another site
In a rational world, women in the U.S. would be
able to buy birth control over the counter — something that is
perfectly safe to do, and that women in other countries do as a
matter of routine. But, says A. Barton Hinkle, because American
women cannot, the country is now embroiled in an unnecessary debate
— one that, exacerbated by tendentious red-team/blue-team
cheerleading.
from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/11/a-barton-hinkle-says-more-contraception
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The following Third Point letter may or may not have been actually sent, although if indeed shareholder activists – more aggressive now than ever thanks to the brilliant idea of forcing management teams to lever themselves up to the gills with what for now appears to be cheap credit – do get some original ideas thanks to this particular Vanity Fair lampoon, then children around the world will have a fabricated Dan Loeb to thank for having their Christmas presents delivered by an army of highly efficient and profit-maximizing Amazon drones.
Source: a rather humorous Vanity Fair
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/xhu4iEozHuI/story01.htm Tyler Durden
December 11, 2013
Santiago, Chile
Earlier this week, Start-Up Chile announced the next round of new businesses who have been accepted to the program.
If you’re not familiar with it, Start-Up Chile is a government program that provides $40,000 in equity-free seed capital (plus a residency visa) to entrepreneurs and their startup companies who make the cut.
Now… in my worldview, this program shouldn’t even exist. This is a government program funded by Chilean taxpayers, and I don’t agree with the idea of government stealing people’s income for any reason.
Unfortunately we don’t get to live in a world where politicians cannot plunder the wealth of citizens.
But the compromise is that we get to vote with our feet and live where we want; we can choose to thrive in a place where taxation is relatively low… and where the politicians fund startups with taxpayer money rather than drones that drop bombs on children by remote control.
Chile is one of those places. It’s far from perfect, but the fundamentals are solid. The government balance sheet is strong– Chile has ZERO net debt. Yet the level of taxation here is among the lowest in the developed world.
So far Start-Up Chile has been a great success for the country.
I know many of the alumni who have come through the program, both foreign and local; several still operate their businesses here and have become successful, creating additional wealth and jobs in the local economy.
This latest round will bring in startups from 28 countries in industries as diverse as agriculture, travel, medical care, advertising, and cryptocurrencies. (Some of my students from our summer entrepreneurship camps have been accepted as well…)
I follow this closely, mostly because I’m an avid investor in startup companies.
With global markets trading at nose-bleed valuations, and almost every possible objective metric suggesting that a crash is coming, a conventional approach to investing seems crazy.
Besides, it’s clear that fundamentals no longer matter. Central bankers are spraying so much money into the system that the only thing driving stocks and bonds is the expectation of further printing. Central bankers have completely hijacked the markets.
I’m simply not willing to take Ben Bernanke on as my silent partner. This is why I invest in real assets– primarily, high quality agricultural properties and private operating businesses.
(Note- I didn’t say precious metals because gold and silver are a form of money to me, not an investment or speculation).
Given the long-term supply, demand, and policy fundamentals of agriculture, I think this sector is exactly the right place to be for the next decade. And owning physical, productive land is as close to the source as it gets.
Private businesses also make a lot of sense, allowing you to invest on the cutting edge of emerging trends and technologies, as opposed to big behemoth corporate bureaucracies. And while the risk potential is greater, so are the potential rewards.
I think any of us would have rather invested in Apple when it was just a startup in the Jobs family garage rather than the slow-moving bureaucracy it is today.
But just like great agriculture properties, such deals and talent are hard to find; this is one of the reasons I hold my entrepreneurship camps each summer, why my team and I travel the world looking at global opportunities, and why we follow programs like Startup Chile so closely.
We’re launching a new service after the holidays for investors who agree with this premise, but need help sourcing and navigating quality deals. More to follow on that in a future letter.
from SOVErEIGN MAN http://www.sovereignman.com/finance/why-i-dont-invest-in-stocks-and-where-i-do-park-my-investment-capital-13278/
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the next column to your right. What do you see? A donation box
that’s theeeeees close to being all filled up with
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Thanks for putting up with a week of sales pitches (though
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Take it away, Nick Gillespie & friends!
