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BUSINESS ARCHIVES — MAY 2010 [RETURN TO commentopia HOME PAGE]
MAY 24, 2010 -- MAY 30, 2010 RIDING THE RECOVERY ROLLER-COASTER
I have been writing about this fall for 6 months now. There was no reason for Dow to even go higher than 7000. All this increase was false manipulation by the govt run banks and the Fed reserve bank. The democrats wanted to show that they are bringing recovery. All indicators of employment and economy were drastically low. This hyped up euphoria of escalated stocks was just a treacherous trick by the banks to show profit by showing gains in their stock price. This is the beginning of double dip depression. It is a depression this time, no recession. America has to produce, manufacture and export to come out of depression. Create jobs in manufacturing and not census. Devalue dollar and stop import from illegal wage countries. Falsely escalating the stocks and glorious talks by politicians will not produce recovery. Read the article REUTERS/Stocks silde on Euro-zone fears
<> There's no way to transcend partisanship in depressions like these. History shows that politics tends toward extremism in depressions and that's been happening all over the world. It will get worse if the depression deepens, possibly much worse. Read the article DAILY BEAST/Are we headed for another global crash? <> War and Debt! No wonder the markets are down. Don't panic Captain Mainwaring! Hang on, when the markets go up and down so quickly, some people make a lot of money. It's when they don't go up or down that no one makes any money. There won't be a war in Korea. And debt will continue to be dealt with as before. If companies are too big to fail, what about countries? Can't pay your debt, take out a bigger loan. Reminds me of the old proverb. 'If you sit by the river long enough, everything will come floating by' (or words to that effect). Read the article GUARDIAN/Shares fall on Korean war and debt threat <> Excuse me, but do we really need to have this headline virtually every day about the markets going down, or up? Why this hyper-importance ascribed to the markets? They go up, they go down. So? Where and how and why is that relevant in the general scheme of things? The financial markets already have way too much power as it us, why give them more by hyping their every whim on the front page of newspaper? Why add to the general the-world-is-going-down hysteria that seems to be everywhere? If there is some kind of genuine catastrophic collapse of the markets, yes put it on the front cover, but please leave news about more regular ups and downs on the financial pages, thank you very much. Now I have to carry on with my work and I look forward to having lunch in some lovely sunshine. Life carries on, you know. Read the article GUARDIAN/Shares fall on Korean war and debt threat
This is not unexpected for those who follow Austrian economics. Problems caused by too much debt and spending are not cured by more debt and more spending. Had the over indebted banks and auto companies gone broke, the fall would have been much faster and sharper. Greece should have gone broke and been kicked out of the EU. Lessons would have been learned and prudent companies and countries would do well, and there would be a solid basis for recovery. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Stocks fall into correction <> In the end, it's a zero sum game. The government "stimulating" the economy only prolongs the agony. We've overspent and every dollar eventually has to be accounted for. Further, what does it say to these companies that the government will bail them out? It only encourages bad behavior. There's a reason bankruptcy courts exist. I recommend the government start turning insolvent companies and individuals over to them. As for Greece, they're just the beginning. We're in for a long correction (assuming the government does the right thing and lets it happen). Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Stocks fall into correction <> It's the EU (in all its incarnations, and, latterly, the Euro that has kept the peace in Europe since WW2. If the UK had the continent's war graves, there would be a much different attitude on this side of the channel. The people who live next door to them, who pass them every day on the way to work desperately do not want to add to them.
The Euro must be made to work, just as the Greeks should be made to pay their taxes. There's nothing wrong with the concept of a single currency; there's everything wrong bad fiscal management; with spending more than you earn; with continually borrowing more and more money without a hope-in-hell of repaying it.
Read the article BBC-HAVE YOUR SAY/Will the rueo survive?
WORKING 11-HOUR-DAYS IS BAD FOR THE TICKER
With digital cell phones and aircards the company gets to pay a few hundred bucks a month for the pleasure of keeping you connected all the time. I used to work in the office from around 8-9am until 6-7pm M-F. Now that I am a single mom, I have no choice but to leave by 5pm and then my fingers are busy with e-mails on the cell and by 9pm I am back on the laptop and actually working until around midnight-1am. In order to get the accrual off the books my company has mandatory vacation days…the problem is that real-life steps in and there is always something happening so the best I can get in return for them charging me a vacation day is that I get to put in my 8-10 hours that day from home. Vacation, to me, is just somewhere new to set up my laptop. When I make hotel reservations I ask about wireless, not views. Read the article Read the article ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION/Is working overtime hazardous for your health? <> I’ve never seen less than a 40 hour workweek since my early 20’s. By choice. Which is why I have the big house and the private schools for my kids and the trips where I want, when I want: and you 38-hour clock punchers whine about never ‘getting ahead’. Oh, and my heart is fine and I exercise after work, so: thanks for asking.
