others in the past, too. Mostly, no. The money goes to build a monument to themselves.
Hello Dumb Rich! Do something productive.
Here's an idea. Buy homes for some baby boomers facing homelessness, people who have worked hard all they lives and now face destitution. $1 billion can buy 10,000 homes @ $100,000 out of foreclosure. All you have to do is pay the taxes and let them live there, and keep the home up with sweat repairs. You will have made a real difference for at least 100,000 people, maybe as much as 400,000 people counting children and others who might now have a home.
Or make some real investments.
Listen to Linus Larrabie (played by Humphrey Bogart) from that great movie, Sabrina:
***Quote spoken by Linus Larrabie explaining to David Larrabie the reason for business. From the movie, Sabrina, 1954 with Humphrey Bogart & Audrey Hepburn & William Holden.***
Linus: Making money isn't the main point of business. Money is a by-product.
David: What's the main objective? Power?
Linus: Ah! That's become a dirty word.
David: What's the urge? You're going into plastics. What will that prove?
Linus: Prove? Nothing much. A new product has been found,something of use to the world.
A new industry moves into an undeveloped area. Factories go up, machines go in and you're in business.
It's coincidental that people who've never seen a dime now have a dollar and barefooted kids wear shoes and have their faces washed.
What's wrong with an urge that gives people libraries, hospitals, baseball diamonds and movies on a Saturday night?
***End of Quote***
Hello Dumb Rich!
Do something productive. Don't just count your gold and work to get more.
Word of the Day
"Obsequious" - adjective [$10]
Obsequious means exhibiting a servile attentiveness.
Sentence: Obsequious hosts on Billionaire-vision (fka Bubblevision) make me puke as they kiss the butts of the innumerable billionaires whom that put on TV. We want to hear the common man & woman!!!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Newt ... ?
CANNOT BE TRUSTED.
A vote for Newt is a vote for Barry.
How can any rational person think the Newt can beat Obama?
Newt could probably get 1 out of 10 votes from women. His treatment of his first two wives was scandalous and despicable. And from that one can only conclude that he cannot be trusted.
And he took about $1.6 million from Freddie Mac for ... what ? Was that a payoff for decades of support politically? Or for future lobbying? He takes $1.6 million from an institution that was at the heart of the 2008 Panic and Great Recession. Did he do anything to push it towards responsible behavior. NO.
Can one thus conclude that Newt can be bought?
And in the 1990s, he was attacking Bill Clinton for his sessions with Monica, all the while canoodling with women NOT his wife. He obviously has a problem with his ... short arm aka second brain? Perhaps, as he sometimes seems to think with that other organ.
Newt is a lifer politician, a denizen of the Dark City in the Swamp.
He can be bought, cannot be trusted, is a cluster hypocrite, and is part of the problem.
The R's backing him are showing their stupidity - maybe they want Barry to have another four years, when he can get a majority in the Supreme Court. After that, we'll have a tyranny by the judiciary.
Can the Republican primary voters be dominated by fools?
Maybe.
Word of the Day
"Macaronic" - noun and adjective [$10]
Macaronic means (noun in plural) burlesque verses containing Latin (or other foreign) words and vernacular words with Latin etc.; (adjective)(of a verse) of this kind. [earlier = of the nature of a jumble or medley.
Sentence: [from The Familiar Enemy by Ardis Butterfield, page 25]"... in which love refrains in French are thoroughly interwoven with Latin, and macaronic sermons more generally, ..." [The book referenced is about cultural and linguistic aspects of the Hundred Years War between France and England when they really weren't France and England.]
A vote for Newt is a vote for Barry.
How can any rational person think the Newt can beat Obama?
Newt could probably get 1 out of 10 votes from women. His treatment of his first two wives was scandalous and despicable. And from that one can only conclude that he cannot be trusted.
And he took about $1.6 million from Freddie Mac for ... what ? Was that a payoff for decades of support politically? Or for future lobbying? He takes $1.6 million from an institution that was at the heart of the 2008 Panic and Great Recession. Did he do anything to push it towards responsible behavior. NO.
Can one thus conclude that Newt can be bought?
And in the 1990s, he was attacking Bill Clinton for his sessions with Monica, all the while canoodling with women NOT his wife. He obviously has a problem with his ... short arm aka second brain? Perhaps, as he sometimes seems to think with that other organ.
