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2:00PM Water Cooler 7/25/2019

By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Politics

“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51

“They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery.” –Frank Herbert, Dune

“2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination” [RealClearPolitics] (average of five polls). As of July 24: Biden flat at 28.6% (28.6), Sanders up at 15.0% (14.8%), Warren up at 15.0% (14.6%), Buttigieg up at 4.8% (5.0%), Harris down 12.2% (12.6%), others Brownian motion.

* * *

2020

Sanders (D)(1): “Tensions Between Bernie Sanders and MSNBC Boil Over” [Daily Beast]. “The backlash from Sanders-world reached a new high on Sunday, when MSNBC analyst Mimi Rocah, a former assistant U.S attorney for the Southern District of New York and occasional contributor to The Daily Beast, launched a personal critique of Sanders during a segment with host David Gura, saying that he makes her “skin crawl” and that he’s not a ‘pro-woman candidate.’… A senior campaign aide said the campaign believes there are possible biases in the network, but instead of shunning MSNBC they’ve been aggressive in getting their people booked. Sanders has been on the network at least nine times this cycle.”

Warren (D)(1): “Elizabeth Warren Wants to Stop Banks From Dominating Trillions in Payments” [Bloomberg]. “At issue is the development of real-time payment systems that would allow consumers and businesses to instantly access money that’s sent to their bank accounts. Everyone agrees that creating such networks is necessary. But they’re at odds over whether it’s a good idea to let big banks, which already have one up and running, reign supreme….. [Warren] wants the Federal Reserve to join the fray. The Massachusetts lawmaker, along with Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and two House Democrats, plans to introduce a bill Wednesday that would require the Fed to build a competing system. They say they want to make the U.S. payments infrastructure a public utility and prevent big banks from gaining a monopoly.” • Good!

Warren (D)(2): “Warren Is No Hillary. She’s Also No Bernie” [Jacobin]. “Characterizing Warren as a ‘neoliberal‘ or, even more stupidly, a ‘Clintonite,’ some misguided online Bernie Sanders supporters seem to be trying to cast her as the archvillain in the sequel to 2016’s horror flop, Hillary. With Warren’s advocacy for aggressive government regulation, her support for redistributive programs, her sharp critique of antisocial corporate behavior, and her rejection of individualistic folklore (remember ‘You didn’t build that‘?), she’s emerged as a relatively mild but nevertheless quite serious opponent of neoliberal ideology…. However, while Warren isn’t a neoliberal, Sanders supporters aren’t the only ones making shit up. Her own supporters have been spinning a series of fictitious narratives rooted in classic neoliberal identity politics, using feminism and anti-racism to discredit Sanders’s socialist agenda… One of these curious neoliberal narratives is that only sexism could explain why people support Sanders over Warren, since the candidates are exactly the same politically. Earlier this year, Moira Donegan, writing in the Guardian, asked, ‘Why vote for Sanders when you can have Elizabeth Warren instead?’ While Warren calls herself a “capitalist to my bones,” Sanders is a lifelong socialist.”

* * *

“Biden tries to set the stage in Detroit” [Politico]. “CNN’s broadcast, which begins at 8 p.m., will also feature an introduction of the candidates and playing of the national anthem.” • The debates are already enough like a sporting event, so what next? A military flyover?

“Can’t Buy Mohammed bin Salman Love” [Foreign Policy]. Last month, credible reports emerged that the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was courting campaign investors linked to Saudi Arabia. In June, Buttigieg held a fundraiser in the home of Hamilton James, a major Democratic donor and the mastermind behind a $20 billion deal to generate Saudi investment in U.S. infrastructure. Buttigieg is not alone. The Intercept revealed that former Vice President Joe Biden’s American Possibilities PAC includes investment from former Democratic Sen. John Breaux, a lobbyist for the firm Squire Patton Boggs, which is registered as a representative for Saudi Arabia.” • Classy!

Impeachment

“Mueller testimony fails to move needle on impeachment” [The Hill]. “[S]ome of the most vocal impeachment proponents said they don’t expect Mueller’s halting testimony — in which he asked legislators to repeat their questions on multiple occasions and often declined to answer questions at all — to lend any significant new power to the effort… More than 90 House Democrats have come out in favor of an impeachment inquiry, according to a tally kept by The Hill. But impeachment backers are still mostly progressives and amount to less than half of the 235-member caucus. Only a half-dozen Democrats representing swing districts have joined the push — and even they all hail from districts carried by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.”

Ouch:

Watching the dry prose of the Mueller report leap to life in the form of hours of committee hearings reminds me of when I was a fundamentalist kid and they tried to make the Bible fun using claymation. Now kids could SEE that Amminadab was the father of Nahshom, who begat Uzziah

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) July 24, 2019

“You Can’t Beat Trump without Throwing a Punch” [National Review]. “[Democrats’] desire is that the president should be removed from office, perhaps that the result of the 2016 election itself could be abrogated. And that all this could all be effected while they remain passive observers and commentators. Perhaps they would only be the formal executors of a judgment made elsewhere…. In other words, pro-impeachment Democrats wanted Mueller to make the decision for them, to take responsibility for moving public opinion in their favored direction. This is not how impeachment works under the Constitution, and it is not how political conflict works anyway. Just as spectators of the political game, it should be obvious by now that this is the signature mistake that all of Trump’s opponents have made. A fear of direct confrontation with Trump and his base leads his opponents to hope that Trump can be defeated without hard fighting….This is a vain hope. Like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Hillary Clinton before them, House Democrats will lose any contest with Trump so long as they are unwilling to sustain political damage in the act of inflicting more damage to him.” • Hard to argue with any of this.

RussiaGate

“These Questions for Mueller Show Why Russiagate Was Never the Answer” [The Nation]. The best question: “3. Why didn’t you interview Julian Assange? “The uncertainty in Mueller’s account of how WikiLeaks received the stolen e-mails could possibly have been cleared up had Mueller attempted to interview Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder insists that the Russian government was not his source, and has repeatedly offered to speak to US investigators. Given that Assange received and published the stolen emails at the heart of Mueller’s investigation, his absence from Mueller’s voluminous witness sheet is a glaring omission.” • Lawyers believe that you should never ask a question if you don’t already know the answer. So what does Mueller’s refusal to interview Assange say about his trust in the DNC?

Realignment and Legitimacy

“There Are Reasons for Optimism” [Noam Chomsky, Catalyst]. A long, long interview, well worth a read. Chomsky concludes: “A lot of things have improved and they’ve improved by active, organized, committed people who went to work on it and changed the world. That’s a reason to be optimistic.”

Stats Watch

Jobless Claims, week of July 20, 2019: “One of the Federal Reserve’s two central pillars policy — employment — is showing increasing and unusual strength” [Econoday]. “Labor conditions in July [may] have been at least if not more favorable than conditions in June.”

