Professor Elam

Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M

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  • Professor Elam

    Take this E Book Survey Please

    Wed May 4, 2011

    Thank you for being part of the e-book program this semester. As part of our evaluation of the e-book program, we are asking students to complete a short survey. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete and if they decide to provide their name and email address (optional), they will be registered for an e-book scholarship (approximate value of $60) for the Fall 2011 semester.  Please note: Students should only complete the survey once regardless of the number of e-book courses they are enrolled in.

    Here is a link to the e-book evaluation survey. Please post the link below to your Blackboard classroom and/or send it out in a Blackboard message or email. Students should complete the survey by May 22.

    http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tamu-sa-ebook-sp2011

  • Professor Elam

    Foreclosure Hits Glee

    Wed may 4, 2011

    http://www.businessinsider.com/foreclosure-crisis-hits-glee-2011-5

    Last night was a true socionomic moment for the popular show Glee. One of the characters had his home foreclosed, and had to move to a motel. The cast of course felt sorry for him. 

    See our companion blog site http://www.themarketperspective. I strongly suspect the tops of most markets have now been seen. 

    This then, linking the failure of the government to resolve the housing crisis, makes sense at the top of the markets. From here on out, the mood should and will be negative. 

    By the way we have mentioned in class the outrageous p/e of stocks like OPEN, it is down hard along with LVS. 

    The original Sands Hotel in Vegas is closing perhaps the perfect metaphor for this phase of the stock market. 

  • Professor Elam

    Budget Battles in Illinois

    Mish outlines the standoff in IL.  The Governor wants to withold money due to IL cities unless and until the cities give him permission to borrow even more money. The problem is excess current liabilities which cannot be met. Quin's solution is to borrow even more money and do so on a long term basis. This is somewhat the revers of what Lehman was doing. Lehman, Bear, and Merrill were borrowing short term using commercial paper to leverage long term bets on long term mortgages. When the mortages slowed in making their payments to the holders the house of cards collapsed. 

    This is quite foolish on Quinn's part, it never gets better, just like factoring receivables. We have studied budgeting in class but this is the real face of budgeting, who has the courage to say

    The King has no New Clothes!

     

  • Professor Elam

    CEO Stock Options

    Wed April 27 2011http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703789104576273042510527896.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStories

     

    We are studying corporate stock options in Intermed II. Please read the above article as it explains exactly what we are studying in Chapter 19 of Spiceland. 

  • Professor Elam

    Right to Work

    Tuesday April 26, 2011

     Most students do not even know what a right to work RTW law is, yet the New Civil War rages over just that issue. 

    Take a look at the markets blog and the three maps. A Right to Work Law simply means an employee cannot be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. Now the NLRB wants Boeing to be forced to stay in Washington State, a union shop state, to build airplanes. Boeing wants to build them in RTW South Carolina. 

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576284903351491180.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

    Lamar Alexander former Governor of TN examines the NIssan experience in his state, versus the UAW Saturn experience in the same state. 

    The Maps on the market blog show that the Northern states, the Union, are the union shop states and the Dem voting states. They are also losing jobs, fast, as well as population. 150 years after the Civil War began manufacturing is moving out of the North to the south. Boeing just announced it will re furbish 747 800 transports here in San Antonio. 

    The New Civil War has begun. The original War began at Fort Sumter, this one, well Madison WI or Seattle WA, take your pick but the fight is on. 

  • Professor Elam

    SA CPA Honor Student 2011

    Sunday April 24, 2011

    P4215868  Smiling sisters Jessica at left and Erika right pose in the lobby of the Oak Hills Country Club for the annual Meet the Firm Day of SA CPA. Erika was named our Accounting Student of the Year.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     Below Shirley Peterson Audit Manager for Ridout and Erika. 

      P4215793

    We were seated at the table sponsored by Ridout Barrett CPAs. Three of our student have worked or

    P4215810
    work there now including Jill Fogelle, John Dunne, and Will Holinsky. That's Roland Godsey at left, Tax Manager for Ridout.

    At bottom left President Wendi Taber calls the meeting to order!

     

     

     

     

     

    P4215808

     

  • Professor Elam

    Reading the Wall Street Journal

    Friday April 22, 2011

    I have mentioned in multiple classes that one needs to read the WSJ, one needs context to provide a basis for understanding derivatives. I looked on line but for some reason do not find today's commodity column. 

    It relates that a huge purchase of puts in the SLV ETF was made at a strike price of $25. The article explains this means the buyer suspects silver could fall to $25 from its over $40 lofty level now. 

    Again I urge you to take a look, I will bring the article to class Monday.

  • Professor Elam

    The CIty that Outsourced Everything

    Friday April 22, 2011

    Sandy Sprngs, GA split off from Atlanta and outsourced their services. We are studying budgets and pensions. Cities that are in trouble cannot fund their pension systems. Take a look. 

  • Professor Elam

    Derivatives

    Thursday April 21, 2011

     

    I posted my derivative presentation for Intermed II on Black board. I have made the same presentation to Cost and Intermed I as well as to a local accounting group. I have enjoyed visiting with Dr. Lewis Intl Accounting Class on the same subject as well as various currency gyrations. 

    MY aim is to make a two hour CPE Continuing Professional Education out of this. I am adding some brief history on how derivatives were involved and at the heart of the market meltdown in 2008. I am most interested in your feedback on how this could be improved, what should be added or subtracted. Please feel free to make a  post here or send me an e mail.

    dennis.elam@tamusa.tamus.edu

     

  • Professor Elam

    Earnings Per Share

    Thursday April 21, 2011

    Here is a link to a General Electric earnings report.  Thanks to an alert student in Intermed II>.

    This Forbes Report looks at the earnings reports for this week and how it supposedly affected the markets. I say supposedly because markets exhibit patterns that reflect social behavior. Earnings reports are a sort of white noise that generally confirm what is already happening.