Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
Wed Jan 11, 2012
Okay I cna handle American Airlines like the others going BK
Eastman Kodak is no surprise as it has been headed that way for some time
But Twinkies, and second go at that!
Yes the venereable Hostess Brands is Chapter 11, too many, 372, union contracts out of control.
Friday Jan 6, 2011
On the marketpersepective post I commented on Kodak. I wondered what it was that they would save in a Chapter 11 which is reorganization. Chapter 7 is We Give Up, Call the Aucitioneers.
I don't see that EK has anything left to do. I am guessing that most of their patents all have to do with processing film. Oddly EK invented the digital camera but then the Swiss watch makers invented the digital watch as well, only to sell it to the Japanese.
What would ED sell, certainly not photo prints, or cameras, or computer printers.
But then it hit me, what if the workers at EK had been members of the United Auto Workers? Here is the real management failure, had they all signed on to the UAW three four years ago as sales sagged and losses mounted, the government would have bailed them out.
To do what, beats me, but you can be sure EK would not be looking at The End now if that were the case.
Cynicsm aside, EK is a great example of just how fast things can change. Smith Corona, Remington Rand, Epson, Packard Bell, all gone or changed
Will this idea work for Polaroid
http://www.polaroid.com/en/stream
Hmm, I can do that with my HP printer.
And so it goes.
Wed Dec 28, 2011
Natural Gas is at a decade low discount to crude oil. Coal is being regulated out of use by the Obama Administration. But the low prices of natural gas are making it a favored substitute over coal. And nat gas burns a lot cleaner than coal.
Historic Comparison Nat Gas to Crude Oil
It is hard for most of us to think in fractions but here nat gas is about 3% of the value of crude oil, think $100 /3.15. I put the 50 month MA i to show that .1-.15 is a much more frequent valuation. So the two markets are lopsided, would the arbitragers please step forward. Chesapeake CHK is at top a major player in the nat gas industry.
Crude Oil versus Nat Gas
It is probably easier to relate a ratio of 32 to 1 than one of 3%. Here the ratio is crude oil to nat gas.
With nat gas everywhere but under the White House it is only logical that we would use it, well logical too all except those in the White House. I still have 250 share of UNG and may average down here but I do not recommend such ETFs, They are subject to serious difficulties as the fund has to re invest every month as the current futures go off the board.
Wed Dec 28, 2011
Doug Kass has his 15 Srurprises for 2012. Notably he sees the Market at the same level at year end 2012 aas now. His similar prediction for 2011, same same also was correct.
I will have my prediction list later but I see he is recommending GM as I did as well as Energy and Energy Service shares as well as gold mining shares.
Wed Dec 28, 2011
Here is a great example that puts the mammoth numbers congress is tossing around in
Taking the wealth is not the road to wealth.
Wed Dec 28, 2011
I have referred to Photographer Kirk Tuck's blog several times Please take time to read
Lonely Hunter, Better Hunt He is describing what it takes to become a better photographer. But realizing most of you will not do this, here are the summary paragraphs. In the second paragraph, substitute the words accomplishment or achievement for photography, and you have what it takes to succeed as a student- of anything. And yes I left his final comment as is. Group work is popular in academic circles these days. I recently posted a story on the MBA at Yale and that is about all it was. I agree with Kirk, you want to mast the topic, you have to do the work.
Ms. Kingsley can be reached directly at (210) 884-8701 or at Laura.a.kingsley@gmail.com
Laur is avaiable by appointment at the Brooks Campus.
Dec 9, 2011 Friday
Yep time for ethics class. Funny we never run out of candidates and never need to go back to older material,There is never a lack of candidates for Who's the Worst in the latest time frame. While far from the worst, there should be a category for the most entertaining, and that is clearly
Rob Blagoevich, former Governor of IL. The Governor before him is in jail and Rob now faces
14 years to do himself. This is hardly fair, he talked about selling Barack's Senate Seat, and he threatened to withold money from a Children's hospital until receiving a campaign donation (that's illegal he 
wondered) but after all, he did not cost anyone any lost money, more than we can say for Richard Fuld of Lehman or our next truly worth contestant
Tuesday Dec 6, 2011
We recently featured a story on the San Antonio Ragtime Society hosting Bryan Wright.
I don't know if this link will work b but the WSJ featured a story on the first and only opera that
Scott Joplin wrote. Joplin was black, a native of Texarkana, TX. He wrote the music specifically for the sort of orchestra that one would find in vaudeville theaters, not opera theaters, ie, for the average attendee not the up market type at operas at the time.
This is an interesting historic piece on the development of American Music.
Sunday Dec 4, 2011
I, and several million others, thoroughly enjoyed roaming the world in Ian Fleming's tales of the great British agent James Bond. Fleming wrote for the London Sunday Times. He took a month off each year, vacationing in what must have been the then laid back island of Jamaica in the 1950s. He also wrote a couple of children's books, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a non fiction Thrilling Cities.
But it was the tales of Bond after a super villain the enthralled us all. The precise description of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, now wrapped round his knuckles, Bond rising to the balls of his feet, and then spinning, dropping low, using the circular momentum of his turn to accelerate the metal bracelet into the solar plexus of the man behind him,
well or something like that. Fleming lived to see the first two films, Dr. No and From Russia with Love turned into movies. Those two were the most accurate of the entire series as being faithful to the original novels. by the third, Goldfinger the race to gadgets and a bevy of women was on and frankly the series went a bit flat.
There have been other attempts to replicate the Bond saga with various writers since Fleming's death. Bur in my opinion, none have captured the essence of the detail, page turning plots, and exotic locales and bad guys envisioned by Fleming.
Jeffery Deaver changes all that with Carte Blanche.
Highly recommended, I checked it out of the library Friday and should finish today. It's all here, the weird international villain, Felix Leiter, the Bentley, the Walther, and the precise descriptions of every details form the food to the drinks. The role of women has been appropriately updated for a new more significant role in society. And Deaver has done his research, Jack Bauer and Bond both need their PDAs….
Bond is back, make ours shaken not stirred.
Professor Elam 