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Investor Lawsuits 19 y
According to CFO.com the investors that are suing based on research that was printed before the true state of affairs at Enron was revealed..are not winning their cases or if they are they are not being compensated at the tune of the losses...
Hmmm, now that the initial outrage and flack has died down-
Of course "firm" employed economists can easily claim they were mislead by Enron's duplicity and be telling the truth- so this make sense. I want to know what the employees are really getting out of their pension- are their lawsuits successful? And where will the settlement come from - The Board of Directors personal bank accounts? The real story lies in the fiduciary responsiblilty of the board- how many people directly involved can truthfully say "I didn't know it was so-in-so's fault" and can the Board be indemnified against fiduciary responsibility?
Citigroup Wins WorldCom Arbitration
Individual investor claimed he relied on Jack Grubman’s research reports; had sought $900 million.
Stephen Taub, CFO.com
December 08, 2005
Score one for Citigroup Inc. and Wall Street. A three-person arbitration panel of the National Association of Securities Dealers rejected the claim of an investor that he should be compensated for holding on to nearly 21 million shares of WorldCom on the advice of former Citigroup telecom analyst Jack Grubman, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The wealthy 73-year-old investor, Donald Sturm, reportedly ... read more Interviewing Styles 19 y
How do you perform in job interviews? It makes sense to be prepared and mimic the style of the interviewer.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that people who interview job candidates tend to develop a distinct personal style. If you can quickly read an interviewer’s style and establish rapport, you will appear more confident and knowledgeable. Here are six common types to know:
The Absentee
His Style: Sometimes an interviewer isn’t mentally in the room. Maybe his boss dropped a big project on him earlier that day, or maybe he’s completely unprepared.
Your Best Approach: It’s almost impossible to make a strong impression on someone so distracted, so keep it simple. If this person is strapped ... read more New Enemies? 19 y
Oh dear, those mucky-muckys in the military really believe in earning their money- The new enemies are China? and ??India maybe- because they are competing with us for the commodities of life..And we are the greatest pigs (consumers of natural resources) on the planet
Navy to Expand Fleet With New Enemies in Mind
By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: December 5, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The Navy wants to increase its fleet to 313 ships by 2020, reversing years of decline in naval shipbuilding and adding dozens of warships designed to defeat emerging adversaries, senior Defense Department officials say.
Bob Child/Associated Press
Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chief of naval operations, wants to reverse years of decline in shipbuilding.
The plan by Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who took over as chief of naval operations last summer, envisions a major shipbuildi ... read more Prosperity Reversal-got it? 19 y
Paul posted abundance activator yesterday-(EFT), and he mentioned Prosperity Reversal thinking. Apparently he got a few questions from readers on the symptoms of prosperity reversal....Here are the issues, challenges, and symtoms....read on.....
Many people have asked me over the past year about
Prosperity Reversal.
Questions like:
”Do I have it?”
”How can I be sure?”
”How serious an issue is it?”
”How do I eliminate it?”
Let’s run through some of the basics of Prosperity
Reversal...
1. How do you know if you have it?
Simply stated if you’ve tried un-successfully to:
* Attract and create what you want
* Your debt is growing despite efforts to reduce it
* You create a financial or business plan and it seems
to constantly get stuck in neutral (or even get worse)
These are CLEAR signs of Prosperity Reve ... read more Greenspan/Trade 19 y
Oh well, it's not like the common joe hasn't thought this- I mean I was "concerned" about USA/Japan when I was at Morgan Stanley in the early 80's and here we are in the mid 2000's having the same conversation- Hey are we in a Time Loop?
Greenspan Points to Danger of Rising Budget Deficits
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By HEATHER TIMMONS
Published: December 3, 2005
LONDON, Dec. 2 - Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned of the dangers of rising budget and trade deficits in two speeches on Friday.
Speaking at a meeting here of the Group of 7 finance ministers, he said the growing American trade deficit could be ”quite painful” for the world economy if it was not arrested. He urged the United States and other countries with trade deficits to stop the ”pernicious drift tow ... read more Responsible Wealth
19 y
Here is the true spirit of wealth- not money- Oh my - I like this woman -she has a blog and I included the URL- Go Girlfriend
Average Tax Cuts for Wealthy Could Pay Salaries for Three Teachers
From Common Dreams....Tax Me More by Heleny Cook
Heleny Cook is a member of Responsible Wealth and a high school English teacher in Washington, DC. She can be reached at helenyc@comcast.net.
