Is there any wonder why Main Street hates Wall Street? The sheer greed and rampant looting by the Street Vikings, and the pompous posturing, makes me puke. And get angry. The latest example is that multimillionaire lieutenant of Warren Buffet being such a hog that he just has to buy a huge position in a stock before recommending to Warren Buffet that Berkshire Hathaway buy the company at a huge mark-up. He was front running his own employer!
Despite vague statements, I doubt that the front running was legal; under simple, longstanding principles of common law, an employee's duty is to the employer in this type of action. Such front running is statutorily illegal in many analogous professions, such as real estate broker. It certainly was not ethical.
I'll give octogenarian Warren Buffet a pass ... he's ready for the dog track and might not be able to pay attention to details nowadays.
But in today's WSJ, the HOG claims that "I don't believe I did anything wrong or unethical," adding that he would "do it again tomorrow."
Sigh ...
Lawyers and investment bankers on the Street are perfectly happy to screw the poor and ignorant, and then later claim "client confidentiality". Traders front run clients. Street firms sell clients garbage they expect to default. Street firms take opposite positions they are recommending to clients. It's endless. Paid hacks funded by the Street fight basic fairness in financial markets. Street lobbyists fight market regulations when even yesterday, exchanges have to cancel trades in ETFs that went awry under the electronic trading cluster FUBAR system.
Nothing has been learned by the Panic of 2008. The Vikings are back looting the nation. :((
Actions
None yet. A strong signal to add to cash exists, but no weak sell signals exist except in gold (for which I usually require a strong signal) before acting.
By the way, a "weak signal" is when an asset class is at least 5% out of balance; a strong signal is when the class is at least 10% out of balance. Example: An asset class with a canonical 20% position is out of balance by 10% when it reaches 22% of total assets. Here's the math: (22%-20%)/20% = 2%/20% = 10%. This calculation is easily coded into a spreadsheet to show the signals.
I may act at some time if cash gets further out of balance, but for now I will "Obey the Machine".
Word of the Day
"Jackleg" - adjective & noun [$100] a Big Al word! Chiefly South Midland and Southern US.
Jackleg means (adjective) 1. unsilled or untrained for one's work; amateur: a jackleg electrician; 2. unscrupulous or without accepted standards of one's profession: a jackleg lawyer; 3. makeshift, temporary; (noun) an unskilled or unscrupulous itinerant worker or practitioner.
Sentence: Wall Street is crammed with jackleg traders, bankers and lawyers. Can one find a single honest man there? Yes, I know a few ... just a few. When I went to work on the Street (1981), it was crammed with persons of integrity. When my partners & I left to form our own firm (1993), it was becoming dominated by knaves.
Showing posts with label Hogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hogs. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Slurp, Slurp, Slurp
That's the sound of the CEO hogs feeding at the trough. They are back to their old antics: using the corporate treasury to prop up the value of their stock options & other executive compensation. How?
From the WSJ (Dec. 18 online): "$92 billion: How much companies spent on their own shares in the third quarter of 2010. U.S. companies are finally finding a use for some of the nearly $2 trillion in cash sitting on their balance sheets. In the three months ended September, they spent a seasonally adjusted $92 billion on share buybacks, up 71% from the previous quarter and the highest level since the beginning of 2008, according to the Federal Reserve."
That's $92 billion they are not using to do their jobs, viz. to grow the company and improve its operations. That's $92 billion spent to buy stocks at HIGH prices. In late 2008 & 2009, corporation sold billions in stock to raise money to improve their balance sheets ... at LOW prices. Did any of these CEO-CFO "brains" buy back stock at LOW prices? Nope.
They SELL LOW and BUY HIGH. They refuse to hire good people to improve operations. They (mostly) don't do R&D to create new products.
Stock buybacks don't help the investors in a company; all they do is subsidize the SELLERS - those getting out. This behavior is utterly foolish and stupid, yet the cossetted Boards of Directors approve it. Why? They are part of the same clique in the Ruling Class who think only of their own pay and perks. Use the corporate treasury to pad their compensation? Sure, why not. After all, they all do it.
Compensation policies should SUBTRACT any benefit from stock buybacks from earnings baselines for executive pay.
A reform that could help shareHOLDERS act to improve corporate governance: Mandate secret proxy votes. This would give mutual fund firms the freedom to vote their best interests without extortion threats from corporations to pull 401K business, etc.
We get lousy, corrupt corporate governance because corporate elections are conducted SOVIET style, with the corporation knowing how one votes. Ballot secrecy preserves truly free elections. Give us ballot secrecy in ALL corporate proxy elections.
And we need public pressure to "out" these CEO-CFO hogs and harshly criticize their actions. Free Fraternalism does this. The ideology and practices of Free Fraternalism can bring real change to help the common man and retain his freedom. This is true reform.
A Book Worth Reading
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, Edited by David J. Garrow [ISBN 978-0-87049-527-4] The University of Tennessee Press: 1987], I purchased this book at the recommendation of the person running the gift shop at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. It's a jewel - a diamond - a valuable first hand account of that singular event that propelled Civil Rights onto the national stage. Read it. Learn how a group of intelligent women organized and obtained help to run a bus boycott that led to a Supreme Court decision wiping out segregation laws. Learn how they nonviolently fought State oppression and corruption. And learn the truth behind the legends. This event is extremely poorly portrayed by the modern press.
Tea Parties: read this book. You have more power than you realize, BUT you need to adjust your practices and organize better. You need to get the common man & woman behind you by seeking true reform for ALL. Don't be a tool for the billionaire vikings. Support true reform for ALL.
Word of the Day
"Sectary" - noun [$10]
Sectary means a member of a religious or political sect.
Sentence: Tea Party sectaries need to adopt Free Fraternalism to become a majority party in the US. Modify Libertarian ideas to avoid being a tool for the billionaire vikings; Freedom works, but freedom for the dominant to enserf the common man is one freedom that must be curtailed. Free Fraternalism does that.
From the WSJ (Dec. 18 online): "$92 billion: How much companies spent on their own shares in the third quarter of 2010. U.S. companies are finally finding a use for some of the nearly $2 trillion in cash sitting on their balance sheets. In the three months ended September, they spent a seasonally adjusted $92 billion on share buybacks, up 71% from the previous quarter and the highest level since the beginning of 2008, according to the Federal Reserve."
That's $92 billion they are not using to do their jobs, viz. to grow the company and improve its operations. That's $92 billion spent to buy stocks at HIGH prices. In late 2008 & 2009, corporation sold billions in stock to raise money to improve their balance sheets ... at LOW prices. Did any of these CEO-CFO "brains" buy back stock at LOW prices? Nope.
They SELL LOW and BUY HIGH. They refuse to hire good people to improve operations. They (mostly) don't do R&D to create new products.
