municipal bonds: Ekim 2012

13 Ekim 2012 Cumartesi

Learn Chinese Calligraphy at the Bridgewater Library

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Fred Hsu will teach Chinese Calligraphy on Saturday, October 13th at 1:00 pm in the Bridgewater Library Meeting Rooms A,B,C.

Bridgewater Library
1 Vodt Drive
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
908-526-4016
www.sclsnj.org

Chinese calligraphy, the writing of characters, is an art which has developed over many centuries in China. Fred Hsu has been practicing calligraphy since 1971. His expertise is with Lishu, known as the clerical script and the most common 'regular' script called Kaishu.

You must register to attend. Click on this link to sign up: http://bit.ly/R7vY7w.

Patrons with further questions can call the Bridgewater Library at (908)526-4016 or visit the website at http://www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

The Bridgewater Library presents Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Networking Night

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The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Networking Night
October 23, 7-8:30PM

Bridgewater Library
Meeting Rooms ABC
1 Vogt Drive
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
908-526-4016
www.sclsnj.org

Join us at the Bridgewater Library for an evening of mixing and mingling with newly appointed Regional Advisor Leeza Hernandez. Learn more about the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and how this group can work for you. Hear from local authors and how SCBWI helped them to get published.

Stay after the event for networking and light refreshments.

This event is FREE. Registration is required. Call Adult Services, 908-526-4016 x105, to sign up, or register online at www.sclsnj.org. Or click on this link: http://bit.ly/SFbmSD.

Patrons with further questions can call SCLS at (908)526-4016 or visit the website at http://www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

Warren Twp Library - Next week's free programs for adults

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Warren Twp Library
42 Mountain Boulevard
Warren, NJ 07059
908-754-5554 ext 64
www.sclsnj.org

There is an App for that! 7 PM, Tuesday, October 9. Reference Librarian Nan Peterson presents this program to learn more about phone apps which help with organization, productivity, news, travel, dining and entertainment - all free and all available for both iPhones and Androids. If you feel you haven't taken full advantage of your Smartphone, this program is for you.

Interior Design Basics: 7 PM, Wednesday, October 10. Joyce Lahmidi from Tapestry Interiors and Decorative Painted Design will offer a list of steps to help approach the design of a room from the floor up. She will also offer resources such as websites, books, magazines and articles to help with the process. Joyce will go over what is trending and show new products and their uses in the home. Time is set aside for questions and input from attendees, who are encouraged to bring their design questions and problems.

Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State: 7 PM, Thursday, October 11. Author David Wheeler will explore NJ's long-overlooked biodiversity and outdoor adventures in a narrative-driven format. An eye-opening guide to the world outside our windows, 'Wild New Jersey' serves as an armchair tour of the state's environmental wonders. David Wheeler will recount his fascinating yearlong tour of NJ's wildlife and ecology. He explored caves, rivers, mountains, Pine Barrens, beaches, etc. This program will offer a comprehensive look at NJ's wild side with history added to it in context.

Film Noir: 2 PM, Saturday, October 13. During Hollywood's Golden Age, at the height of the studio system, a new breed of crime drama began to emerge. These dark tales with an equally stark look told the stories of men and women living in the shadows and the underbelly of society. Classic stories like 'The Maltese Falcon', 'Double Indemnity', 'The Killers', and 'Night and the City' changed filmmaking forever with characters who risked everything for 'the stuff that dreams are made of'. Chris Messineo, director of NJ Film School, will discuss the genre known as 'Film Noir', in a dynamic presentation with examples from different famous movies.

Pre-registration is required to attend these programs. Click on this link to access our online registration page, http://libraryinsight.net/calendarmv.asp?nMonth=10&nYear=2012 or call 908-754-5554 ext 64 for more information or assistance with registration.

The Warren Twp Library is located at 42 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, NJ 07059. For more information, visit SCLS at www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung

Colonial 'Kitchin' Garden @ Mary Jacobs Library

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Thursday, October 18, 7:00 PM
Mary Jacobs Library
Program Room
64 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, NJ 08553
609-924-7073

Join Master Gardener Ruth Claus for an imaginary stroll through a colonial 'kitchin' garden. Herb gardens such as these were absolutely necessary for the early settlers.

Ruth grew up on a 55-acre truck garden in Indiana and has been an enthusiastic gardener ever since. After retirement, she voluntered for the Master Gardener program of Somerset and Hunterdon Counties, and was certified in 2001. She served on the bi-county Master Gardener Executive Board and then became its president for 2007 and 2008.

Registration is required for this program.To register, click the link below.

http://www.libraryinsight.net/eventdetails.asp?jx=mjp&lmx=282631

For more information, visit Mary Jacobs Library Adult Reference Desk or call ext 4 or visit the website at http://www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

Next 'BOBO Friday' Food Collection - Oct. 19

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The next “Buy One, Bring One” food drop-off sponsored by the Somerset County Board of Freeholders will be Friday, Oct. 19.

Freeholder Director Patricia Walsh announced that Bound Brook Borough Hall and the Bernardsville Library have joined the BOBO program in the past month. The initiative has collected almost 7 tons of donations since she launched it in July 2010.

Look for the blue BOBO Fridays bins at these county locations:

Somerset County Administration Building, 20 Grove St., Somerville
Somerset County/Bridgewater Library, North Bridge Street & Vogt Drive, Bridgewater
Park Commission Headquarters, 355 Milltown Road, Bridgewater
Environmental Education Center, 190 Lord Stirling Road, Basking Ridge
Lord Stirling Stable, 256 S. Maple Ave., Basking Ridge

Towns that have BOBO Fridays bins in their municipal buildings are: Bedminster, Bound Brook, Franklin, Green Brook, North Plainfield and Raritan.

The following county branch libraries have BOBO Fridays bins: Bernardsville Library, Bound Brook Memorial Library, Mary Jacobs Memorial Library (Rocky Hill), North Plainfield Library, Peapack-Gladstone Library, Somerville Public Library and Warren Township Library.

Canned or boxed food items are accepted. Personal-care items, including bath soap, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo and toilet paper, also are collected since these items are not covered by food stamps. For ideas about healthy foods to donate, go to http://bit.ly/FoodPantryDonations

Although the targeted collection schedule is the third Friday of every month, the bins are available every day, so donations may be dropped off at any time during regular business hours at all locations.

