The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal calls AT&T's defeat of the Department of Justice over its acquisition of Time Warner a "stone cold knockout." The Justice Department sued AT&T to block its acquisition over carriage-fees, but failed miserably, with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals writing a 127-page opinion rebutting the DOJ's position. The Board writes: The three-judge appellate panel comprised of two Democratic appointees largely agreed, notwithstanding some nits with Judge Leon’s legal diction. As is its custom, the D.C. Circuit judges reviewed the trial … [Read more...]
Trump Pick to Oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Congratulations to Mark Calabria on his advance by the Senate Banking Committee yesterday to become the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I know Mr. Calabria from his work with the Cato Institute, and I like his free market principles. If confirmed this Spring, Mark will move to the FHFA directorship from his current role as chief economist and senior aide to Vice President Mike Pence. You can listen to the hearing, and read Calabria's prepared testimony below. [pdf-embedder … [Read more...]
Illinois: New Governor, Same Old Pension Pyramid Scheme
Writing at Forbes, Elizabeth Bauer asks if Illinois' public retirement system is a pension fund or a pyramid scheme. The evidence doesn't look good. Despite electing a new governor, Illinois seems to be using the same old tactics to plug its pension holes. Bauer explains: Illinois's new elected officials and their advisors simply don't believe that it matters that public pensions are pre-funded. They view pension funds as something that exists on paper, and pension reporting as a nuisance to be avoided where possible, and ignored otherwise. Through their actions -- and indeed their words … [Read more...]
Grocery Delivery Joint Venture Stirs Excitement in Advanced E-Commerce Market
The United Kingdom is one of the world's most advanced e-commerce markets, and a new joint venture between Marks & Spencer and online delivery startup Ocado Group, is getting attention. Ocado is a 16 year old online grocery retailer with over 580,000 active customers. It has previously made news in the United States after Kroger, America's largest grocery business, bought 6% of the company last year. The attraction by big grocery businesses to Ocado is the company's high-tech warehousing and logistics technologies including advanced robotics and software. For Marks & Spencer, … [Read more...]
Will the Dow’s Mega-Companies Use Blockchain to Change the World?
You may still not have recovered consciousness after the 19% drop from October 3 through Christmas Eve. So, I wouldn’t blame you for not noticing the Dow’s rapid 16% rise over the past nine weeks. One question I receive quite often is, “what are your thoughts on technology?” My quick response—I love technology. But when it comes to investing, the company better pay a dividend. I want to be—and I want you to be—paid for investing in stocks. One area in tech I’ve been writing to you about is blockchain. It’s the backbone behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. And as I’ve told … [Read more...]
Your Apps Are Giving Your Most Sensitive Information to Facebook
Planning on getting pregnant? Buying a home? Trying to diet successfully? If so, and if you're using an app on your smartphone to help you manage the process, chances are Facebook is fully aware of it all. The Wall Street Journal has investigated some of the most popular apps and found that many of them were sending customers' information directly to Facebook without their knowledge. Some, but not all, of the Apps stopped sharing information with Facebook after the Journal contacted them about such behavior, but the investigation only surveyed 70 out of the millions of apps that exist. Sam … [Read more...]
How to Avoid Wall Street’s Unshakable Attachment to Earnings
Back in December of 1997, I explained Wall Street analysts' fixation with earnings, and more specifically, earnings guidance. I wrote: Forget Wall Street’s Myopic Attachment to Quarterly Earnings It’s important for you to grasp the primary control force of short-term market action. The control force is quarterly earnings reports versus Wall Street projections. Companies that fail to meet Street projections face utter carnage. However absurd this senseless, myopic concentration on quarterly earnings may be, it is reality. The gyrations brought on by earnings’ hits and misses confuse and … [Read more...]
My March Rage Gauge: Take Inventory of Your Investment Life
My March Rage Gauge is in, and it feels like the calm before the storm. Does that mean the market will have a huge downward correction this year? Like I’ve written to you in the past, I’m not in the prediction business. Because for you to be a great investor, you need to put together multiple seasons of investing and then maybe you’ll be able to look back and say: “Well, I wouldn’t want to do that again, but we made it.” Let me explain. All of us have a pretty good feel for what’s going on today. Interest rates aren’t moving, the Trump economy is OK (It could be great again if the … [Read more...]
The Richest Town in the U.S.A.
The richest town in America had an average income of $450,696 in 2017. It's tree-lined streets and acre sized lots offer the wealthy employees of Google, Facebook and Stanford University peace and privacy. The richest town in America is Atherton, CA. At Money, Shelly Hagan and Wei Lu report that Atherton, home to Eric Schmidt and Sheryl Sandberg, has placed as the nation's wealthiest town for the third year in a row. They write: “We value a semi-rural environment,” said Widmer, who moved to Atherton in 1996. “There are few sidewalks and many places don’t have streetlights.” Scarsdale, New … [Read more...]
Europe Takes Aim at America’s Big Tech Companies with Copyright Demands
European Union countries have backed a new set of regulations to force Google, Facebook, and other big online companies to pay content creators like artists, new agencies, and broadcasters for their output. That would even include the snippets of stories posted online in services like Google News. Reuters' Foo Yun Chee reports from Bussels: The revamp would require Google and other online platforms to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online. Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram and … [Read more...]
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