Stock buybacks don't help the investors in a company; all they do is subsidize the SELLERS - those getting out. This behavior is utterly foolish and stupid, yet the cossetted Boards of Directors approve it. Why? They are part of the same clique in the Ruling Class who think only of their own pay and perks. Use the corporate treasury to pad their compensation? Sure, why not. After all, they all do it.
Compensation policies should SUBTRACT any benefit from stock buybacks from earnings baselines for executive pay.
A reform that could help shareHOLDERS act to improve corporate governance: Mandate secret proxy votes. This would give mutual fund firms the freedom to vote their best interests without extortion threats from corporations to pull 401K business, etc.
We get lousy, corrupt corporate governance because corporate elections are conducted SOVIET style, with the corporation knowing how one votes. Ballot secrecy preserves truly free elections. Give us ballot secrecy in ALL corporate proxy elections.
And we need public pressure to "out" these CEO-CFO hogs and harshly criticize their actions. Free Fraternalism does this. The ideology and practices of Free Fraternalism can bring real change to help the common man and retain his freedom. This is true reform.
A Book Worth Reading
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, Edited by David J. Garrow [ISBN 978-0-87049-527-4] The University of Tennessee Press: 1987], I purchased this book at the recommendation of the person running the gift shop at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. It's a jewel - a diamond - a valuable first hand account of that singular event that propelled Civil Rights onto the national stage. Read it. Learn how a group of intelligent women organized and obtained help to run a bus boycott that led to a Supreme Court decision wiping out segregation laws. Learn how they nonviolently fought State oppression and corruption. And learn the truth behind the legends. This event is extremely poorly portrayed by the modern press.
Tea Parties: read this book. You have more power than you realize, BUT you need to adjust your practices and organize better. You need to get the common man & woman behind you by seeking true reform for ALL. Don't be a tool for the billionaire vikings. Support true reform for ALL.
Word of the Day
"Sectary" - noun [$10]
Sectary means a member of a religious or political sect.
Sentence: Tea Party sectaries need to adopt Free Fraternalism to become a majority party in the US. Modify Libertarian ideas to avoid being a tool for the billionaire vikings; Freedom works, but freedom for the dominant to enserf the common man is one freedom that must be curtailed. Free Fraternalism does that.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Obama and the Hogs
What a disgrace!
To solve the problems of the economy, Obama decides to ask ... the CEO hog corps. That's vomitous! They are part of the problem. They grind down and fire thousands of common man & woman employees, and then pay themselves millions upon millions for doing just that.
They move plants to Mexico, China, India, etc. and then re-import the products tariff-free. The profits? They leave overseas in tax havens. And then, of course, they pay themselves more and more for gutting the US domestic economy.
They lobby for more immigrant visas, yet use their low pay to hold down wages of US engineers, etc. More students would go into engineering in college IF the pay and job security was better. Yet those very immigrant visas help make pay and job security worse. The "solution" for an engineering shortage makes the problem WORSE. Of course, it makes corporate profits and CEO pay higher.
Big corporate CEOs and the entire executive suite of these corporations are cluster hogs at the trough. They just can't get enough, yet are always doing something to grind down the common man, and lobby for more laws and ways to do it.
Obama wants their help ... huh? For what?
My guess ... for campaign contributions for 2012. And to co-opt them onto his team. Maybe to signal to them he wants what they want. More power for the Ruling Class. Heck, that big tax benefit he proposes to give them 100% deduction for new equipment is anti-worker, but helps the CEOs grab more pay.
They are all part of the problem. These "solutions" to the nation's economic problems, devised in DC and by the Ruling Class, are all subterfuges to give themselves more income & power. Don't trust any "solution" unless it has real input by persons from the outside - outside of DC and the Ruling Class.
Grrr. And of course the media sycophants cheer that passel of hogs as they devise more ways to slurp down everything.
Actions
Bought some more municipal bonds yesterday; got about 5.25% yield to maturity on some bonds offered at 92, rated AA. Good deal. We'll keep nibbling ... with patience.
Word of the Day
"Groat" - noun [$10] a T. S. Eliot word
Groat means 1. a silver coin worth four old pence; 2. (archaic) a small sum (don't care a groat).
Groats (noun, plural) means hulled or crushed grain, esp. oats.
Sentence: The meeting of Obama and the CEOs won't produce a groat of help for the common man.
To solve the problems of the economy, Obama decides to ask ... the CEO hog corps. That's vomitous! They are part of the problem. They grind down and fire thousands of common man & woman employees, and then pay themselves millions upon millions for doing just that.
They move plants to Mexico, China, India, etc. and then re-import the products tariff-free. The profits? They leave overseas in tax havens. And then, of course, they pay themselves more and more for gutting the US domestic economy.
They lobby for more immigrant visas, yet use their low pay to hold down wages of US engineers, etc. More students would go into engineering in college IF the pay and job security was better. Yet those very immigrant visas help make pay and job security worse. The "solution" for an engineering shortage makes the problem WORSE. Of course, it makes corporate profits and CEO pay higher.
Big corporate CEOs and the entire executive suite of these corporations are cluster hogs at the trough. They just can't get enough, yet are always doing something to grind down the common man, and lobby for more laws and ways to do it.
Obama wants their help ... huh? For what?
My guess ... for campaign contributions for 2012. And to co-opt them onto his team. Maybe to signal to them he wants what they want. More power for the Ruling Class. Heck, that big tax benefit he proposes to give them 100% deduction for new equipment is anti-worker, but helps the CEOs grab more pay.
They are all part of the problem. These "solutions" to the nation's economic problems, devised in DC and by the Ruling Class, are all subterfuges to give themselves more income & power. Don't trust any "solution" unless it has real input by persons from the outside - outside of DC and the Ruling Class.
Grrr. And of course the media sycophants cheer that passel of hogs as they devise more ways to slurp down everything.
Actions
Bought some more municipal bonds yesterday; got about 5.25% yield to maturity on some bonds offered at 92, rated AA. Good deal. We'll keep nibbling ... with patience.
Word of the Day
"Groat" - noun [$10] a T. S. Eliot word
Groat means 1. a silver coin worth four old pence; 2. (archaic) a small sum (don't care a groat).
Groats (noun, plural) means hulled or crushed grain, esp. oats.
Sentence: The meeting of Obama and the CEOs won't produce a groat of help for the common man.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Back in the Saddle
After an enjoyable business trip throughout Alabama last week, I'm back and looking forward to giving the hogs a smack in their snouts. While traveling I read an article that the executive suite has their snouts in the trough, slurping down bigger and more expensive health care plans ... for themselves, of course. And paid by the company, of course. Joe & Jane Worker ... keep getting their health plans cut and their co-pays increased.
