| The
Official Newsletter of TheBlackMarket.com
for March 2009
The online version is available at http://www.TheBlackMarket.com/newslttr.htm
This issue of TheBlackMailer is sponsored by....
TRI-COUNTY
WOMAN Magazine -
Celebrating the Women of Orange,
Ulster and Duchess Counties!
For more info, or to subscribe,
go to www.tricountywoman.com |
|
|
ADVERTISING
Want to market your company to people around the
world? Sponsor TheBlackMailer Newsletter! For less than a dollar
a day ($40 a month) you can have an ad in both the email and online
versions of this newsletter. For more information or to see our
other advertising plans, go to http://www.theblackmarket.com/prices.htm,
or contact us at Sales@TheBlackMarket.com
ONE
MAN'S OPINION
Kobe & Lebron - who's better? who
cares?
Rush Limbaugh: "I
want Barack Obama to fail"
How stupid is this statement? Let's say you have
a ship. A big ship. A titanic ship. And it hits something big.
Say an iceberg. Which rips a hole in the side and the big titanic
ship starts taking on water and will very quickly sink if nothing
is done. Now, you have 2 different groups of people on this titanic
ship. Group A are plumbers and group B are welders. Group A says
they can keep bailing water and keep the ship afloat until they
reach a port and group B says they can successfully weld the hole
shut and keep the ship afloat. Only one project can be done. Say,
for whatever reason, the captain decides to pursue group A's proposal
(the plumbers). Rush Limbaugh et al saying they hope Obama fails
is like the welders saying they hope the plumbers fail. THEY
ARE ALL ON THE SAME SINKING SHIP. IF THE PLUMBERS FAIL THE WELDERS
DIE TOO.
This I believe
After listening to everyone point fingers for the last 4-6 months
about what got us in this financial mess, here's what I think.
I think it's easy to blame the last administration for the mess,
but I think the groundwork was laid maybe 15-20 years ago. I remember
back in college in the late 1980s one of my finance professors
commented on a new type of asset called a derivative. I remember
him saying don't mess with them, that nobody understood them.
Then about 5 years later Orange
County California went bankrupt messing with them. So no,
I don't think this was all the Bush Administration's fault. I
think that the last 8 years a few things happened, specifically
the financial institutions began to take full advantage of the
lack of regulation and CEOs of financial institutions were pushed
to match the returns of their competitors, competitors who were
probably using more risky strategies and leveraging their companies
more than they were letting on.
(Leverage is not necessarily a bad thing. Banks use leverage every
day to make loans for mortgages, cars and small businesses, leveraging
the deposits that you and I make.) Large financial institutions
were leveraging their assets, borrowing more and more, and trying
to hedge their bets with an insurance that wasn't really insurance.
The problem was that since there was no regulation on this non-insurance
insurance, it was like printing money, or more accurately, printing
IOUs. What we've come to realize is that so many company's books
were full of assets that someone else told them was worth something,
but no one did their own due diligence to verify that the assets
really had any value, and the sanctioned rating institutions were
blessing the assets without doing their own due diligence.
More and more people are coming forward saying
they tried to warn the SEC about Madoff, that they knew within
15 minutes of reviewing his returns that he was not on the up
and up. I think no one wanted to believe that he was lying because
it would mean they would have to do due diligence - the main action
they are paid for - on so many other investments. It's like everyone
kinda knew something wasn't right, but no one wanted to be the
one to open that Pandora's Box, because 1) it would probably negatively
impact their bonuses and 2) it would put a spotlight on what they
hadn't been doing for years, namely due diligence. Why do I think
anyone would just worry about their bonus? Because on the one
hand, you are looking at an 8 figure bonus (no decimal places)
if you keep quiet, on the other, you might be looking at losing
your job if you say anything, and the game will still go on. Why
not keep playing? Everyone was assuming that everyone else did
due diligence so they didn't have to. On top of that, everyone
knew their own books had crap in them, but they all thought they
were the only one in that position.
It was just announced that AIG, the company too big to fail and
the recipient of billions (with a B) of dollars from the US government
has paid several of its executives millions in retention bonuses,
even though the company lost billions last year (why you would
want to retain these guys is beyond me). It makes you wonder what
those contracts actually said. Usually, or at list common wisdom
would dictate that bonuses are used to incentivize a person to
meet certain objectives they have a direct hand in influencing.