Durable Goods Orders, June 2019: “If manufacturing is the Federal Reserve’s central focus, they have less to be worried about. [Econoday]. “It’s a rare 1.9 percent jump in core capital goods orders that points to new confidence in the business outlook and the release of prior pent-up demand for new production equipment.” • What you want to see in a capitalist economy, even if most of turns out to be going to robots. More: “Revisions and the Boeing 737 aside, this report is an echo of the strength of last week’s industrial production report where manufacturing posted its strongest performance of the year, and it diminishes the need for Fed rate cuts and will have to be put into broad context or explained away by Jerome Powell at his press conference next week should the Fed indeed lower rates.”

Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index, July 2019: “Weighed down by increased uncertainty due to trade concerns and weaker domestic demand, Tenth District manufacturing activity unexpectedly slid into mild contraction” [Econoday]. “Today’s survey from Kansas joins yesterday’s Richmond Fed survey in showing manufacturing in contraction in their respective region, scaling back expectations of a general rebound in the nation’s flagging manufacturing sector that were aroused by last week’s positive Philly Fed and Empire State surveys,”

International Trade in Goods, June 2019: Exports fell very sharp[ly] with imports down. These are among the weakest results in 2-1/2 years and outside of isolated gains in May” [Econoday]. “Capital goods are the US’s strongest exports and these fell… Import contraction was deepest in industrial supplies…. Facing a sudden rush of improving economic data — whether employment or retail sales or core capital goods — the Federal Reserve will be able to point to declines in global trade as a justification for what appears to be an approaching rate cut at next week’s meeting.”

Retail Inventories [Advance], June 2019: Retail inventories contracted unexpectedly [Econoday]. “However unfavorable for the GDP calculation, low inventories at a time of strong consumer demand and what may be, based on this morning’s durable goods report, improving business demand point to the need for inventory building which would be a plus for third quarter employment and production.”

Wholesale Inventories [Advance], June 2019: Wholesale inventories rose lower-than-expected [Econoday]. As above on inventory building.

Retail: “Amazon Has ‘Destroyed’ U.S. Retail Industry, Mnuchin Says” [Bloomberg]. “U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin alleged that Amazon.com Inc. has “limited competition” and harmed the retail industry as the Trump administration announced a broad antitrust review into whether technology companies are using their power to thwart rivals. ‘If you look at Amazon, although there are certain benefits to it, it destroyed the retail industry across the United States, so there’s no question they’ve limited competition,” Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC Wednesday.'” • And just think! If Kamala Harris had prosecuted Mnuchin, he wouldn’t be saying this today!

Housing: “Nearly 250,000 NYC rental apartments sit vacant” [6sqft]. Early numbers from the Census Bureau’s Housing and Vacancy Survey show that the number of unoccupied apartments throughout New York City has grown significantly over the past three years–a whopping 35 percent to 65,406 apartments since 2014, when the last survey was taken. As the Daily News puts it, “Today, 247,977 units — more than 11% of all rental apartments in New York City — sit either empty or scarcely occupied, even as many New Yorkers struggle to find an apartment they can afford.” One reason for the growing vacancy rates, as the article states, is the city’s high rent, which has risen twice as fast as inflation….. Many of the 75,000 temporary apartments are pied-à-terres–think weekend or vacation homes for the rich–a number that’s expanded from 9,282 in 1987.”

Tech: “Twitter, Unable to Control Its Worst Elements, Rolls out a Site Redesign” [Fortune]. “The social media site began testing the new version of its site back in September 2018. The new look better resembles the site’s experience on modern smartphones. At the start, the new look was optional, and only available to some. Now, the redesign will be mandatory for Twitter users, disabling their ability to switch to the social network’s legacy layout.” • Amazingly, press coverage of this debacle has been universally positive; neither the designers nor the press seem to understand that phones (tiny screens, touch) and laptops (bigger screens or even monitors, mouse/keyboard) are different media. Hence the grotesquely oversized menu, the big type, the wasted screen real estate, the extra steps, and so on. The good news is that there are workarounds to the so-called “mandatory” redesign, if design is the word I want.

Tech: “How to switch back to the old Twitter layout” [ShackNews]. • The new Twitter laptop redesign really is ghastly. This technique works, though it’s not clear for how long.

Manufacturing: “Boeing says 737 MAX crisis could temporarily shut down Renton production” [Seattle Times]. “Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Wednesday that though the company’s “best estimate” is that the 737 MAX will return to service in October, a slip in that optimistic timeline could mean the Renton 737 production line would be temporarily shut down. ‘That’s not something we want to do, but something we have to prepare for,’ he said on Boeing’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts and the press. Such a drastic step would mean temporary layoffs at the plant, which employs more than 10,000 people. ‘A temporary shutdown could be more efficient than a sustained lower production rate,’ Muilenburg said. ‘That’s what we are thinking our way through.’ Wednesday’s call also included worrying news for Boeing’s Everett factory: The new 777X that rolled out of the factory in March will not fly until next year because of delays in fixing a problem with the plane’s GE-9X engine.”• A firm with enormous quality assurance problems considers screwing over its workers…

Manufacturing: “Southwest ceasing operations at Newark airport because of 737 Max delays” [CNN]. “Southwest Airlines is ceasing operations at Newark Liberty International Airport because of the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. The airline announced Thursday that Boeing’s (BA) “extensive delays” in getting its 737 Max plane back in service, Southwest has to stop flying in and out of the New Jersey airport starting November 3. Southwest called it a financial decision, saying its financial results at the airport have fallen below expectations, and it had to “mitigate damages and optimize our aircraft…. The airline operates 20 flights per day from Newark to 10 cities, including Phoenix, Austin and Chicago. Southwest (LUV) will still continue to fly from two New York area airports including LaGuardia and Islip on Long Island.” • Newark or LaGuardia…. I’d have to give it some thought.

Manufacturing: “Airbus A350 software bug forces airlines to turn planes off and on every 149 hours” [The Register]. “Some models of Airbus A350 airliners still need to be hard rebooted after exactly 149 hours, despite warnings from the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) first issued two years ago.” • Funny to have the famous Help Desk reponse — “Please reboot your machine and try again” — appear at such a high level. To be fair to Airbus, the problem was fixable. The article has interesting information on how Airbus aircraft are wired up.

The Biosphere

“Moody’s Buys Climate Data Firm, Signaling New Scrutiny of Climate Risks” [New York Times]. “The rating agency bought a majority share in Four Twenty Seven, a California-based company that measures a range of hazards, including extreme rainfall, hurricanes, heat stress and sea level rise, and tracks their impact on 2,000 companies and 196 countries. In the United States, the data covers 761 cities and more than 3,000 counties.” • I’m reminded of the scene from The Big Short where Mark Baum visits Standard & Poors:

“I work in the environmental movement. I don’t care if you recycle.” [Vox]. “All too often, our culture broadly equates “environmentalism” with personal consumerism. To be “good,” we must convert to 100 percent solar energy, ride an upcycled bike everywhere, stop flying, eat vegan. We have to live a zero-waste lifestyle, never use Amazon Prime, etc., etc. I hear this message everywhere…. While we’re busy testing each other’s purity, we let the government and industries — the authors of said devastation — off the hook completely. This overemphasis on individual action shames people for their everyday activities, things they can barely avoid doing because of the fossil fuel-dependent system they were born into…. If we want to function in society, we have no choice but to participate in that system. To blame us for that is to shame us for our very existence.” • Amen.