Why are the best paid and most able to afford these premium plans getting them for free? And those least able to afford them getting less and less? Simple, it's greed. The hogs in the executive suite get their pals on the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors to award them more ... and more. And then they grind down the common employee with less and less to pump up earnings.
Of course, the gold-plated health plans are tax deductible, even under the Obama plan. Not even that plan gives any semblance of fraternity or equality. It's simply a disgrace for corporate governance and for US tax policy.
Free Fraternalism would cure this with simple policy: all corporate health plans must be equal for all employees - no exceptions. Enforcement would be a 100% excise tax on any executive plans that provides better benefits for them. See how simple principles let one govern with transparency and ease. Let the highly paid spend their own money for better care.
Free Fraternalism - the Right Way.
Actions
Krypto wants me to sell some US stocks - not a lot, just part of Sell High, Buy Low. The buy part will be municipal bonds. We are now seeing good quality municipal bonds yielding over 5%. I'll be buying them steadily as available.
Also, prices for TIPs have dropped fast. Krypto sold all those at higher prices. We will re-buy them in phases when the long term TIP rises over 2% real return or the ETF gets to about 105. This re-buy will be slow as I want to average in.
Simple investing: buy low, sell high; and sell high, buy low. Remember, you can and should WAIT in cash for part #2 of each of these rules.
Word of the Day
"Kleptocracy" - noun [$10] a Big Al word.
Kleptocracy means government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.
Sentence: Who can doubt that the US government AND the governance of most US large corporations are kleptocracies?
Why are the best paid and most able to afford these premium plans getting them for free? And those least able to afford them getting less and less? Simple, it's greed. The hogs in the executive suite get their pals on the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors to award them more ... and more. And then they grind down the common employee with less and less to pump up earnings.
Of course, the gold-plated health plans are tax deductible, even under the Obama plan. Not even that plan gives any semblance of fraternity or equality. It's simply a disgrace for corporate governance and for US tax policy.
Free Fraternalism would cure this with simple policy: all corporate health plans must be equal for all employees - no exceptions. Enforcement would be a 100% excise tax on any executive plans that provides better benefits for them. See how simple principles let one govern with transparency and ease. Let the highly paid spend their own money for better care.
Free Fraternalism - the Right Way.
Actions
Krypto wants me to sell some US stocks - not a lot, just part of Sell High, Buy Low. The buy part will be municipal bonds. We are now seeing good quality municipal bonds yielding over 5%. I'll be buying them steadily as available.
Also, prices for TIPs have dropped fast. Krypto sold all those at higher prices. We will re-buy them in phases when the long term TIP rises over 2% real return or the ETF gets to about 105. This re-buy will be slow as I want to average in.
Simple investing: buy low, sell high; and sell high, buy low. Remember, you can and should WAIT in cash for part #2 of each of these rules.
Word of the Day
"Kleptocracy" - noun [$10] a Big Al word.
Kleptocracy means government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.
Sentence: Who can doubt that the US government AND the governance of most US large corporations are kleptocracies?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Hogs at the Trough
I was not surprised by the facts in a Wall Street Journal article that I tore out before going on to my Epicurean camping trip.
"Washington Firms Soak Up Stimulus" - WSJ Sept. 17, 2010.
The Ruling Class Hogs made sure they wrote a "stimulus" bill to feed themselves and their friends and neighbors: "More than $3.7 billion of stimulus contracts, grants and loans have gone to recipients in the District of Columbia and two adjacent congressional districts—Maryland's 8th District and Virginia's 8th District. That amounts to nearly $2,000 for every resident—nearly three times the national average, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of reports filed by recipients."
This shows the depths of greed and depravity of the Ruling Classes in DC. The people need help to recover from a bad recession caused by the Ruling Classes on Wall Street, and their cousins in DC write a stimulus bill to shower money on themselves and the coterie of hogs in DC. More: "More than $2.2 billion of the stimulus money awarded to the Washington area has gone to private firms, many of which are helping federal agencies with the administrative work generated by the sprawling effort: deciding how to award funds, drawing up contracts and monitoring and auditing spending. Some help federal agencies with their internal monitoring systems and public-relations efforts."
The P-O-R crowd gave stimulus money to the Federal government and firms providing it MORE services. Gosh, that's a hard pressed sector, isn't it. Obama touts "shovel-ready" projects and gives them peanuts, while he fills the trough for His, Rip-Off Harry Reid's and Nancy Pelosi's pals and supporters in the Federal government.
Of all metropolitan areas, Washington's is lowest; it's employment actually rose over the last 12 months. Yet the P-O-R Stimulus bill spent more money there than in truly depressed areas. Incredible greed !!!
The whole passel of hogs in DC needs to be booted out: the existing rulers in Congress, the administration and the entire lawyer-lobbyist clique. They are almost ALL dishonest. At a time of need for national leadership - the Panic and 2008 and its resulting Great Recession - they simply wanted more power and money for themselves. They are a ruling aristocracy gone lustful for MORE and MORE.
Actions
I sold a lot of money invested in TIPs [via the Vanguard index fund] as those prices reached new highs. Those levels are very, very risky as TIPs now yield very low rates and have very heavy risk of loss if rates go up. This is "sell high, buy low", "buy low, sell high". Krypto Fund is building it's cash pile and will reinvest it as asset valuation re-adjust and provide something cheap to buy. actions.
Word of the Day
"Emend" - verb [$20]
Emend means to remove errors or corruption.
Sentence: Voters must emend that crucial pillar of support of the Ruling Class this November by electing honest leaders who will vote to help the common people.
"Washington Firms Soak Up Stimulus" - WSJ Sept. 17, 2010.
The Ruling Class Hogs made sure they wrote a "stimulus" bill to feed themselves and their friends and neighbors: "More than $3.7 billion of stimulus contracts, grants and loans have gone to recipients in the District of Columbia and two adjacent congressional districts—Maryland's 8th District and Virginia's 8th District. That amounts to nearly $2,000 for every resident—nearly three times the national average, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of reports filed by recipients."
This shows the depths of greed and depravity of the Ruling Classes in DC. The people need help to recover from a bad recession caused by the Ruling Classes on Wall Street, and their cousins in DC write a stimulus bill to shower money on themselves and the coterie of hogs in DC. More: "More than $2.2 billion of the stimulus money awarded to the Washington area has gone to private firms, many of which are helping federal agencies with the administrative work generated by the sprawling effort: deciding how to award funds, drawing up contracts and monitoring and auditing spending. Some help federal agencies with their internal monitoring systems and public-relations efforts."
The P-O-R crowd gave stimulus money to the Federal government and firms providing it MORE services. Gosh, that's a hard pressed sector, isn't it. Obama touts "shovel-ready" projects and gives them peanuts, while he fills the trough for His, Rip-Off Harry Reid's and Nancy Pelosi's pals and supporters in the Federal government.
