Another contributor to the rising income gap: corporate executives conspiring to keep wages down.
GE’s $57 Billion Cash Overseas Said to Fuel Alstom Deal – Bloomberg
Make money overseas. Don’t bring it back to the US so you can avoid US taxes. Take that overseas pile of cash and invest in a company that is also overseas. So, at what point does a US company invest in the U.S.? So what if a percentage of those trillions of overseas dollars is paid towards taxes? At least there would be some investment here in the U.S. But then again, once you stack up trillions of dollars overseas I suppose you must stack up a few more trillion. It is nice to look at all of those dollars sitting in a back account (overseas) or being invested in France I suppose.
Just kidding. Maybe it is about time that businesses and our government sit down and discuss ways to repatriate those dollars in a way beneficial to the companies while also narrowing the widening wealth gap. Good luck with that.
People need training and jobs here. Billions and trillions of dollars are invested elsewhere. Hopefully this trend will reverse someday.
The Unexplainable Nature of Momentum Portfolio Returns
Some of my research on momentum portfolio returns has finally made it to print. You can find the abstract and link to the entire PDF paper on the Journal of Mathematical Finance web page. I encourage you to follow the link and download a free copy.
Boss vs. Leader
Source: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ProgrammingCom/posts/Toyiy21VDom?cfem=1
My Students Don’t Know How to Have a Conversation – Atlantic Mobile
I feel a little guilty for encouraging use of the course online discussion group. I hope students also have face to face conversations to exercise critical thinking. Although I teach at a university I see the same issue: lack of conversational skills and focus on the phone.
I recently had a disagreement with a book publisher regarding “adaptive learning smart books” (or something like that). I suggested students should do the now unthinkable: go to the library and read the book. The publisher point of view is “meet the students where they are, in front of a screen and on Facebook.”
Sorry, I may receive bad teaching reviews, but I will not meet students there. I am of the belief that students can and should step away from the screen and read a book, form a study group, and have conversations in person with real people. Call me old fashioned.
First came word processing programs that check grammar and spelling. As a result, society’s grammar and spelling ability may have taken a hit. Then there was GPS. When hurricanes like Sandy take out cell towers on the east coast people can’t find their way around. They were not paying attention to their surroundings. They were just following a screen. Now I understand writing is slowly being removed from primary school curriculum. But writing exercises areas of the brain and improves motor skills. If one no longer writes what happens to those areas of the brain and associated motor skills? Atrophy? Finally, as pointed out in the article below, the online push is diminishing society’s ability to have face to face conversations.
How do you feel about these trends? What are you doing to help the situation? Please make your children write, even in cursive. Please have face to face conversations with them as opposed to texting them all day. Or, let grammar, spelling, writing, critical thinking, and the ability to carry on a conversation be damned and hope the US can remain competitive.
Netflix to Raise Prices as Earnings Jump Spurs Shares – Bloomberg
NFLX raises prices and its shares rise. Could one view that as continued wealth transfer from the 99% (Netflix subscribers) to the 1% (Netflix shareholders)? Why pay increased subscription fees to boost the stock price of already wealthy shareholders? I would say own some NFLX if you watch Netflix but the current stratospheric triple digit P/E multiple amounts to an expensive game of hot potato. Now you can see why I neither subscribe nor own NFLX.
Enjoy the article…
CNNMoney | Business, financial and personal finance news.
Widening wealth gap?
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/17/technology/de-castro-yahoo-pay/
From Boom to Rust, Lavish Projects Are Languishing in Brazil – NYTimes.com
There are ghost towns (metropolises built but abandoned) in China and an array of abandoned projects in Brazil. I noticed an interesting phrase in the NY times article below “state capitalism.” It is evident that state capitalism is coincident with inefficient spending. In contrast, “private capitalism” is coincident with overly efficient (I just made that term up) spending. The irony is that in the long term both cases (dare I say extremes) lead to a widening wealth gap.
The article below illustrates the wasteful spending and bureaucracies of “state capitalism.” The Mexican made engine in Chrysler’s “imported from Detroit” 200 is an example of overly efficient private capitalism. This results in bonuses for executives and lower wages for laborers. My favorite widening wealth gap example is personal.
I bought a Wisconsin made (the frame at least) Trek bicycle roughly 10 years ago for about $1000. I still have and ride it today. Last summer I wanted to get another made in America Trek so my son and I could ride together. The price was the same $1000 but the bicycle was made in China. I did not buy it. I pondered what happened to the executive/laborer breakdown of that $1000. Did it go from $600/$400 with American labor (read jobs) to $900/$100 with Chinese labor (read: unemployment here)?
One subtle point before I close. The widening wealth gap occurs when companies around the world do the same thing as Chrysler and Trek do here in the US. So what country has struck the right balance between inefficient state capitalism and overly efficient private capitalism?
Bank of America to pay nearly $800 million for deceptive credit card practices – The Washington Post
Bank of America: for profit (at the expense of customers)
Credit unions: non profit where customers are also owners
HP pays $108M to settle US probes into foreign bribes – CNET
Whatever happened to winning contracts based on superior products and value?
http://www.cnet.com/news/hp-pays-108m-to-settle-probes-into-foreign-bribes/
Efficient Minds™ 