2012 Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Patricia L. Walsh, Freeholder Director Å¸ Peter S. Palmer, Freeholder Deputy Director
Robert Zaborowski, Freeholder Å¸ Patrick Scaglione, Freeholder Å¸ Mark Caliguire, Freeholder

12 Ekim 2012 Cuma

The Bridgewater Library presents Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Networking Night

Warren Twp Library - Next week's free programs for adults

Paranormal Activity at the Hillsborough Public Library!

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Looking for a eerily good time? Join us at the Hillsborough Public Library for two supernatural programs!

Saturday, October 13 at 2pm: Paranormal Archeology...What is it?

The Somerset County Historical Society and the Hillsborough Public Library present author Richard Kimmel, a member of the New Jersey Ghost Organization, which has become a recognized investigative group. Mr. Kimmel will present an enlightening program about how the earth can be thought of as a vast storage of information that can reveal the past, not just archaeologically or scientifically, but paranormally!

Monday, October 15 at 7pm: New Jersey's Darkest Hour and the Ghosts of Morven

Donald Johnstone Peck is back! Author, historian, speaker and long-time preservationist will lead us once again in unpacking the fascinating dimensions of New Jersey's rich Revolutionary War history. New Jersey was "revolution central" for most of the war and is rich in colonial history and....ghosts! Many decisive historic battle sites still exist and Peck provides a fresh analysis of events and the personalities involved with them.

Register NOW for these two great events! You can sign up in person, on our website www.sclsnj.org or on Facebook, or call 908 369-2200 ext 13.

The Hillsborough Public Library is located at 379 South Branch Road, Hillsborough, NJ. Check us out on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hillsborough-Public-Library/148841041821130.

The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, Manville, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

Colonial 'Kitchin' Garden @ Mary Jacobs Library

Next 'BOBO Friday' Food Collection - Oct. 19

Somerset County Administration Building, 20 Grove St., Somerville
Somerset County/Bridgewater Library, North Bridge Street & Vogt Drive, Bridgewater
Park Commission Headquarters, 355 Milltown Road, Bridgewater
Environmental Education Center, 190 Lord Stirling Road, Basking Ridge
Lord Stirling Stable, 256 S. Maple Ave., Basking Ridge

11 Ekim 2012 Perşembe

The Bridgewater Library presents "Is This Thing On?" featuring author Abby Stokes

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OCTOBER 25, 9:30-10:30AM
Meeting Rooms ABC
Bridgewater Public Library
1 Vogt Drive
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
908-526-4016 x 105
www.sclsnj.org

Abby Stokes has demystified computers for more than 180,000 people, mostly seniors, during the past 18 years. A firm believer that "if my mother can learn the computer anyone can," Abby is confident that everyone can master the computer and navigate the Internet.

With a lively voice and crystal clear step-by-step instructions, this simple, jargon-free, nuts-and-bolts guide is the how-to for basics such as:

- Conquering your fear of technology
- Deciding between a desktop or a laptop
- Creating a comfortable, safe workplace
- Sending your first e-mail
- Getting the scoop on BlackBerrys, iPads, iPods, e-readers, and more

Event is free but registration is required. Call Adult Services, 908-526-4016 x105 or click this link to sign up now: http://bit.ly/QPtz3x.

Patrons with further questions can call SCLS at (908)526-4016 or visit the website at http://www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

Old Presbyterian Graveyard Tours

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Saturday, October 13 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday, October 14 - Noon to 5:00 pm

Old Presbyterian Graveyard
East Street & East High Street (adjacent to Bound Brook Library)
Bound Brook, NJ 08805

The Old Presbyterian Graveyard in Bound Brook is the final resting place of Bound Brook’s earliest citizens, as well as many Revolutionary War soldiers. Veterans of the Mexican War and the Civil War are also buried here.

Come and learn about this hallowed ground. See the impressive artwork on memorial stones. Learn the meaning behind the inscriptions and epitaphs. Glimpse into the hearts and minds of Bound Brook’s earliest citizens.

Bound Brook Memorial Library Reference Librarian Mary Nelson will provide FREE guided tours of the graveyard. The tours will feature the intact gravestones of fifteen Revolutionary War soldiers and the gravesite of Dr. William McKissack, a captain in the Revolutionary War and a founder of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey. No registration required. Tours ongoing throughout the day.

The Old Presbyterian Graveyard is one of twenty-seven sites open to the public for this event. Go to http://www.co.somerset.nj.us/schistoryweekend/ for more information on these sites and the Weekend Journey Through the Past.

Patrons with further questions can call the Bound Brook Library at (732) 356-0043 or enter the website at http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/boundbrook.htm. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

East Coast Ghost

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Presented by author Carlotta Holton.

Tuesday, October 16 at 7:00 p.m.

Bound Brook Library
402 E. High St.
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
(732) 356-0043
Directions: http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/boundbrook.htm

Stories and travel logs from articles the author had published in The Record of Bergen County and her books.

Includes:

The Ghost of Giles Corey - Salem, Massachusetts (Henry St. cemetery)
The Ghost of Jerusha Howe and the Secret Drawer Society at Longfellow's Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Massachusetts
Searches for the Jersey Devil, NJ Pinelands
Williamsburg Ghost tours
Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina
Edgar Allen Poe's haunted house, Maryland Poe's house, now a museum, is haunted. There are cold spots and people have felt something tapping them on the shoulder. Windows fly open and shut by unseen hands. Witnesses have reported seeing an overweight grey haired woman dressed in clothing of the 1800s. People have heard mysterious voices. An actress was getting dressed for a play based on Berenice, a horror story Poe wrote.

This program is free and open to the public. Registration is requested. Call (732) 356-0043 to sign up or click on http://www.libraryinsight.net/eventdetails.asp?jx=jbp&lmx=247432&v=3 to register online.

Patrons with further questions can call the Bound Brook Library at (732) 356-0043 or enter the website at http://www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

I Took the Shot...Now What?? - Digital Photo II

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Thursday, October 18 at 7:00 p.m.

Bound Brook Library
402 E. High St.
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
(732) 356-0043
Directions: http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/boundbrook.htm

Well-known NJ Photographer, Walter Choroszewski brings his expertise, humor and techie know-how to an informal and fun Digital Photo Class II advising on the “Next Steps” required after you took the shot!

This program is free and open to the public. Registration is requested. Call (732) 356-0043 to sign up or click on http://www.libraryinsight.net/eventdetails.asp?jx=jbp&lmx=245799&v=3 to register online.

Patrons with further questions can call the Bound Brook Library at (732) 356-0043 or enter the website at http://www.sclsnj.org. The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.

Final 100th Anniversary Lecture - Saturday, October 13th

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Hamilton FarmA lecture by John C. Smith

Saturday, October 13
at 2:00 p.m.