Of all metropolitan areas, Washington's is lowest; it's employment actually rose over the last 12 months. Yet the P-O-R Stimulus bill spent more money there than in truly depressed areas. Incredible greed !!!
The whole passel of hogs in DC needs to be booted out: the existing rulers in Congress, the administration and the entire lawyer-lobbyist clique. They are almost ALL dishonest. At a time of need for national leadership - the Panic and 2008 and its resulting Great Recession - they simply wanted more power and money for themselves. They are a ruling aristocracy gone lustful for MORE and MORE.
Actions
I sold a lot of money invested in TIPs [via the Vanguard index fund] as those prices reached new highs. Those levels are very, very risky as TIPs now yield very low rates and have very heavy risk of loss if rates go up. This is "sell high, buy low", "buy low, sell high". Krypto Fund is building it's cash pile and will reinvest it as asset valuation re-adjust and provide something cheap to buy. actions.
Word of the Day
"Emend" - verb [$20]
Emend means to remove errors or corruption.
Sentence: Voters must emend that crucial pillar of support of the Ruling Class this November by electing honest leaders who will vote to help the common people.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tidbit Tuesday
iPad
I love my iPad. This device is the best invention for reading and learning languages since the printing press. As a netbook, the iPad gets you away from the PC and the office chair. The iPad is so portable, yet is very easy to use for typing messages, checking email, and looking at web sites. The iPod function plays music or book CDs or foreign language dialogues. Except for more intensive business work and writing this blog, I almost don't need a PC any more.
The iPad can sit right next to you on a side table or footstool as you read. Then when you come to a $10 word, you can find its meaning with a few taps of the finger with the Dictionary.com app so fast the thought in the book stays in your mind and the word fits right into it. That makes learning and remembering multiples more effective and efficient.
The same applies to foreign language work. Gone is the drudgery and distraction of looking up new vocabulary in the paper dictionary. One can do verb exercises in German or Italian and get the new words almost instantly. This increases your speed many multiples. And by getting the meanings right away, again the distraction and loss of the double E's (effectiveness and efficiency) dissipates: the thoughts can stay in your mind, making you learn faster.
The iPad is almost like a brain implanted dictionary for many languages; it's a 23rd century sci fi dictionary ! If you like to read sophisticated books or learn languages, get an iPad.
Hogs Squealing
The CEO hogs have raised their snouts from the trough long enough to squeal at the new disclosure law for their pay. The recent financial reform law requires corporations to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the pay of the average employee. According to today's FT, they are screeching that it's a logistical nightmare ? Really ?
Take CEO pay as numerator (N). For denominator, take ratio (D) of payroll to # of employees. Compute N/D. Gosh, that's hard, isn't it ! [Btw, if needed, normalize # of employees by hours worked to a standard 40 hour week.]
What a bunch of liars ! They are using sophistry to try to get out of this. They know the numbers are going to be ugly. Bring it on, I say ! Most CEOs are grossly overpaid hogs at the corporate trough.
Not All Good Ideas are Invented in the USA
It's a simple fact - undeniable - that the unemployment rate in Germany is much less than in the US. German unemployment is about 7.5% and US unemployment is about 9.5%. This is a FACT despite German unions, German national health benefits and the huge number of US part time workers. Thus all the usual canards touted by the Libertarian boomers are wrong by counterexample.
We need to examine the labor, education and health care systems in Germany to see if we can learn from them. Only a fool or a knave would not look hard at this situation as a social experiment in progress. We must learn. IF the USA is to be truly the flexible place we want it to be, let's see what we can learn from the Germans. Think and look outside the box - that's not just a slogan. Do it.
Actions
Krypto is waiting for lower prices to buy stocks. Soon ...
Word of the Day
"Desuetude" - noun [$10]
Desuetude means discontinuance from use or exercise.
Sentence: Let's not let the collective public mind continue to wither from desuetude. Engage in the Great Debate with logical vigor !
I love my iPad. This device is the best invention for reading and learning languages since the printing press. As a netbook, the iPad gets you away from the PC and the office chair. The iPad is so portable, yet is very easy to use for typing messages, checking email, and looking at web sites. The iPod function plays music or book CDs or foreign language dialogues. Except for more intensive business work and writing this blog, I almost don't need a PC any more.
The iPad can sit right next to you on a side table or footstool as you read. Then when you come to a $10 word, you can find its meaning with a few taps of the finger with the Dictionary.com app so fast the thought in the book stays in your mind and the word fits right into it. That makes learning and remembering multiples more effective and efficient.
The same applies to foreign language work. Gone is the drudgery and distraction of looking up new vocabulary in the paper dictionary. One can do verb exercises in German or Italian and get the new words almost instantly. This increases your speed many multiples. And by getting the meanings right away, again the distraction and loss of the double E's (effectiveness and efficiency) dissipates: the thoughts can stay in your mind, making you learn faster.
The iPad is almost like a brain implanted dictionary for many languages; it's a 23rd century sci fi dictionary ! If you like to read sophisticated books or learn languages, get an iPad.
Hogs Squealing
The CEO hogs have raised their snouts from the trough long enough to squeal at the new disclosure law for their pay. The recent financial reform law requires corporations to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the pay of the average employee. According to today's FT, they are screeching that it's a logistical nightmare ? Really ?
Take CEO pay as numerator (N). For denominator, take ratio (D) of payroll to # of employees. Compute N/D. Gosh, that's hard, isn't it ! [Btw, if needed, normalize # of employees by hours worked to a standard 40 hour week.]
What a bunch of liars ! They are using sophistry to try to get out of this. They know the numbers are going to be ugly. Bring it on, I say ! Most CEOs are grossly overpaid hogs at the corporate trough.
Not All Good Ideas are Invented in the USA
It's a simple fact - undeniable - that the unemployment rate in Germany is much less than in the US. German unemployment is about 7.5% and US unemployment is about 9.5%. This is a FACT despite German unions, German national health benefits and the huge number of US part time workers. Thus all the usual canards touted by the Libertarian boomers are wrong by counterexample.
We need to examine the labor, education and health care systems in Germany to see if we can learn from them. Only a fool or a knave would not look hard at this situation as a social experiment in progress. We must learn. IF the USA is to be truly the flexible place we want it to be, let's see what we can learn from the Germans. Think and look outside the box - that's not just a slogan. Do it.
Actions
Krypto is waiting for lower prices to buy stocks. Soon ...
Word of the Day
"Desuetude" - noun [$10]
Desuetude means discontinuance from use or exercise.
Sentence: Let's not let the collective public mind continue to wither from desuetude. Engage in the Great Debate with logical vigor !