“Special Report: A Cloudspotter’s Guide to Climate Change” [Reuters]. “When Gavin Pretor-Pinney decided on a whim to inaugurate the Cloud Appreciation Society at a literary festival, he never expected it to draw much attention. Fifteen years later, more than 47,000 members have signed up for a group that could have been dismissed as another example of quintessentially British eccentricity…. Global climate models are a computational mesh that use grids of the Earth that are tens to hundreds of kilometers wide. Clouds and the complicated processes they are made under are smaller in size and present a ‘blind spot’ in climate modeling, says [Tapo] Schneider, the Caltech climate scientist…. [T]he Cloud Appreciation Society decided not to get involved in the climate change debate. Asked what he made of his fellow members’ reluctance to include climate advocacy in the Cloud Appreciation Society’s work, [Walt Lyons, an atmospheric scientist and former broadcast meteorologist who belongs to the society] pauses for a moment. ‘Just appreciating clouds is a big job, because people are reconnecting with nature,’ he says finally. ‘If more people could begin to understand what they’re about to lose…’ He walks away and settles his bill with the cashier.” • Great metaphor, there. A sad ending! A very good article on clouds; the Cloud Appreciation Society is the story hook (or, I suppose, barb). Well worth a read.

“Sacramento UC Master Gardeners to host annual Harvest Day gardening event in Fair Oaks” [Sacramento Bee]. “Gardening is incredibly rewarding, but it can also frustrate, especially when a plant is struggling or bugs are plaguing your garden. But there’s help available: The Sacramento UC Master Gardeners are here to help and give advice at their annual Harvest Day event.” • Master Gardeners are a great resource.

For rail fans, a thread:

Trains are running at reduced speeds tomorrow, because of all this heat causing the rails to buckle.

Inevitably this brings out people asking “why doesn’t this happen in Spain/Mexico/other hot countries”, so it’s time for a thread about railway track. https://t.co/YlwCUiaVAl

— Alex Chan (@alexwlchan) July 24, 2019

“Real Estate Agents Trying To Gentrify Run-Down Earth By Renaming It West Saturn” [The Onion (RH)]. “With Mars almost sold through, demand for the good spots on Earth is only going to heat up, much like Earth itself.”

Guillotine Watch

Get used to it:

Tonight I tweeted a pic of a Georgetown party hosted by @maureendowd, attended by @SpeakerPelosi, @SenSchumer and DC journos. In the old days it would’ve been a benign big-shot brag. No more. It was viciously ratio’d by left and right. I deleted it. All establishments are hated.

— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) July 25, 2019

Here’s Fineman’s deleted tweet:

pic.twitter.com/0I7M89N5Th

— Walter (@Waltersghost1) July 25, 2019

Class Warfare

“If You Hate Capitalism You Will Love This Map” [Vice]. “The Black Socialists of America (BSA), a coalition of ‘anticapitalist, internationalist Black Americans,’ just launched its Dual Power Map. The map promises to plot every single worker cooperative, small business development center, community land trust, and dual power project in America so ‘you can support them right now.’ But what are any of these things? What is dual power? Why should you care? At its heart, dual power is a socialist strategy concerned with helping people who are unable to have their needs met by capitalism. The strategy calls for ‘counter-institutions’ that not only meet the needs of those left behind but are run by those very people. It also calls for people to protect and develop these institutions into forms of social, economic, and political ‘counter-power’ through social movements or organizing efforts.” • Good press for BSA. I’ve been following BSA for awhile and they seem quite disciplined.

From an actual organizer on the shop floor, a thread:

I want to share some thoughts on rank and file work. I am going to avoid the touchy debates and focus on the experience of embedding yourself in a workplace to carry out work.

— Comrade Scalawag ✊🌹 (@ComradeScalawag) July 21, 2019

The labor aspect of the Gulf tanker seizures:

The tanker's owners are registered in Britain in order to be defended by her military and diplomatic power but the vessel is 'flagged' to Liberia in order to avoid British employment and health and safety legislation. And of course to avoid having RMT organised ratings on board. https://t.co/05cvtrfy3c

— Eddie Dempsey (@EddieDempsey) July 22, 2019

“Baby Boomers are staying in the labor force at rates not seen in generations for people their age” [Pew Research Center]. “The relatively high labor force participation of Boomers may be beneficial both to them and the wider economy. Some retirement experts emphasize working longer as the key to a secure retirement, in part because the generosity of monthly Social Security benefits increases with each year claiming is postponed. For the economy as a whole, economic growth in part depends on labor force growth, and the Boomers staying in the work force bolsters the latter.”

News of the Wired

The stuff of nightmares:

Two franchises can play at that… pic.twitter.com/WCuJyycxRi

— ρhαετhøṉ (@PhaethonTweets) July 24, 2019

(You may have to click “View” to see the “sensitive content,” for some nutty reason.

I like these stories:

Do good recklessly is my new motto https://t.co/u6sXHC0jlN

— dr. phoenix calida is bearly black (@uppittynegress) July 25, 2019

At the university cafeteria, the person behind me in line paid for my food — just randomly! So I have done the same for others. Not every day, but often enough. Its a small tradition and maybe not reckless, but I like it.

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Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Today’s plant (JN):

What a pleasing prospect!

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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So do feel free to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of small donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals. So if you see something you especially appreciate, do feel free to click this donate button:

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If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Water Cooler on July 25, 2019 by Lambert Strether.

About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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← Links 7/25/19 The World’s Biggest Lawsuit: Juliana v. United States →

Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/07/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2019.html

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Exit strategy for insurance products

At Value Research, we receive a large number of queries from investors asking for advice on their portfolios. On the insurance side, one of the most common problems we encounter is the widespread availability of Ulips and traditional products (endowment and moneyback plans) that are meant to serve as two-in-one, investment-cum-insurance products. We, on the other hand, firmly believe that investors should keep insurance and investment apart, and that their interests would be best served through a combination of term plan and mutual funds. And so we strongly recommend that investors say no to endowment policies and ULIPs.