Greene Hall at St. Luke's Church
182 Main Street, Gladstone, New Jersey 07934

One of the area’s greatest estates is the subject of the fourth and final lecture in Peapack & Gladstone Library’s series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the borough's founding.

The lecture will be an overview of Hamilton Farm, the historic estate in Bedminster and its surrounds, presented by John Charles Smith of Far Hills.

Smith is a local landscape architect and historian. He also serves on the board of the Friends of the Historic Vanderveer Knox House and museum in Bedminster, and is chairman of the Peapack-Gladstone Historic Preservation Commission.

This lecture is sponsored by the Peapack & Gladstone Library, and is free and open to the public.
Refreshments will be served, courtesy of the Friends of the Peapack & Gladstone Library.

10 Ekim 2012 Çarşamba

Even With New Greek Debt Deal, Europe Faces Long Road Ahead

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It sometimes seems as though every day we are treated to a new twist or turn in the roller coaster that is the European debt crisis. While it appears as though the worst is passed, that the Euro is safe and that the EU powerhouses will finally pull the continent through the economic downturn, news from Europe continues to put a wrench into any rosy forecasts. Most recently, negotiators in Greece agreed to severe austerity measures in exchange for a 130 billion Euro bailout package from the IMF and the EU. This is the good news. The bad news is what came after the deal was announced – a widespread uproar and infighting among Greece’s political order, and calls for yet another 2-day strike by the country’s angry citizens.While such a reaction was not unexpected, the situation nonetheless calls Greece’s bailout hopes and stabilization prospects into question once again. In order to implement the EU deal, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos will likely need to restructure his cabinet, a move that could spell a collapse for the unity government and another round of elections. Of course, Papademos will also have to address the turmoil in the streets and the grinding halt in the workforce if he wants to assure government ministers to vote for the austerity measures in the face of widespread opposition. The measures include pension cuts, minimum wage reductions, widespread layoffs, and collective bargaining impairments. Although they are still demanding over $400 million more in cuts in the long term, eurozone finance ministers sent global stock markets higher by agreeing to the measures in principle.
Greece has a debt that stands at 160 percent of its GDP. Its unemployment rate, meanwhile, hovers somewhere between 20 and 25 percent. European leaders want to see both of these numbers substantially slashed.
Even if Greece can get austerity cuts passed and make turn a bailout package into reality, a few larger questions looms on the horizon. Will the Eurozone recover? Can the continent handle another debt crisis? Considering the rapid pace at which government debt is rising relative to GDP in several countries – chief among them Spain, Portugal, and Ireland – it’s not inconceivable that the Greek debt crisis will quickly give way to a Spanish and Irish incarnation. Will those countries be able to successfully implement austerity measures without threatening political and social disorder? It’s a question that few European finance minister are willing to ask but one that many have probably considered.
All signs suggest that Greece is not the final roadblock in the EU’s effort to emerge from the financial turndown. It is likely that future bailouts and austerity plans are in the future for several other countries. While Greece may have shouldered most of the burden this time around, there’s little doubt that, the longer this issue persists and the more widespread it becomes, the more likely all of Europe is to descend into a period of mid-term stagnation. Furthermore, many analysts predict that large-scale austerity measures will only initiate a negative feedback loop that stifles recovery and pushes Europe further into a new recession.
In Europe, recovery and growth will both depend highly on the power of state resources. Too much austerity, and growth will be difficult to spark. Too little, and spiraling debt will only further exacerbate budgets and markets. In order to move forward, then, as a strong and unified continent, Europe needs to forge an appropriate path between the two – in Greece as well as in Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. Until that happens the global economy will continue to feel its reverberations.

The "Buffett" Rule

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Warren Buffett, the billionaire magnate, investor and philanthropist, has been getting a lot of face time in the news these past couple years. He made waves all across the media with his assertion, in a New York Times op-ed, that the super-rich in America were getting “coddled” and should be expected to pay more in taxes. Famously claiming that he wanted to pay more in taxes, Buffett has been a strong adversary to the Bush-era tax breaks for rich people and corporations, calling for higher rates on investments.
President Barack Obama's 2013 budget proposal will pay tribute to Buffett with something called the “Buffett” rule, which will replace the alternative minimum tax that was originally established for the purpose of limiting the deductions rich taxpayers could use to reduce their taxable income. The rule calls for a tax increase of $1.5 trillion over the next decade (around $36.7 billion a year) in a plan that will effectively end the Bush era tax cuts and mandate anyone earning more than $1 million a year to pay 30% in income taxes.
In what will almost assuredly result in a fiery election year showdown with Republicans, Obama's proposal specifically calls for a reduction in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and U.S.-based multinational corporations. In his budget message, Obama said that Americans earning “$50,000 a year should not pay taxes at a higher rate than somebody making $50 million.”
Opponents of the plan say it will cause investors to dial down their spending, which will effectively stifle innovation and business growth. Most of these critics want deficit reduction to come from a reduction in funding for “entitlement” programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The major points of contention revolve around the marginal tax rate, or tax bracket, which affects how much someone will be paying in taxes after deductions and credits.
Theoretically, an investor such as Warren Buffet is currently protected from a top 35% rate by the accumulation of capital gains, dividends, and other forms of interest enjoyed by hedge fund managers. This “carried interest,” as it is called, essentially amounts to untaxed investment funds paid to managers by private equity. This is also known as a “performance fee,” from which most wealthy investors receive a great deal of their annual income. Fiscal conservatives don't consider performance fees to be entitlements.
We can expect a mighty congressional showdown later this year over the “Buffett” rule. In the meantime, we'll be treated to more rhetoric and number-crunching by politicos attempting to wrangle the facts of the tax code to fit their ideologies.

