10 Tuesday AM Reads

November 3, 2015 7:30am by

Our two-few-Tuesday hand curated, cage-free morning train reads:

• Boston stock pickers see glimmer of hope (Boston Globe) see also Five Wild Stats From October ETF Flows (Bloomberg)
• The Biggest Difference Between the Real World & Academia (A Wealth of Common Sense) see also When Is the Right Time to Sell Big Winners? (Irrelevant Investor)
• Henry Blodget’s big plans for Business Insider (Politico)
• New Star Trek Series Premieres January 2017 (Star Trek) see also ‘Star Trek’ Needs This New Show To Win The Next Generation  (fivethirtyeight)
• How Jeb Bush Lost The Internet (Buzzfeed) see also Jeb Can’t Fix It: Bush’s campaign reboot flops as Twitter demolishes his dopey new slogan (Raw Story)

Continues here

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. DSS10 commented on Nov 3

    That Quartz article about Apples “Cash” is really remedial. Did Carl Icahn write it…?

  2. VennData commented on Nov 3

    Company behind Keystone asks U.S. to halt review

    ​http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/02/politics/transcanada-keystone-obama/

    ​Good thing we didn’t accelerate this process for some unknown reason. We are awash in oil and have no need for it.

    • DeDude commented on Nov 3

      It never was about what the US as a whole needed. It was that our oil overlords needed to be able to transport and sell oil to other countries. Keeping it in north america depress prices here and hurt the profits of all the north american producers (and in the process be greatly beneficial for the country). Just look at what has happened with natural gas. The fact that they cannot get it off the continent at a reasonable price, has given our country a huge advantage in there form of cheep energy for homes and manufacturers. Great for the country, bad for the gas barons.

      The attempt to delay a decision is done in the hope that there will be a new president who is more likely to approve it. It is pretty clear that if it makes its way to the desk of Obama for final approval, he will likely kill it. A new president who will need money for his/her reelection campaign is more likely to sell the good of the country to the oil companies.

    • howardoark commented on Nov 3

      Doesn’t Koch Industries profit hugely from cheap natural gas? There are many players out there, it’s how capitalism works.

    • DeDude commented on Nov 4

      Yes, those who produce and own rights to produce lose profit when prices go down. Those who use (including some big industries and consumers) win when the price goes down. I am not sure about the balance for Koch (since they are both producers and users) but their backing of the Keystone pipeline would suggest they have more to win for letting the countries energy sources being exploited and handed over to foreign consumers.

  3. VennData commented on Nov 3

    President Obama Mocks GOP Candidates: ‘They Can’t Handle a Bunch of CNBC Moderators’

    ​https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/news/president-obama-mocks-gop-candidates-t-handle-bunch-050422927.html

    Republicans would solve half of their fear of the media by coming up with budgets that add up.

  4. VennData commented on Nov 3

    There are more than a million coywolves in the Northeast

    “…​These animals have a completely new genetic makeup: Their genes are about one-quarter wolf DNA and two-thirds coyote DNA; the rest is from domesticated dogs. A 2013 study suggests this dog DNA is mostly from a few specific breeds, including German Shepherds and Doberman Pincers. Human activity likely played a role in the species’ creation. As humans cut down wolves’ forest homes and hunted down their populations, the lack of available partners for wolves led them to search elsewhere for mates, leading them to coyotes and dogs.​..”

    http://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-more-than-a-million-coywolves-in-the-northeast-2015-10

    Can you imagine Lassie ‘Coming Home’ after a night getting done by one of these wolves.

  5. Concerned Neighbour commented on Nov 3

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-02/visa-falls-after-buying-visa-europe-missing-profit-estimates

    V’s results yesterday reminded me of what a great example it is of the “new normal”: 30 P/E, P/B approaching 10 (with most of the book value being intangible), and essentially no profit growth (yoy) over the last three years. The one difference is that they’ve managed to show decent revenue growth, something many – most? – other companies have struggled with. And who can forget the stock buyback, $5B more of which was announced.

    I do wonder how boards can support buying back stock at such obscene valuations, but that’s just me.

