Professor Elam

Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M

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  • Professor Elam

    Mish Looks Ahead

    Friday March 5 2010

    I have intentionally quoted from a couple of the new links I set up to encourage students to read them as well. Today Mish makes these observations. I agree and this reflects why I teach accounting. The study of accounting leads to various professional designations which are attained through examination. The predictions below support my advice to learn what certifications are available, make plans to obtain a certification, and begin integrating that study now in your college courses.  Yes I believe San Antonio, TX will weather this storm much better than say Flint, Michigan, but that means the slow down will finally be apparent here well after it is underway in Michigan, and Greece. Remember, I urged  you to start now….

    Implications

    • The labor pool participation rate will stay elevated instead of contracting as much as one might have thought. In turn …
    • The unemployment rate will stay elevated longer than economists think.
    • Kids out of college will have a harder time finding jobs.
    • Kids out of college will be forced to move back in with their parents.
    • Kids out of college will have no way of paying back college loans.
    • Parents who co-signed for their kids education will come to regret it.
    • The above factors will pressure discretionary spending of both boomers and those just out of college.
    • Those out of college will postpone family building.
    • Postponement of family building will further pressure housing prices.
    • Bankruptcies, foreclosures, credit card defaults, and walk-aways will continue longer than economists think.


  • Professor Elam

    ECONNED

    Friday March 5, 2010

    Picture 6  Jesse's Cafe reviews a new book about the meltdown. Yves Smith, the author, writes the blog Naked Capitalism. More time has elapsed since the initial flurry of books about the event, and this one reflects more thought on the events. The existence of re purchase or repo agreements figures prominently in the mix. It is available at Amazon, sounds like a good addition to the library. 

  • Professor Elam

    Creative Thinking, A Game to Replicate the Collapse

    Thursday March 4 2010

    The game of Monopoly was a Depression era game. Not surprisingly it dealt with real estate as that was the item of the day. Now comes, Collapse the Game !

    Picture 5  Click for a link to the site, one gets a game consisting of blocks labeled with the an apocalyptic event of the Crisis of 2008. Build a fort big enough with the blocks, and yes, you are too big to fail!  

    Only in America. 

  • Professor Elam

    Facebook Revisited

    Thursday March 4 2010

    Perhaps I am a bit too negative on Facebook. It is on schedule or so the speculation goes, to do $1.5 Billion in Revenue this year. While Sirius and XM still flirt with going concern ideas, right here on earth Facebook is a bonanza. I mention Sirius, the satellite radio folks, in that Facebook is a new outlet for advertising. Radio came of age in the 1920s as it was realized as an advertising medium. But…

    Radio is a passive medium, we listen to it in the background. Facebook is an active medium that takes our time and energy, yet produces no real product, rather like an ATT that does not send you a bill. You can make a 'phone call' or place a sort of 'wanna look at me' classified ad at no charge, and then see what happens. I suggested this would go on until most of the players needed to get back to work. Other sites such as Linked In provide more of an information sharing platform and are being used by professional groups. Will Facebook morph into more than a look at me site?

  • Professor Elam

    Psst, Wanna Buy an Island?

    Thursday March 4 2010

    A member of the German cabinet suggested that Greece has plenty of real estate, such as uninhabited islands it could see to raise cash, Indeed a bankruptcy sale is all about raising cash from assets. 

    In his book Why Government Dosen't Work Libertarian Harry Browne suggested the US Govt could sell the land in western states and use the cash to actually fund social security, removing it form Ponzi Scheme status. That of course never happened, and social security is still in trouble. 

  • Professor Elam

    Internship Available

    Wed march 3 2010

    Texas Organ Sharing Alliance is looking for an Accounting Asistant. This person will report ot the Director of Business Service.  Responsible for accounts payable and payroll opeartion. See me for more details.

    Apply to

    Central Region (Headquarters)

    Esmeralda “Mela” Perez
    Manager, Communication and Community Development
    8122 Datapoint, Suite 200
    San Antonio, Texas 78229
    (210) 614-7030

  • Professor Elam

    Rangell Rule, the Next Chapter

    Wed March 3 2010

    Charlie Rangell D NY heads the tax writing committee on Ways and Means. He has refused to relinquish that position in the face of numerous charges of failure to report and pay taxes, and lately taking trips sponsored by the corporations he regulates. Now a Texas Congressman wants a vote on Rep Rangell. 

    Carter has proposed the Rangell Rule. If a taxpayer forgets to pay his taxes, he simply writes Rangell Rule on the tax form and all penalty and interest are forgiven. This is the deal that Rangell and Geithner got. We study ethics in accounting but apparently that is not the case in Washington DC. We report, you decide.

    Forgive my hyperbole but as a CPA I represented many taxpayers over the years in my own practice. Such forgiveness simply does not happen for the rest of us. 

  • Professor Elam

    The ‘State’ of New Jersey

    Wed March 3 2010

    I know some of the students believe I have been exaggerating what is about to happen in the US economy. Well, listen to what newly elected New Jersey Gov Chris Christie has to say about budget cutting in his state, notably rated the worst to do business in the USA. He is referencing the famous scene in Butch Cassidy where in desperation, the two outlaws jump off  a high cliff into a river. We have about two to three generations that have never experienced hard times, and recoil at the very thought of it. For New Jersey, those times have arrived. 

    t's time for us to hold hands and jump off the cliff. It's time for us to do the difficult things that need to be done and to stop playing the petty politics of yesterday, of lying to the people telling them they do not have to pay for it because someone else will.

    We are going to make the leap because that's what people elected me to do. We are going to make the leap because it is the responsible thing to do. We are going to make the leap and we are going to do it together because that is what leadership demands for us. That is what the responsibility of the offices we hold requires of us.

    Forget about the next election. Forget about the next editorial in the newspaper, and forget about the next angry letter or phone call you are going to get from someone who wants something for nothing.

    One thing is certain. The alternative will lead to certain defeat. And so it is time for us to show courage, and resolve. And we can do it because we are from New Jersey. And I have never, in all my travels around the country, met a group of tougher people than we all have the opportunity to lead.

  • Professor Elam

    Money Never Sleeps

    Tuesday March 2 2010

    Picture 6 Without money, how would we keep score?

    Link to trailer 

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPCSAAtyLW8

  • Professor Elam

    Accounting Simplified

    Tuesday March 2 2010

    the process of accounting, one incurs a liability in exchange for a service or product, that liability is worked off short or long term and accounting allocates it by period, simple really but


    conversely, one moves product from inventory or provides the service, and so  one records a revenue item that is reflected in receivables and then finally into cash. in the case of a long term receivable like a lease or construction in progress, revenue is allocated or recognized by period, simple really but