We really need your business…liquidate this!
I paid what?
With the tanking economic environment, retailers are hurting. I don’t mean just stub your toe on the coffee table hurting – we’re talking can’t sell a damn thing and turning off the lights hurting. Unfortunately, I just learned something that maybe others before me already knew and I just failed to pay attention.
What is the point of a liquidation sale when in fact, nothing is on sale? To be more specific, the prices marked during most “going out of business” or “liquidation” sales are not any cheaper. Considering the employment instability right now it’s no wonder a frantic dash is on to save money- sadly this probably isn’t the way to do it.
We thrive off the sale, the discount, the wholesale cost, the half off clearance, the two for one, the easy financing, the price match, and my favorite – the midnight madness. To compound the issue, there are promotional outfits who profit when other companies can’t cut the mustard. Where have I been and how many times have I probably purchased something at a liquidation blowout extravanganza?
Here’s the skinny – once a liquidator is hired, the actual store is not setting the prices anymore. Granted, they do want the merchandise to move but the discounts start very low, often the first discounted price is higher than what the store had it marked before the sale! But you wont know that unless you look for a peeled price sticker or do your homework – here are some hints before you take a nose dive into a sale this holiday season:
- Check the price at other stores and you may discover the original price was cheaper.
- Compare prices online. Online retailers such as Amazon and Tiger Direct are good places to compare.
- Beware! Warranties are typically honored through the manfacturer, not the store that sold it.
- Don’t be afraid of sites like Woot and Craigslist. A lot of good used items out there and it’s fun.
If you insist on buying at the big box retailers, you hold the trump card now. After seeing all this, I wouldn’t assume that the price staring you in the face is the best they can do. Consumers are not as dumb as we look – although I’ve seen some classic dumb looks on people’s faces as they parade through a store at 6am looking for a deal. (Did I say that?)
Seriously now – where is the logic in this? I’m sorry, I’m not going to reward your failing business by forking up more cash.
PSA : Ronald McDonald does not care what your wife looks like naked
He does NOT want to see your wife naked
If you take nude photos of your wife and you do not want others to see them, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure you keep track of your phone with aboveforementioned embarassing photos.
You would think this is just plain common sense, but of course since you’re reading about it here, someone missed that day of school.
A Fayetteville, Arkansas man took some photos of his wife on his fancy cell phone and for whatever reason did not delete them. They went out for a fancy dinner at the local McDonald’s and in all the excitement of the Madagascar 2 toys in the Happy Meal must have distracted him, because he left his phone at the restaurant.
The happy-fun-time photos ended up online courtesy of whomever found the phone. So of course the next step would logically be to sue McDonalds for $3million.
As a recap:
Step 1: Get a fancy new phone with a camera on it
Step 2: Take photos of your wife that you wouldn’t want anyone else to see
Step 3: Don’t delete the photos (this is very important step)
Step 4: Go to McDonald’s with your phone – leave it there
Step 5: Surf porn at home and come across the photos you took of your wife (oops!)
Step 6: Move to another community
Step 7: Sue McDonald’s, because after all, are you really expected to sue yourself???
Step 8: Profit.
Step 9: Get written about on blogs
Gift of the Gab – 2nd press conference for Obama
You can say what you want about his policies, but it is clear the new President Elect has a gift for the gab. He is not as polished as Clinton was at this point, but you can see by the way he interacts with the reporters he is not far off. It looks like we are back to a point where the President feels like the smartest guy in the room, which for me is a nice thing. I enjoy feeling confidence in my leaders, and as for now Obama has got some street cred, hope he hangs on to it.
Sweet Jesus, Sarah Palin is awesome – Wait what are they doing to that turkey
Honestly there is not much that needs to be said about this clip, but I do worn you that turkeys get killed and Sarah Palin, well is Sarah Palin. Wow…. Photo opportunity that slightly misses the mark (At least I think it does, but I am not her base).