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
More on the Hogs at the trough
Long ago the tipping point between any sense of fairness or market forces versus sheer greed in the CEO club was passed and executives stuck their snouts deeply into the hog trough. Today's WSJ online has another example.
"Pensions for top executives rose an average of 19% in 2008, with more than 200 executives seeing pensions increase more than 50%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The executive-pension growth stemmed partly from generous pension formulas, which are based on executive pay, according to the filings. Also adding to the pension jumps are arcane techniques that have received little scrutiny ... "
"The growth of such supplemental executive retirement plans, or SERPs -- which can be worth tens of millions of dollars to executives -- largely has been overlooked amid a backlash against executive pay, particularly at banks and other companies receiving taxpayer bailouts. "
The article is full of examples of CEOs getting double digit million pensions. But anyone with a memory remembers that for the last decade, corporations have cut employee pensions and reduced sharing formulae and pushed them into 401K plans. Why isn't all the deferred compensation in stock considered as the CEOs pension ? Why do those favored princes and dukes get a double dip ? The answer is, of course, the CEO club protects its own and they aid and abet each other's feast in the trough. The paid "consultants" give the CEOs cover to deceive the stockholders, who often get no vote at all, thanks to the SEC.
Corporations grossly overpay the executive suite. And likely underpay the common man. Those who make the rules - the ruling classes of the rich and powerful - have gone too far and the tide needs to go out on executive pay.
This endless greed and unrepentant looting of the corporate treasury by the hogs at the top has to somehow end.
Actions
Despite rather good economic news worldwide, markets seem to be correcting. Perhaps those who anticipated this good news took or are taking profits [as I did do, in fact . Or the bears are getting bolder and increasing their positions. And insufficient real, long term buyers exist to cushion the decline now. Most likely, it's all three as recent post titled "How the World Works"emphasized: 'some A and some B' is the general philosophical reality of the workings of the world.
My tactics are unchanged. I an doing nothing, but am thinking about stocks to buy when the selling dries up.
World Series
Back to the Bronx as the Phillies hang on. Yankees lead, 3 to 2. Go Yankees !!!!!!!!!! Smash those Phillies !!!
Word of the Day
"Eremite" - noun [$10] a Mencken word
Eremite means a hermit or recluse (especially Christian).
Sentence: [from "The American Language" by H. L. Mencken, page 557] "Everyone, including even the metaphysician in his study and the eremite in his cell, has a large vocabulary of slang ..."
"Pensions for top executives rose an average of 19% in 2008, with more than 200 executives seeing pensions increase more than 50%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The executive-pension growth stemmed partly from generous pension formulas, which are based on executive pay, according to the filings. Also adding to the pension jumps are arcane techniques that have received little scrutiny ... "
"The growth of such supplemental executive retirement plans, or SERPs -- which can be worth tens of millions of dollars to executives -- largely has been overlooked amid a backlash against executive pay, particularly at banks and other companies receiving taxpayer bailouts. "
The article is full of examples of CEOs getting double digit million pensions. But anyone with a memory remembers that for the last decade, corporations have cut employee pensions and reduced sharing formulae and pushed them into 401K plans. Why isn't all the deferred compensation in stock considered as the CEOs pension ? Why do those favored princes and dukes get a double dip ? The answer is, of course, the CEO club protects its own and they aid and abet each other's feast in the trough. The paid "consultants" give the CEOs cover to deceive the stockholders, who often get no vote at all, thanks to the SEC.
Corporations grossly overpay the executive suite. And likely underpay the common man. Those who make the rules - the ruling classes of the rich and powerful - have gone too far and the tide needs to go out on executive pay.
This endless greed and unrepentant looting of the corporate treasury by the hogs at the top has to somehow end.
Actions
Despite rather good economic news worldwide, markets seem to be correcting. Perhaps those who anticipated this good news took or are taking profits [as I did do, in fact . Or the bears are getting bolder and increasing their positions. And insufficient real, long term buyers exist to cushion the decline now. Most likely, it's all three as recent post titled "How the World Works"emphasized: 'some A and some B' is the general philosophical reality of the workings of the world.
My tactics are unchanged. I an doing nothing, but am thinking about stocks to buy when the selling dries up.
World Series
Back to the Bronx as the Phillies hang on. Yankees lead, 3 to 2. Go Yankees !!!!!!!!!! Smash those Phillies !!!
Word of the Day
"Eremite" - noun [$10] a Mencken word
Eremite means a hermit or recluse (especially Christian).
Sentence: [from "The American Language" by H. L. Mencken, page 557] "Everyone, including even the metaphysician in his study and the eremite in his cell, has a large vocabulary of slang ..."
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Hogs on a Diet
The hogs at the trough in the finance industry seem to be on or going on a forced diet. For decades these hogs slurped down huge pay in bonuses and "profit" shares while eventually running their firms into bankruptcy or huge losses that wiped out all the "profits" their prior pay purportedly compensated them for generating. Lehmann, Bears Stearns and quintessentially, Merrill Lynch, are public examples. Large numbers of private hedge funds and buyout funds are other private examples.
Their bosses were supposed to be promoting the firms' long term value, but they had their snouts in the trough bigtime, too.
As a proponent of populist libertarianism, readers know I favor regulating the ruling classes while letting the common man have maximal freedom. And somehow regulating the hogs of finance is part of that. Europe is imposing government rules on bonuses in the finance industry.
From FT: "[UK Prime Minister] Gordon Brown has pledged tough action to clamp down on excessive remuneration for bankers as part of an international effort to rectify the systemic weakness that led to the global financial crisis. The prime minister said in an interview with the Financial Times that pay and bonuses should be based on long-term success not short-term speculative gains; banks should “claw back” bankers’ rewards if their performance suffered in subsequent years; and regulators should be able to impose higher capital requirements on financial institutions."
And: "Banks will be barred from lucrative French government mandates if they fail to abide by new international guidelines on pay, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Tuesday as he unveiled tough domestic rules on rewards for traders. “We will not work with banks that do not apply the rules,” the French president said after a meeting with the country’s top bankers, who were summoned to the presidential Elysée Palace."
How can this be done in the US, with our tradition of individual freedom inherited from the pioneer days ?
Shareholders and investors need enhanced powers. For decades the SEC has emasculated shareholders, letting boards of directors become pawns of the CEO hogs. Large investors now know the costs of letting the hogs eat too much. I suspect given powers they will act now. There is evidence of this.
FT: "Private equity groups are facing mounting opposition from investors over their attempts to raise annex funds, which buy-out firms hope will provide fresh cash to bail out many of the companies they bought during the debt bubble. Apollo Management had been forced to drop plans to raise an annex fund, after opposition from some of the US private equity group’s biggest backers, according to people familiar with the situation. Apollo declined to comment."