Read the article REUTERS/Memo to Boss: working 11 hour days are bad for the heart <> No mention on what happens if working several shifts of 32 or more hours straight! My record is 38 hours, but several times I’ve worked 20+, slept in my truck (lorry for you guys, right?)for 3.5 hours, then right back in to the factory for another 20, then drive home. To me, that’s worth studying before spending public money on something which falls into the category of “common sense”.
Read the article REUTERS/Memo to Boss: working 11 hour days are bad for the heart
MAY 10, 2010 -- MAY 23, 2010 "PLEASE, I WANT SOME MORE!" -- FANNIE MAE ASKS FOR $8.4 BILLION
Good money after bad. There's no end in sight. The social engineering experiment has been a colossal failure. It's time to let market forces dictate mortgage rates and availability. Painful, but necessary. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Fannie Mae needs $8.4 billion more in aid after first quarter loss <> For $400 billion, we, you and me, bought Fannie and Freddie....where is our copy of the annual report to the shareholders? We might want to take a look at the CEO and think about his replacement. How many shares do each of us own - do we vote by proxy - who's our proxy? What? Am I talking out of line here - wasn't the story that the US bought all that stock...isn't that what "shares" are - shared ownership in the company. Well, we want to exercise our rights as owners now, thank you. Maybe we should hire our own accountants...I got a real good one...he's too poor to be a liar. Read the article NPR/Fannie Mae seeks $8.4B from U.S. after $13B loss. <> Housing in this country has been a complete scam since the early eighties and the bubble has burst. The entire nation is to blame for this mess because almost everyone bought into it. There were people with a dozen or more houses as "investments that never go down" flipping them and inflating the bubble even more. In a mere 40 years a $17,000 house turned into a $190,000 house yet incomes did nothing by comparison and property taxes went through the roof and they became piggy banks for local and state governments and for the "homeowner" to take out second and third mortgages to maintain a standard of living that was an illusion at best. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/Fannie Mae seeks $8.5 B in U.S. taxpayer money SPRING SEES 290,000 NEW JOBS; MORE JOB-SEEKERS COME IN FROM THE COLD
CLICK TO ENLARGE Even if these numbers really don't mean anything, they create a sense of "hope" that the tide is slowly turning, which could be the basis for consumer spending, hiring, and first signs of possibility of getting back on the road to relief for a number of hurting families in these uncertain times. In other words, however incredible, I am willing to believe in this news rather than be skeptical, which led us nowhere in the past year or so. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/U.S. adds 290,000 jobs in April; rate up 9.9 % <> Did any of the posters actually read the article before giving their (erroneous) opinion? Here's a quick summary for those posters who cannot seem to make it through the entire article: 230,000 of the 290,000 jobs are in the private sector, not with the government or the Census Bureau. The unemployment rate went up because more people are looking for jobs, which is actually a good sign. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/U.S. adds 290,000 jobs in April; rate up 9.9 % <> Of course, unemployment went back up to 9.9%, and the U6 is back over 17%. President Obama, his supporters in Congress, and many economists are doing everything they can to cheerlead for the economy. They believe they can make the economy improve just by saying it will. Cheerleading brought people back into the labor market, where they are, of course, unemployed. Hence, unemployment is at 9.9%, even with additional jobs. The real threat is that Greek/Spanish contagion will spread, throughout Europe, China, to us, and that the millions exhausting all unemployment tiers will cause consumer spending to plummet. In November, we will see the ultimate verdict on economic "progress"; it is impossible to fool people into believing the economy has improved when it has not improved for them, and people have lost any means whatsoever to feed their families. We are on our own to care for our own economic fiasco, and the President and Congress need to come together to ensure future consumer demand and the ultimate viability of our economy. Read the article THE HILL/Economy adds 290,000 jobs, but unemployment jumps to 9.9 percent "AMISH-INC" -- HOW THEY ACHIEVE A 95 % BUSINESS SUCCESS RATE
I went to school with Amish and Mennonite kids. They went to school only until they were sixteen because the law (Our laws) required kids to be schooled up to that age. Then they went home to work... We kids used to belittle them as foolish, ignorant Country Bumpkins... but on a recent visit back to Wellsville, New York... many of them are "wealthy" landowners with beautiful dairy farms, majestic big red barns, flawless split log fences, healthy herds of cows. Selling handmade wooden rocking chairs on their front porches. Hard work and serenity in a down to earth hardworking "Simple" life? Read the article CNN MONEY/Why Amish businesses don't fail <> The Amish are ethical business people... something that 99.9% of the large American businesses are not. Proof? Goldman Sachs, AIG, Bernie Madoff........shall I go on? These ARE the blatant examples, to be sure, but almost every large business out there have had ethics bred and/or beaten out of them, hence why outsourcing and opening factories overseas are popular. They save money by paying the Chinese $15/day instead of an American $15/hr........then the management pockets the difference. Read the article CNN MONEY/Why Amish businesses don't fail