Newt is a lifer politician, a denizen of the Dark City in the Swamp.
He can be bought, cannot be trusted, is a cluster hypocrite, and is part of the problem.
The R's backing him are showing their stupidity - maybe they want Barry to have another four years, when he can get a majority in the Supreme Court. After that, we'll have a tyranny by the judiciary.
Can the Republican primary voters be dominated by fools?
Maybe.
Word of the Day
"Macaronic" - noun and adjective [$10]
Macaronic means (noun in plural) burlesque verses containing Latin (or other foreign) words and vernacular words with Latin etc.; (adjective)(of a verse) of this kind. [earlier = of the nature of a jumble or medley.
Sentence: [from The Familiar Enemy by Ardis Butterfield, page 25]"... in which love refrains in French are thoroughly interwoven with Latin, and macaronic sermons more generally, ..." [The book referenced is about cultural and linguistic aspects of the Hundred Years War between France and England when they really weren't France and England.]
Friday, December 2, 2011
Bank and Lawyer Lying Epidemic
As more and more facts come out, the existence of an enormous epidemic of lying and perjury by banks and their law firms in the past decade or more is becoming very clear.
Banks created mortgage securities by transferring originated mortgage loans to a trust. But they violated most state fraud laws by not recording assignments of the transfer of the loans. Hence under state law, the trust did not legally own the loan. When trouble arose, the same bank - now under the guise of the servicer of the trust - proceeded to lie to courts or in filings by saying the trust did own the mortgage loan and had the rights to foreclose. They were simply making it up - no one checked the loan papers to see that the trust in fact did own the loan. Those statements were made under oath subject to perjury laws.
Often law firms hired by the banks did that last step. The bank management did not care about accuracy - they simply send the work to the low bidder, which might even have been a legal boiler room.
How many of these defective mortgage loans exist? My guess is millions.
I personally know a several cases of this happening in both residential and commercial mortgage loans. This travesty is not simple speculation or anti-capitalist rant.
Land records of millions of homes is now under a cloud.
Think about this: you eventually pay off the mortgage loan. The servicer signs a release of lien which needs to be recorded. But what happens when the entity signing that release is not in the chain of ownership back to the original lien recorded. I wonder if the county will reject the recording? What about a new title insurer when you try to sell the property? The title search will show a lien from some entity that has never been properly extinguished. This problem could arise 10 or 20 years from now.
What happens if the original company - perhaps a special purpose subsidiary of the bank - now longer exists? Perhaps it was closed when the mortgage origination business soured in 2008-9. Now what? No corrective papers can ever be filed. This is no wild speculation.
Today's FT online" The Attorney General of Massachusetts has filed suit against five major banks "accusing them of “corrupting” the state’s land records through pervasive use of fraudulent documentation in seizing borrowers’ homes." Further, "[Ms] Coakley seems to believe what only a few of us have said publicly: robosigning was often only a symptom of failure to properly assign and endorse mortgages from originators to the trusts,” said Mr Rosner, in reference to home loans bundled into securities."
What is to be done?
The only solution is a massive class action that would require the banks to stand behind the title to all the real estate involved in these mortgage loans, and to commence action to repair the title to every single property affected. With massive penalties for noncompliance. And to take it out of bank top management pay. After all, top management is ultimately responsible.
Word of the Day
"Spoliation" - noun [$10] an old one from the file
Spoliation means 1. the act of plundering; 2. the act of injuring beyond reclaim.
Sentence: The spoliation by the major banks of the entire land ownership system in America is a colossal fraud that needs severe punishmant on the banks themselves and on the top management who were captains of that fleet of financial Vikings.
Banks created mortgage securities by transferring originated mortgage loans to a trust. But they violated most state fraud laws by not recording assignments of the transfer of the loans. Hence under state law, the trust did not legally own the loan. When trouble arose, the same bank - now under the guise of the servicer of the trust - proceeded to lie to courts or in filings by saying the trust did own the mortgage loan and had the rights to foreclose. They were simply making it up - no one checked the loan papers to see that the trust in fact did own the loan. Those statements were made under oath subject to perjury laws.