These annex funds are a particularly sleazy way for the hedge funds and buyout fund to grab more fees. The managers are supposed to work hard to get the funds back to the "high water" marks before getting more fees. But what do they really do ? Create a "sister" or "annex" funds and divert all the good ideas and deal there, so they can grab for fees. Their greed and sleaze knows no bounds of propriety.
Investors now know how this is crucial to their long term profits. They'll act, if given the powers.
SEC, Congress, Fed and Treasury: get on the ball and follow Europe's lead in working out how to give shareholders and investors real powers to limit these and align them truly with the long term investors.
Memory
Today is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II in Europe, as Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In Asia, World War II began in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria. Let's remember the dangers of totalitarian or militarist regimes. They are true enemies of humanity and deserve no quarter.
Actions
Doing nothing. Je ne fais rien. The sell-off is orderly so far. No significant bad news has appeared. More tidbits of evidence than economic growth is returning continue to appear. This is likely a minor pullback in a bull market. Buyers are taking a breathers and perma-bears are getting a bit bolder. I'll continue to buy dips and sell rips. This week I'll prepare a list of ten or so exporters to buy in Obama Fund or Fido Fund.
Word of the Day
"Crepuscular" - noun [$10] from reading of Conrad's "The Tale"
Crepuscular means 1.a. of twilight; 1.b. dim; 2. (zoology) appearing or active in twilight.
Sentence: During crepuscular light mosquitoes become especially active as they can target one's body better.
[btw, "twilight" is the period of partial light just after sunset. Dusk is the darker period of twilight.]
[Soon I'll recommence "Word of the Day" for the other langauges I am learning.]
Their bosses were supposed to be promoting the firms' long term value, but they had their snouts in the trough bigtime, too.
As a proponent of populist libertarianism, readers know I favor regulating the ruling classes while letting the common man have maximal freedom. And somehow regulating the hogs of finance is part of that. Europe is imposing government rules on bonuses in the finance industry.
From FT: "[UK Prime Minister] Gordon Brown has pledged tough action to clamp down on excessive remuneration for bankers as part of an international effort to rectify the systemic weakness that led to the global financial crisis. The prime minister said in an interview with the Financial Times that pay and bonuses should be based on long-term success not short-term speculative gains; banks should “claw back” bankers’ rewards if their performance suffered in subsequent years; and regulators should be able to impose higher capital requirements on financial institutions."
And: "Banks will be barred from lucrative French government mandates if they fail to abide by new international guidelines on pay, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Tuesday as he unveiled tough domestic rules on rewards for traders. “We will not work with banks that do not apply the rules,” the French president said after a meeting with the country’s top bankers, who were summoned to the presidential Elysée Palace."
How can this be done in the US, with our tradition of individual freedom inherited from the pioneer days ?
Shareholders and investors need enhanced powers. For decades the SEC has emasculated shareholders, letting boards of directors become pawns of the CEO hogs. Large investors now know the costs of letting the hogs eat too much. I suspect given powers they will act now. There is evidence of this.
FT: "Private equity groups are facing mounting opposition from investors over their attempts to raise annex funds, which buy-out firms hope will provide fresh cash to bail out many of the companies they bought during the debt bubble. Apollo Management had been forced to drop plans to raise an annex fund, after opposition from some of the US private equity group’s biggest backers, according to people familiar with the situation. Apollo declined to comment."
These annex funds are a particularly sleazy way for the hedge funds and buyout fund to grab more fees. The managers are supposed to work hard to get the funds back to the "high water" marks before getting more fees. But what do they really do ? Create a "sister" or "annex" funds and divert all the good ideas and deal there, so they can grab for fees. Their greed and sleaze knows no bounds of propriety.
Investors now know how this is crucial to their long term profits. They'll act, if given the powers.
SEC, Congress, Fed and Treasury: get on the ball and follow Europe's lead in working out how to give shareholders and investors real powers to limit these and align them truly with the long term investors.
Memory
Today is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II in Europe, as Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In Asia, World War II began in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria. Let's remember the dangers of totalitarian or militarist regimes. They are true enemies of humanity and deserve no quarter.
Actions
Doing nothing. Je ne fais rien. The sell-off is orderly so far. No significant bad news has appeared. More tidbits of evidence than economic growth is returning continue to appear. This is likely a minor pullback in a bull market. Buyers are taking a breathers and perma-bears are getting a bit bolder. I'll continue to buy dips and sell rips. This week I'll prepare a list of ten or so exporters to buy in Obama Fund or Fido Fund.
Word of the Day
"Crepuscular" - noun [$10] from reading of Conrad's "The Tale"
Crepuscular means 1.a. of twilight; 1.b. dim; 2. (zoology) appearing or active in twilight.
Sentence: During crepuscular light mosquitoes become especially active as they can target one's body better.
[btw, "twilight" is the period of partial light just after sunset. Dusk is the darker period of twilight.]
[Soon I'll recommence "Word of the Day" for the other langauges I am learning.]
Friday, August 7, 2009
Hog Feeding .... Again
The ruling class in DC is feeding again, in a particularly invidious and hypocritical manner. After posturing for the public by attacking corporate CEOs using private jets, they slip a purchase of eight more for themselves to be pampered around the world.
WSJ: "WASHINGTON -- Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds. The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad. The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations. The Pentagon sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes." "
Wonderful. Don't the antics of these hogs make you sick ? or angry ? Is there any more sleazy, disreputable, unethical passel on Earth ? Well, maybe ... in that gangocracy, Russia.
The Republic is never safe while Congress is in session.
Actions
None. I await a screaming buy or an idea on which sector or stocks will lead this bull market back to S&P 1200.
Word of the Day
"Minatory" - adjective [$10] from the novel, "Elmer Gantry" by Sinclair Lewis.
Minatory means threatening, menacing.
Sentence: North Korea relies on minatory stances and actions to generate foreign aid in the manner of an extortionist. I wonder if Obama will pay up.
Le Mot du Jour
"Exiger" - verb, transitive, regular -er conjugation like manger
Exiger means to demand, to require, to call for.
La Phrase: Exigeons des réformes dans le Congrès.
Sentence: Let's demand some reforms in Congress.
[sheesh, I just fixed a stupid error (noon ET)]
WSJ: "WASHINGTON -- Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds. The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad. The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations. The Pentagon sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes." "
Wonderful. Don't the antics of these hogs make you sick ? or angry ? Is there any more sleazy, disreputable, unethical passel on Earth ? Well, maybe ... in that gangocracy, Russia.
The Republic is never safe while Congress is in session.
Actions
None. I await a screaming buy or an idea on which sector or stocks will lead this bull market back to S&P 1200.