Big Banks, Smaller and Smaller Loans

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There is great debate over how big of role of big banks have in spurring economic growth with small business loans. Some analysts argue they're doing enough, while others point to the hefty federal bailouts the nation's biggest banks have received and ask why more of that money isn't being flushed back into the system in order to create job growth and healthy small businesses. We can list some facts, but must keep in mind that facts bend and can be used by virtually anyone to prove a point. First, let's define what constitutes a small business. On a purely financial basis, small businesses or usually thought of as businesses with a revenue of $20 million of less. These businesses depend on banks for loans so they can expand their services and infrastructure and invest in new business models, like e-commerce, cloud services, and virtualization. Without loans, most small businesses can't grow into big businesses.
Unfortunately, recent numbers released by the FDIC paint a dismal picture of the role big banks play in supplying money to small businesses. The top 5 banks in America—Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs—only contributed 16% of the nation's small business loans, even after these same banks took in a combined $151.59 billion in TARP bailout funds and sit on 40% of the nation's deposits. As a result of these poor loan figures, many small business owners who need loans are not even requesting them. Many financial analysts feel this is not the kind of entrepreneurial atmosphere that will trigger economic growth.
On the other hand, one can also look at these numbers as signs that financial institutions are practicing more stringent oversight. We've seen what can happen when millions of loans are issued to people who can't repay them. This resulted in the crash of the housing market that contributed greatly to our economic stagnation. While small businesses originally benefited from this inflated consumer confidence, they are now suffering from an epidemic of stingy lenders. Is it that the big banks are trying to prevent a similar crisis from delinquent small business owners by encouraging better credit and more responsible loan delegation? Or do we have reason to think that the institutions who have been deemed “too big to fail” don't feel the same way about America's collective entrepreneurial spirit? After all, if banks are too big to fail, so are the people who invest their money in them.

Prepaid Cards On The Rise

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Traditionally, prepaid cards have been used by people without bank accounts (which describes one in five Americans) and federal agencies giving out benefits. But prepaid cards are one of the newest financial trends, with use of them rising 68% from 2010 to 2011, making them the fastest growing payment method in the nation. And it's not just lower-income sections of the populace using them now. Many middle to upper class consumers are looking at pre-paid cards as a way to ensure they don't trudge in the murky waters of debt. They're also frequently being used to fund students studying abroad.
Many issuers are looking to incentivize consumers to utilize prepaid cards by eliminating overdraft fees, as is the case with the Green Dot prepaid card. Green Dot, which has more than 4.3 million cards in circulation, receives a large amount of its new customers from ex-bank account holders at their wit's end. Indeed, many consumers are also looking at prepaid cards as a welcome respite from the exorbitant fees being charged by banks, although ironically more and more banks are relying on prepaid cards to generate extra revenue.
Accordingly, many issuers have also eliminated maintenance, reloading and activation fees, which have all been traditional caveats to prepaid plastic. While the cards can't help you to build financial leverage with a credit bureau, as is the typical draw of a credit or debit card, some people are looking at them as a small step toward financial responsibility, as they essentially force you to limit your own spending ability beforehand.
Prepaid card funds are insured by the FDIC, just like other payment methods, but do not run up the traditional interest of a credit card. This may be one of the catalysts for the swarm of consumers looking to purchase them. In 2011, $70 billion dollar was placed onto prepaid cards. That number is expected to hit $120 billion, nearly double, this year. What's the message here? Well, there's probably a few. One is that the economy is still weak, and consumers are reluctant to accrue more debt on a credit card. Another message is that merchants should make sure their credit card processing systems are configured to transact purchases from prepaid cards or risk losing some major business—approximately, their slice of a $100 billion dollar pie.
Perhaps the third and most important message to be gleaned from the rise of prepaid cards is that Americans may finally be starting to think about lessening debt, although only time will tell how serious we are about rising to that challenge.

Choosing the Right Bank to Manage Your Business Finances

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Banks and businesses are invariably connected. When businesses earn money, owners store their earnings in the bank. Owners can also borrow money from banks in order to start a business or to prevent its downfall. Hence, banks and businesses rely on each other for survival, but how can you be sure that this partnership is not detrimental to your business and lead you to success instead? One of the determinants of the success of a business is its good partnership with its bank so, you need to carefully choose the bank that is suited for your business needs.
Hundreds of banks may be present in your area but only a few can offer the services you need. When starting a business, the common notion of business owners is to go to the large banks immediately. While large banks have all the resources to support your business, they may charge higher fees for that. Business owners can always go to community banks where card and ATM fees are not that high.
In addition, some large banks charge monthly maintenance fees and these fees, when summed up, can amount to significant loss in your profit. Always be vigilant about extra fees and if you are unsure why your bank charges you with such fees, you should not hesitate to ask them about it. You can also opt for a type of account that incurs little or no fees.If you are looking to borrow money, check whether the bank is capable of granting it to you.
Smaller banks or internet banks may not have the resources to help you out on big loans such as larger banking institutions could, but they are more likely to offer your customized services which can be highly beneficial. But, this does not mean that your loans will be immediately approved since they will have to consider your business credit. Larger banks often apply the formulaic approach when deciding on which loans to approve since reviewing the local market where your business operates is not feasible for them. Smaller community banks, on the other hand, can review your credentials to determine the financial state of your business.
Also, check the quality of their services and offerings. The bank manager must always be ready to respond to your queries and give you full assistance on your needs. Every business is unique in its own way so personalized services that can cater to your specific needs would be very great features. Tools and other products that can help you manage your finances, interest rates, foreign exchange transactions are likewise valuable.

9 Ekim 2012 Salı

NO on PROP 38

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This is the alternative to Prop 30. It is being pushed by Molly Munger.

The biggest criticism of this proposition is that the consequences may be completely unappreciated this many years out. To lock in funds without knowing the potential nature and degree of change in our future institutions is dangerous guesswork.

It sounds good, but from our reading - Proposition 30 is better balanced.

also . . .
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund Website

YES on PROP 39

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This requires businesses to determine their tax liability for sales in California by a calculation, rather than the current practice of choosing (the cheaper of) two methods. This Proposition permanently closes that corporate tax loophole.

An outrageous tax loophole allows out-of-state corporations to pay lower taxes in California, costing our state a billion dollars a year. This loophole actually rewards companies for creating jobs outside of California. Proposition 39 closes this loophole by forcing out-of-state corporations to pay their fair share, bringing in much-needed state revenue that will be invested in clean energy and energy efficiency projects, create good-paying jobs, and help fund our schools. Join us. Let’s close this corporate tax loophole and create new clean energy jobs in California!

California Clean Energy Jobs Act

also . . .

League of Women Voters of California Education Fund Website
For complete listing of all California Propositions and review.

YES on PROP 40

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This about redistricting. It is somewhat confusing.

A YES vote means no change -- keep the redistricting already done by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
A NO vote means abandon the work of the Citizens and give the redistricting back to the politicians.

A giant sucking sound is what we will hear if the general electorate votes NO.

The story is that in 2008 voters approved an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Then when the work was done . . .

The California Republican Party last year qualified a referendum on the new state Senate districts, hoping to block the use of those districts this year. But the state Supreme Court ruled in January that the new Senate boundaries would apply for this year’s election regardless of the referendumRepublicans in July stopped campaigning for the measure and said they were no longer asking voters to overturn the new Senate districts.