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Why go for term plan-MF combo The term plan-mutual funds combination is financially the most efficient. Ulips, on the other hand, levy a number of charges besides the fund management charge (that a mutual fund also charges) and mortality charge (that a term plan charges). They levy a premium allocation charge (PAC), an administrative charge, and so on. The cost structure of Ulips is also complicated. While charges levied under endowment plans and money back policies are unknown, charges under linked policies are clearly mentioned in policy brochures and policy documents available on the company website. Investors are either unaware or they do not take pain to go through the policy details before making a final purchase. Insurance companies, agents and advisors take advantage of the ignorance of investors and sell policies which are not really helpful. The mutual fund-term plan combination scores by having a lower and more transparent cost structure.

Another problem with Ulips is that an insurance company offers only a limited number of fund options. If the funds offered by the insurance company underperforms, the investor does not have the option to exit his current fund and invest in a high-return fund from another company (until the lock-in period is over). On the other hand, if he invests in mutual funds, he can easily exit his current underperforming fund (most mutual funds do not have an exit load after one year), and choose to invest in any one of the hundreds of funds available in the market.

Traditional products such as endowment plans and moneyback plans too have drawbacks. The biggest is that they offer simple interest, whereas if you invest in a mutual fund or even in the Public Provident Fund (PPF) for that matter, your investments grow through compounding. As we well know, the effect of compounding is powerful, especially over the long term. The second disadvantage of traditional products is that they have a high allocation to debt products. This, too, affects their returns: over the long term, as we know, returns from equities trounce those from debt.

Yet another disadvantage of insurance-cum-investment products belonging to insurance companies is that despite paying a hefty sum of money as premium, a family could still be under-insured. Since term plans are inexpensive, one can buy adequate amount of cover through them.

What should you do Exit and bear the losses upfront: If a person has invested in a Ulip or in traditional products, and especially if he has paid the premium only for two or three years, the ideal solution would be for him to exit these policies right away. In the older Ulips, there was a lock-in period of three years, which has now been extended to five in the new Ulips. If an investor exits from an old Ulip after paying two premiums, he will lose out on his premiums completely. If he exits an old Ulip after three years, all he is likely to get is the third-year premium; the myriad charges in Ulips would eat up the rest. Pune-based financial planner Veer Sardesai says, 'Over a 20 to 25 year span the investor is better off exiting these policies, even if it means entirely forfeiting his premium, and going with the term plan-mutual funds combination.' However, only investors who are financially savvy are likely to agree to pursue this course of action.

Stay put: At the other end of the spectrum, you would have investors who are not at all financially savvy. They would have little knowledge of term plans (because agents do not push them) and mutual funds (especially in smaller towns, there tends to be greater awareness about insurance products than about mutual funds). Such investors would be wary of these options.

These investors would prefer a Ulip to a term plan-mutual fund combination because a Ulip, being a product from an insurance company, would offer them a greater sense of security (especially if it is from the public-sector behemoth). Such investors could stay put in the Ulip. Even if the Ulip is not a financially-efficient product, it would still benefit these investors by offering them equity exposure, which would boost their returns over the long term.

The middle path: Next, you have investors who are financially savvy and who understand the logic behind promptly exiting a Ulip or a traditional product. Despite this, they might shy away from the option of writing off their premiums in the Ulip entirely. Very often the premiums they have paid are as high as Rs1 lakh or more per year, so bearing the loss upfront becomes difficult.

For such investors, Sardesai suggests the middle path of making the policy 'paid up'. Enquire from the insurance company the minimum period for which premiums must be paid. Pay till then and then stop. Thereafter, the policy will continue to exist. The insurance company will deduct its annual charges from the corpus that has accumulated within the policy and keep it alive. The paid-up policy would offer a lower sum assured, but the investor would at least be saved from throwing good money after bad. The advantage of this course of action is that the investor feels he has not lost his money entirely, though if one were to do the math, the first rather than this third option would be optimal.

As you can see, once you have entered these high-cost insurance-cum-investment policies, there can be no painless exit. Taking your losses upfront, especially if you have not been in these policies for long, is the best course of action if you are keen to get your financial portfolio back on track.

Source: https://www.valueresearchonline.com/story/h2_storyview.asp?str=26123

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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15 companies that boomed in 2018, and 15 that tanked

By Daniel Coughlin of Lovemoney |

< PREVIOUS SLIDE SLIDE 1 of 31 NEXT SLIDE >

The year 2018 has been very kind to some companies and viciously cruel to others. From booming firms such as Boeing and Amazon to businesses that have struggled big time, we reveal this year's key winners and losers based on the change in their share price from the beginning of January to mid-November. Click ahead to see them.

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Links 7/13/19

A New Study Uses Camera Footage To Track the Frequency of Bystander Intervention CityLab

A Feud Between Japan and South Korea Is Threatening Global Supplies of Memory Chips CNN

Carbon Nanotube Device Channels Heat Into Light PhysOrg

A Massive Hunk Of Ice Will Reshape The World’s Coastlines Sooner Than We Thought Forbes (David L)

Streaming Online Pornography Produces as Much CO2 as Belgium New Scientist

Explainer: What is post-quantum cryptography? PhysOrg

B vitamin content of rice declines with rising CO2 Harvard Magazine (furzy)

Billions of Air Pollution Particles Found in Hearts of City Dwellers Guardian

The trouble with fruit juice Mayo Clinic (Chuck L)

Blossom’s Fake Video Exposed by food scientist | How To Cook That Ann Reardon YouTube. UserFriendly:

Even if people haven’t seen the original video this is debunking it’s still worth the watch. Specifically it elucidates the problem with trying to define what is ‘natural’ rather well. But then towards the end it gets into a criticism of YouTube’s algorithm.

Savage tick-clone armies are sucking cows to death; experts fear for humans ars technica (Chuck L)

China?

Laid-Off Expat Bankers Struggle to Find Jobs in Hong Kong Bloomberg. UserFriendly: “Let me get my violin.”

Negative-Yielding Junk Bonds Have Arrived in Europe Wolf Street

‘Black vest’ protesters storm Panthéon in Paris BBC (furzy)

Glenn Greenwald becomes focus of Brazil press freedom debate Associated Press (Chuck L)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Revealed: This Is Palantir’s Top-Secret User Manual For Cops Vice

Top Assange Defense Account Deleted By Twitter Caitlin Johnstone

S Mayors Resolve Not To Pay Hackers Over Ransomware Attacks CNET

Syraqistan

House Votes to Prevent Trump From Entering Unauthorized War With Iran, Setting Up Showdown With Senate Washington Post

S-400 missile system: What is it and why does Turkey want it? DW

US greenlights missiles for al-Qaeda-linked, Turkish-backed Salafi-jihadists occupying Syria’s Idlib Grayzone (Chuck L)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Hypersonic Missiles’ Aren’t Starting an Arms Race—Washington Is FAIR. UserFriendly: “Gets a few things wrong (e.g. aircraft carriers are already obsolete) but still useful.”