An Open Letter to Hank Paulson: Uncertainty & the Banks, What to do now
Mr. Paulson:
The capital injections by the Treasury have not done anything to inspire confidence in the banking system by investors or to incentivize banks to start making new loans.
I recognize that it is too much to expect banks to run out and start expanding their balance sheets by writing new loans with so much uncertainty with respect to losses and impact on their capital.
Now that fears are spreading with respect to the commercial real estate market and the consumer loan market, the ability of banks to look at new business is further hampered.
We need to do something decisive and since so many are putting forth ideas, I want to put one out for your consideration.
The problem with the banking system is the continued uncertainty over asset values. Due to the huge leverage of the banks a small decrease in asset values can blow through ALL of the capital in the banking system including the $125 billion given to the 7 largest banks and billions more given to the smaller banks.
As long as these assets are on their balance sheets, this situation remains unresolved and there is no place to go with these assets. This is a cancer in the system and must be removed.
The U.S. Treasury is not moving forward with the TARP. I think this is due to the complexity of the problem as well as the current environment in Congress and I understand your position.
But, with all due respect to you, I do not believe that you can wait and throw this off to the new Administration.
So, where do we go from here?
I think the U.S. Treasury should convene the largest banks in the country, lock them in a room, with the following mandate:
1) The U.S. Treasury (UST) is going to capitalize a special purpose vehicle (SPV) – a new company – with $100 billion in cash. UST will own the common stock of the SPV.
2) The banks (I use banks for ease, this could include insurance companies) – are going to contribute $1 trillion of assets to this vehicle with limits for each bank based on size. The banks and UST will agree on what assets can be contributed and as a group the banks and UST will agree on the value of the assets to be contributed.
The assets that are allowed to be contributed will be broad asset classes, not one-off derivative deals and such. Commercial mortgages, residential mortgages, consumer loans, large corporate and commercial loans (Shared National Credits, loans broadly held by banks) etc.
The $1 trillion of assets will not be contributed at “market value” nor will it be contributed at “par” value (the original value of the asset). It will be contributed at a value that reflects the expected recovery of those assets over the life of the assets discounted back to the present (the “Intrinsic Value”).
3) In addition to the $100 billion of capital injected into the vehicle by the U.S. Treasury the banks will make the following contributions:
a) For each $10 dollars of assets they contribute to the SPV they will contribute $1.00 of common stock.
Combining the $100 billion of cash and the $100 billion of common stock contributed by the participating banks the SPV will end up with $200 billion of capital, which should increase with the stock price of the banks.
b) In addition, the banks will place in escrow $1.00 of common stock for each $10.00 of assets contributed to the SPV.
The stock placed in escrow will be issued to the U.S. Treasury or liquidated at some future date to compensate the U.S. Treasury for any losses from its investment in the SPV and a minimum preferred return. To the extent recoveries on the SPV exceed the intrinsic value estimate, this is the UST profit on the enterprise and the banks recover the shares placed in escrow. The shares placed in the SPV are, again, part of the value to the UST from this endeavor.
3) The banks will receive a senior note equal to the value of the assets contributed to the SPC, paying interest at a rate which is equal to the yield on the collective assets of the SPV less operating costs. The banks will also bear responsibility for providing knowledgeable employees – at their cost – to the SPV to manage these assets. The SPV will have a Board comprised of respected individuals on a bipartisan basis.
The value in this idea is two fold:
First, by the banks getting a lot of these assets off their balance sheets they reduce the uncertainty in the system which should allow the stock market to re-value the equity based on the core business and not the “unknowns” associated with these assets.
