If you really want to engage in fantasy, watch the political conventions of both the Republicans and the Democrats. I think most reasonable people would agree it is a choice between bad and worse. As a Republican, the fact that the party continues to support positions many find idealogically very extreme is just stupid. I won't bring up the controversial ones, let me just introduce one that many people are outraged over, and that is internet gaming. New reports surface that the Republican party will not make a deal on internet gaming. Being a moron is not an attractive sales pitch. So let's adopt the be an idiot position- brilliant. I still think Mitt Romney has been successful his whole life, and will take my chances with his leadership any day.
On the other side of the spectrum, this week you will see a group of people who actually believe things are getting better in this country. Record high levels of debt, one in 6 people in poverty, 50 million on food stamps, but things are improving. Again, being a imbicile is not an attractive sales pitch. Is there any wonder why there are so many people fed up with the political process?
One of the great things about business is you can measure success and failure. If the business loses less money than you did last year by 50%, that could be considered improvement. If the company makes 10% or 20% more money than it did last year, you could consider that success. If a company pays down a bunch of debt, that might be a signal the company is improving it's financial condition. It is no wonder why many of the most talented people in the world go into the private sector, and usually stay there. Those who do serve in the public sector say they consider it a privledge, but then when they are done, they go right back to the private sector.
Does it ever end with the Facebook flop? Here is an article on the CFO who is responsible for a market cap loss of $50 billion so far. Of course, the final chapter has yet to be written. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/david-ebersman-the-man-behind-facebook%e2%80%99s-i-p-o-debacle/?ref=business
There is more money to be made writing good apps than maybe anything else- more proof with this one, and very applicable all over the world-http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/04/organic-growth-only-grocery-list-app-buy-me-a-pie-claims-2m-ios-downloads-adds-gifting-functionality/
Inflation versus deflation- two really bad alternatives-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-04/iphone-price-cuts-send-bond-inflation-bets-to-11-year-low-1-.html
Thank you for reading the blog this week, and if you have any thoughts or questions on the subjects, 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.
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