see you later

this will be the last post . . . that's if anyone is even reading this

Samsung accounts for 16% of South Korea's exports! and not listed

SEOUL, South Korea -- At Samsung Electronics Co.'s boisterous annual meeting last year, a shareholder suggested the company's chairman should step down. In response, Samsung's chief executive officer lost his cool.  "Just how many shares do you have?" Yun Jong Yong shouted at the shareholder. "Stop saying 'our company.' "
Samsung Electronics has become a household name in consumer electronics and a leading supplier of components to manufacturers world-wide. In 2004, its net income was greater than that of either Microsoft Corp. or Intel Corp. By Samsung's own reckoning, it accounts for 16% of South Korea's exports and 18% of the country's stock-market capitalization.
Yet as it takes a larger role in the global economy, Samsung is resisting pressure to retool its paternalistic and secretive corporate governance. The family that controls Samsung through a minority stake has battled to maintain its grip and often shields itself through appeals to Korean nationalism. Samsung provides scanty financial information to investors. With a market capitalization of about $70 billion, it's one of the world's most valuable companies without a stock listing in a major financial market, something that would subject it to tougher accounting rules.

fastest rising cost at Mather Golf Course

Now I don't know about other golf courses but I would guess it's no different at Mather. Since people don't carry cash anymore and prefer to use ATM machines or debit cards instead for cash purchases, it has become a necessity for businesses to provide a "cash" retrieval system for their customers and golf courses are no different. At our course affairs meeting yesterday, I learned that the ATM machine is being removed for several reasons: one, it's old and can't be upgraded and two, it doesn't pay for itself. It doesn't pay for itself??? Now, I can't reconcile that with the outrage that people are showing when they can't get cash from the proshop, etc. But it is what is.
Then I found out that the fasted rising cost at Mather is no longer workers compensation but BANK CARD PROCESSING FEES. Yes, you read that correctly.

Maureen Dowd

Maureen is one of the top columnists for the NY Times, some people think she's a little too liberal but I think she's provocative. Her latest piece has to do with the "weak-minded homeland defense" which I happen to totally agree with. Heck you can't find a CHP on the freeway or get a sheriff to come to your house if you've been robbed but we're spending $85 billion in Iraq. I stray . . . . here's a little of what Maureen has to say :

The FBI has abandoned it's latest computer follies: the $170 million effort to upgrade the bureau's computer system so analysts can accomplish such difficult tastks as simultaneously searching for "aviation" and "schools". Now it's going to take at least 3 1/2 years to develop a new system . . . . . Our intelligence services are only now trying to recruit agents who speak Arabic and Farsi. Who didn't realize after the Iranian hostage crisis that it might be smart to invest in some spies who could infiltrate the places that were calling us Satan? The LA Times reported on Tuesday that about 40 Americans seeking jobs at US intelligence agencies were turned away because of possible ties to terrorists groups. Paul Redmond, a longtime CIA officer, said it was an "actuarial certainty" that spies had infilitrated US security agencies : "I think we're worse off than we've ever been."

You can read the rest by going to www.nytimes.com and searching for her column.

Berkshire Hathaway

WARREN BUFFETT, THE LEGENDARY "Oracle of Omaha," issued his eagerly anticipated letter to shareholders last week. In addition to his usual homespun charm, Buffett was unusually apologetic for generating a 10.4% increase in Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.B) book value last year, slightly less than the 10.9% dividend-inclusive gain of the benchmark S&P 500. From my vantage point, Buffett is being overly modest.

The Largest Surfboard

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- More than 40 surfers cruised into the record books by riding a single giant surfboard off an Australian beach, according to newspaper reports.

A crowd of more than 5,000 gathered Saturday to watch the riders crowd onto the 12.2-meter (40-foot) -long board at the Queensland state tourist city Gold Coast, where the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro surf competitions were held, newspapers said on Sunday.

The three-meter-wide board, nicknamed Nev after its creator, Gold Coast board shaper Nev Hyman, arrived on a trailer truck and needed more than 20 people to carry it to the surf.

Is History Correct?

I've always believed one essential fact about history . . . it's written by the winners. I just finished reading the "Sam Houston" story in "Profiles in Courage" and decided to find out what Sam Houston's role in defending the Alamo was all about. At a very in depth website on the Alamo I found this introduction . . . .

Five minutes after a car accident you can't get the victims to agree about what happened. Yet we blithely base military history on written accounts made years after the event, often by people whose sole reason for writing is to evade responsibility. Journalist interviews differ chiefly in that they draw out people who would not, by themselves, have written anything.
With the Alamo it is even worse. Many accounts that are relied on to flesh out accounts of the battle are third-hand narratives (an interview of someone who tells a story he heard from someone else) recorded decades after the battle. Joe was only interviewed briefly, and Mrs. Dickinson was not interviewed by a journalist until 1871. The last messenger out of the Alamo, James Allen, who was there for the bulk of the siege, became a Texas Ranger and lived until 1901 -- and was never interviewed at all. On the Mexican side, the accounts that do seem reliable appear to come from spectators. It may be that the intensity of the fighting was such that no Mexican in the front lines was able to write his memoirs, to put it delicately.