    No doubt V is considered a value stock today (it’s already recuperated half its loss from yesterday), and indeed I think there’s a good chance it will look downright cheap in retrospect after a few more years of central bank “stimulus”.

    • willid3 commented on Nov 3

      well their boss, CEO, wants to get a bonus. plus if they get paid in stock too, then you can see why they would be in favor of buying the stock back

  6. VennData commented on Nov 3

    Automakers See Another Blockbuster Month of Sales in the U.S.

    ​http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-03/toyota-fiat-chrysler-beat-estimates-for-u-s-october-auto-sales

    ​​The World’s on Fire.

    Hang on to those bonds GOPers! I’ll have MORE wonderful things to say about your returns on them over the next few years. Only US Government debt (even though you want to shut it down and not pay it back) can save you from Obama’s ruination of America, high taxes and burdensome regulation.

    Good thing Bush saved the auto industry… er… a… I mean, well Obama actually did a pre-packaged US gov’t DIP financed pre-packaged BK.

  7. RW commented on Nov 3

    The Decay of Twitter
    The social network fundamentally changed in early 2014. And that’s causing big problems for the company.

    …on Twitter, people say things that they think of as ephemeral and chatty. Their utterances are then treated as unequivocal political statements by people outside the conversation. …

    Anthropologists who study digital spaces have diagnosed that a common problem of online communication is “context collapse.” …When you speak face-to-face, you’re always judging what you’re saying by the reaction of the person you’re speaking to. But when you write (or make a video or a podcast) online, what you’re saying can go anywhere, get read by anyone, and suddenly your words are finding audiences you never imagined you were speaking to.

    • rd commented on Nov 3

      Bombs are so Taliban.

      A real American would have used an AR-15 and Glock.

    • VennData commented on Nov 3

      ​”…Leonard was arrested after a traffic stop, and faces a life sentence if convicted…”​

      ​I bet he wants the death penalty for himself

  13. VennData commented on Nov 3

    Means test tax cuts!

  15. Jojo commented on Nov 3

    Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans, Study Finds
    By GINA KOLATA
    NOV. 2, 2015

    Something startling is happening to middle-aged white Americans. Unlike every other age group, unlike every other racial and ethnic group, unlike their counterparts in other rich countries, death rates in this group have been rising, not falling.

    That finding was reported Monday by two Princeton economists, Angus Deaton, who last month won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, and Anne Case. Analyzing health and mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from other sources, they concluded that rising annual death rates among this group are being driven not by the big killers like heart disease and diabetes but by an epidemic of suicides and afflictions stemming from substance abuse: alcoholic liver disease and overdoses of heroin and prescription opioids.

    The analysis by Dr. Deaton and Dr. Case may offer the most rigorous evidence to date of both the causes and implications of a development that has been puzzling demographers in recent years: the declining health and fortunes of poorly educated American whites. In middle age, they are dying at such a high rate that they are increasing the death rate for the entire group of middle-aged white Americans, Dr. Deaton and Dr. Case found.

    The mortality rate for whites 45 to 54 years old with no more than a high school education increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 people from 1999 to 2014.

    ….

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html

    • willid3 commented on Nov 3

      and it wasnt all just caused health problems (heart etc)

      but suicide

      and drugs and alcohol?

    • Jojo commented on Nov 3

      Maybe not totally unexpected when you consider how different the job market is today for lower class workers vis-à-vis 30 years ago.

      Wage growth has been next to non-existent for the middle class and below and now you many have to work two jobs to take care of a family and maintain the same living standards as back then.

      When your prospects look poor, many succumb to stress and the allure of burying their troubles in drugs and alcohol. If life gets too hard, then you blow your brains out.

  16. Jojo commented on Nov 3

    Re: New Star Trek Series Premieres January 2017

    But you are going to have to pony up $5.99/month to watch first-run episodes!

  18. RW commented on Nov 3

    “Free stuff:” the hypocrisy of a growing campaign theme
    At last week’s Republican presidential debate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie characterized the first Democratic debate as “a parade of, ‘I’ll give you this for free; I’ll give you that for free.’” Senator Marco Rubio made a similar comment a few weeks ago: …

    …as Christie himself alluded …nothing is actually “free.” Government is merely a tool for determining our national priorities and deciding how we’re going to raise the money to implement them.