The reason for Prop. 40 may no longer exist, but the measure remains on the ballot. Voters, however, should have no trouble casting a yes vote. The state Supreme Court said new Senate districts fit all constitutional and legal requirements — and in fact, said that the new citizen-drawn map was preferable to any of the alternatives that opponents proposed.

also . . .

League of Women Voters of California Education Fund Websitemargin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
For complete listing of all California Propositions and review.

California State Propositions

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Beginning with Proposition #40 each ballot initiative is addressed from the vantage point of the common good and value of humanity against profits at the cost of life and dignity. Videos, endorsements are included in EYNU's posts. League of Women Voters is recommended to anyone wanting to verify facts or learn more, so links are provided. Scroll back through all 11 working backwards 40-30.

Sneak Peak: For me the most crucial are YES on 30, NO on 32, YES on 34 and YES on 37 - but all have value.

What do Mary Fleener & Big Bird Have in Common?

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What do Mary Fleener, local hit this campaign season with her political cartoon series, The Less You Know the Better You Feel, and Big Bird? That's easy - PBS.

Mary is going to be on the radio KPBS Midday Edition today!Noon - 1 pm. One of her questions will be, "You are now doing political cartoons. Are you enjoying that format?"
I'm betting she will have some fun with Stocks and Muir getting caught red handed if there is time.
That's NPR, 89.5 on the dial. (Or Nice Polite Republicans as some of us think of NPR and how it has changed. *sigh*)

8 Ekim 2012 Pazartesi

Elephant Herds and Human Herds - How Progressive Statists Destroyed Both

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The infographic below is probably one of the most tragic infographics I've ever seen.

Facts:

70% of immates in California state prisons are former foster care youth.

68% of all males in state and federal prison do not have a high school diploma.

One of of three African American males will be incarcerated in his lifetime.

One out of six Latino males will be incarcerated in his lifetime.

Many who comprise the incarcerated are non-violent and are in prison for drug charges and other non-violent crimes. These folks cannot get jobs when they are released from prison because they have criminal records which drives them to a life of crime as as the only means of survival. Since most of them are already from the ranks of the poor and impoverished, their chances for economic success are quite dim. This wasn't always the case in America. At one time, folks, even poor folks, had a chance as well as the opportunity to succeed. But those days are long gone.

What happened? The $15 trillion that we've spent on building a liberal socialist progressive command and control society is a big fail.

America's War on Poverty - a $15 Trillion Big Fail

What went wrong?

Weirdly, I found my answer by watching a documentary on TV about murderous elephants gone wild. Crazy environmentalist whacko liberals looked at a map and decided to rearrange the elephants in Africa so they broke up elephant herds and forcibly relocated all these elephants to various places where they decided they ought to be. It turned out to be a total disaster because the elephants who were separated from their family herds went wild and embarked on violent killing rampages, killing humans and destroying their villages.

Eventually, somebody figured out what the problem was because elephants really didn't have a history of being violent. Once these elephants were removed from their family herds where they learned socialization skills and other protocols of acceptable behavior, they were so frightened and so isolated and so lacking in social skills that they operated on sheer survival instincts alone that were largely driven by fear and adrenalin. Of course, it was too late for the humans who were killed by the elephants and it was too late for the elephants who were doing the killing. Many of these Elephants Gone Wild were simply killed because, well, they were killers.

And that's precisely what liberals and social planners have done to America and humanity in general. They destroyed the traditional family that taught social skills, ethics and morality. When I see video clips of youth flash mobs going crazy, I immediately think of elephants..

Liberals and progressives truly view humanity as a herd of wild beasts that must be managed and controlled, and certainly not as free thinking sovereign individuals endowed with natural rights and abilities. Moreover, the primary goal of progressives has always been the total destruction of the traditional family. Their success has been staggering and now America is profoundly suffering from the poison fruits of progressive statism. Feral youth is the end result.

US Foreign Policy and Freedom: Let's Talk Haiti

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NaÃ¯ve Americans are quick to applaud our military interventions in the false belief that we are doing good things, spreading Jeffersonian democracy and actually helping people who are suffering. But the truth is far different, very ugly and so horrifyingly repugnant that it should constitute an assault on our moral instincts.

Haiti and its suffering is a profound example of a nation destroyed and ruthlessly plundered for 200 years by Spanish, French and US corporate imperialists. First the island (discovered by Columbus and named Hispaniola) was invaded and exploited by Spain who enslaved the native population and introduced slavery. After the Spanish were lured to Mexico in search of gold and better exploitation opportunities, Spain lost interest in Hispaniola and the French arrived and started importing over 500,000 West African slaves. Huge sugar and coffee slave plantations were established. If Americans think US slavery was a horror, and it was, the slavery in Central and South Americas was far worse because slaves were literally worked to death and starved because it was far cheaper to keep importing fresh new slaves from Africa than to feed them and keep them healthy. Life is cheap and expendable. The native Indian Haitians were pretty much wiped out. Nevertheless, the French continually plundered Haiti, cut down its forests for timber and French imperialist slavers amassed great fortunes.

Then one of the most remarkable and successful slave revolts in all of human history commenced in Haiti in 1791 under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, a situation that ultimately achieved independence for Haiti in 1804. But the French also demanded outrageously exorbitant reparations for monetary losses resulting from their slave plantations, a situation that would be the equivalent of the US reimbursing former US slave owners for their monetary losses after the Civil War. Haiti continued to pay France reparations until 1947 and most of its budget went to paying off slave debt to France for the French crime of human slavery. Haiti was mired in financial problems and freedom never really flourished under the weight of such massive financial depredations. Adding significantly to Haiti’s problems was the fact that a series of corrupt governments continued to administer Haiti along the lines of the model of colonialism. Moreover, Haiti was constantly forced to borrow to service its debt to France.

The national bank in Haiti that was initially established by the French ended up being owned by National City Bank (NY) who also had deep connections with the U.S. State Department and the Woodrow Wilson administration. The Banksters always enjoyed wielding their vast power and so the National City Bank convinced Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, to invade, occupy and effectively control all of Haiti as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1915, the US invaded Haiti to commence its corporatist and Bankster plunder; US corporations seized the best lands for plantations that were worked by impoverished serfs; we booted the Haitians to the hills and typical colonial resource exploitation continued unabated. After a brutal and ruthless US occupation from 1915-1934, the US installed a series of US approved dictators to guarantee into perpetuity our ability to plunder and exploit the Haitian people. It’s how Haiti got the horrors known as Papa Doc and Baby Doc and an economic death sentence.

