Sunday, March 20, 2011

ATT & T Mobile Wed, Blurring Lines of Web and TV, Tech Wants Lower Taxes, NY Times Pay Model Flexible, and Investing Lessons in Hoops-

Well, I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Great college basketball helped people endure the news about Libya, and the ongoing situation in Japan. I must say, I think the workers and engineers who are laboring to solve the issue at those nuclear facilities deserve all the salaries of the NBA, NFL, and MLB players combined. Those people are real heroes. ATT and T-Mobile combine in the US, and judging from customer responses, many are disappointed- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704433904576212810008230654.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Entertainment on the net and tv continue to merge as the lines get even blurrier:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703292304576212372568499988.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

What a shock, execs want lower corporate taxes, this time the tech guys- understandable, and if they don't get them, well-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-18/technology-companies-lobby-u-s-lawmakers-for-lower-corporate-taxe-rates.html

Let me know what you think- should corporations pay lower corporate taxes to help US competitiveness regarding tax rates with other countries?

The stodgy NY Times adopts a flexible pay model for the internet version:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/business/media/21times.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=business

Finallly, in watching the Butler-Pittsburgh NCAA game (well played), and the North Carolina-Washington game (also pretty well played), it struck me how similar hoops and investing are very similar. In baskeball, teams which are smart and don't make mistakes, yet are opportunistic when they can be, typically win and win big. When you make dumb mistakes, you lose. Butler played well and had one stupid mistake, and Pittsburgh made an even dumber mistake and cost them the game. With investing, avoiding dumb mistakes regarding capital allocation usually helps returns as you minimize major losses. Oh yes, with the time tested caveat that past performance is not indicative of future results- imagine that. Ok, hope everyone has a great week.

As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. One should research any investment and make sure it is suitable with your objectives, risk tolerance, risk profile liquidity considerations, tax situation, and anything else pertinent to your financial situation. Also, the CFA credential in no way implies investment returns will be superior for any charterholder.

Yale Bock, CFA
President, Y H & C Investments

No comments:

Post a Comment

BlogGlue