Professor Elam

Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M

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  • Professor Elam

    Aply for Scholarships

    Tuesday Feb 25 2014

    A member of the Scholarship Committee reminded me that students must first apply for a scholarship available at TAMUSA. If you do not apply you cannot be considered.

    Use the link above to access the application. One requirement is to complete an essay on your thoughts on education.   Many business students are missing the boat so to speak on this one.

    An essay is just that. It is more, much more than a sentence or two. It is a coherent exposition of one's thoughts on a subject. It contains a topic sentence. The essay expounds on that topic sentence offering support and conclusions.

    Consider these lines from Emerson's Eulogy on Thoreau published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862.

    He chose to be rich by making his wants few, and supplying them himself. In his travels, he used the railroad only to get over so much country as was unimportant to the present purpose, walking hundreds of miles, avoiding taverns, buying a lodging in farmers and fishermen's houses, as cheaper, and more agreeable to him, and because there he could better find the men and the information he wanted.

    Indeed make your wants few and supply them yourself. Now there is an origianl thought.

    Those of you who have been in my classes have I think benefitted from reading Emerson.

    At any rate, we should have more business students applying for scholarships, and writing vigorous essays to support their being chosen.

  • Professor Elam

    1929 Versus Today

    Monday Feb 24 2014

    Tom DeMark and Tom  McClellan have both looked at the chart of the market from 1929 versus today.

    Mark Hulbert comments on the similarities. One can see the same sort of pattern now.

    What do you think?

  • Professor Elam

    Trivial Pursuits

    Weekend Feb 23 2014

    Screen Shot 2014-02-23 at 12.31.14 PM

     

    This trivial pursuits question is limited to those under 30 years of age, so Cary, no you can't post

    WHat is this young lady doing?

  • Professor Elam

    The Student Loan Problem

    Wed Feb 19 2014

    Medical costs and college costs have both soared the further the Federal Govt gets involved. Consider these two graphs from the blog http://www.OfTwoMinds.com

    Screen Shot 2014-02-19 at 1.20.16 PM

    College  tuition and fees have far outpaced the cost of health care and automobiles. At the same time in the second graph, total loan debt continues to skyrocket while the median salary for a BA degree falls.

    This is unsustainable. One student suggested lower interest rates, that is not the solution.

  • Professor Elam

    Rec Center?

    Tuesday February 18 2014

    A meeting is being held today at Brooks in Room  196, the large auditorium at 4 PM.

    the topic is teh possiblity of a rec center on campus.

    I thought we already had a rec center, here which is the Brooks City Base gym just down the street from us.

    I will be attending this meting and reporting back to all on it.

    A vote for a recreation fee barely failed by less than 20 votes last year.

  • Professor Elam

    Student Loan Debt Threatens Housing Market

    Tuesday Feb 18 2014

    The trillion dollar plus student loan debt now threatens the housing market. Young people who already have a mortgage equivalent debt are reluctant to take on more debt. New applications for mortgages are down 20% in the last four months.

    Student loan debt will eventually be the next sub prime mortgage crisis.

  • Professor Elam

    Cookie Cab, an Innovative Home Based Business

    Monday Feb 17 2014

    Two ladies in San Antonio have started The Cookie Cab.  Great ideas can be simple ideas, think Starbucks. 

    These two Moms started a home or business delivery revolving around, yes, several kinds of home baked cookies. One of them had worked for Ernst and Young, I invited her to campus but she is literally too busy to come!

    They deliver home baked cookies to your door here in San Antonio. I would be interested in how they Screen Shot 2014-02-17 at 2.44.34 PM

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    plan  for product production as well as lay out their routes i our large city. 

    They were featured in the SA Express News this weeekend, and better than that, now on this blog!

    Best wishes to the Cookie Cab. 

    Many ofyou might prefer a home based business to working for the other guy, any ideas out there?

  • Professor Elam

    Unemployed Professors

    Monday Feb 17 2014

    There is nothing new about ghost writing or outright outsourcing your work to some one else. The Germans supplied Hessian mercenaries for the British during our Revolt.

    But Unemployed Professors.com certainly takes this to a new level. One professor has written 594 paperas and one student quotes a $130 price.  so

    594 x 130 = $77,220 but the thought of writing 600 papers makes me think well into six digits quite frankly.

    Turnitin attempts to identify palgarism.But in an never before published paper that might be difficult.

    I did read a confession by one such 'professor' who said his favorites were the theology students. Yep, studying to be a minister apparently n omore imbues one with a sense of duty than any other major.

    Ethcally speaking who's the worrst here….student of the author?

  • Professor Elam

    Social Mood Sours on RAX

    Weekend Feb 15 2014

    A TAMUSA finance team entered in a contest guessed Rackspace would hit $80. It did for three days. Today it is less than half that collapsing 19% in one day as the CEO resigned. 

    RAX Two Year Weekly Chart with 13,34 Week Exponential Moving Averages

    Screen Shot 2014-02-16 at 11.53.40 AM

    RAX is the perfect example of positive and then negative social mood. I have a serious interest in Socionomics.  Socionomics is the new predictive social science. Events happen as a result of endogenously generated social mood. The chart above is a great example. Social mood was positive right up to the $80 level. Then for some reason, someone pulled the socio switch, and the market turned negative. NOte tehe immediate drop to 55. a ;evel the stock has not seen since. The stock took another hit this past week when the CEO resigned and earnings were less than expected. But understand the firm still earns 5% on gross.

    All the stories prior to February 2013 were seen as positive by the market. Example like 

    Scrappy start up in San Antonio Bucks the High Tech Odds for Location.

    Now however all news is seen as negative. No longer the scrappy start up but beleaguered by Amazon and Google and MSFT with with far more resources. Never Mind that MSFT with far more resources has botched every attempt at a tablet or mobile phone, the news is now all negative. 

    At  55 times earnings RAX is no doubt pricey but things won't improve until the mood for this stock changes. 

  • Professor Elam

    Becker CPA Review Added to Library

    Thursday Feb 13 2014

    A Big TAMUSA thanks for our Becker Rep Deb Alvarado. Deborah dropped off two sets of Becker CPA Review Manuals. These are now available for check out at our Reserve Desk via Tammie Woodward, Business Librarian. She is located at the rear of the computer lab.

    Thanks Deb!