Trump Transition

Mueller to give extended testimony after appearance postponed The Hill

Concord Management and the End of Russiagate? Consortiumnews (furzy)

Hamptons Problems: The MAGA Invasion Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg Vanity Fair

Border Patrol Chief Was Member of Secret Facebook Group Intercept (furzy)

Trump Gives Up on Census, Launches New Attack on Democracy Rolling Stone (furzy) Um, this looks to me to be Trump trying to save face. Plus the Census recommended this approach.

New footage shows severe overcrowding at Texas detainment facility NBC (furzy)

Democrats in Disarray

The Turn of the Pelosi Screw Sardonicky (UserFriendly

Pelosi, Please Stop Coddling Trump Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine (resilc)

U.S. House passes $733 billion defense policy bill after president threatens veto Reuters. Resilc: “Shit lite DNC rolls.”

2020

For NYT, Inconvenient Facts Equal ‘Russian-Style Disinformation’ FAIR (UserFriendly, furzy)

Joe Biden’s Senate Records Are Being Kept Secret: Why? Washington Post

The real issue here is jealousy. Bernie picked on Jamie Dimon before Lloyd Blankfein and Goldman can’t handle being number two. https://t.co/0DEnu5gYe8

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 12, 2019

L’affaire Epstein

US Labour Secretary Alex Acosta resigns over Epstein case BBC

SIX DEGREES FROM JEFFREY EPSTEIN: WASHINGTON GRAPPLES WITH A WEB OF EMBARRASSING ASSOCIATIONS Jonathan Turley (Chuck L)

Jeffrey Epstein paid $350K to ‘influence’ possible co-conspirators: prosecutors NBC

Why Did Jeffrey Epstein Fly Back To The US? Ilargi

Our Famously Free Press

Why Does WaPo See Black as an ‘Identity’—but Not Multi-Millionaire? FAIR (UserFriendly)

What is ergodicity? Lars P. Syll (UserFriendly). A topic in ECONNED, see Chapter 2.

FTC approves $5bn settlement with Facebook Financial Times and Facebook $5 Billion Privacy Settlement Approved Bloomberg

Facebook Denies Being a Social Network in Lawsuit Response PC Mag

Bird, One of the World’s Largest Scooter Startups, Lost $100 Million in Three Months Business Insider

Charts Suggest the Dow Index Is Being Painted to Get “New Highs” in the Market Pam Martens and Russ Martens (UserFriendly). Um, they think this is news?

AT&T Breaks Another Merger Promise In Making ‘Friends’ Exclusive Tech Dirt (Chuck L)

Class Warfare

Some of Amazon’s highly-paid tech workers say warehouse worker conditions are ‘a source of shame’ Business Insider (David L). Not enough shame to lead them to earn a more honest living.

Another reason your wages are low: it’s cheaper to hire convicts MarketWatch

Booted From Queens, Amazon Is Now Driving Up Rents In Virginia Instead Gothamist (furzy)

Dem leaders float new tweak to soften minimum wage bill Politico. Resilc: “Fighting for you, da DNC.”

Antidote du jour. Lawrence R: “The back porch of Mount Washington Hotel”:

And a bonus. Overview from the Guardian:

Alexis has a life-threatening disease. She spends her time in the wooded expanse of northern Scotland, where she takes care of dozens of animals who are also sick, wounded or dying. Some have terminal cancer, some would otherwise be killed because of their disabilities, some were saved from slaughterhouses. Alexis provides palliative care for them.

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

This entry was posted in Links on July 13, 2019 by Yves Smith.

Post navigation

← Is There a Global Future for Unions? Will Democratic Party Superdelegates Prevent a Progressive Nominee in 2020? →

Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/07/links-7-13-19.html

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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RBI gets windfall from rising gold prices

The rising price of the precious metal has helped the central bank increase overall forex reserves despite currency reserves not rising, and sometimes even falling.

Photograph: Ajay Verma / Reuters

The Reserve Bank of India’s strategy to add gold to forex reserves has started yielding fruits. The rising price of the precious metal has helped the central bank increase overall forex reserves despite currency reserves not rising, and sometimes even falling.

According to the RBI’s forex reserves data, put out every week, its foreign currency reserves in end-June was 0 billion. On August 2, it fell marginally to 9 billion, according to data released on Friday.

In the same period, however, the gold reserves increased $2.2 billion to a total of $25.16 billion.

Total forex reserves, including all assets, were $427.68 billion in June-end. It increased by only $1.27 billion as of August 2.

Hence, increase in gold reserves has kept the total reserves growing.

This is an important because earlier, the RBI was reluctant to add gold to its reserves as part of policy.

In November 2009, it had bought 200 tonnes of the metal from the International Monetary Fund for $1,032 per ounce. After that, it was only in March 2018 that it bought 2.4 tonnes.

Since then, the RBI has bought 60 tonnes of gold, taking its total holding to 618.2 tonnes.

In the same period the foreign currency reserves have remained more or less the same but gold reserves have increased almost 20 per cent, thanks to increase in stock and also price of the metal.

Gold price is marked to market as per formula once a month.

Sources in the sector said the decision to add gold to forex reserves was strategic because most central banks were using the precious metal as a hedge against changing financial market risk and the dollar.

In 2018, central banks added 651 tonnes to their reserves. In the same period, the RBI added 42 tonnes.

An economist specialising in banking, who did not want to be named, said, “The RBI is also buying gold as part of forex reserves because it is selling sovereign gold bonds on behalf of the government. These bonds have no hedging, but adding gold to reserves is equivalent to hedging that risk.”

Sovereign gold bonds were first issued in November 2015. Since then, the RBI has sold such bonds worth 25.37 tonnes of the precious metal, according to the World Gold Council.

In a recent interview RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, “For deployment of (forex) reserves, there is a clear understanding about how much should go into bonds, how much should go into gold assets, and within bonds how much should go into each country. Also, we have set criteria that say there should be safety, liquidity and return on our investments, in that order. Therefore, a certain portion is also held in gold as part of our asset diversification strategy.”

Source: https://www.rediff.com/business/report/rbi-gets-windfall-from-rising-gold-prices/20190810.htm

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Stocks Turn Tail As These 3 Top Growth Stocks Tumble On Earnings

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Source: https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stock-market-higher-yeti-cree-square-stock-earnings/

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Kickstarter at World Design Capital Mexico City 2018

Versión en español a continuación. Scroll down for Spanish.

Kickstarter has been open to creators in Mexico for nearly two years, and in that time, we’ve seen many Mexico-based designers use Kickstarter to create work with a strong social consciousness. We’re celebrating those creators with an exhibition at WDC Mexico City 2018 called Designing Together for a Sustainable Mexico, showcasing six projects that illustrate the convergence of creativity and social responsibility through sustainable local design.

World Design Capital (WDC) is an international organization that promotes and celebrates industrial design as a tool for building a better environment and society. They’ve selected Mexico City to be this year’s World Design Capital, the first city in the Americas to hold the title. The designation involves a year-long slate of programming that will explore design and creative production as an engine for social, economic, and cultural change.

