A 30% jump in value in one day because of one earnings report? Something is fishy here. Buyer beware, and I am referring to stock investors and advertisers on Facebook. I still don’t have a Facebook account. For others, when was the last time you clicked on an advertisement and spent money?
Author Archives: efficientminds
LA Times – At a Rio favela, Pope Francis’ upcoming visit brings side benefits
So when the Pope visits one slum in Brazil some basic services are established. Specifically, the road the Pope will travel on is repaved, the electrical grid is fixed to allow lighting on that street, and more electrical work is ongoing to restore power to the chapel he will visit. This brings a few questions to mind:
- Do more “VIPs” (and I use quotes intentionally there) need to visit every street of every slum in Brazil to get basic services restored?
- Does the fact that so much work being done so spur of the moment negate the “we don’t have the resources” argument?
- What about the schools and hospitals? Are they just as important as the street and chapel that will host the Pope?
Brazil, with all of its recent economic growth, is leaving the masses behind. This smells a lot like the widening wealth gap going on right here in the United States See slides 14 and 15 of The Cadence of Finance for example.
Make no mistake, Brazil has a 99%/1% problem as does the United States. Hopefully the U.S. will win the race towards shared prosperity. Hopefully we will be the first to begin reversing the widening wealth gap…
Here is the LA Times article.
USA TODAY – Ford is hiring 800 white collar workers…
Some positive hiring news from Ford. Now, any engineers out there want to move to bankrupt Detroit? Real estate may be cheap…
Goldman Profits Double, but How Does It Make Its Money? | The Business Desk with Paul Solman | PBS NewsHour | PBS
The article suggests Goldman makes money by executing trades for the house before executing trades requested by clients (front running). I wonder what would happen if all Goldman clients left Goldman and executed their trades elsewhere. Perhaps all firms executing these complicated trades on behalf of clients are front running.
What if people purchased stock directly from corporations without a broker? In that sense, investors would truly invest in corporations for the long term. Would that serve as a closer approximation to pure capitalism than program trading? Just a thought…
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/07/goldman-profits-double-but-how.html
Goldman Sachs doubles profits
The monetary policy was supposed to boost the economy via quantitative easing (QE). However, unemployment and under-employment are relatively high. Wages for the 99% are flat or declining. Yet profits at Goldman Sachs doubled. This is likely due to Gold-man’s ability to borrow at low rates (QE) and gamble with that borrowed money. But when those gambles don’t work out (e.g., the depression and recent recession) we taxpayers bail them out.
Meanwhile, the 99% earn near zero interest paid on savings accounts. QE, unemployment high, wages flat, deposit rates zero, and Goldman Sachs profit doubles? Sure seems like wealth transfer from the 99% to the 1%…
http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2519533http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2519533
Mexico more obese than the US?
This was a surprise to me at first. After reading further in the article you will note the involvement of agribusiness and lobbyists. No longer a surprise. Sacrifice the health of the 99% so the 1% can increase their wealth.
Food is another major front on the battle of the 99% vs the 1%. It may be the most important front. With a poor diet comes poor health. With poor health comes medical expenses. So, in the end, those who buy junk food transfer wealth to big companies. Then those who get sick transfer wealth to big pharma and doctor co-conspirators (yes, I said it!).
Try to eat healthy my friends. Try to buy from local farmers. In so doing you may live a healthier life and do your part in reducing the wealth gap. Circulate money within your community and minimize doctor office visits. Win-win.
http://m.cbsnews.com/fullstory.rbml?catid=57592714&feed_id=null&videofeed=null
BBC News – Late nights ‘sap children’s brain power’
It appears beneficial to establish routine and early bedtimes for the young ones. Let’s put those future bankers to sleep early so their well developed math skills keep the economy rolling when I retire.
Improving 3-D Printing by Copying Nature
The articles on 3D printing keep coming in. As I said before, this has the potential to be the productivity enhancing technological progress that leads to economic growth. If done correctly, it can be positive for the environment.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130707-3d-printing-biomimicry-green-design-science/
$350 million renovation of NYPL’s Fifth Avenue branch will endanger iconic Rose Reading Room: suit – Daily News
Renovations to the New York public library’s 5’th avenue location will result in the removal of 2 million books. Is that a problem? Possibly, given there was no mention of making those books available in digital format at that location.
I must admit I am a late adopter to e-books. But after my recent move, where I carried countless boxes of books, I could not help but wonder “what if I had all my books in my iPad?” No more dragging books around from state to state.
Nevertheless, I am concerned about the state of libraries as centers for learning. For example, while at the University of Memphis I watched the administration fund a $50M university “center” complete with a donut shop. Meanwhile, the library was underfunded and losing subscriptions to resources. Why isn’t the library the “center” of a university?
I suspect the goal has shifted from educating young people to drawing them in with a social “center,” capturing and raising their tuition, and funding faculty research on topics that won’t help the students at the school where they “teach.”
So, NYPL plans to remove up to 2 million books from the 5th avenue location without making them available digitally. The University of Memphis chose to fund a party center over a learning center. How many out there have seen similar patterns in their respective locales?
http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1390241
P.S. Don’t get me started on questioning who decides which books go and which books stay…
Efficient Minds™ 