    In our view, we should use that tool to reduce inequality, boost opportunity, and provide public goods that the private sector can’t or won’t provide on its own. We should raise enough money to fund these endeavors, and we should raise it in an equitable way, recognizing people’s varied ability to pay. This philosophy has nothing to do with giving away “free stuff;” it’s actually about trying to stop imbalances in “free stuff” received in the birth lottery ….

    We recognize that some will view the purpose of government differently. But no matter your values or how you define the term, don’t bash “free stuff” for average Americans while ignoring the “free stuff” for the top 1 percent.

    NB: From the carried interest loophole to commodity subsidies to drug patent law to defense industry markups the total “free stuff” for the 1% dwarfs that available to everyone else yet nattering nabobs continue to belabor the importance of removing any scraps of advantage the 99% may find no matter how minuscule. I don’t have to worry about this personally but it’s really starting to bug me.

  20. VennData commented on Nov 3

    Chicago Suburb Sued By Parents Passes New Law to Curb Gun Sales to Criminals

    ​http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Chicago-Suburb-Tries-to-Curb-Gun-Sales-to-Criminals-337982352.html

    ​We need to STOP THIS liberal activism!

    ALL attention must be focused on this issue of localities over stepping Federal controls! Federalism trumps local whims! Everyone needs guns! Stop the bureaucrats from imposing their will on barely profitable small business! Where are these parent’s birth certificates?

  24. romerjt commented on Nov 3

    Did you see only 27% think the country is headed in the right direction? The high point for this “right direction” stat was 72% right after 9/11 and 62% right after the invasion of Iraq. An inverse relationship?????

    • VennData commented on Nov 3

      Paul Ryan got some cameras aimed his way…

      “We don’t believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, We believe President Obama and Hillary Clinton are leading us in the wrong direction.”

      http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2015/11/03/Ryan-attacks-Clinton-in-first-news-conference-as-Speaker/1371446570955/

      He’s so out of step with “Everyone” who thinks the country is heading in the wrong direction. Would they like higher gas prices? Lower stock prices? Less than 18M car sales per year? Lower GDP?

      What do people mean when they say “Right”/”Wrong” direction? What a moronic poling question.

    • Jojo commented on Nov 3

      And don’t forget that Ryan is now third in line for the presidency, right behind Biden. I think that is too close and why he really took the job.

  25. VennData commented on Nov 3

    Tax cuts for the job creators!

    “…For every job created in the U.S. this decade, companies spent $296,000 buying back their stocks, according to the New York-based bank….”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-02/here-s-how-much-qe-helped-wall-street-steamroll-main-street

    This article blames it on QE. LOL. QE therefore badness…

    Remember in 2008 when Maria Bartiromo shrieked about the Liberal Media criticizing Paulson’s TARP for not asking bankers ease up on their bonuses. She said they could just take their skills to Europe.(!)

    Well European banks are a disaster for the EU NOT having QE until recently and the right wing talking heads draw these fantastical cause and effects so anchors on CNBC and Bloomberg repeat then as fact.

    Yeah Fed’s QE ruined the world. If only we would kept Bushes successful tax cuts.

    Raise taxes in the rich. Force a global minimum on tax havens and our friends in Holland, the UK, Ireland and Switzerland etc… and cut sales and property taxes for the poor. They buy stuff. That is called demand.

  27. VennData commented on Nov 3

    Tancredo Leaves GOP.

    “By insulting the grassroots, the GOP leadership has set upon a suicide mission,” wrote Tancredo. “The problem is that failed leadership is allowing Obama to destroy the Constitution and take the whole country down the drain. Well, count me out.”

    http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/10/30/tom-tancredo-says-hes-quitting-republican-party-again/123638/

    You idiot Tancredo. All we care about is getting their votes. Shut up, We want our tax cuts for the rich.

  28. mitchn commented on Nov 3

    Tancredo leaving the Republican Party? Where does he go? Who will have him? The National Socialists?

Posted Under