Anyway, Sam Houston was an amazing man. He was steadfastly against secession from the Union by Texas and captured General Santa Anna shortly after the Siege of the Alamo. Governor of Tennesee, Senator and Governor of Texas.

The Bush Deficit in Revenues

In 1962, US federal government spending amounted to 18.8% of GDP; 2001, 18.5%; 2004, 19.8% . . . 24 of the last 40 years the government has spent more than 20% of GDP so a reduction seems OK. Now the real news . . . in 2000 federal revenues were 19.8% of GDP (between 1962 and 2002, only once have federal revenues fallen below 17% of GDP, yet in 2003 revenues were 16.3% and 2004 equaled 16.4. Now one could say that's a good thing . . . taxes are lower and government is forced to do more with less but unfortunately that's not what government is good at and today, everyone in America wants more from their government than ever before . . . hence big deficits and there's no way to grow our way out them.

ChoicePoint notifies Californians

Did you realize that California has the only law in the US which requires companies to notify it's residents if a breach occurs of it's confidential data? I didn't get notified, did you?

Stedman on Thompson

This is from a story by Ralph Stedman on Hunter Thompson . . . . . LOL

In 1974 we went to Zaire to cover the "Rumble in the Jungle" between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali for Rolling Stone magazine. Rolling Stone publisher Jan Wenner called it "the biggest, fucked-up journalistic adventure in the history of journalism". Hunter never delivered the story and the art director didn't like my drawings. Hunter sold our fight tickets to buy drugs or something, and told me: "If you think I've come all this way to watch two niggers beat the shit out of each other, you've got another think coming." This wasn't a racist remark. It was gonzo. He said it to be provocative. Then he snuck off to the pool with the whisky and a big bag of grass.

Technical Analysis as a tool

News last week that Smith Barney closed its entire technical analysis department provided some good fodder for discussions about the value of technical analysis. After all, if TA is such a worthwhile way of predicting the movement of stocks, why would Smith Barney dump it just to save a few nickels?
I seriously doubt that there is now no one at Smith Barney using technical analysis. I suspect that the move has more to do with eliminating redundancy than it does with concluding that it isn't a worthwhile pursuit. Even the most fundamentally inclined stock-picker tends to use rudimentary forms of TA even if its just to manage positions. Technical analysis is so integral to the stock-picking decision, it probably doesn't make sense to separate it into a different department.
Stock-pickers, fund managers and analysts use an amalgamation of methods to arrive at their decisions, and many probably prefer to do their own technical work. Many folks, including me, believe that technical analysis is more an art than a science. There is a lot of subjectivity in its use, and it is not the sort of thing you can easily delegate to someone else.
An important thing to remember about TA is that it doesn't have to be a good predictive tool for it to have value. One of the key benefits of using TA is that it provides a very logical framework in which to implement a money management system. TA is essential if you desire to cut losses quickly and let winners run. Without it you end up acting in an arbitrary manner.
The value of technical analysis as a money management tool is seldom acknowledged by market commentators. A basic understanding of TA principles and how they relate to money management can enhance your investment results nicely.

Hunter Thompson's Passing

Woody Creek's most famous crazed citizen has passed. He is credited creating "gonzo journalism" a style of writing in which the writer makes himself an essential compnent of the story. Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas is a classic . . . the movie didn't do it justice although Johnny Depp and Benecio del Toro were fantastic.
My favorite story is related by my friend Penny Colburn who dated Bill Noonan, one of Hunter's best friends back in the 60's. Hunter Thompason ran for Pitkin County Sheriff in 1968 and created quite a stir with wild promises and recieved some serious threats during the campaign (he lost). Bill Noonan ran for Country Coroner during the same campaign.
I wondered why would Bill run for Coroner? This was my first lesson in civics . . . . The Coroner is the only official who can arrest the Sheriff. This is true everywhere and there you have it.

US Income Distribution

According to most recent government statistics, the population of the United States is 295,494,880. But according to another report, the number of Americans earning income is 203,400,000. I'm not sure if this is a number that represents individual tax returns or a factor imputed from some other source but for sake of argument, let's assume it's based on individual tax returns. Once again, using the same data, the report shows that the percentage of Americans earning more than $50,000 (and I'm assuming this is adjusted gross income) is 19%. Those earning more than $90,000 or more is 5.5%.

Export/Import Distortion Data predicts . .

From ContraryInvestor.com I found the following interesting information . . .