Studies have proven that the only real cure for poverty is secure property rights. Norman Van Cott, an economics professor at Ball State University, wrote a piece on the sad state of Haitian property rights.

Trashing private property rights sowed and reaped Haiti devastation

My point is that Haitian land stripped of trees and Haitian land covered with earthquake debris have a common cause — a dysfunctional system of property rights. The dysfunction promotes an economic myopia where any future benefits — from preserving trees to constructing longer-lived buildings — become less important in economic calculations when recipients are uncertain of receiving those benefits…… The economist, Hernando de Soto, in his celebrated book “The Mystery of Capital,” included specifics about the pathetic state of private-property rights in Haiti. He estimated that 68 percent of Haitian city dwellers and 97 percent of their rural counterparts live in housing for which no one has clear legal title — no one. Lack of property title in Haiti is not surprising, says De Soto. For Haitians to settle legally on government land, they must first lease it for five years. Finalizing a lease requires 65 bureaucratic steps, taking two years on the average.

Then things get worse: Subsequent purchase requires another 111 bureaucratic steps, taking 12 more years. That adds up to a total of 19 years of red tape and paperwork in a country where, to compound the problem, illiteracy is pervasive.

The earthquake that hit Haiti killed at least 200,000, yet many nations have suffered similar and even higher Richter scale earthquakes but experienced extremely low death tolls. Because of the lack of secure property rights, Haitians lived in deathtrap shacks that were cheaply constructed. The US never cared one iota that the Haitian people effectively had no property rights and hence no incentives to build stronger homes. It’s a story that is reverberated over and over wherever America intervenes. The US has a sophisticated system of secure property rights but we were too busy exploiting places like Haiti for the financial benefit of Banksters and multinational corporations to even consider implementing a system of secure property ownership and self governance for the Haitians.

The importance of secure property rights cannot be overemphasized and the Global Property Guide (www.globalpropertyguide.com ) compiles indexes of the security of property rights of nations.

Haiti’s Property Rights Index was 10 (as was Cuba) but other Caribbean nations fared much better – Barbados 80, Bahamas 70, Dominica 65, Trinidad 50, Jamaica 45, Belize 40, Dominican Republic (who share the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti) with 30.

The website also compiles an index of economic freedom with rankings ranging from Free (80-100), Mostly Free (70-70.0), Moderately Free (60-69.9), Mostly Unfree (50-59.9) and Repressed (0-49.0). It’s no surprise that on the economic freedom scale Haiti was rated “Mostly Unfree” at 50.82 while nations with more secure property rights in the region fared much better with the Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica, Belize and the Dominican Republic all being Moderately Free in the economic liberty category.

Interestingly, in the US the Property Rights Index is 85, Canada is 90 and Mexico is 50; Economic Freedom Indexes are 77.97, 80.43 and 68.28 respectively. The US has been declining in economic freedom as well as secure property rights and is no longer leads the world in these categories that most affect prosperity.

The deeds of our government directly reflect on the American people and our national and personal conscious because we effectively endorse the activities of our government and military with our votes. By willfully failing to acknowledge the truth about what America does, why we do what we do and who benefits, Americans continue to perpetuate the legacy of denial.

The Party of No Ideas Smacks Down the Party of Bad Ideas

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Looks like Clint Eastwood's empty chair skit at the RNC Convention turned into a prophecy, at least in the context of a presidential debate performance. As a liberty activist, I happily avoided the appallingly incomprehensible contest between Statist Clown A and Statist Clown B. However, I followed Twitter because that's where the laughs were, along with the agony of some apoplectic liberals and Democrats.

Mark Hemingway@Heminator That wasn't a debate so much as Mitt Romney just took Obama for a cross country drive strapped to the roof of his car. (Hemingway was quoting the Weekly Standard).

Todd Kincannon @ToddKincannonSomebody call Todd Akin. Analyzing this debate requires a rape expert.

Bill Maher @billmaherObama made a lot of great points tonight. Unfortunately, most of them were for Romney

Bill Maher @billmaheri must say, of all the Romneys i've seen, this Debate Romney is my favorite

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwaldMSNBC tonight seems like a group therapy session for the deeply depressed and people with anger issues. It's actually disturbing to watch

Todd Kincannon @ToddKincannonRight now, David Axelrod is asking a crying Barack Obama: "Show me on the doll where the bad man touched you."

Brian Sack@brian_sack MSNBC's flag at half mast.

VANITY FAIR @VanityFair Good LORD Obama wouldn't win a student council election against a chubby nerd with that closing argument.

As if the Twitter zingers weren't bad enough, there was the epic Chris Matthews meltdown.

Chris Matthews’ Epic Meltdown Over Obama Performance: ‘What Was He Doing Tonight?’

Clearly, Romney cleaned Obama's clock and he did it without even offering any solutions to any of our immense problems. Only in America can somebody win a debate by offering no solutions to big problems, no cuts in government spending and advocating for perpetual war!

Oh well, it's America where substance is never ever on the table because it's all about packaging, party propaganda and one liners. Still, Obama absolutely earned the thrashing he got from the left and the right. An Obama super PAC donor may have summed it up best.

Big Super PAC Donor on Obama: 'Looks Like He Took My Million and Spent it All on Weed'

Obama even dipped on Intrade, the online gambling site, here. Still, Obama remains comfortably ahead on Intrade with a 65.2% probability of winning to Romney's 35.1. However, polls are tightening in the critical swing states. The general consensus of the pollsters and pundits is that the deal that was sealed for an easy Obama re-election is presently no longer a foregone conclusion.

To what extent the race is truly competitive remains unclear and will largely depend on the result of future debates.

As for America, the American people, the economy and our future, the prognosis remains quite grim because the endless wars and big bad government will prevail regardless of who wins in November.

Meanwhile, the bread and circuses continue because America really is the incarnation of the Roman Empire.

Religion vs. Obamacare: Obamacare on ‘Fast Track’ Back to Supreme Court on Religious Grounds

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Obamacare is being challenged on religious grounds.

Obamacare on ‘Fast Track’ Back to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the individual mandate within the Obama health-care law seemed to be the last word in a fierce legal fight.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court ordered the Justice Department to respond to a suit filed by Liberty Counsel on behalf of Liberty University. The school contends both the individual and employer mandates are unconstitutional on the grounds that they infringe upon the freedom of religious expression.

The case was filed in March of 2010 on the very same day President Obama signed the bill into law. It’s been stalled because a federal appeals court ruled that the suit could not proceed because no one had been penalized or taxed yet through the mandates. The recent Supreme Court decision essentially struck down that ruling.

Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver says no court has ever ruled on the constitutionality of the employer mandate or the religious freedom concerns. Abortion funding is at the heart of the contention that the mandates violate the right to religious expression — something Staver says he saw right away but others didn’t notice until the new government rules on mandatory contraception coverage.

Is a religious exemption the only way around Obamacare? More to the point, Obamacare includes damn few religious exemptions.

If The Amish Are Exempt From Obamacare Tax, Why Isn't My Religion?

I am a Christian Scientist. I do not take medicine, get regular check-ups, or go to the emergency room. When it comes to medical concerns, I rely solely on prayer for treatment.

When a particular case is challenging and requires advanced help, Christian Scientist’s utilize Christian Science practitioners. Practitioners are employed in the full time practice of Christian Science prayer and are available for Christian Scientist’s by phone or appointment for prayerful work.

When I seek out practitioner work, I pay out-of-pocket. The government mandating that I pay a tax for something I don’t use and is direct violation of my religious creed is an over-extension in their “limited” power.....

I don’t pay for OR use health insurance. If the Amish are exempt from this , why can’t I be?

I believe the greater issue here that supports why the Liberty Counsel's lawsuit will probably lose in a court of law is that the pro-life religious right is attempting to use the first amendment to selectively support government healthcare. America's religious right has never come out against entitlements or government healthcare, just the use of public money to fund abortion.

While I absolutely agree that taxpayers should not be compelled to fund abortion because it's not an appropriate use of public money, it's also my personal view that no taxpayer should be compelled to fund wars and the murders of foreign men, women and children and babies.

Meanwhile, America's religious right remains one of the biggest proponents of US foreign policy. They hardly have the moral high ground on issues of life.

Spain, Italy and can Secessionist Movements hit the US?

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Catalonia is getting a lot of international press lately because of its secessionist movement that is seriously contemplating secession from Spain. Catalonia is Spain's most prosperous region and includes 16% of Spain's population as well as a fifth of Spain's economy. Like the rest of Spain, Catalonia is experiencing profound economic problems and Catalonians are sick and tired of sending their tax dollars to the central government in Madrid. Much has been written about the situation in Catalonia.

Catalan Leader Boldly Grasps a Separatist Lever New York Times

Spain risks break-up as Mariano Rajoy stirs Catalan fury The Telegraph

Secession crisis heaps pain on Spain Financial Times

The situation in Catalonia isn't the only secessionist movement brewing in Europe. In Italy the Venetians are in a secessionist mood.

Venetian Protesters Demand Independence From Rome; Polls Show 70% Favor Independence

Its not just regions in Spain that are sick of centralized government. Take a look at Italy where Venetian protesters demand independence from Rome.

The rally, which was organized by the separatist Indipendenza Veneta party, drew large numbers of energetic protesters.

“The situation here is almost explosive, so today we have thousands of people who have gathered in front of the regional government and we’re going to present to them a resolution signed by thousands of participants to have a referendum for independence,” Chairman of the separatist Indipendenza Veneta Party, Lodovico Pizzati, told RT.

“The main reason is economic. We are in a situation worse than a colony because the tax rate in Italy is the highest the world and our services are extremely poor. We have 20 billion euros missing from our regional resources each year and that’s unbearable,” Pizzati said.

And while some question the region’s ability to stand alone, Pizzati says the goal is completely attainable.

In Italy, the Venetians aren't the only Italians considering secession; Sicily and Sardinia also have secessionist movements brewing because folks are sick of sending their tax dollars to Rome. Then there's the Scotish secessionist movement.

Scotland's 'explosive' push to secede from the U.K.

Basically, these various secessionist movements are the result of crushing economic misery amid mountains of unsustainable debt. It's a three-part drama that is unfolding: 1. the collapse of the European cradle to the grave socialist entitlement model 2. failed statist Keynesian policies and 3.. forcing the people to endure austerity to bailout the banksters. Even The Ecomonist was quite upfront in correctly labeling Spain's bailout as a bailout of Spanish banks.

The Spanish bail-out Going to extra time, The €100 billion pledged to help Spain was meant to rescue the banks and calm the euro zone. Instead it has added to the drama

It's true that the banks who made bad loans are being bailed out and it's also true that transferring the cost of the bankster bailouts to the people is grossly unfair and unjust. Nowhere was a European styled bankster bailout more hideously thieving than in the case of Ireland. Ireland was an economically flourishing nation with low taxes and low debt, an unusual situation for a European nation. But Ireland suffered a severe bout of Banksters Gone Wild and the Irish people were left paying for the hugely expensive mess.

The Withering Shamrock: How the Irish People Got Stiffed by the Irish Government

In Greece, the financial disaster is attributable to unsustainable borrowing to maintain an unsustainable socialist cradle to the grave entitlement state. The Greeks couldn’t live on the money of other Europeans forever and their day of reckoning arrived. In Iceland, a tiny nation of 300,000 fishermen and farmers magically churned themselves into high finance gurus who traded on money borrowed from Iceland’s banks that borrowed the money from foreign banks. The Icelanders did the only thing they could do; they allowed their banks to go bankrupt and started over by going back to fishing and farming....

But Ireland? Ireland is a real tragedy because the Irish people are paying for the financial sins of its corrupt government, banksters and bankrupt real estate developers. The Irish banks borrowed from foreign banks who lent mountains of money to Irish real estate developers. Irelands was praised by the media and financial pundits as an economic miracle – living proof that borrowed fiat money creates wealth and prosperity until one day it all ended. The great Celtic Tiger ceased to roar and lay mortally wounded in September, 2008.....

Aside from the fact that the Irish people are idiots for supporting a government that bails out the rich at their expense, the story of how it actually happened is even more horrifying. The gory story is succinctly laid out by Michael Lewis in his outstanding book Boomerang.

But what the Irish government did next was unthinkable. It voted to guarantee the debts of Irish banks which then became the debt of the Irish people. The Irish government told the public that it must save the Irish banks. Lewis makes a most astute observation and discloses that the bailout of the Irish banks was nothing more than a bailout of bondholders:

"....These private bondholders didn’t have any right to be made whole by the Irish government. The bondholders didn’t even expect to be made whole by the Irish government. Not long ago I spoke with a former senior Merrill Lynch bond trader who, on September 29, 2008, owned a pile of bonds in one of the Irish banks. He’d already tried to sell them back to the banks for 50 cents on the dollar-that is, he’d offered to take a huge loss, just to get out of them. On the morning of September 30 he awaked to find his bonds worth 100 cents on the dollars. The Irish government had guaranteed them! He couldn’t believe his luck.