Word of the Day
"Minatory" - adjective [$10] from the novel, "Elmer Gantry" by Sinclair Lewis.
Minatory means threatening, menacing.
Sentence: North Korea relies on minatory stances and actions to generate foreign aid in the manner of an extortionist. I wonder if Obama will pay up.
Le Mot du Jour
"Exiger" - verb, transitive, regular -er conjugation like manger
Exiger means to demand, to require, to call for.
La Phrase: Exigeons des réformes dans le Congrès.
Sentence: Let's demand some reforms in Congress.
[sheesh, I just fixed a stupid error (noon ET)]
Monday, March 16, 2009
Another Fat Hog and a Full Barnyard
A Very Fat Hog
Every week I am surprised at the huge pay packages given to CEOs. For example, a guy makes $28 million for 2008 and just a bit less for 2007. He's supposed to be creating value. But under his leadership, the stock price of the firm is back to its value of over 12 years ago.
Today's fat hog is the CEO of State Street Bank. From the WSJ:
"State Street Corp. said compensation for Chief Executive Ronald Logue rose to $28.7 million in 2008, a year when the bank's shares plunged as it disclosed billions in unrealized losses and received a capital infusion from the federal government. Mr. Logue made $28.3 million in 2007. State Street is a money-management concern and major services provider to the securities industry. It received $2 billion in October under the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, which places restrictions on executive compensation at companies getting funds."
The stock price of State Street is in the low 20s. That range was last reached in 1997, over twelve years ago. So the fat hogs get fatter at the trough while the stockholders get gruel and starve.
And a Full Barnyard
That's AIG, the engine of fraud behind this credit bubble. From the WSJ:
"AIG was lambasted for about $450 million in bonus payments planned for employees at a business unit that lost $40.5 billion last year. The unit's woes pushed the company to near-collapse, forcing the government bailout." ...
"The list of AIG's trading partners reads like a who's who of global finance. It includes big U.S. banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which received nearly $13 billion. Large European firms, such as Société Générale SA and Deutsche Bank also appear, each having received nearly $12 billion."
"Much, but not all, of the money was linked to contracts AIG sold the firms to insure against losses on securities -- notably those related to U.S. mortgages. As AIG's condition deteriorated, the trading partners were given more collateral to protect against losses. Some were made whole late last year when the securities were bought by a company funded largely by the Federal Reserve."
If one looks at charts of the growth in CDOs and related financial products they exploded in volume from 2004 onward. AIG was "insuring" much of those so the banks could hold them on their balance assets without any capital to back them. This is such a colossal cluster FUBAR that its almost beyond belief that the "smart guys" could be so stupid. They don't seem to have truly understood what they created. Or were just sticking their biscuit in the gravy while it was still hot.
What does this mean now?
Very harsh pay restrictions are coming to the boyz at the top. And it's rather hard to argue against them on practical grounds. Simple ideological arguments sound bit foolish in the face of this looting. But that debate is for another post.
Word of the Day
"Autogenous" - noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Autogenous means self-produced.
Sentence: Autogenous restrictions and cutbacks for CEO and other top executive pay by Boards of Directors would be the best for a free economy, but the SEC actively prevents even minor shareholder cooperation. And shareholders can't vote in secret for the directors either. Why are we surprised the system is broken ?
Le Mot du Jour
"Partage" - noun, masculine
Partage means 1. the division, dividing up; 2. sharing out; 3. sharing.
La Phrase: Le partage des profits donne trop aux diregeants d'enterprise.
Sentence: The division of profits gives too much to company executives.
Every week I am surprised at the huge pay packages given to CEOs. For example, a guy makes $28 million for 2008 and just a bit less for 2007. He's supposed to be creating value. But under his leadership, the stock price of the firm is back to its value of over 12 years ago.
Today's fat hog is the CEO of State Street Bank. From the WSJ:
"State Street Corp. said compensation for Chief Executive Ronald Logue rose to $28.7 million in 2008, a year when the bank's shares plunged as it disclosed billions in unrealized losses and received a capital infusion from the federal government. Mr. Logue made $28.3 million in 2007. State Street is a money-management concern and major services provider to the securities industry. It received $2 billion in October under the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, which places restrictions on executive compensation at companies getting funds."
The stock price of State Street is in the low 20s. That range was last reached in 1997, over twelve years ago. So the fat hogs get fatter at the trough while the stockholders get gruel and starve.
And a Full Barnyard
That's AIG, the engine of fraud behind this credit bubble. From the WSJ:
"AIG was lambasted for about $450 million in bonus payments planned for employees at a business unit that lost $40.5 billion last year. The unit's woes pushed the company to near-collapse, forcing the government bailout." ...
"The list of AIG's trading partners reads like a who's who of global finance. It includes big U.S. banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which received nearly $13 billion. Large European firms, such as Société Générale SA and Deutsche Bank also appear, each having received nearly $12 billion."
"Much, but not all, of the money was linked to contracts AIG sold the firms to insure against losses on securities -- notably those related to U.S. mortgages. As AIG's condition deteriorated, the trading partners were given more collateral to protect against losses. Some were made whole late last year when the securities were bought by a company funded largely by the Federal Reserve."
If one looks at charts of the growth in CDOs and related financial products they exploded in volume from 2004 onward. AIG was "insuring" much of those so the banks could hold them on their balance assets without any capital to back them. This is such a colossal cluster FUBAR that its almost beyond belief that the "smart guys" could be so stupid. They don't seem to have truly understood what they created. Or were just sticking their biscuit in the gravy while it was still hot.
What does this mean now?
Very harsh pay restrictions are coming to the boyz at the top. And it's rather hard to argue against them on practical grounds. Simple ideological arguments sound bit foolish in the face of this looting. But that debate is for another post.
Word of the Day
"Autogenous" - noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Autogenous means self-produced.
Sentence: Autogenous restrictions and cutbacks for CEO and other top executive pay by Boards of Directors would be the best for a free economy, but the SEC actively prevents even minor shareholder cooperation. And shareholders can't vote in secret for the directors either. Why are we surprised the system is broken ?
Le Mot du Jour
"Partage" - noun, masculine
Partage means 1. the division, dividing up; 2. sharing out; 3. sharing.
La Phrase: Le partage des profits donne trop aux diregeants d'enterprise.
Sentence: The division of profits gives too much to company executives.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Épuisé
That "exhausted" in French.
Markets seem exhausted. I'm tired of following the stock markets myself. But I still do.
I read that mutual fund managers are still hogs slurping at the trough, even as their customers are down to skin & bones.
WSJ: "Franklin Resources Inc.'s chief executive, Gregory Johnson, made $5.3 million for fiscal 2008 through September while many of the firm's 115 mutual funds were losing money."
I suppose that behavior is no surprise.
China is making smart, long term investments.