“Due to its immense creative capital, Mexico shows great potential to make design a true factor for change in society,” says Andrea Cesarman, director of Design Week Mexico, who partnered with the local government to achieve the World Design Capital 2018 designation for Mexico City.

If you’re in Mexico City, we invite you to visit the exhibition at Espacio CDMX for free through September 30, 2018. Learn more about the projects that will be featured in the exhibition below:

Taking a contemporary and functional approach to traditional Mexican design, txt.ure seeks to preserve and celebrate a prehispanic weaving technique. With the support of the Kickstarter community, they built a workshop in Veracruz to continue teaching this technique and connect the region’s artisans to sustainable trade.

Taller Nu creates ethical and sustainable fashion that helps empower incarcerated women. They used Kickstarter to fund their Anuble collection, which was manufactured by female inmates in rural Mexico; Taller Nu trained them in artisanal textile and natural dyeing techniques and gave them fair compensation for their work.

Bucky is an educational toy made out of biodegradable plastic that teaches a maker mentality and helps children develop technological skills that they can use to creatively tackle challenges. For every 30 Bucky toys funded on Kickstarter, the creators are making a kit to be distributed to schools in rural areas that lack access to technology.

Mariana Maduro and Roberto Flores founded the La Refugio design collective to promote collaboration between talented, passionate artists. Their first project is Aluxes, a ceramics collection honoring the Mayan tradition. Each piece is conceptualized by a different artist, resulting in a unique and quirky assortment of vases.

BSCSMX was born out of a concern about the exploitative practices of the fashion industry and a desire to promote responsible consumption. Their timeless clothes are made in Mexico by small artisan cooperatives that use local fabrics and employ fair manufacturing practices.

The Mexico City-based design studio Comité de Proyectos used Kickstarter to create a collection of lamps inspired by nature. Made out of certified wood from the Huanacaxtle tree, Lámpara Binomios represents four lunar states: dawn, noon, dusk, and total eclipse.

Kickstarter lleva casi dos años ayudando a impulsar la creatividad en México, y desde entonces hemos visto a un gran número de diseñadores mexicanos usar Kickstarter para crear trabajo con un fuerte sentido social. Hoy, celebramos a estos creadores con una exhibición en WDC CDMX 2018 llamada Diseñando juntos por un México sustentable en donde presentamos seis proyectos que ilustran la convergencia entre la creatividad y la responsabilidad social a través del diseño sustentable.

World Design Capital (WDC) es una organización internacional que promueve y celebra el diseño industrial como una herramienta para mejorar el medioambiente y la sociedad. Seleccionaron a la Ciudad de México para ser la Capital Mundial del Diseño 2018, la primera ciudad en el continente en obtener este reconocimiento. La programación durante el año explorará al diseño como motor de cambio social, económico y cultural, temas prominentes en el trabajo de muchos diseñadores mexicanos.

“Por su gran capital creativo, México demuestra un potencial enorme para hacer del diseño un verdadero factor de cambio en nuestra sociedad,” nos cuenta Andrea Cesarman, Directora de Design Week Mexico, quienes junto con el gobierno de la Ciudad de México lograron la designación de Capital Mundial del Diseño para la Ciudad de México.

Te invitamos a visitar la exhibición en Espacio CDMX de manera gratuita hasta el 30 de septiembre. Y puedas o no asistir en persona, conoce más sobre los proyectos presentes en la exposición a continuación:

Fusionando al diseño tradicional mexicano con un diseño contemporáneo y funcional, txt.ure busca preservar y celebrar la técnica prehispánica de tejido en tule. Con el apoyo de la comunidad de Kickstarter, construyeron un taller en San Pedro Tultepec, Veracruz para continuar enseñando dicha técnica y traer el comercio sustentable a la comunidad local de artesanos.

Taller Nu crea moda ética y sustentable que ayuda a empoderar a mujeres encarceladas. Su colección "Anuble" fue financiada en Kickstarter y fue producida por un grupo de internas en en un Centro de Rehabilitación Social en el Estado de México. Taller Nu entrenó a estas mujeres en una técnica artesanal y en teñidos naturales, pagando un salario justo por su trabajo.

Bucky es un juguete educativo hecho de plástico biodegradable que fomenta la mentalidad maker y enseña a los niños a desarrollar habilidades tecnológicas para enfrentar creativamente los retos del futuro. Por cada 30 Buckys financiados en Kickstarter, los creadores están haciendo un kit a entregarse en escuelas de zonas rurales con menor acceso a la tecnología.

Mariana Maduro y Roberto Flores fundaron La Refugio para fomentar la colaboración entre artistas con talento y pasión por lo que hacen. Su primer proyecto es "Aluxes", una colección de cerámica que honra la tradición maya. Cada pieza es intervenida por un artista diferente y el resultado son vasijas únicas e irrepetibles.

BSCSMX nace de una genuina preocupación sobre las prácticas de explotación de la industria de la moda y del deseo de promover el consumo responsable. Su ropa es atemporal y 100% hecha en México, con insumos locales, bajo un modelo de maquila justa y producida por pequeñas cooperativas de artesanos.

Andrea Flores y Lucía Soto son las fundadoras de Comité de Proyectos e hicieron realidad estas lámparas inspiradas en el mundo natural en Kickstarter. Hechas de madera certificada de Huanacaxtle, las Lámparas Binomios crean cuatro ambientes en el espacio donde se colocan: amanecer, mediodía, atardecer y eclipse.

Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-at-world-design-capital-mexico-city-2018

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Lira-Krise: Erdogan ernennt sich zum Chef des türkischen Staatsfonds

Druckversion - Lira-Krise: Erdogan ernennt sich zum Chef des türkischen Staatsfonds - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Wirtschaft

12. September 2018, 18:28 Uhr

Der türkische Präsident vergrößert erneut seinen Einfluss - und ernennt sich selbst zum Vorsitzenden des staatlichen Vermögensfonds. Sein Schwiegersohn wird ebenfalls einen Posten übernehmen.

Der türkische Staatsfonds war erst im August 2016 eingerichtet und im Februar 2017 mit mehreren Dutzend Milliarden Dollar dotiert worden, um große Infrastrukturprojekte zu finanzieren. Nun hat sich der türkische Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan selbst zum Chef des milliardenschweren Fonds ernannt. Seinen Finanzminister und Schwiegersohn Berat Albayrak ernannte er zum Vizepräsidenten. Das ging aus einem veröffentlichten Dekret hervor.

Demnach wurde nun Zafer Sonmez zum Generaldirektor ernannt. Sonmez war zuvor im malaysischen Staatsfonds Khazanah Nasional Berhad für die Türkei und Afrika zuständig. Zudem wurde Erdogans Berater Yigit Bulut aus dem Verwaltungsrat entfernt.

