Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
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LewisBraham
Hi Hank,
Your satire came across very well. Don't worry about the user name.
Best,
Lewis
@MSF Actually, my counter-arguments weren't really against shareholders but talking about different kinds of shareholders. From a hedge fund shareholder point of view, buybacks are good because most hedge funds are very short-term oriented and will …
There's an interesting question as to whether share buybacks are even good for long term investors because:
1. Buybacks decrease the amount of equity on a company's balance sheet and thus cause the debt to equity ratio level to go up. This ratio can…
@John According to an October article from Bloomberg, the numbers the Globe used seem about right for 2014:bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-06/s-p-500-companies-spend-almost-all-profits-on-buybacks-payouts
One of the interesting facts the author of the article that started this conversation points out is that corporations exist today not in spite of big government regulation but because of it. The idea of the modern corporation as a limited liability …
@MJG, The question is should GDP growth be the only measure of a nation's economic well being when the vast majority of the populace isn't enjoying the benefits of that GDP growth because wages are too low? On an inflation-adjusted basis wages have …
@Maurice I suggest you look at GDP stats from the U.S. Department of Commerce and then tell me the New Deal was a failure: bea.gov//national/nipaweb/DownSS2.asp
The New Deal went into effect in 1933 and all of its changes were completed by 1938. Dur…
@Ted, you're the one redistributing dividends you didn't earn for work you never did and stealing authors' intellectual property. I think you're the Marxist.
@Scott Yes, but there are nuances to the media's political alignment. Some swing left or right, but none actually swing Communist as conservatives claim. Consider this: All of the media outlets you mentions are owned by for-profit corporations. So u…
@Ted, "No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the…
@Ted When you receive a dividend check from a stock like Nike because of profits generated by the work of some ten year old girl in Bangladesh stitching the sneakers, are you not benefiting from a form of wealth redistribution? She is making the sne…
You're right, Joe. The political opposition to tariffs would be extreme so it is impossible in the current environment. But I disagree with the idea that it couldn't be implemented effectively if there wasn't such opposition. Also, I think many deve…
There isn't much evidence that raising the minimum wage hurts consumers or the economy and a lot of evidence that it helps people. The U.S. has raised the minimum wage several times in the past and GDP has continued to grow and inflation has remaine…
@Joe and Mark. I do not think we have to create an alternative system, merely regulate appropriately the one we have so workers and the environment are treated fairly. A lack of adequate regulation is one of the problems as are those people who beli…
LLJB,
I don't disagree with you that consumers collectively have power, but individually many don't have much. In fact again the system reinforces the abuse of labor and the environment. Underpaid workers have no choice often but to buy the cheapest…
If two clothing manufacturers make the same kind of low-cost commoditized undershirt, the one that pays its workers the least, skirts as many labor and environmental laws it can get away with to save money and bribes the right officials will drive t…
Oh wait, Ted doesn't like the tenor of someone's posts after posting the most obnoxious juvenile comments he can think of under my posts, completely non-fund related political fluff articles about the virtues of Fox news and also ripping off my arti…
By the way, have any of the snarkier commentators bothered to read the hyperlinked article? It is actually interesting. That's the only reason I posted.
@John. The robots are already owned by humans who get paid for their work. The problem is Jeff Bezos owns a lot more of them than you and I and he's using them to get rid of as many human employees as possible.
@Bee The author isn't talking about just manufacturing jobs. He's talking about paralegals, computer programmers, sales clerks, driver, pilots,drug developers, human resource managers, you name it. Although he didn't mention it, given the subject of…
@Ted. I used to think you were an old man. But now with this latest comment I suspect you're 13 and living in your parents' basement. Congrats! You've reached a new level of maturity.
Ah, another charming comment from my good friend Ted. At least you're consistent. Did you even bother to read the article or is cutting and pasting the only thing you're capable of doing?
@Bee I agree humans are lazy, but you're not addressing the question the article raises; What happens to America when robotic technology replaces 50% of its jobs? If you can, say, produce twice as many refrigerators with half as many employees for t…
CNBC doesn't seem to care that Holmes has also given significantly to Republican candidates such as Kay Bailey, Ron Paul and the Republican National Committee too:
campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/frank-holmes.asp?cycle=08
campaignmoney.com…
In certain religious traditions the most admirable form of charity is to give anonymously. So it's a little obnoxious for Gross to be boasting about how much he'll give especially since he will be of course receiving a huge tax write-off for doing s…
I agree there aren't great choices between the two parties, but this idea that they're all the same is ridiculous as is this idea that we'd somehow be better off without government. No government is not freedom. It's might is right and the person wi…
A "miserable" ranking is hardly one based on wealth or poverty but includes "commute times" and crime. To call New York or Chicago, which are on the list, poor cities is laughable. New York is arguably the wealthiest city in the world. Of course, ci…
@Tampa, you are aware, right, that most of the poorest worst run states all vote Republican--Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky--all dirt poor and struggling. Meanwhile the wealthiest--New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticu…
One thing I'm curious about the active-share debate is whether all of the studies incorporated survivor bias into their results? I generally support the concept of having a high active share, but I imagine there might be a significant number of fund…
I would argue that the index fund manager's and the buy and hold money manager's fiduciary responsibility is quite different in this situation from an aggressive quant manager who rapidly trades hundreds of stocks. The index fund manager must buy an…
This may feel like math class, but here's another not-so-hypothetical hypothetical: Suppose a mutual fund manager is invested in a bank that is beginning to offer mortgages to poor people and overextended real estate speculators whom the manager bel…
Old Joe,
"Why would any mutual fund customer have any reason to believe that "their" mutual fund management would necessarily reflect the desires or beliefs of the mutual fund customers?" If you truly believe that, why do you invest in mutual funds …
The sadder truth is the vast majority of mutual fund managers don't care at all about the corporate governance of the companies they own. So the idea that they're pushing airlines to raise prices seems a little silly. They tend to be passive owners …