WSJ: "A senior official said Wednesday that China is looking at ways to use its nearly $2 trillion of official foreign-exchange reserves to help companies make investments abroad. His comments followed reports that officials have proposed tapping the reserves to set up a fund for overseas energy acquisitions. Also Wednesday, Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Ltd. disclosed preliminary talks with China Investment Corp., the country's $200 billion sovereign-wealth fund ..."
Meanwhile Barry [aka Obama] and Nancy invest US stimulus money in windmills. Sigh ...
Word of the Day
"Asperity" - noun [$10] from the card file
Asperity means 1a. roughness or harshness, as of a surface, sound, or climate: The asperity of northern winters; 1b. severity; rigor; 2. harshness of manner, ill temper or irritability.
Sentence: Markets have reacted with asperity at Obama's so far amateurish efforts to create stability and growth.
Le Mot du Jour
"Exprimer" - verb, transitive - regular -er conjugation
Exprimer means to express. S'exprimer means to express oneself.
La Phrase: L'homme du bunker tâche de s'exprimer avec éloquence dans son blogue.
Sentnce: Bunkerman tries to express himself with eloquence in his blog.
Markets seem exhausted. I'm tired of following the stock markets myself. But I still do.
I read that mutual fund managers are still hogs slurping at the trough, even as their customers are down to skin & bones.
WSJ: "Franklin Resources Inc.'s chief executive, Gregory Johnson, made $5.3 million for fiscal 2008 through September while many of the firm's 115 mutual funds were losing money."
I suppose that behavior is no surprise.
China is making smart, long term investments.
WSJ: "A senior official said Wednesday that China is looking at ways to use its nearly $2 trillion of official foreign-exchange reserves to help companies make investments abroad. His comments followed reports that officials have proposed tapping the reserves to set up a fund for overseas energy acquisitions. Also Wednesday, Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Ltd. disclosed preliminary talks with China Investment Corp., the country's $200 billion sovereign-wealth fund ..."
Meanwhile Barry [aka Obama] and Nancy invest US stimulus money in windmills. Sigh ...
Word of the Day
"Asperity" - noun [$10] from the card file
Asperity means 1a. roughness or harshness, as of a surface, sound, or climate: The asperity of northern winters; 1b. severity; rigor; 2. harshness of manner, ill temper or irritability.
Sentence: Markets have reacted with asperity at Obama's so far amateurish efforts to create stability and growth.
Le Mot du Jour
"Exprimer" - verb, transitive - regular -er conjugation
Exprimer means to express. S'exprimer means to express oneself.
La Phrase: L'homme du bunker tâche de s'exprimer avec éloquence dans son blogue.
Sentnce: Bunkerman tries to express himself with eloquence in his blog.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Hogs at the Trough
Once again this writer is gratified by news stories bearing proofs for his old, but edgy, positions. In this case, the characterization of all the rich and powerful in DC being "hogs at the trough". The relevations of Tom Daschle - purported friend of the poor - making $5 million in a couple years of light work for lobbying firms.
Here is one more example.
From WSJ: "WASHINGTON -- The White House's nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, has earned more than $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008, with some of the payments coming from troubled financial firms and from a firm that invests in contractors for federal national security agencies, according to financial disclosures released Wednesday"
Gosh, nice work if you can find it.
Word of the Day
"Apotheosize" - verb, transitive [$10] from the file
Apotheosize means to exalt to divine rank.
Sentence: The propaganda campaign in the press to apotheozie Obama suffered a setback recently as a few of his appointments were shown to examples of DC cupidity and hypocrisy.
Le Mot du Jour
«Dérégler» - verb, transitive - a regular 'er' verb with the shift é to è before a syllable with a mute e in its conjugations.
Dérégler means 1. to affect the work (of a machine, etc.); 2. to unsettle, to upset, to disrupt.
La Phrase: La démission de Tom Daschle a déréglé la administration d'Obama.
English: The resignation of Tom Daschle unsettled the Obama administration.
Addendum
Skimming Le Figaro, I found this story I had not heard before. Only in NYC:
***Quote begins ***
Il se fait appeler «Bill le renfloueur» : pendant deux jours, un homme mystérieux a distribué des billets de 50 et 100 dollars aux passants à Times Square. Mais sa démarche n'est pas tout à fait désintéressée.
Les Etats-Unis connaissaient déjà Joe le plombier, voici maintenant Bill le renfloueur : en deux jours, «Bailout Bill», comme il se fait appeler, est passé de l'anonymat total à la célébrité. Il faut dire que ce quidam a en quelque sorte lancé son propre plan anticrise, en distribuant des billets de banque aux passants, en pleine rue, à New York, mardi et mercredi .
***Quote ends***
In simple terms, a mysterious fellow now dubbed "Bailout Bill" passed out $50 and $100 bills (US currency) to passersby in Times Square. Le Figaro had a good photo of a young man holding one for the camera.
Here is one more example.
From WSJ: "WASHINGTON -- The White House's nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, has earned more than $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008, with some of the payments coming from troubled financial firms and from a firm that invests in contractors for federal national security agencies, according to financial disclosures released Wednesday"
Gosh, nice work if you can find it.
Word of the Day
"Apotheosize" - verb, transitive [$10] from the file
Apotheosize means to exalt to divine rank.
Sentence: The propaganda campaign in the press to apotheozie Obama suffered a setback recently as a few of his appointments were shown to examples of DC cupidity and hypocrisy.
Le Mot du Jour
«Dérégler» - verb, transitive - a regular 'er' verb with the shift é to è before a syllable with a mute e in its conjugations.
Dérégler means 1. to affect the work (of a machine, etc.); 2. to unsettle, to upset, to disrupt.
La Phrase: La démission de Tom Daschle a déréglé la administration d'Obama.
English: The resignation of Tom Daschle unsettled the Obama administration.
Addendum
Skimming Le Figaro, I found this story I had not heard before. Only in NYC:
***Quote begins ***
Il se fait appeler «Bill le renfloueur» : pendant deux jours, un homme mystérieux a distribué des billets de 50 et 100 dollars aux passants à Times Square. Mais sa démarche n'est pas tout à fait désintéressée.
Les Etats-Unis connaissaient déjà Joe le plombier, voici maintenant Bill le renfloueur : en deux jours, «Bailout Bill», comme il se fait appeler, est passé de l'anonymat total à la célébrité. Il faut dire que ce quidam a en quelque sorte lancé son propre plan anticrise, en distribuant des billets de banque aux passants, en pleine rue, à New York, mardi et mercredi .
***Quote ends***
In simple terms, a mysterious fellow now dubbed "Bailout Bill" passed out $50 and $100 bills (US currency) to passersby in Times Square. Le Figaro had a good photo of a young man holding one for the camera.
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