Often law firms hired by the banks did that last step. The bank management did not care about accuracy - they simply send the work to the low bidder, which might even have been a legal boiler room.
How many of these defective mortgage loans exist? My guess is millions.
I personally know a several cases of this happening in both residential and commercial mortgage loans. This travesty is not simple speculation or anti-capitalist rant.
Land records of millions of homes is now under a cloud.
Think about this: you eventually pay off the mortgage loan. The servicer signs a release of lien which needs to be recorded. But what happens when the entity signing that release is not in the chain of ownership back to the original lien recorded. I wonder if the county will reject the recording? What about a new title insurer when you try to sell the property? The title search will show a lien from some entity that has never been properly extinguished. This problem could arise 10 or 20 years from now.
What happens if the original company - perhaps a special purpose subsidiary of the bank - now longer exists? Perhaps it was closed when the mortgage origination business soured in 2008-9. Now what? No corrective papers can ever be filed. This is no wild speculation.
Today's FT online" The Attorney General of Massachusetts has filed suit against five major banks "accusing them of “corrupting” the state’s land records through pervasive use of fraudulent documentation in seizing borrowers’ homes." Further, "[Ms] Coakley seems to believe what only a few of us have said publicly: robosigning was often only a symptom of failure to properly assign and endorse mortgages from originators to the trusts,” said Mr Rosner, in reference to home loans bundled into securities."
What is to be done?
The only solution is a massive class action that would require the banks to stand behind the title to all the real estate involved in these mortgage loans, and to commence action to repair the title to every single property affected. With massive penalties for noncompliance. And to take it out of bank top management pay. After all, top management is ultimately responsible.
Word of the Day
"Spoliation" - noun [$10] an old one from the file
Spoliation means 1. the act of plundering; 2. the act of injuring beyond reclaim.
Sentence: The spoliation by the major banks of the entire land ownership system in America is a colossal fraud that needs severe punishmant on the banks themselves and on the top management who were captains of that fleet of financial Vikings.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Ben ist der Mann.
Your writer was working on German this morning when the central bank news came out: that title translates to "Ben is the Man". Again, Ben is the leader, the only powerful official who seems to do his job and pay attention to reality.
Hooray for Ben for helping the European banks get $ liquidity; this also greatly supports the status of $ are THE reserve currency.
And the Chicago PMI number was strong; Ben's policies are greatly helping US manufacturing and exports.
Hey Barry .... give Ben the Medal of Freedom!
Hooray for Ben for helping the European banks get $ liquidity; this also greatly supports the status of $ are THE reserve currency.
And the Chicago PMI number was strong; Ben's policies are greatly helping US manufacturing and exports.
Hey Barry .... give Ben the Medal of Freedom!
Monday, November 28, 2011
I Hate Microsoft Word
I Hate Microsoft Word.
These "automatic" "features" are so annoying. Nothing should be automatic unless I tell it to be automatic. Microsft wants us all to go through training programs and bend over so they can have their way on us.
No way, Balmer, Gates & all those proto-fascists.
No word of the day today. I am boiling too much.
These "automatic" "features" are so annoying. Nothing should be automatic unless I tell it to be automatic. Microsft wants us all to go through training programs and bend over so they can have their way on us.
No way, Balmer, Gates & all those proto-fascists.
No word of the day today. I am boiling too much.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Black Friday
I've never liked that name, as it seems rather blasphemous compared to the various October "Black" days when investors were crushed. But today that name seems appropriate as Krypto got up early and gave me a strong buy order from her machine: Buy some European stocks. I will comply via VGK, the Vanguard European Stock Index ETF.
Word of the Day
None - had a plumbing problem here. Is there an immutable law of nature that the likely time for plumbing or electrical problems is a holiday weekend?]
Word of the Day
None - had a plumbing problem here. Is there an immutable law of nature that the likely time for plumbing or electrical problems is a holiday weekend?]
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
From the Wall Street Journal, lead editorial, published the day before Thanksgiving for 50+ years. I believe these were written by the late, great writer, Vermont Royster.
The Desolate Wilderness
Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:
So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.
When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.
The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.
Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.
Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.
If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.
This editorial has appeared annually since 1961.
And the Fair Land
Any one whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.
This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.