I respect their work ethic and everything, but they don't make anything cool. When's the last time the Amish invented something like an iPod, cell phone, the Internet, etc? Read the article CNN MONEY/Why Amish businesses don't fail
MAY 3, 2010 -- MAY 9, 2010 AN ORACLE SAYS ALL THAT GLITTERS IS...GOLDMAN
I'm disappointed. He has previously called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction". He could have take a stand against the casino culture of Wall Street that actively promotes outright lying to clients. He could have told us how his company Moody's was so deeply conflicted that their ratings were meaningless, and were fraudulently used to fuel the worse abuses on Wall Street perpetrated by Goldman and others. But, that would mean having principles beyond "just make money, any way, any how". Buffett is clearly part of the problem. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Buffett defends Goldman <> There is a definite conflict of interest regarding Buffets comments. It is one more example of how this Abacus deal is sullying many reputations. It reminds me of the Martha Stewart fiasco and how "she only made a few million" so why should she go to jail. She went to jail for being guilty and for being caught red handed! I saw some 95% of the hearings involving Goldman. If some Black kid in the projects gave answers like that to the cops about on-going drug deals, the kid would end up in jail for 3-5 years. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Buffett defends Goldman WILL NEW TARMAC RULES LEAVE PASSENGERS SITTING PRETTY?
Here’s another way to look at it. Imagine yourself on a rural interstate or turnpike, and traffic suddenly slows, and then stops completely. The cause? the bridge a mile ahead that carries the highway traffic over the Podunk River has just collapsed into said river. Traffic backs up behind you for miles, and you’re stuck there, unable to turn around or go anywhere. Before emergency responders can arrive and get it all sorted out, you sit there for 6 hours. In the days/weeks that follow, outrage ensues over the lengthy 6 hour delays. The eventual “solution” are rules/legislation that now prohibit being stuck in traffic jams for more than 1-hour, and insanely high fines for violations of the new rule. That’ll stop “all those” 6-hour delays, right? It’ll also create “new” problems, since the new rule are also applicable to the types of traffic jams that are all too common during some “normal” rush hours, and especially so if there is weather and/or traffic accidents involved. It’s the Law of Unintended Consequences in action. Welcome to a new era in air travel, and remember--you asked for it. Read the article DALLAS MORNING NEWS/US Airways CEO Parker: We can only blame ourelves for new tarmac rules <> Not only will there be massive cancellations, but en-route diversions will become more common. The caveat with diversions....airlines will not route planes to nearby airports they do not serve (witness the 'horror' of Virgin America in HPN a few months ago)...they will divert to airports that are, a)in the network b) have available gates and c) not impacted by bad weather. That means that a plane headed to DCA could end up in BOS or RDU. If this was part of an inter-agency systemic approach to solving delays, I would be thrilled to death. Unfortunately, this is a situation where we are putting a new tire on a rusted out 1977 AMC Pacer...and guess who will suffer in the long run Read the article USA TODAY/New tarmac delay rule is "good news" for passengers <> To those who have their flights canceled as a result of this law please remember. The flight attendants did not cancel your flight. The gate agent did not cancel your flight. The customer service counter did not cancel your flight. The ticket agent did not cancel your flight. The U.S. Government canceled your flight. No airline is going to pay that fine. So have some respect for the people who work for the airline, and they will show you some. I travel on business quite a bit, and have had everything that could go wrong happen at one time or another. Airline employees have never been anything but accommodating to me. Of course it helps if you start your conversation with a smile instead of screaming at the person. Read the article USA TODAY/New tarmac delay rule is "good news" for passengers
THIS $175 MILLION DOLLAR DEAL AIN'T PEANUTS
I know that Charlie Brown and the gang went commercial a long time ago, but this sale made me sad. I remember the way Peanuts made me feel when I was a kid reading the funny pages - innocent and naive of the world. It hasn't been that way for either Snoopy or me since the sixties, but I'd hate to feel about the Peanuts gang the way I do about Mickey Mouse and Disney. The Evil Empire. Not realistic, but still a gut feeling that I can't quite get rid of. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Peanuts licensing changes hands in $175m deal <> Growing up in the country, there weren't a lot of people around. ...certainly no children. And no television. Instead, I had the complete original Peanuts books from the 50's-60s. They taught me all I knew about social life, Snoopy was my first friend, & I still haven't gotten over my little red-headed girl... Read the article NPR/Snoopy sells for $175 million
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