Second, the security which the banks take back from the SPV will be worth more than the value of the loans on their balance sheet. Consider this hypothetical example:
1) The banks contribute assets, collectively priced by the market at 50% of the par value of the security;
2) A conservative analysis (5% drop in GDP next year and 1.5% growth thereafter, or something like this) suggests that the intrinsic value of the assets is actually 70% of par;
3) The banks contribute these class of securities to the SPV for $1 trillion at the determined 70% “intrinsic value” (the face value contributed will exceed $1 trillion, but the value is greater than the mark to market value);
4) Now let’s say the actual recovery on these securities is $800 billion, the banks hold a senior security on this asset and thus would have first recourse to the $800 billion;
5) The SPV would however have the $100 billion of UST capital and $100 billion (at current market prices) of a portfolio of bank stocks to satisfy the SPV obligations to the banks.
As a result of this structure, the SPV senior securities taken back by the banks would have a tremendous cushion to absorb losses and still be worth par value to the banks which participate. The break-even recovery in this example is 56% on the original par or face values of the securities contributed. This should provide considerable ability for the new SPV senior securities on the bank balance sheets to be valued at Par. This will enhance the asset quality of the banks and likely allow them to mark up asset values on their balance sheets.
This is how the UST gets the “bang for the buck” that you referenced when you said the TARP could not serve its purpose.
The banks would be healthier as a result of this structure and thus the stock they contribute as capital and to the escrow should be a good store of value.
THE KEY MERIT OF THIS IDEA IS THAT IT REPLACES ILLIQUID ASSETS WHICH NO ONE CAN VALUE WITH A SINGLE ASSET THAT HAS ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AND SHOULD THUS BE WORTH PAR.
The taxpayer is protected by the escrowed stock that the banks contributed to participate. The escrowed securities first go to compensate the UST dollar for dollar on losses and then up to a preferred rate of return. Any appreciation in the stocks is split with 50% staying with the UST and the rest returned to the banks.
Since no one will buy bank stocks right now – everyone, I mean everyone who has bought bank stocks in the last two years has been killed – this allows the banks to effectively RECAPITALIZE themselves with some assistance from the UST.
By getting a large part of the troubled assets off the balance sheets of the banks, placing it into a vehicle that is NOT PUBLIC (thus it can sit and hold these securities without concern for the “mark to market” accounting) and replacing those assets with a single security whose credit has been enhanced partly by the UST and partly by the banks themselves, you will dramatically reduce the uncertainty in the banking system.
The banks will still have some troubled assets which due to the unique characteristics of those assets are not appropriate for the SPV. But the idea here is that by reducing the MAGNITUDE of the problems the banks are facing and enhancing the asset quality of the banks through this program you leave them in a better position to take the write-off on those assets or to work them out themselves.
16722 books to go and he will be in the tax bracket he worked to save
If you have “2 weeks” in the office pool of how long it would take Joe The Plumber Sam Wurzelbacher to write his long-awaited book, you win!
It was announced that Joe the Plumber will release a book extolling his version of American values.
A small Texas-based publisher is releasing his book”Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream”
“Everyone came at me to write a book. They had dollar signs in their eyes,” he told Fox News. “”You know I will get behind something solid, but I won’t get behind fluff. I won’t cash in, and when people do read the book they will figure out that I didn’t cash in. At least I hope they figure that out.”
He went on to say that he’s strapped for cash and in essence, he’s broke.
Hmmmm, but then he also said he chose a small publishing house in order to “spread the wealth”. (damn socialist). His book looks like it will be listed for $14.95
I just really hope that he doesn’t attempt to describe international relations, the nation of Israel, local politics, finances, or licensed plumbing. But its probably pretty thorough - it took what, like 2 weeks to write it, so I’m sure nothing was rushed, every point was very well thought out and articulated in the most accurate, honest way possible.
Special offer: When you purchase a “Freedom Membership” for $19.95 by going to SecureOurDream.com, you acquire full access to Joe’s restricted forum and receive one complimentary autographed copy of Joe The Plumber, Fighting For The American Dream.
(and no, I don’t get a referral fee for that)
Senators, can we make this discussion quick please? My private plane is idling
“Yes, that’s correct – we need about $25BILLION to get us through until February 2009.”
