Speaking Personally Three Important Stories Quotes and Pointers 'So
if you're Nike, for example, and you just think, "I'm going to make
money in whatever way I can cheaply in the third world," and you don't
think, "Hang on, I've got a consumer brand with lots of people in the
rich world who are predominately using our brand for leisure." You
don't want to have their leisure experience tainted by the thought that
some little kid in Africa is being exploited. Then you're not very good
at understanding or managing the risks of your brands. You should
actually say, "Well look, this is a leisure product bought by wealthy
people in the Western world. We should really make sure that we look
after our workers properly in the developing world." That penny has
dropped with Nike very clearly. And if you're Wal-Mart and you
started to think about climate change, again how do you see it in terms
of costs of renewable energy and your ability to use your supply chain
to drive down costs? And [how do you see it in terms of] your customers
want to have products they feel better about? Then you can actually use
your purchasing power to make a huge difference that no charity is ever
going to be able to match on the environment. You can really make the argument that the penny dropping at Wal-Mart
has probably done more for improving the environmental performance of
all the firms working in China than anything any nonprofit has done or
anything any foreign government has done in China. So those are not
things that would have happened automatically. I don't believe that
capitalism is so efficient that people simply always do the thing that
is always in their rational self-interest.' 'CDR was hired after responding to a Dec. 30, 2003,
request for proposals from the New Mexico Finance Authority
for investment advisory services. Splitting the Mandate Six companies answered the request, which contained
two questions out of 39 items related to experience with
interest-rate swaps and guaranteed investment contracts. A
joint venture from Smith Barney and New York-based Ryan
Labs Inc. received the top score of 99 percent. CDR had the
second-highest score of 97 percent, authority records show. Rather than select the Smith Barney/Ryan Labs team as
both investment and swap adviser, the authority’s then-
Chief Financial Officer, Keith Mellor, recommended
splitting the mandate. The agency gave the swap adviser job
to CDR, which received the same score as the Smith
Barney/Ryan Labs team on the swap section of the proposals,
authority records show.' Martin Z. Braun and William Selway "With WLI growth barely above its all-time low seen two weeks ago, the U.S. recession will persist in the months ahead." Out and About on the Net. Out of Place: A HyperHistory of the Elusive Acoustics of Concert Hall Venues Evo Morales -- Mr. 50% to the people et alli is cross posted at The Intelligence Forum A.Word.A.Day from Wordsmith.org: seriatim
Forbes
article on how to be a good billionaire gives insight into a segment of
society that gave us Carnegie libraries. One of the Sunday Morning
news-maker interview shows mentioned a Federal grand jury investigation
of New Mexico state contracts. Its an important story because Bill
Richardson appointed many of the people who gave the contracts and he
is now probable US Secretary of Commerce. The explanation quoted below
is plausible. The press thankfully is not giving Richardson the Rod Blagojevich treatment but it should keep a careful eye on the grand jury proceedings.
How To Be a Good BillionaireGrand Jury Probes
Richardson Donor’s New Mexico Financing Fee
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December 2008
December 29, 2008
December 22, 2008
Speaking Personally
Three
Important Stories
Best Buy Profit Sinks; Firm Will Shed Workers
Angry, Outspoken Youths Become a Force in Darfur
Leveraged ETFs and Large Late Day Trading Moves
Quotes and Pointers
"We believe that there has been a dramatic and potentially long-lasting change in consumer behavior as people adjust to the new realities of the marketplace. We also believe that customers will continue to reward those retailers who understand their needs and desires, and offer relevant solutions at fair prices. Yet we clearly recognize that these changes require us to make significant adjustments."
'In the long run, outsiders also worry that a cohesive militant group will organize across Darfur’s many camps, just as they emerged in the Palestinian territories and among Afghan refugees.
The shabab, strident in their politics, watch warily for any sign of compromise with the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is being sought by an international prosecutor on charges of genocide and war crimes against the people of Darfur. Humanitarian officials suspect there are jails that the shabab help run in the camps, and that they mete out punishment like whippings to transgressors.
At Zalingei, United Nations officials have learned to give traditional sheiks 24 hours’ notice before any gathering outside the camps so that the sheiks can seek approval from elected shabab representatives.'
'Leveraged ETFs, now numbering over 100 in total (see lists here and here), have recently become popular since they allow market participants to take 2X and 3X positions on popular stock and sector indexes. Many of the leverage ETFs utilize swaps and options to achieve their leverage ratios. Not surprising, when the linked index or sector falls, corresponding stocks in the ETF have to be sold at a two to three times greater rate, increasing the moves in the indexes. In fact, the trend has become so predictable that many proprietary trading desks actively trade the levered ETFs toward the end of trading days with large moves, knowing that increased buying or selling is on its way'
David Enke
Out and About on the Net.
et alli is cross posted at The Intelligence Forum
A.Word.A.Day from Wordsmith.org: golconda