“This Genius Wants to Tax Capital” - Jim Rogers
By · Comments7.1.09
Great interview of Jim Rogers from last November:
Enjoy!
Chris Grande
Credit’s Getting Tighter at Chase
By · Comments6.30.09
Welcome to quarter end folks. In the news today on Bloomberg was this little gem on Chase’s latest move to increase minimum payments on some customers:
Apparently, they will raise the minimum payment for “some” cardholders to 5% of balance instead of the current 2% of balance. They will apply this to people who currently have a balance also. This comes a few days before the new credit rules come into play.
I suppose credit is still getting tighter for those with bad credit history, and even those with good credit history who are exposed to risk. This does not bode well for those who wish to reinflate the artificial economy that we enjoyed up until 2006.
Chris Grande
PS balance transfer fees will also rise to 5%! Makes 0% offers much less attractive doesn’t it?
Monday Thoughts - Universities Are Not “Not for Profit”
By · Comments6.29.09
Reading the headlines this morning I saw this article on Bloomberg:
Bloomberg - Tuition Rises 4.3%
Apparently, despite the fact that the government is reporting deflation in our economy, the word didn’t get out to universities who continue their endless march of tuition hikes. This is however, the lowest increase since the start of keeping these records in the early 1970’s according to the article, but that is small consolation.
Universities don’t want to do their part to help lower costs. And I never figured this out - many universities now use teaching assistants to run classes, very low paid teaching assistants. They are laying off people. Many have outsourced their dining services and landscaping. Why do costs need to rise 5, 6, 7 percent or more every year?
The main reason is that these are not “non-profit” universities per se - they are businesses: the business is in research and competing for academic reputation, and the prize is being highly ranked in some magazine survey. Tuition had increased 5.9% the year before, but according to one source in the interview, it would not “look good politically, but does raise a lot of money” so it seems many schools chose to go with a smaller increase, instead of no increase (the inflation adjustment for social security recipients!) or a decrease.
Of course, this will be another increasing cost for a government program. With incomes down, and tuition up, the ability to pay (ATP) for the average family will drop which may lead to further need for federal financial aid. And with university endowments down 25% or more, and with some losing millions to Bernie Madoff, it may be likely that we see less aid from the universities themselves next year.
All in all, universities are another part of our economy that live in Fantasyland (just like California - put “Fantasyland” into the search box if you’re interested), as they think they can continue to increase costs ad infinitum and that no one will protest. The advantage for universities, however, is that US universities are desired destinations for many students worldwide. There will be no problem attracting students who can pay the (higher) international tuition rates and who don’t need financial aid. This will be to the detriment of American kids who will have to settle for cheaper and possibly less prestigious schools in the future (FYI: in all fairness, some of the best schools in this country are on the lower end of the cost scale including some excellent state universities in Virginia, California, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina, and others).
Chris Grande
More Dambisa - Great Discussion on African Development
By · Comments6.27.09
I’m glad I was introduced to Dambisa Moyo and her talks on global development. For those of us who knew that the paternalistic approach to global aid and the BS that surrounds it with celebrities adopting African children and rock stars glamorizing their support.
Here is a great series of videos of an interview she conducted with the National Review. She really makes an impact. Some interesting points she makes:
- There are many roadblocks to aid but ways to do it
- The Chinese are big investors in Africa and likely they will be Africa’s best partner
- Some people give money to try to coerce African nations to their way of belief wheras China simply invests and allows countries to run their own affairs, creating jobs
- The wrong kind of foreign aid supports the wrong kinds of leaders and creates further dependency of African people on handouts but doesn’t help them help themselves
- She prefers Hu Jintao (Chinese president) and his investing/job creation to Bono and Bob Geldoff (Live Aid)/handouts
See the video here:
Perhaps there is room for both aid and investment as Dambisa has said in her interviews - aid for the most desperate people but investment for those who can work and want to be educated or have education. She worries though about those people that are addicted to being the “savior” of others instead of enablers of others - a common problem found not only in service work but also often in the fields of counseling/psychology/coaching.
