Just a comment on old news; I found it interesting during the presidential debates in South Carolina when Ron Paul said he would like our country to practice the golden rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) and he was BOOED! Personally I think it is a good rule and believe strongly in tolerance, but hey… that would make the world a happy place to live and maybe there is no money in that.
Ciao,
D Helmericks

David Helmericks

With my old reliable DSL service, I rarely had a problem. And my phone line was separate from my Internet service. Now with AT&T U-Verse, my phone and Internet are one, it is what the industry calls VOIP (voice over internet protocol). I can get Internet phone service, if that’s what I wanted, for 19.95 a year with Magic Jack. But I didn’t want that, and now that is what I have. AT&T did not tell me this. I could go on and on about the shortcomings of AT&T, and will at some later date. I will leave it at this for now, as I spent the last hour on the phone with AT&T customer service, for my head is splitting. 

 Increased productivity, new efficiencies, more streamlined, all synonyms for fewer workers needed.  This is no surprise it has been going on for decades. Robots have replaced the factory worker. Customer service is mostly automated; the phone company comes to mind. Bank tellers are now ATM machines. Companies are not looking to hire, they are looking to streamline, become more efficient, and reduce cost. Companies are trying “desperately” to keep from paying legacy costs – health care and pension cost associated with workers.

 Americans have in the past and to some extent today, but to a lesser degree, are responsible for the financial growth of these corporate giants. Today, however, most growth comes from the developing countries China, India, and South America. Americans have consumed all the goods they can choke down, and to that extent are buried in debt and tapped out financially. And now that 99% of Americans are broke, living from paycheck to paycheck what will the corporations do? How will they pay us back? How will the corporations help America… now that she is broke? By streamlining, become more efficient, and move jobs overseas, Jesus, thanks.

 I have an idea! What about taking some of the “billions of dollars” that corporate America is sitting on, waiting for congress to get its act together, they say, and hire a couple million of the 20 million unemployed people. Put corporate profit on the back burner, for now, and hire some people.

 Don’t get me wrong I love technology, computers, cell phones, and the World Wide Web, though it is becoming jumbled now that everyone is trying to capture 1/100 of a cent from some affiliate advertising program.

 I would not want to be without many of the great developments that benefit humankind. But technology that replaces humans in the work force is a bad idea in general. We need to come to terms with the fact, and there are charts to confirm this, that the population is exploding and people are living longer. So what are the implications if corporations continue to seek advancement in productivity and efficiencies? A larger pool of unemployed workers, it’s something to think about. 

David Helmericks

DH

 There is much research to be done before bringing a company public, any company. The analyst and bankers that bring a company public, if it gets that far, start with a road show. The road show is a Wall Street phenomenon reminiscent of a high-class carnival.  This occurs prior to the company stock trading on the NYSE. The road show creates a lot of excitement for retail brokers  in banquet rooms all across America. The lead banker will have the event catered. Lavish buffets, with an endless supply of African lobster tail, jumbo shrimp, and filet mignon, are served.  The only meatballs are the attendees. The booze flows freely, as there is an open bar with plenty of top shelf liquor, all free. In the front of the room there is a small group of people sitting in chairs listening to the presentation. These are the compliance officers, the straight ones; the ones responsible if anything goes wrong.  In the back of the room, half crazed brokers full of gin and the latest designer drug are getting wound up, there is a party erupting. Brokers are guzzling free booze and stuffing their pocket with lobster tail and filet mignon, many still living at home with Mom and Dad.

 There are skeptics and disbelievers of the venerable IPO market, there always will be, but the majority are pom-pom waving cheerleaders with a good story to tell a prospective client. Setting the price for a new stock issue is a complicated process.  Involving advanced mathematical formulas that nobody really understands; it is more like a best effort. The offering price on both companies had been raised, several times, above the expected asking price. Finally and after much fanfare, the IPO price was set at $16.00 a share for Pandora, and for GM it was set at $32.00.   Professional money managers were saying, “buy” with the caveat of long-term value and great brand recognition, at least one of those may be true. 

 On the first day of trading both stocks were up, Pandora was up substantially. I remember CNBC called the opening bell that morning from the floor “And here on Wall Street trading begins on the opening bell,” they say that every morning. Really makes you feel like the casino is open for business, it is the best. The CNBC  reporters are running around the floor of the stock exchange, getting all of the latest gossip – I mean news – from the specialist and traders on the floor about today’s trading activity. 