One of the largest factors opening up a record trade chasm in November was a very sharp drop in US exports. Real goods exports dropped 4%. That's one of the four top monthly percentage drops in exports in the last eight years. And what we are experiencing is a plainly noticeable dichotomy in the year over year rate of change between import and export growth. History tells us that these rate of change numbers move in relative directional similarity. They are reflective of the rhythm of the global economy. For now, we're deviating from that historical experience. If history is to hold true, either the rate of change in US export growth should be picking up quite smartly ahead, or the rate of change in import growth is about to fall meaningfully. If we don't see this type of reconciliation ahead, it will be a direct sign that global trade and capital flow imbalances of the moment are moving to a new and higher level of "distortion".What the chart above may also be telling us, despite headline commentary to the contrary, is that the foreign economies are slowing meaningfully. And resultantly, despite a much lower dollar, their demand for US exports is waning. You may know that 2004 experienced the largest one year inflow to foreign focused equity mutual funds in US history. Given the track record of the public in terms of piling into an asset class "at the top", it's a warning sign regarding the foreign equity markets and economies near term.

Calif State Pension Benefits

In a very good letter to the editor this morning, Jim Bock writes . . . "The reason state, county, local and school governments are struggling to come up with funds to pay their share of worker pension costs has nothing to do with the actual pension benefits. Instead, it has everything to do with the fact that through the years when that stock market flourished, the employing agencies were not required to make their full contributions to CaPERS. Rather than saving those funds in case the stockmarket caused a problem, they felt it was prudent to spend that money elsewhere.
Had the agencies been more responsible and planned for what was inevitable, they would not be complaining about having to pay the costs associated with retirements. They caused the problems now the uneducated governor is trying his best to saddle the blame on the employees who have actually paid more into their retirement over the last 20 years than the agencies who are now complaining about being broke.
This is what happens when elected people are not money-conscious and spend money that they should be saving."

my opinion is that all retirement systems should switch to defined contribution plans and move away from defined benefit plans

Dead on Parole

I get so many great pieces just from the Sac Bee Op-Ed page . . . . here's one from today's . . . . I've taken the liberty to edit out a few sentences which aren't pertinent.

Twenty-five days after prison inmate Daniel Provencio was declared brain dead, the California Department of Corrections finally ended round-the-clock guarding and released the body to his family. That's the good news. But it occurred only after a bizarre precedent: The department got the Board of Prison Terms to parole the dead man. Normally, when a prisoner dies in Department of Corrections custody, the body goes first to the county coroner, then to the family.

In this case, however, public confusion over whether brain dead means "dead" or "in a coma" led to extremely odd conduct. Brain dead means dead - the complete, permanent, irreversible cessation of brain activity. The Department of Corrections did the family and the public a disservice in letting that confusion drag on far too long.

Members of Provencio's family told the media that doctors declared him brain dead the morning of Jan. 20. Yet the Department of Corrections continued to treat Provencio as alive when he was dead, shackling him by the ankles to his hospital bed and guarding him around the clock. The director of corrections finally ordered the shackles removed Feb. 4. But department spokesmen continued to describe Provencio as in such a "critical medical state" that they were having a difficult time finding a nursing home for him, as if Provencio were still alive. One spokesman said, "We've had no takers." That's not surprising. Not many nursing homes take dead people as patients.

We haven't seen the end of this bizarre saga.

Steve Goodman "lives"

I notice that the Grammy for "Spoken Word Album for Children" went to THE TRAIN THEY CALL NEW ORLEANS by Tom Chapin, which was written 30 years ago by Steve Goodman. Goodman was one of the best songwriters ever and we lost him 10 years ago to cancer and he's still missed.

Rare Wisconsin Quarter discovered

The numismatic world is all abuze about the latest US Mint error, the Wisconsin Commerative Quarter minted in 2004 bears the image of a cow, a wheel of cheese and a half-husked ear of corn. There is something peculiar about the cheese head coins . . . there are variations in the placement of leaves surrounding the coin's ear of corn. Collectors have identified two varieties. There is a an offer by several Arizona dealers for as much as $1499 for a perfect specimen.

from Pete MacEntergart at the 10 Spot on Sir Paul

"The FCC received two complaints about Paul McCartney's halftime performance, both saying they were "bored." That compares to more than 500,000 complaints last year over Janet Jackson's exposed breast. Analysts say the pair complaining about Sir Paul were likely just smartmouth kids." PE at the 10 Spot

I thought it was interesting that he sang the lyric in GET BACK "sweet Loretta modern, thought she was a woman but she was another man" . . . . no one seemed to notice.

Thoughts from the backlines

One of my oldest friends just emailed me. he's on a rant now . . . .

CK - I'm onto another subject, stop voice mail it takes too long to listen to rhetoric that doesn't pertain to a subject at hand.  This stuff about recording for quality control is the most stupid thing I've ever heard.  If quality were recognized by a said company they wouldn't have voice mail in the first place.  

On a communication roll, stop with web sites that require a log-on to contact a company!  What an incredible waste of time.  We are going backwards rather than forward.  Technology is slower than what we had forty years ago.  Even an operator on the phone coupled with information is light years behind what we had forty plus years ago.

I can't take it anymore! BP

(I won't reveal his name as he's just too powerful in State government to be exposed but to say the least . . . . he has Arnold's ear.)