“Yes, we probably will be back in January asking for more.”
In case you missed yesterday, the Big Three Auto Execs faced a tough battering of facts and questions yesterday when asking Congress for a portion of the bailout package to help their companies. It’s great they showed up together – three companies, one cause – in unity – all of them flying in their companies’ private luxury jets to DC – to ask for more money, presumably just enough to refuel the jets to get them back to their ski lodges in Colorado or for one of them home to Seattle.
“We want to continue the vital role we’ve played for Americans for the past 100 years, but we can’t do it alone,” GM’s Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee. And they certainly can’t lead their companies back to success by flying commercial. I mean come on, have you even BEEN on a flight from Seattle to DC? It takes like 5-6 hours and first class is soooo crowded. Did you know that not only do the coach passengers walk right past you to get to their benches, but you actually still have to sit next to someone in first class? Thats just not for me, man.
Ford’s Alan Mulally laments that they’ve had to lay off 51,000 employees in the past several years, but not to worry, they’ve kept their fleet of EIGHT jets. In fact, on Tuesday alone they had three operating at any given time in places like Los Angeles, Nebraska and DC. Because we all know – when flying to Nebraska you really gotta go private, its scary out there.
Just another example of these guys being so out of touch that just don’t get it. I can’t even force myself to call them “business leaders” anymore. These types of actions just don’t deem them worthy of being a leader.
They are buying gifts for volunteers, people! Oh the humanity
I like to poke around the Internet looking for interesting stories going on around the country. I found an expose on a Dallas TV station’s site called The Gravy Train, its all about how their rapid transit authority is BLOWING the taxpayer’s money. There are plenty of items on this list that raise eyebrows, but the entire “expose” is sensationalized to the point that its almost a comical knock-off from stories done about AIG and others blowing bail-out money on parties and spas and hookers and blow. (hey, you never know)
You can poke around the site if you’d like, you’llfind a few things like:
- Receipts for dinners, trips and conferences
- Receipts for food purchased from high-end grocery stores
- Travel and entertainment expenses for the employees of the Dallas rapid transit system
I think there may be a new fad in journalism, and I may have also joined the bandwagon when writting about AIG’s Monarch Beach Resort trip or the bonuses still given out to bailed-out companies. This new fad is exposing companies and agencies for spending money <gasp>.
The reality is, businesses have to spend money to be successful. One of the big “Aha! Gotcha!” moments that the Dallas TV reporter was confronting the leaders of the agency with was buying gifts for the volunteers within the agency. The gifts were from Victoria’s Secret lotion line, which currently cost 3/$25 . Victoria’s Secret on the agency card!? You dirty, smarmy people!!! Well, yeah… its a nice luxurious item that these employees can use to feel good about themselves instead of a $30,000 salary. Remember these are gifts to thank the volunteers, who by definition do not get paid, and are less than $10 each. Ooooohhhhh thats baaaaddddd.
They showed them at an event in San Diego earlier in the year. Yes, some of them ducked out of conferences and others went to nice restaurants for meals, some of which might raise eyebrows, but nothing even close to running up a $30,000 spa bill. Should they have stayed with the conference schedule? Yes. But they also didn’t show the what the conference schedule was or whether these people were supposed to be at certain talks or not. Maybe that was their scheduled time off? They might have been playing hooky on a scheduled event, but I didn’t see itineraries.
Another ‘how dare you’ moment the reporter was trying to hang on this agency was dinners and events. One was for what seemed like a fairly nice restaurant, the bill was around $1000 for 40 people. That’s only $25 per person for a full meal. Truly, it would be hard to beat that price at the Olive Garden. Any event planner out there will tell you that was a good deal.
Businesses often need to have events out of the office to conduct employee, vendor or investor relations activities. This is not uncommon and not extravagant. What is extravagant is when organizations spend $400,000 at one time on one event at the nicest resort in Southern California after begging for more allowance.
