Thoughts on Colorado, Questioning Facebook, and How to Market Your Business-

I hope all readers will join me in sending their thoughts and prayers for the victims of the senseless tragedy in Aurora, CO this past Friday morning. I have been doing quite a bit of reading and thinking about this and thought I would offer my perspective.



First, something like this certainly makes one think about your own situation and how fortunate you are to have a family and life which are healthy. One never knows what will happen in the world, and nothing is guaranteed. The events in Colorado vividly illustrate the unpredictability of the world we live in. As a father of a 4 year old daughter, my heart breaks for the parents of the 6 year old girl who lost her life. I think leaders should really think about ways events like this can be eliminated, or at the very least, minimize the damage from. Society is never going to be able to prevent things like this from happening. However, an analysis can be done on what factors contributed to this event and how someone who came from a very good family and had a promising future turns into a mass murderer.



Personally, I believe society should look very closely at automatic machine guns and think long and hard at who should have access to these weapons. Does a citizen working in a potentially dangerous industry have to have an automatic machine gun? Maybe. Does a citizen not working in these situations need an automatic machine gun? Probably not.



My own thinking on the role of content producers certainly has been changed as I think if content has no social redeeming quality, there should be restrictions on who can see it. Moreover, people ages 5-18 who have impressionable minds are the most at risk to being affected by violence, sex, vulgarity, or anything which might alter how they see the world. Currently, movie studios have their way as anything can be shown to anyone. I saw a film the other night which had nothing in it which had social value. Does that mean every piece of content must have social value? No, but it means if you want to show it to everyone, it has to at least have some merit. If all you are going to show is violence, vulgarity, sex, blood, gore, and special effects, uh no, not everyone can see it.



In the investment world, the environment remains the same as we are in the midst of the summer, and the focus continues to be on the problems in Europe. This week brings an avalanche of earnings reports from some of the biggest companies in the world- Apple, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. I would suspect the reports will be pretty strong with weakness in Europe, and a cautious outlook about the next 6 months.



The Olympics are almost here and I cannot wait to see them. The opening ceremony is always great as the pageantry and pomp never fail to disappoint, and I am sure our British friends will do a great job. I only hope the security is great and nothing violent happens to mar the games. I hope you enjoy them as well.

At least one observer is not sold on Facebook-http://www.technologyreview.com/news/427972/the-facebook-fallacy/



Marketing is the most crucial issue for all businesses and here is a great story about how one group achieved great success on a limited budget-http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/22/reaching-10m-downloads-and-the-guerrilla-marketing-tactics-we-used-to-get-there/



Many shareholders are voting no on executive compensation- as they should be-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-19/more-shareholders-are-just-saying-no-on-executive-pay.html




Thank you for reading the blog and I hope you have a happy and healthy week.  If you have any comments, thoughts, or questions about the blog, please post them!!!!

Y H & C Investments, Yale Bock, and the family of Yale Bock own positions in securities mentioned in the blog post. Investing in stocks can lead to the complete loss of your capital. As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. 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.

Here are some Seeking Alpha articles Yale Bock has written about specific companies.

Recession is Built In, the T-Hause, and Facebook gets the London Olympics-

July 4 has come and gone, and the summer Olympics in London are rapidly approaching. Summer is usually a more relaxed time, and the record hot temperatures across the United States have literally put a little fire under most people. In stock markets across the world, trading volumes are usually light and this year is no exception. In looking at the volumes over the last few weeks, the average volume is half of what it might be during the fall or winter. As a result, the volatility is more pronounced. With the profit warnings from Cummings, Nike, AMD, and the bankruptcy of Patriot Coal, investors are very nervous over the possibility of a global recession.

From my perspective, in many ways, the world economy is already in a recession. Unofficial unemployment in the U.S. is already 15%, and that does not include the underemployed. In many mature European countries, you have official unemployment rates hovering well above 10% and youth unemployment above 20% and in some cases closer to 50%. Stock markets have done very little for 15 years, and bond yields are incredibly low. Many believe the continued low interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve are the proper medicine to fight deflation. Many disagree as well, sighting a persistently sluggish economy and lack of jobs and hiring in the private sector. I think most people are sick of the finger pointing and want results, not excuses or blaming the opposing political sides. If people want bickering, they can look at their young children and teenagers and get enough disagreement to last a lifetime.

Let me include a shameless plug for a new business I am a part of, the T-Haus:(www.californiathaus.com).



I have been drinking loose leaf tea since my sister in law Jacci Aronson introduced it to me last December. Drinking tea has become a wonderful daily habit for me and I thoroughly enjoy preparing a different tea each morning and evening. If you have any gift needs or would like to try drinking loose leaf tea, you might go to the site and call Jacci for more information. She will certainly provide you plenty of information to make the experience enjoyable. (If you have any interest at all, just enter your email address and you will be added to our mailing list).


Social Media is just so powerful and it is helping change the business landscape very quickly. Those who embrace it will prosper, those who don't will fall by the wayside. Here is a nice piece about a fashion related startup- http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/11/social-media-for-the-fashion-conscious-chicisimo-chalks-up-800k-in-angel-funding/

The Olympics are going to be integrated with Facebook. Lots of people doubt the company, but I am not one of them-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/business/media/nbc-and-facebook-announce-facebook-partnership.html?ref=business

Nice article about how to help achieve your goals-http://www.businessinsider.com/five-steps-for-achieving-your-goals-2012-7

Finally, I know it is hot, hot, hot, so make sure you drink plenty of water, or tea- hint, hint, to make sure you stay hydrated. Have a great rest of the week and weekend.

Y H & C Investments, Yale Bock, and the family of Yale Bock own positions in securities mentioned in the blog post. Investing in stocks can lead to the complete loss of your capital. As always, on any company mentioned here, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk of losses on invested capital. 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.
Here are some Seeking Alpha articles Yale Bock has written about specific companies.