Also, be sure to read my article, Pros & Mainly Cons of Repealing the Estate Tax.
-------------------------
This Tax Day, I’m telling Congress to stop giving me tax breaks. I’m wealthy. I don’t need them, and they’re bad for our country.
As a teacher, I can’t look my students in the eye and tell them millionaires should get ... read more Interest Rate Inversion 19 y
When long term rates are lower than shorterm rates- the interest yield curve is inverted...yep! and we are there...this typically indicates a slow down- I'm already slowed down!
NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Short-term interest rates are at the cusp of surpassing their long-term counterparts in the United States, and many analysts are already squirming in their chairs as they worry about an economic slowdown.
In the past, what is known in financial markets as a yield curve inversion -- because longer-term investments start to yield smaller returns than near-term ones -- has often presaged a weaker economy, and sometimes even recession.
That is because an inverted curve shows that long-term investors are willing to settle for lower yields now because they thin ... read more Currency Trades 19 y
Can currency trades forecast the economy?
Marking the Dealer’s Cards
What economists can learn from currency traders.
Economist Staff, The Economist
November 30, 2005
You can make a career as an exchange-rate economist without ever crossing paths with a currency trader. The dealers who set the dollar’s price and the professors who theorize about it are separate breeds, speaking different tongues and operating at quite different metabolic rates. This is how Richard Lyons, an economist at the Haas School of Business (part of the University of California, Berkeley), describes a day spent with a friend of trading stock.
M ... read more The Chinese Yuan 19 y
More on my favorite curency. Did I post that I had a job in China, and the yuan could not be brought home and/or converted..so any savings from working would be left behind in the land of the master merchants- the superpower called China
U.S. Declines a Chance to Criticize Yuan Policy
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: November 29, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 - Six months ago, the Bush administration warned that it would accuse China of currency manipulation if it failed to make substantial changes to its fixed peg between the yuan and the dollar.
Text: Semiannual Report on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies In July, China allowed the yuan to rise by 2 percent, the first change in more than 10 years, but it has not budged since.
On Monday, the Treasury Department once again held its tongue. Instead ... read more Smart Farmers 19 y
Smart Organic Farmers will tell you! Free range for live stock-
Op-Ed Contributor
Organic and Then Some
By NINA PLANCK
Published: November 23, 2005
WHEN I first sold my family’s vegetables at farmers’ markets in Virginia in 1980, Slow Food hadn’t been born, and the phrase ”local foods” was not yet in the lingo. The word ”organic,” however, was in vogue, and our customers always asked the same question: Are you organic? Nine years old and barefoot, I tried not to appear flummoxed. I stumbled over answers, most of them beginning, ”No, but...”
Gina Triplett, Matt Curtius, Kelly Blair
These replies failed to satisfy. People wanted to know in a phra ... read more Financial Reporting 19 y
This would be fair reporting of assets and liabilities.....A refreshing outlook on a balance sheet...Yes, only this is a wishlist not a law- Best practices-if you will
The 12 Principles of CFA
What should financial reporting look like? Here are the 12 basic principles laid out in a recent paper the CFA Institute, and presented to FASB and the IASB last month:
1.The Entity Must Be Viewed from the Perspective of an Investor in the Common Equity Issued by the Company
2.Fair Value Information Is the Only Information Relevant for Financial Decision Making
3.Recognition and Disclosure Must Be Determined by the Relevance of the Information to Investment Decision Making and Not Based Upon Measurement Reliability Alone
4.Complete Recognition of All Economi ... read more EU vs. $$ & Others 19 y
~9th included here:currency strength, mid 2006-stockmarket takes off, and I will win the Miss America Contest in the bathingsuit category! Yes, well who knows...heheheh-not
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - The end of the Federal Reserve’s rate tightening cycle, when it comes, is shaping up to be a tipping point for big money investors, possibly boosting U.S. stocks, and easing pressure on bonds.
It could also reignite the dollar’s decline by removing one of the main reasons for its recent strength.