And a traveler cannot but be struck on his journey by the thought that this country, one day, can be even greater. America, though many know it not, is one of the great underdeveloped countries of the world; what it reaches for exceeds by far what it has grasped.
So the visitor returns thankful for much of what he has seen, and, in spite of everything, an optimist about what his country might be. Yet the visitor, if he is to make an honest report, must also note the air of unease that hangs everywhere.
For the traveler, as travelers have been always, is as much questioned as questioning. And for all the abundance he sees, he finds the questions put to him ask where men may repair for succor from the troubles that beset them.
His countrymen cannot forget the savage face of war. Too often they have been asked to fight in strange and distant places, for no clear purpose they could see and for no accomplishment they can measure. Their spirits are not quieted by the thought that the good and pleasant bounty that surrounds them can be destroyed in an instant by a single bomb. Yet they find no escape, for their survival and comfort now depend on unpredictable strangers in far-off corners of the globe.
How can they turn from melancholy when at home they see young arrayed against old, black against white, neighbor against neighbor, so that they stand in peril of social discord. Or not despair when they see that the cities and countryside are in need of repair, yet find themselves threatened by scarcities of the resources that sustain their way of life. Or when, in the face of these challenges, they turn for leadership to men in high places -- only to find those men as frail as any others.
So sometimes the traveler is asked whence will come their succor. What is to preserve their abundance, or even their civility? How can they pass on to their children a nation as strong and free as the one they inherited from their forefathers? How is their country to endure these cruel storms that beset it from without and from within?
Of course the stranger cannot quiet their spirits. For it is true that everywhere men turn their eyes today much of the world has a truly wild and savage hue. No man, if he be truthful, can say that the specter of war is banished. Nor can he say that when men or communities are put upon their own resources they are sure of solace; nor be sure that men of diverse kinds and diverse views can live peaceably together in a time of troubles.
But we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere -- in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.
We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.
And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.
This editorial has appeared annually since 1961.
Word of the Day
"Concision" - noun [$10]
Concision means the state or quality of being concise; conciseness.
Sentence: The bunker booklet contained a five part solution to America' big problems, described with much concision on 15 half size pages. The booklet was mailed to every member of Congress, the Senate and the President, as well as a number of well-known personages in the media and investment community. All they have to do is read it and do it. Will they fail? Do they care about any ideas from outside the Dark City and their media co-conspirators? Time will tell.
The Desolate Wilderness
Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:
So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.
When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.
The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.
Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.
Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.
If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.
This editorial has appeared annually since 1961.
And the Fair Land
Any one whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.
This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.
And a traveler cannot but be struck on his journey by the thought that this country, one day, can be even greater. America, though many know it not, is one of the great underdeveloped countries of the world; what it reaches for exceeds by far what it has grasped.
So the visitor returns thankful for much of what he has seen, and, in spite of everything, an optimist about what his country might be. Yet the visitor, if he is to make an honest report, must also note the air of unease that hangs everywhere.
For the traveler, as travelers have been always, is as much questioned as questioning. And for all the abundance he sees, he finds the questions put to him ask where men may repair for succor from the troubles that beset them.
His countrymen cannot forget the savage face of war. Too often they have been asked to fight in strange and distant places, for no clear purpose they could see and for no accomplishment they can measure. Their spirits are not quieted by the thought that the good and pleasant bounty that surrounds them can be destroyed in an instant by a single bomb. Yet they find no escape, for their survival and comfort now depend on unpredictable strangers in far-off corners of the globe.
How can they turn from melancholy when at home they see young arrayed against old, black against white, neighbor against neighbor, so that they stand in peril of social discord. Or not despair when they see that the cities and countryside are in need of repair, yet find themselves threatened by scarcities of the resources that sustain their way of life. Or when, in the face of these challenges, they turn for leadership to men in high places -- only to find those men as frail as any others.
So sometimes the traveler is asked whence will come their succor. What is to preserve their abundance, or even their civility? How can they pass on to their children a nation as strong and free as the one they inherited from their forefathers? How is their country to endure these cruel storms that beset it from without and from within?