Enjoy!
Chris Grande
We’re Still Blowin’ Money On Our Overseas “Empire”
By · Comments6.26.09
Occasionally, I get into politics on my site but the times I have, I was a bit too emotional. So recently, when I’ve addressed political issues, I have tried to be tamer as I made my point.
So I will attempt to do that today too!
News of note: Ron Paul commenting on government funding to foreign countries, the IMF, and the UN for such things as ‘peacekeeping” and “economic stabilization.” Congressman Paul’s points, that these organizations often fail to maintain peace (love that UN effort in Darfur) and regularly fail to help economically (IMF imposes foolish restrictions on the countries it “helps” which cause then oftentimes to fail miserably as a result of taking IMF money and following IMF rules). Listen to Dr. Paul here:
Most importantly, many Americans voted for President Obama due to the war issue (if 5% of people voted against McCain because of fears of continued Bush-like policies, then lack of a war issue might have meant no President Obama - FYI - I wrote in Ron Paul because I didn’t care for either of those two). That being said, we are committing another $106 BILLION to the war effort - I must ask those for whom our military expansions were a major concern - where is your voice now? This is NO DIFFERENT than when Bush was president. It’s just as President Eisenhower warned during his farewell address - “beware of the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.” He warned that the MIC would always push for more war funding, more military expansion - apparently they got President Obama’s ear too.
Listen to what Ron Paul has to say. Then remember those words when our national debt sinks the ship.
Chris Grande
The Recession Won’t End as Fast as Some People Think
By · Comments6.25.09
Green shoots? Haha I love how we love to grasp onto catch phrases like that. Here’s a fellow that thinks we have more retail bankruptcies coming. It’s Jeffrey Hoffman who runs the popular discount website ubid:
See Video HERE
Chris Grande
Rwanda Essay - Try SEVen Fund’s New Essay Competition
By · Comments6.24.09
If you are a student at any level (high school, undergraduate, or graduate) and you have an opinion on entrepreneurial development in rising economies, then consider writing in the SEVen Fund’s essay competition and go for the $10,000 prize. Read more about it here:
http://www.sevenfund.org/new-models-development/index.php
You can read more about “Rwanda Rising” in Fast Company HERE.
Good luck!
Chris Grande
For more on entrepreneurial ideas on global development, read my prior articles/posts:
Last year’s SEVen Fund contest announcement and more about SEVen HERE
Dead Money and the Problem with Global Aid HERE
Another Interesting Face in Economic Development HERE
In The River They Swim - Collection of Essays by global leaders on Development HERE
Vending Machine Gold
By · Comments6.20.09
Interesting idea - sell gold in a VENDING MACHINE! It has electronic links to quotes so you would get up to the minute pricing and it is sold in small denominations (5 or 10g?).
Enjoy!
Chris Grande
Oxymoron of the Day
By · Comments6.18.09
Folks, if the market were REALLY efficient as some academics say, then there should NEVER be a headline that says this:
Stocks Move Higher on Comments from Geithner
This statement should be an oxymoron. Just a thought…
Chris Grande
Great Jim Rogers Interview from Today Show
By · Comments6.18.09
Great Jim Rogers Interview on the today show:
Monday Thoughts - Kudrin Is Full of Crap
By · Comments6.15.09
Hi all - for those of you that pay quarterly taxes, today is the 2nd quarter due date!
Meanwhile, back to the main point. Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that Russia has confidence in the US currency at a meeting of the “BRIC” countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China - the emerging powerhouses). This followed words of confidence from Japan’s finance minister, Kaoru Yosano, last week. This was, in my opinion, a staged comment and utter rubbish - a mere delay tactic. let me explain more…
Why was there need to express confidence? Read More→
Black Swan Authors Warns About Forecasting
By · Comments6.13.09
Nassim Taleb writes an excellent book called the “Black Swan,” which I am sure many of you have heard of, which warns explicitly about the dangers of forecasting and moreover, how wrong most forecasters are MOST of the time, he still gets questions about predicting the future.
See this interesting TV interview where he shares his points:
Chris Grande