 The CEO of Pandora, Mr. Kennedy, was walking on the floor of the NYSE  the day the stock  opened for trading; he was like a kid in Candyland. A female reporter for CNBC did a quick interview with him. She asked him about the company’s three billion dollar valuation, a high price for a company not making money. The question, to the heart of the matter, set him back on his heals. It was as if he were punched in the stomach, a shot that buckled him. He started to mumble something, sounding uninformed and misguided.  His knees started to buckle and I thought he was going down for the count.  Before he said something foolish on national television one of the bankers, who brought the company public, quickly stepped in to answer all questions. Talking about perceived value and other non-descript terms that evade an honest answer. “The value of Pandora… as a brand is HUGE…HUGE” he said. It is hard to argue with such well-dressed optimism.

 CNBC tried to talk with Mr. Kennedy again but the earlier question of how can a company be worth 3,000,000,000 and not have any revenue was too direct and straightforward. A normal person does not have the skill set to answer such a question; there is no logical answer. When Mr. Kennedy found himself in the crosshairs to answer more questions, a bunch of financial gobble-de goop, he did what anyone would have done, defer it to the bankers and walk away, exclaiming it is all very complicated.

 June 15, 2011, the first day of trading, you could have sold a share of Pandora stock for nearly$27.00, a quick 70% gain. GM’s  first day of trading, Nov 17, 2010, didn’t have the same pop that Pandora did, up only 12% to $35.90, but had the stock been held for 60 days it would have risen twenty two percent to nearly $40.00. Not a bad return on your investment, sounds good to me… how do I get in,  where do I sign up!

 Not so fast, Skippy.  Unless you sold quickly, and retail investors are told to buy and hold, to not even look at how there investments are doing, you are loosing money. The sun would not be shining on the owners of those particular shares of stocks today. Both companies raised a lot of money with their initial public offering, but the road show is over, and now investors are loosing money. Pandora fell to a low of $9.33 and General Motor’s low was $19.05. At the close of trading today (P) rose .85 up 6.33% to $14.28  a good day for the stock and (GM) was down .05 to $22.50.

 A wiser man than I once told me,” David, investing is like religion, it is what you believe”.

David Helmericks

Daily gibberish

David Helmericks

-Henry Miller

I always thought this was untrue. It sounded bad and it felt bad. It didn’t make sense. Low and Behold An astute person, David Stockman, recently posted an explanation of Mr Buffet’s fallacious and self serving statements. The original article can be read at the link below.

http://www.minyanville.com/library/search.htm?search=1&send=1&oid=0&q=&title=&mo=&day=&year=&contrib_id=283

It’s anything but good for the taxpayers. We are being put on the hook for the bailout monies and we will pay more in the form of higher prices through inflation. (the hidden tax) to save the *sses who speculated and played roulette with the financial system and made billions of dollars. Why in the heck are we rewarding these clowns instead of throwing them in jail where they belong? The answer: they have friends in high places. The Paulson, Bernanke and Geitner team of uninformed, illiterate, academics ( who are beholden to the banks and Wall Street boys and think they know everything) who sold out the country at the expense of the taxpayers.

PS Mr Buffet profited handsomely from the bailout.

More on this later with references to Mr Stockman’s article

Paulix

Sounds good, a three-dollar appliance. The extended warranty however is a little pricey. The NO COST PLATENUM PLUS coverage starts at a little over seven hundred dollars. And you have to buy the extended warranty for a three-dollar appliance; it is part of the promotional deal. I am only speculating, of course. For all I know, they might be trying to sell carrot peelers for three dollars. That lies at the heart of the matter. What does a “three-dollar appliance” actually mean? It is just a screwed up sound bite, soaked in high-octane ambiguity, meant to excite: a hook.  

 I am, however, in complete agreement with the retailers. Get the consumer in the store early, when they are feeling good. The stock market has been on a tear and is at a two year high. People are looking prosperous on their monthly financial statement; and some have called this the bottom in the housing market. The experts are predicting the highest shopper turnout in years. The consumer has a right to feel good; we are in recovery?

 Be prepared to grab your sack, though, there may be rough sledding ahead. After Christmas, the dollar will fall in value, loosing purchasing power here at home. This will be good for American multinational corporations, or anyone that sell goods overseas. But for me… where I buy groceries, prices are going up. The news tells me there is no inflation, though. In fact, some say we are at risk of deflation. This may be true for items other that food and fuel which is all I can deal with at the moment. Gasoline is nearing three dollars a gallon and milk is sneaking up on six dollars a gallon, ouch.

Here is my two cents worth for the holiday shopping season, for that is all I have left. After listening to all the experts, I have come away with this philosophy. Spend it all, max out your credit card to the limit. Be a good American and contribute to the recovery buy… buy… buy now. Hell, you can worry about paying the bill later. Who knows, you may have a lot of time on your hands after the holidays. If you are lucky and things really get bad, you may be able to get inline for some debt forgiveness, which would cheer things up, right. That will be the day. In the end who can pass on deals like three-dollar appliances? And who in hell cares about saving for a rainy day? The country is counting on you.

David Helmericks