Wed April 8, 2015
Professor Elam
Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
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Professor Elam
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Professor Elam
Wed April 8 2015
Now this would be interesting
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Professor Elam
Wed April 8, 2015
And there's more! Auto companies, banks, and others are being investigated over corruption, read pay offs, in settling corporate tax disputes. Again South America is famous for pay offs to eliminate bothersome problems, not like paying taxes. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act forbids this but hey life goes on south of the border.
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Professor Elam
Wed April 8, 2015
Just a few years ago, the perennial country for the next century, Brazil, appeared poised to finally become just that.
Whoa, Back to the Future as the biggest corruption scandal yet unfolds. Perhaps it will have a bit different outcome this time. South America is notorious for bribery and corruption. this time nine young prosecutors are taking on the establishment, and there is a lot to take on.
Petrobas, a state owned petroleum company, made deals with construction companies. The companies themselves decided which would win each bid, at inflated prices. Money from the inflated prices for contracts of course found its way back to the pockets of Petrobras executives. The current President of Brazil was then Chairman of the Company but of c course she knew nothing of any of this, so much for the tone at the top and executive governance.
The Decline is Well Underway
After a recover from the 2009 crisis, the market has sensed that new Brazil is back to being the same old Brazil, a long slow decline.
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Professor Elam
Tuesday April 7, 2015
Last year several student attended the annual Globalscape meeting with me. GSB is a public company headquartered in San Antonio, TX. The specialty is the creation of software which allows one to send information across the internet without interruption.
We pretty much were the audience in attendance last year and there were no contentious issues. I expect that to be the case again this year. But if you are interested, the meeting will be
Thursday May 14, 2015
I strongly suggest you familiarize yourself with GSB via Finance.yahoo.com or via the company website listed below.
GlobalSCAPE, Inc.
4500 Lockhill-Selma
Suite 150
San Antonio, TX 78249
United States - Map
Phone: 210-308-8267
Website: http://www.globalscape.com -
Professor Elam
Tuesday April 7 2015
The FASB is proposing a time delay on implementing Revenue Recognition rules.
Start date is now period beginning after Dec 15 2017
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Professor Elam
Thursday April 2 201
Sears used to sell clothes and appliances, these days it is selling itself.
CEO Ed Lampert is great at buying back stock and and spinning off divisions, after sucking out all the cash. Now the firm is selling its real estate to an REIT. All this corporate finance shuffling is interesting but does nothing for the retail side of the business.
How long before Sears goes the way of Radio Shack?
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Professor Elam
Thursday April 2 2015
Eleven of the twelve former Atlanta public school educators accused of conspiring to cheat on student tests were found guilty Wednesday. Interestingly they were convicted using the RICO statute designed to catch organized crime.
35 were indicted March 2013, the others struck plea deals while this group gambled on a jury trial. Whoops, the judge denied bail and the eleven were ushered to jail in handcuffs. Beverly Hall the District Supt. denied culpability, to her dying day. Like Ken Lay at Enron, she died before going to trial herself.
No doubt none of the eleven ever dreamed they would end up losing their jobs much less going to jail for test tampering.
But the tone is set at the top. Here is an example of a Judge sending a message.
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Professor Elam
Wed April 1, 2015
The Corinthian 100 are refusing to make payments other student loans. And well they should. As Sarah Dieffenbacher, 37,remarks "I would like to see them (Dept of Education ) have to answer for why they allowed these schools to continue to take federal loans out when they (Corinthian College) were under investigation for the fraudulent activity they were dong .
We have written frequently that the next parallel to the mortgage crisis of 2008 would be the Trillion dollar student loan crisis. Already there are thousands of dissatisfied law school grads. Many have either sued or begun websites accusing law schools of false advertising.
Indeed the Federal Government put Corinthian out of business last year, hence the degrees are now worthless, pretty much.
This is not doubt the start of a larger emerging trend. And no doubt another Distant Early Warning DEW of bad things to follow in the economy.
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Professor Elam
Monday March 30 2015
Janet Yellen wonders if the US is suffering from secular stagnation.
Well add in over regulation and a completion of five Elliott Waves Up from the low in 1931, 1974, and 2009 and there you have it. The world is moving east.
Professor Elam 