My point is that some balance needs to be placed in some of these business reports, showing that yes this particular agency (and others like it) is spending money, however a better look needs to be put on their spending. I think I’d rather have an agency maintain a volunteer staff which is rewarded with lotions and gift cards than have to come up with a budget to pay for a full staff and all that goes with staffing.
45 percent of Doctors say they want to retire – Auto workers say me too
There has been a lot of hullabaloo lately about a recent research report by the Physicians’ Foundation. The “Main Stream Media” has taken this report and in typical fashion reported on the findings in a “shock and awe” fashion, telling Americans that their physician is soooo unhappy and going to quit any day now, because being a doctor is soooo hard. This is meant to scare us and make Americans sympathetic to physicians and their grueling work schedule. Another view point, and the one I am going to take in this article, is that the research report actually says things that virtually every business person in America would report, and in fact do report everyday.
If you actually read the report, which granted no one does anymore you would see that the facts are being taken out of context or at a minimum headlines are being created which could be written for any industry, so why do doctors get all the good headlines.
Lets look at the facts from the report. Point 1 - 45% of physicians in the United States are dissatisfied and want to retire because of the difficulty associated with their career. Well I say big deal, who doesn’t feel this way? The report actually says that 45% of physicians say “if they had the financial means” they would retire. I performed an informal poll in my head and asked every man, woman and child in America if they had the financial means would they retire or quit school and 75% of Americans said they would retire and quit school. It was truly shocking. No not really, if people had the financial means why wouldn’t they retire? I mean I am not a rocket scientist, but don’t most people start thinking about retirement and vacations the first week they start the career?
I see a lot of autoworkers who say they would retire, and a lot of teachers who say they would retire. The point is people want to retire, it is often referred to as a GOAL and people are encouraged to do financial planning to achieve this GOAL, retirement is not often referred to as punishment, if you have the financial means.
There are many misquoted facts like this in the report that are taken out of context to seem as though they actually matter. Let’s take another fact and really think about it. Point 2 – “Declining reimbursement” rated highest on list of issues physicians identify as impediments to the delivery of patient care in their practices, followed by “demands on physician time”. Well yadafreakinda, I know a ton of commission sales people who feel this way, and a ton of advertising sales people, and car sales people, and financial advisors and just about everyone who has a business that faces foreign competition or technology automation. The point is welcome to the real world Doc. Margins are thinning, and the day when you average sales guy makes $80k – $150k are gone, and the average doctor will no longer make $300k. I know some dentists that make $250,000 a year. They complain about how it is getting more difficult to make a living, but they still work about 30 hours a week, and their dental hygienists work about 50. $250,000 a year for taking care of peoples mouths is a good gig, and the fact that you want to retire when you have sufficient financial means does not exactly put the fear of God in me, in fact I do not blame you one bit.
It is high time we make it more affordable to become an MD, it is also high time we address tort reform, health insurance and rural and impoverished community health care. All of these topics get my complete support, and get me on the side of the physician, but telling me doctors who can afford it want to retire doesn’t really deserve national attention. Let’s use our headlines sparingly, so when we take on health care we make the words actually matter.
That’s about all I have to say about that.
Lunacy on the soccer field…emphasis on lunar
At least we have the other side of the world to keep us laughing and light at heart. Move over Chad “OchoCinco” Johnson- you have some competition. Leave it to the Europeon soccer world to provide us with a nice distraction from the every day.
You need to see this>>> A Sicilian soccer team drops their drawers as an offensive strategy…pure genius!
NFL wide receivers get penalized for talking on fake cell phones, doing the caterpillar in the end zone, or spiking a football. Oh yeah, don’t I recall an NFL coach getting in trouble for videotaping other defenses?
We are way too hard on professional athletes – let them have some fun. This never hurt anyone, it’s just a little pant dropping.
I don’t know which offensive playbook this was pulled from, but I love it.
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