All three moves would have significant impacts on investment in Europe and elsewhere, with a stronger euro hurting euro zone company competitiveness and more attractive U.S. assets draining domestic and foreign money fr ... read more Bonds/Corp Credit Worthiness 19 y
This seems to align with the financials- wonder if China will own both Treasury and Corporate- that's one way to become a US banker- or I guess that is 2 ways!
Foreigners Feasting on U.S. Corporate Bonds
Pace set to make 2005 the biggest ever for foreign purchases of U.S. corporate debt.
Stephen Taub, CFO.com
November 17, 2005
Want to know why medium-term and long-term interest rates haven’t risen as much as short-term rates? One reason is because foreigners have been feasting on American paper, most of which still throws off higher yields than comparable maturities overseas.
According to the latest data from the Treasury Department, total net foreign purchases of domestic securities was $1 trillion for the 12 months ended in Septemb ... read more Pension Reform 19 y
Pension bill reform passed Senate-Short Version Here
9/28/2005--Introduced.
Pension Security and Transparency Act of 2005 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to establish new minimum funding standards for single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. Limits benefits under underfunded plans. Establishes additional funding rules for multiemployer plans in endangered or critical status. Requires measures to forestall insolvency.
Revises deduction limits for such plans. Revises deduction rules for combinations of defined contribution plans and defined benefit p ... read more Pensions on Balance Sheet 19 y
Here's the net of the Senate reform- Airlines aren't going to get 20 years to fund existing liabilities,..and there will be accounting principles applied! P&L on the balance sheet- but there must be a caveat on that since it is money for future use- so it is a liability even if showing a gain- huh? Wonder if Enron's pension problem enabled this...
Pensions Go on the Balance Sheet: FASB
In a unanimous vote, the accounting standards board decided last week to look into an overhaul of the retiree-benefit accounting system.
Lisa Yoon, CFO.com
November 14, 2005
Employers would be facing a bumpy road ahead if they’re no longer permitted to smooth results over a number of years when they account for the pensions and retiree health benefits they provide.
That possibility became much more immediate last Thursday, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to add a project to its agenda studying pension accounting. Speci ... read more Bernanke/Bush 19 y
Nope it's not a recipe, its a gang of 3 Ok with Cheney Gang of 4- and here's the deal- he will not commit to any plan or opinion he can be held accountable to (neither would I)-and as for Greenspan's support of the tax cuts in 2001 (was this the same time we were escalating Afghan territories?) it was what always worked for the stock market, and it was no big deal-Reagan played that song for 8 years-well 4 atleast) It didn't work this time- this is a reaction that we as Americans should make note of...yep...what to do with our fiscal policy-? It's too late to stop writing bad checks- China owns our debt, and Japan...I don't have the answer...either Amen
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 - Ben S. Bernanke, the nominee to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve, told lawmakers on Tuesday that it was a ”false dichotomy” to assume that low inflation was at odds with rising wages and greater income equality.
Skip to next paragraph
Video: At the Senate Hearing
Inflation Issue to Dominate Questioning of Fed Nominee (Nov. 15, 2005)
Chairman Nominee May Bring a New Openness to the Fed (Nov. 1, 2005)
At the Fed, an Unknown Became a Safe Choice (Oct. 26, 2005)
Bush Names a Top Adviser to Be Chairman of the Fed (Oct. 25, ... read more short term rising
long term flattening 19 y
Bernanke -maybe a Greenspan clone? Well let's face it lower rates didn't really stimulate the overall market enough to break out of a 4 year trading range- so ababy it's bonds- but as rates rise bond NAV declines- Oh dear what can the matter be...Now what? short the individual positions and go long certain individual positions, and write covered calls on sleepy dividend paying stocks..Why, you are a frigging genius!
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Ben Bernanke was given an opportunity for a do-over -- or at least the chance to clear his name.
Asked if he may have drawn any lessons from any particular comments made during his years as a Fed governor, the Federal Reserve Chair nominee didn’t hesitate: ”In 2003, there was an episode where there was clearly miscommunication between the Federal Reserve and the bond markets [regarding deflation risks] and it caused a significant fluctuation in the bond markets,” he said. ”Clearly there was a misunderstanding a ... read more |