Of course the stranger cannot quiet their spirits. For it is true that everywhere men turn their eyes today much of the world has a truly wild and savage hue. No man, if he be truthful, can say that the specter of war is banished. Nor can he say that when men or communities are put upon their own resources they are sure of solace; nor be sure that men of diverse kinds and diverse views can live peaceably together in a time of troubles.
But we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere -- in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.
We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.
And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.
This editorial has appeared annually since 1961.
Word of the Day
"Concision" - noun [$10]
Concision means the state or quality of being concise; conciseness.
Sentence: The bunker booklet contained a five part solution to America' big problems, described with much concision on 15 half size pages. The booklet was mailed to every member of Congress, the Senate and the President, as well as a number of well-known personages in the media and investment community. All they have to do is read it and do it. Will they fail? Do they care about any ideas from outside the Dark City and their media co-conspirators? Time will tell.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
They came in the same old way ...
Describing the unchanging nature of French attacks, Wellington is reported to have said,
"They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way."
The hedge funds that have most of the excess capital of the rich seem to behave in that same old way: barge in, barge out. No true investing exists by them. They simply trade to try to extract a profit from ... who? Each other now. They are mindless. They brawl like drunken cowboys in a western saloon. Something happens and whoosh. They all move together.
What do we do? We practice judo-style investing, buying low, selling high and selling high and buying low, all done in smallish bits to grab slowly some extra percentage points of gain every year while maintaining large, long term investments with most of our capital. This is Krypto's style.
She got off the couch this morning, nudged me,and voilà, I find an order: buy some gold!
I will obey the machine, buying some GLD at the open to bring that asset class up to its level. If it drop further, we will buy silver next.
The machine also says to "get ready" to buy some European stocks - a small further relative drop will trigger a strong buy there.
Word of the Day
"Jussive" - adjective [$10] Grammatical
Jussive means expressing a command [e. g. the jussive subjunctive in Latin]
Sentence: Today Krypto was jussive, but usually she's a couch potato.
"They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way."
The hedge funds that have most of the excess capital of the rich seem to behave in that same old way: barge in, barge out. No true investing exists by them. They simply trade to try to extract a profit from ... who? Each other now. They are mindless. They brawl like drunken cowboys in a western saloon. Something happens and whoosh. They all move together.
What do we do? We practice judo-style investing, buying low, selling high and selling high and buying low, all done in smallish bits to grab slowly some extra percentage points of gain every year while maintaining large, long term investments with most of our capital. This is Krypto's style.
She got off the couch this morning, nudged me,and voilà, I find an order: buy some gold!
I will obey the machine, buying some GLD at the open to bring that asset class up to its level. If it drop further, we will buy silver next.
The machine also says to "get ready" to buy some European stocks - a small further relative drop will trigger a strong buy there.
Word of the Day
"Jussive" - adjective [$10] Grammatical
Jussive means expressing a command [e. g. the jussive subjunctive in Latin]
Sentence: Today Krypto was jussive, but usually she's a couch potato.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday Meandering
The super-committee failed. No surprise. The "leaders" have failed. It's time to engage the people.
Markets getting crushed overnight, probably a hedge fund knee jerk reaction to the super-committee flunking. Perhaps they will give Krypto a chance to re-buy what she sold at high prices recently.
Word of the Day
"Reticulate" - verb, transitive [$10] I saw this word in a book that I'm reading; the card was already in my file from high school days.
Reticulate means 1. to mark, divide, or construct so as to form a network; 2. to distribute by a network (e. g. water or electricity).
Sentence: The 14th century in western Europe did not have nations of England and Frence, but had "highly plural, contested, and reticulated identities of medieval culture." The quote from The Familiar Enemy by Ardis Butterfield, Preface, page xxx.
Markets getting crushed overnight, probably a hedge fund knee jerk reaction to the super-committee flunking. Perhaps they will give Krypto a chance to re-buy what she sold at high prices recently.
Word of the Day
"Reticulate" - verb, transitive [$10] I saw this word in a book that I'm reading; the card was already in my file from high school days.
Reticulate means 1. to mark, divide, or construct so as to form a network; 2. to distribute by a network (e. g. water or electricity).
Sentence: The 14th century in western Europe did not have nations of England and Frence, but had "highly plural, contested, and reticulated identities of medieval culture." The quote from The Familiar Enemy by Ardis Butterfield, Preface, page xxx.
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