from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/11/last-day-of-the-reason-webathon-lets-mak
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But…we have a deal in DC?! As the safety bid for bonds and bullion continues, stocks are greatly rotating lower, retracing all the post-payrolls (taper is a good thing) gains. Perhaps more notably, attempts to juice stocks with EURJPY are failing (for now)…
Retraced…
EURJPY not working…. But AUDJPY is…
Charts: Bloomberg
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/szz7OL9auCQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden
A modest cut in the slowdown of the growth of debt in the most indebted nation on earth is being heralded as a ‘win’ by many (even if the ‘market’ is entirely ignoring it). We leave it to Speaker Boehner to explain the “compromise” but remind readers that the extension of emergency claims is off the table (for now) and thusly, the unemployment rate is about to drop notably – providing the Fed the cover (along with this fiscal ‘tailwind’) to spin a tale of taper sooner rather than later.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/NZzYjCLog_s/story01.htm Tyler Durden
A modest cut in the slowdown of the growth of debt in the most indebted nation on earth is being heralded as a ‘win’ by many (even if the ‘market’ is entirely ignoring it). We leave it to Speaker Boehner to explain the “compromise” but remind readers that the extension of emergency claims is off the table (for now) and thusly, the unemployment rate is about to drop notably – providing the Fed the cover (along with this fiscal ‘tailwind’) to spin a tale of taper sooner rather than later.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/NZzYjCLog_s/story01.htm Tyler Durden
With private sector loan creation in the US and Japan virtually unchanged since Lehman levels (and the US in danger of posting a negative comp in a very months) and Europe loan creation contracting at a record pace, it falls upon the Fed and Bank of Japan (and possibly the ECB soon) to inject the much needed credit-money liquidity into the system. And, as everyone knows, month after month the Fed and the BOJ diligently create $85 billion and $75 billion in new outside money out of thin air (that this “credit” ends up in the stock market is a different topic).
So to help readers get a sense of perspective how the US and Japan compare when matched to China, below we present a chart showing the fixed monthly “money” creation by the Fed and the BOJ compared to the most comprehensive money supply aggregate available in China – the Total Social Financing – for the month of November. The chart speaks for itself.
Basically, while everyone focuses on the breakneck money creation by the Fed and the BOJ, what happened in the past month is that China quietly created some 20% more money. Perhaps most impotantly, between these three entities, nearly $400 billion in liquidity was created de novo in one month! Because when the entire world is a credit-fueled ponzi scheme, these are the kind of numbers that matter.
For those curious, here is a more detailed breakdown of the Chinese numbers from Bank of America.
New bank loans and TSF rebounded notably in November
Despite higher and volatile interbank rates and rising bond yields, credit growth remained quite robust towards year-end. Two most watched data points, new bank loans and Total Social Financing (TSF), rebounded notably to RMB625bn and RMB1230bn respectively in November from RMB506bn and RMB856bn in October. YoY bank loan growth remained unchanged at 14.2%, while yoy outstanding TSF growth moderated to 19.5% from 19.7%. Today’s money & credit data should be positive for markets which have been worried that the PBoC could tighten credit supply to reduce leverage by citing rising bond yields and interbank rates.
Details of TSF: All financing activities accelerated
Loan details: demand for working capital remained decent
* * *
So how long before the developed and developing world “have” to create $1 trillion or more in money supply each month to keep the house of cards from toppling?
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/3lToNGkt1XQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden
If Nixon deserved points for going to China, Rand Paul deserves
points for going to Detroit — and trying to convert the GOP
from a pasty white guys’ party to a multi-hued one where everyone,
even people with “pony tails, tattoos and earrings,” are
welcome.
But his actual plan to try and save Detroit by creating Economic
Freedom Zones, I note in the Washington Examiner this
morning, is simply old garb with new accessories. It’s basic
premise that it is not government but entrepreneurs who can revive
economic basket cases like Detroit is obvious to everyone (except
liberals, communists and the Pope). But the problem is that the
lovers of America’s regulatory state will never unshackle
entrepreneurs and let them work their magic as this plan would
require. I note:
This approach worked well in England,
turning London’s depressed docklands into a super-dynamic hub for
finance and other businesses in the 1980s. It also transformed
India’s
Bangalore from a sleepy little town (that Winston Churchill once
compared to a prison) into a global IT powerhouse in the 1990s.But it has been a disappointing failure in America. Why? Because
neither Republicans nor Democrats have ever managed to create
anything resembling a genuine enterprise zone.
Go
here to read the whole thing.
from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/11/rand-pauls-sham-plan-to-save-detroit
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If Nixon deserved points for going to China, Rand Paul deserves
points for going to Detroit — and trying to convert the GOP
from a pasty white guys’ party to a multi-hued one where everyone,
even people with “pony tails, tattoos and earrings,” are
welcome.
But his actual plan to try and save Detroit by creating Economic
Freedom Zones, I note in the Washington Examiner this
morning, is simply old garb with new accessories. It’s basic
premise that it is not government but entrepreneurs who can revive
economic basket cases like Detroit is obvious to everyone (except
liberals, communists and the Pope). But the problem is that the
lovers of America’s regulatory state will never unshackle
entrepreneurs and let them work their magic as this plan would
require. I note:
This approach worked well in England,
turning London’s depressed docklands into a super-dynamic hub for
finance and other businesses in the 1980s. It also transformed
India’s
Bangalore from a sleepy little town (that Winston Churchill once
compared to a prison) into a global IT powerhouse in the 1990s.But it has been a disappointing failure in America. Why? Because
neither Republicans nor Democrats have ever managed to create
anything resembling a genuine enterprise zone.
Go
here to read the whole thing.
from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/11/rand-pauls-sham-plan-to-save-detroit
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