But it gets worse as Lewis states:

"A political investigative blog called Guido Fawkes somehow obtained a list of the foreign bondholders: German banks, French banks, German investment funds, Goldman Sachs. (Yes, even the Irish did their bit for Goldman.)" Michael Lewis in Boomerang.

And it gets worse as Credit Writedowns reported on 3/3/12 that Irish taxpayers are now even paying unsecured bank creditors."

Folks are certainly catching on to the stone cold reality that while austerity is forcibly being imposed on the poor, the pensioners and the middle class, there is zero austerity for the criminal bankster class who continue to have a license to plunder no matter where they are.

As the economic situation continues to worsen in the US, and it will, one has to ponder how many US states will start clamoring for a divorce from Fedzilla, the Bridezilla that consumed an entire nation. It certainly isn't beyond the realm of possibility. Failed government at all levels creates a lot of desperate people who will resort to desperate measures for their own survival. Most assuredly, trust in government won't be a component of their survival plans.

7 Ekim 2012 Pazar

Chincarini, The Crisis of Crowding

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Ludwig B. Chincarini has written a compelling book. The thesis of The Crisis of Crowding: Quant Copycats, Ugly Models, and the New Crash Normal (Bloomberg/Wiley, 2012) may not be a paradigm shift, but the detail with which it is documented makes for fascinating reading.

In the beginning was Long-Term Capital Management and the 1998 crisis. As Chincarini contends, “the 2008 financial crisis really began 10 years earlier.” LTCM had a portfolio of trades, mainly relative value and convergence trades in the fixed-income swap and bond markets of OECD countries, that seemed to be statistically and economically uncorrelated. LTCM had, however, also ventured into “less lovely territory,” including directional bets that made up about 20% of the portfolio. They were short the U.S. swap spread, a position that carried with it an unlimited downside risk in the event of a world crisis when traders would flee to quality and the spread would widen. They were also short long-term volatility.

“LTCM knew these trades weren’t perfect, but may have kept them on in the interest of diversification. But crowds were developing, and that was affecting trades. With every call to a dealer, with every cocktail party between dealers, and with every quant trying desperately to reverse engineer LTCM’s success, word traveled and more investors copied LTCM’s moves. The beautiful trades were getting ugly, with smaller expected profits and a new danger: the danger that copycats might rush for the exit at inopportune moments and cause dramatic changes among trade correlations. That’s just what happened in August and September 1998, when Russia defaulted on its debt, the copycats ran for the exits, and the Titanic of hedge funds sank into the chilling water.” (pp. 68-69)

Chincarini claims that ignoring the broad lessons from LTCM’s failure was, “in part, the cause of a much greater systemic financial collapse in 2008 and 2009.” (p. 101) He thinks that there were twelve lessons to be learned, among them: “1. Understanding saturation and interconnectedness is important for measuring risk and liquidity. 2. There are limitations to any risk management system. Risk measures should include some aspect of valuation. 3. Appropriate leverage depends on underlying volatility, but any amount of leverage with any amount of underlying risk can lead to bankruptcy.” (p. 119)

Before the Bear Stearns collapse, however, came the quant crisis in 2007. It lasted only about ten days but did irreparable damage to many quantitative equity funds. Theories abound as to what (or who) caused the crisis. The author argues that “a shocked, crowded space caused the quant crisis. As quantitative managers began closing positions, they put pressure on other managers to close positions or face margin calls. That pushed prices even lower.” (p. 137)

We know only too well what followed in 2008, at least in its broad strokes. Chincarini, who conducted interviews with many of the players in the various financial crises, again fills in some important details and offers lessons for the future.

Oh, yes, and then there was the flash crash. The author maintains that the Waddell-Reed trade was simply too small to have caused the flash crash. It’s possible that “HFT activity caused data overload in some of the NYSE Arca’s out-of-date systems. Jittery markets combined with a flood of orders and old computers to create a computer glitch at the NYSE Arca. This directly caused the Flash Crash. Chaos ruled those three minutes because faulty data scared off liquidity providers. Amazingly enough, the liquidity providers all ran for the exits at the same time. Crowd behavior erased liquidity just when traders needed it the most, and just as the market saw in the LTCM crisis, the Quant Crisis, and the subprime crisis.” (p. 321)

Chincarini’s analysis should be mandatory reading for anyone who manages money, trades in size or designs those trades, or thinks about financial regulation. And, by the way, even for the rest of us it is a darned good read.

Wildermuth, Wise Money

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Wise Money: Using the Endowment Investment Approach to Minimize Volatility and Increase Control (McGraw-Hill, 2012) by Daniel Wildermuth covers a lot of familiar ground. Think back, for instance, to Meb Faber’s The Ivy Portfolio (2009). But I suppose it’s worth going over this ground again.

Wildermuth, the founder and CEO of Kalos Capital and Kalos Management, describes “how the smart money invests”: in domestic and international equities, real assets, private equity, absolute return funds, and fixed income. His discussion of asset allocation is particularly apt for the high net worth individual, but investors with smaller portfolios can make the appropriate adjustments and still mimic the endowments.

One point that Wildermuth stresses and that, I think, merits some space here is the illiquidity advantage. “Liquid investments usually cost more and are worth more than similar illiquid investments because nearly all investors value liquidity.” But liquidity “introduces volatility, which most investors try to avoid. Nearly any asset that can be bought and sold on a daily basis prices according to current demand. Since demand for liquid investments can change markedly and quickly, prices can as well.”

“Liquidity premiums can only be approximated and vary across time and asset classes. As an example, a real estate holding that transitions from an illiquid structure to a readily tradable stock has historically increased in value a bit more than 10 percent. With stocks, the premium is usually much greater, oftentimes approaching or even exceeding 100 percent.” (p. 38)

Wildermuth claims that “a very common mistake made by most investors is assuming that their entire portfolio must be liquid.” In fact, since most people have investment time horizons closer to decades than months, “a completely liquid portfolio is usually undesirable for most individuals. The reasons are simple. Performance and diversification possibilities are missed, and the flip side of liquidity for investments with strong return possibilities is virtually always volatility.” (p. 41)

The author suggests that “a significant percentage of a portfolio, possibly even up to 40 to 50 percent, may be prudently invested in assets that have limited or unpredictable liquidity.” (p. 50) Investors with, let’s say, a $500,000 portfolio simply don’t need a supersized emergency fund.

For those investors who are unfamiliar with the endowment model Wise Money provides a good introduction—nothing revolutionary but useful nonetheless.