An den Fonds wurden unter anderem die Vermögenswerte der staatlichen Ziraat Bank sowie die staatlichen Anteile an der Fluggesellschaft Turkish Airlines übertragen.

Türkei: Mitten in der Wirtschafts- und Währungskrise

Die Reorganisation des Fonds erfolgt inmitten einer schweren Währungskrise, die auch auf die Realwirtschaft überzugreifen droht. Die Talfahrt der Lira ist besonders für Unternehmen bedrohlich, die hohe Schulden in ausländischen Währungen haben. Durch den Wertverfall der Lira wird es für Firmen deutlich schwieriger, diese Schulden zu bedienen. Ökonomen verweisen schon länger auf das Risiko dieses vom Ausland finanzierten Wachstums.

Die türkische Zentralbank entscheidet bei einer Sitzung am Donnerstag über die Leitzinsen. Ökonomen dringen auf eine deutliche Zinserhöhung, um dem Verfall der Währung und dem Anstieg der Inflation zu begegnen, die zuletzt 18 Prozent erreichte. Erdogan ist aber strikt dagegen, da er Zinsen als "Instrument der Ausbeutung" betrachtet. Nachdem er im Juli seine Kontrolle über die Zentralbank verstärkt hat, gibt es erhebliche Zweifel an deren Unabhängigkeit.

cop/dpa/AFP

Source: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/tuerkei-recep-tayyip-erdogan-wird-chef-des-tuerkischen-staatsfonds-a-1227820-druck.html

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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IIT-M online course in AI

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has launched a start-up to train workers on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at a nominal cost. The start-up, One Fourth Lab, has an online school, ‘PadhAI’, which will offer India-specific courses on AI and also invite top performing students every year to a ‘summer garage’, an AI residency programme at IIT Madras Research Park. The start-up founded by Mitesh M Khapra and Pratyush Kumar, Assistant Professors, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT-Madras, will also create AI-driven apps by collaborating with Small and Medium Enterprises .

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/iit-m-online-course-in-ai/article26030492.ece?_escaped_fragment_=

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Nasdaq Composite Leads Mixed Session On Wall Street

Stocks closed mixed Tuesday in a seesaw session that saw only the Nasdaq composite make any headway thanks to gains in Alphabet (GOOGL) and other major components.

The Nasdaq composite climbed nearly 0.2% and was the best index all day, even while the market ebbed. Some major components such as Amazon.com (AMZN) rose. Alphabet, the parent of Google, rose on the same day its CEO testified in Congress over privacy and other concerns.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2%. Verizon Communications (VZ) is in a follow-on buy area after finding support at the 50-day moving average. Verizon is on IBD Leaderboard, where its position was raised Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell a fraction. Small caps performed in line with the main indexes, as the Russell 2000 eased around 0.2%. The small-cap index remains deep in a correction.

The Nasdaq's modest added to a new rebound in the indexes ignited with Monday's positive price reversal. Those bullish moves came as the S&P 500 found support at 2600 and the Nasdaq around 7000.

The market opened sharply higher on news China plans to cut tariffs on imports of U.S.-made vehicles.

But the gains eroded and hit session lows after President Trump and Democratic leaders clashed over a possible government shutdown and funding for a border wall.

Leading stocks outperformed the main indexes as the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) added 0.4%

Autohome (ATHM) led the IBD 50, up more than 5%, as the Chinese auto marketing website operator climbed back above the 200-day moving average. Autohome, though, has a long ways to go to reach a new high as it recovers from a deep decline.

Kirkland Lake Gold (KL) added to Monday's breakout past a 23.96 buy point. Kirkland is a standout in the IBD 50, extending a winning streak with five straight days of above-average volume.

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Best Stocks To Watch Showing Rising Relative Strength

Use The 10-Day Moving Average To Get Ahead Of Sell Signals

Source: https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/nasdaq-composite-leads-mixed-session/

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Trump Unleashes On Uber-Hawk Bolton: We'd Be Fighting "The Whole World At One Time"

In a stunningly frank moment during a Sunday Meet the Press interview focused on President Trump's decision-making on Iran, especially last week's "brink of war" moment which saw Trump draw down readied military forces in what he said was a "common sense" move, the commander in chief threw his own national security advisor under the bus in spectacular fashion.

Though it's not Trump's first tongue-in-cheek denigration of Bolton's notorious hawkishness, it's certainly the most brutal and blunt take down yet, and frankly just plain enjoyable to watch. When host Chuck Todd asked the president if he was “being pushed into military action against Iran” by his advisers in what was clearly a question focused on Bolton first and foremost, Trump responded:

“John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he'd take on the whole world at one time, okay?”

WATCH: President Trump tells Chuck Todd that he has doves and hawks in his cabinet. #MTP #IfItsSunday

Trump: “I have some hawks. John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he'd take on the whole world at one time.“ pic.twitter.com/JKVB2IvMVU

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 23, 2019

Trump began by explaining, “I have two groups of people. I have doves and I have hawks,” before leading into this sure to be classic line that is one for the history books: “If it was up to him he'd take on the whole world at one time, okay?”

During this section of comments focused on US policy in the Middle East, the president reiterated his preference that he hear from "both sides" on an issue, but that he was ultimately the one making the decisions.

When pressed on the dangers of having such an uber-hawk neo-conservative who remains an unapologetic cheerleader of the 2003 Iraq War, and who laid the ground work for it as a member of Bush's National Security Council, Trump followed with, “That doesn't matter because I want both sides.”

Image source: Reuters

And in another clear indicator that Trump wants to stay true to his non-interventionist instincts voiced on the 2016 campaign trail, he explained to Todd that:

I was against going into Iraq... I was against going into the Middle East. Chuck we've spent 7 trillion dollars in the Middle East right now.

It was the second time this weekend that Trump was forced to defend his choice of Bolton as the nation's most influential foreign policy thinker and adviser. When peppered with questions at the White House Saturday following Thursday night's dramatic "almost war" with Iran, Trump said that he "disagrees" with Bolton "very much" but that ultimately he's "doing a very good job".

Bolton has never kept his career-long goal of seeing regime change in Tehran a secret - repeating his position publicly every chance he got, especially in the years prior to tenure at the Trump White House.

Tucker's epic "bureaucratic tapeworm" comment:

But Bolton hasn't had a good past week: not only had Trump on Thursday night shut the door on Bolton's dream of overseeing a major US military strike on Iran, but he's been pummeled in the media.

Even a Fox prime time show (who else but Tucker of course) colorfully described him as a "bureaucratic tapeworm" which periodically reemerges to cause pain and suffering.

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-23/trump-unleashes-uber-hawk-bolton-he-would-take-whole-world-one-time

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

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Internet Marketing for Property Managers: How to Create Effective Content

If you’ve inhaled just the faintest wisp of the particulate billowing out of the internet marketing world in the past 15 years, it was almost certainly in the form of a smoke signal that said, “Content is king.” That concise maxim is a very oversimplified way of laying out the truth behind modern internet marketing. The truth is that all of the gimmicks used by internet marketers to “trick” search engines into good rankings only last a short time before the search engines catch on to them. So, the best way to market yourself online is to legitimately market yourself—which means producing content.