But these goals should contribute to the success of the company
as a whole. Granted, maybe the company may not do well overall,
but if the individual met their objective they could/should get
their bonus. In the case of AIG, it was the same division whose
losses virtually bankrupt the company where the bonuses are getting
paid, which to me says these executives are pretty much receiving
bonuses for just showing up for work. A few years back there was
a big push to link CEO compensation to the stock price, so that
the CEO would have the same goal as the shareholders. Given that
the bonuses are being paid while the company is being taken over
by the government, I don't think the executives and the shareholders
had the same goals. I think the AIG bonuses, as bad as it sounds,
are legal. I think they were written into the bailout agreement
and nobody read it close enough to catch it, and definitely don't
think this is the first time our legislators signed bills they
hadn't read. It would be nice to be able to get the money back,
but I doubt it can be recovered by force legally. It would have
been nice if Congress or the Senate would have simply asked the
recipients for it. Sure, they may not have given it back, but
you never know until you ask. If they do say no, you can then
come down on them hard, and no one would complain.
As for the government, I think President Obama and his advisors
are trying to get us out of this mess as best they can. I think
the Republican party, still trying to live down the fact that
they were in charge six of the last 8 years when most of the damage
was done, does not have a clue what to do, but their DNA dictates
that whatever the opposition party does, push for the opposite.
So even though it was tax breaks that partially got us in this
mess, that's all they know, so they keep pushing for more of the
same. I think the democratic party lost a great opportunity when
the first bill they submitted for the president's signature had
any earmarks. They have at least 2 years before elections, too
bad they couldn't postpone individual wish lists to send one bill
that was clean. Had they done so, I think the goodwill they would
have garnered from the public would more than offset any "badwill"
they might get for self serving legislation they might produce
over the next 2 years. I think both parties in general think it's
still business as usual, while the president is trying to fix
the problems.
Lord Vader Speaks
I think ex VP Cheney's comments last week about how the President
policies on the war and torture were uncalled for, out of place
and inappropriate. A lot of Americans disagreed with his actions
in office, aside from that, it's just in bad taste, and says more
about him as a person than anything he did while in office. Bad
Dick. Bad, bad Dick.
Jon Stewart
v Jim Cramer
Cramer was the fall guy, but Stewart was dead on. The truth is
people have been trying to find get rich quick schemes for years.
Cramer, CNBC and a host of other financial shows tried to give
viewers a way to not do their homework but still make money. You
listen to Cramer, CNBC or me and make bets with your money on
what someone else says, you are stupid. Do your own due diligence.
See what not doing it got us?
But this is just one man's opinion. Got one of
your own? Hit me back at OneMan@TheBlackMarket.com
YOUR OPINION
Got an opinion on a current event or some topic
you'd like to share on the Internet? Send it to us. If you'd like
to give your opinion, send it to us at Editor@TheBlackMarket.com.
COLUMNS
Please give our writers feedback on their
columns. We are always looking for people who want to write for
this site. If you are interested in writing a monthly column you
can find complete details at http://www.theblackmarket.com/Writers.htm
FEATURES AND RESOURCES
Spotlight
on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Little Known
Facts on The Enslavement of Peoples of African Descent - He
forgets his past is doomed to repeat it.
Profiles in
Black
Black History
Calendar
Featured Recipe
Recipe Archive
Words of Wisdom
Black Physicians
Directory*
Unsolicited
Movie Reviews
*If you are or know a physician of African descent
that would like to be included in the FREE online directory, please
send their name, phone number, address, specialty and affiliations
to Editor@TheBlackMarket.com.
If you have any questions or concerns about having your name or
practice listed in this directory, please feel free to contact
us at the email address above. Listing of these physicians is
not and should not be interpreted as our endorsement of them or
their associated practices or affiliations. We list them strictly
as a resource, not an advertisement, for those who are searching
for physicians of African descent. We urge you to thoroughly evaluate
any physician you choose to deal with, whether you find them in
our listing or through some other source. We are not liable for
omissions or inaccuracies.
If you like TheBlackMarket.com,
support those businesses who keep it free. We are always looking
for new sponsors, so feel free to refer businesses targeting the
Black community.
GRATITUDE
Our thanks and appreciation goes out to everyone who has linked
to TheBlackMarket.com(TM), and have given us advice and suggestions.
And thanks for spreading the word about TheBlackMarket.com(TM).
We thank you for your support, and please feel free to forward
this newsletter to anyone you think may be interested.
GET YOUR OWN SUBSCRIPTION
Tired of having this newsletter forwarded to you? Want your own
FREE subscription to TheBlackMailer? You can subscribe to this
newsletter by sending an email to Editor@TheBlackMarket.com
and put "Subscribe" in the subject line.
TO CANCEL YOUR
SUBSCRIPTION
You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by sending an email to
Editor@TheBlackMarket.com
and put "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. Be sure to send from
the address you receive this newsletter.
Thanks for being a part of TheBlackMarket.com™.
Original. Black. Content.
Judge a person not by
what he possesses, but what possesses him.
TheBlackMarket.com and GriffinDesigns are 100%
Black owned.
| Home | TheBlackMarketPlace
| Classified Ads | Resources
|
| Black History | Monthly
Columns | Contact Us | Advertising
| Y Black | |