But not all content is equal. Some content is better for some purposes than others, some content is better for some industries than others, and some content is better for some audiences than others. So we’re going to look at various kinds of content and talk about how each one relates to property management marketing.

Breaking Down Content

Content in general breaks down several different ways. For the purpose of marketing yourself, the primary way to break content down is by intent. You should always know whether the content you’re creating is intended as:

Content that gets attention, generally for the purpose of increasing awareness of your brand, products, or services;

Content that motivates action, obviously used to sell, but less obviously used to get sign-ups for repeat marketing efforts (i.e. “clubs,” newsletters, direct mail efforts, or any other “opt-in” marketing); and

Content that relates information, most often used to prove your expertise and legitimacy within your industry or to legitimately teach or inform.

Too many businesses just spit out content without knowing what each piece is for, and that makes for a very wasteful content-production effort. We’ll talk a bit about how to know what kind of content you need to be creating in out next post, but for now let’s move on to other ways to think about content. You can also analyze content by its format:

“Snackable” content is designed to be consumed in a very short timeframe and have an impact due to being easy to digest and provoke a striking reaction. Because it’s both striking and easy to digest, snackable content is highly sharable—in fact, most content that goes viral is snackable content. If you’re talking written content, you’re usually looking at a single paragraph or tweet. Graphical content is almost always snackable unless you’re making a huge infographic or a visual novel. Snackable videos are generally no longer than a typical commercial on TV.

“Midrange” content is designed to balance accessibility with information—it’s not as immediately impacting as snackable content, but it’s easier on the brain than long-form content. It’s what you create when you want to sell something, or when you want to convey the gist of a complex subject without getting into intricate detail. Most blog posts are “midrange” content, as are the aforementioned infographics. Videos demonstrate the balancing act midrange content performs: you can have information-dense minute-and-a-half video, or a seven-minute lighthearted and flowing video and they’re both midrange content, because it’s less about the how long it takes to consume, and more about the total cognitive load the content puts on the consumer.

“Long-form” content is designed to really capture the consumer’s focus, convincing them to devote a significant amount of time and energy interacting with the content. Psychologically, the more a consumer feels like they can interact with your content for an extended time, the more likely they are to consider you trustworthy. Long-form content is also obviously the best for teaching complex topics.

Related: How to Write SEO-Friendly Content for Your Real Estate Website

The last way to break down content that we’ll talk about here is breaking content down by medium. Content that you create for Facebook, for example, should be very different from content you create for LinkedIn, even though both are considered social media. Every medium has its own unique flavor, and you should keep the attributes of your intended medium in mind when you create your content. But more than just the medium-specific flavor, there are also attributes of the general category of medium:

Social media posts include tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram posts, Reddit posts, and any other sort of content that is going to show up in a stream or timeline that includes a number of other posts from a bunch of users. Social media, more than any of these other categories, all but requires a specific format: You must post snackable content to social media, because the posts are competing for a very limited “bandwidth” of consumer attention. Content that is too complex will be ignored or at best read but not shared—and sharing is literally the point of social media (more on that in our post devoted to social media in a few weeks).

Articles and blog posts include any sort of content that appears as a standalone web page that has its own ranking on the search engines and is largely static. This includes YouTube pages, podcasts, actual blog posts, and Q&A posts like those on Quora or WikiHow. These media can be used for any of the purposes, but they also serve the important extra function of acting as an SEO tool (see our SEO post in a couple weeks for details on that).

Page content includes any content you put up on a website that you own and control. Page content almost always serves the purposes of “establish legitimacy,” “sell stuff,” or “help existing customers.” Because of that, it’s almost never snackable. Page content is the stuff your entire sales funnel points toward (and if you haven’t guessed the pattern, you can come back next week for some more detail on what that means).

Directed content includes any content that you target a list of specific individual consumers with. The most common forms of directed content are emails, but almost any channel that offers direct messaging, from Skype to Facebook, can be used to deliver direct content. Direct content is unique in that it’s the only kind of content that is likely to be considered “spam” and thus actually turn the receiver against you if used improperly. Because of that, it’s usually a good idea to only create directed content that targets people who have opted into receiving them.

There is a vast array of other forms of content that have occasionally been used by businesses in the past, but are largely not worth the effort. Posts on message boards, “social bookmarks” like the ones you can create on Digg or Delicious, directory entries (on websites that just list other websites), and comments put on other peoples’ content are all things you might hear about people using in various marketing efforts, but none of them have been terribly useful in the past several years at least.

How to Use These Categories

It should be obvious by now that every piece of content falls into every one of these categories, and each category affects the structure and format of the end product. In an ideal world, each piece of content would go through a “conception phase” that went:

What is our goal? (What purpose does this content serve?)

What format is best suited to that goal?

What medium is best suited to host that format for that goal?

But of course in the real world, a number of concerns can twist that formula on its ear. Let’s take this very post as an example. In this case, we knew that we had to give BiggerPockets a few blog posts because it’s been a little while since we posted here and we needed to rebuild a little momentum. So, we started with the medium of the BiggerPockets Blog in mind.

BiggerPockets’ blog here is known as a place where experts come to share their expertise as a form of marketing—which means generally the content here is on the long end of standard or is out-and-out long-form content. Furthermore, the flavor of BiggerPockets is “networking business casual,” so you’ll almost never see anyone around here putting up content that is silly fun, openly provocative, or straight sales-pitch material. Related: How to Correctly Format Content on Your Website for Thousands of Online Leads

We use this platform for the purpose of establishing our expertise as property managers, knowing from experience that people who read our posts here are likely to see the content we’ve produced over the years and think, “Hey, these guys obviously know what they’re doing.” Then if they ever decide they need a property manager in the Metro Detroit area, they’ll recognize our name and be more inclined to call us first.

So the medium and the purpose both point strongly at long-form content—which obviously this is, seeing as we’re approaching the 1,500th word of this post and we’re just now getting to the wrap-up.

The Wrap-Up

Content still is king when it comes to internet marketing—you literally can’t perform online marketing without it. But it’s not enough just to put words into the ether; you should have a grasp of the why (purpose), how (medium), and what (format) before you start producing. But while content is vital, you also need to understand how each piece of content connects to the pieces around it—called your sales funnel. Come back next week for an equally in-depth examination of sales funnels, how they work, and how they connect your various forms of content to your sales, branding, and market efforts.

How do you craft content you know will target the correct audience?

Share below!

Source: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/internet-marketing-property-managers-content/

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woundvest7-blog · 5 years

Text

S&P downgrades debt-riddled GE and GE Capital

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Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/02/investing/general-electric-downgrade-debt/index.html

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