191: I Read The Fed Minutes

I've read about the minutes of the FOMC meeting for forty years.  A couple of days ago, I read for myself the actual minutes from the most recent meeting.  My considered opinion?  What a bunch of crap!  First of all, there were 75 people in the meeting at one time or another.  Most of the 75 were there for the duration.  Almost all the decision makers are egg-heads, who have never managed anything, but feel perfectly capable of managing the globe's biggest economy.  They have committee, after group, after consultant, after economist, after lawyer, after bureaucrat, after, blah, blah, blah.  The set up new committees to investigate the possibility that something could eventually happen in the future, or maybe not.  Throughout the meeting, they all remind themselves that they are really smart.  By the end of the meeting, they decide they are so smart that they cannot make a decision, and so adjourn until the next round of the mutual admiration society.

190: Linked OUT

Several years ago I canceled my Linked In account, primarily because I was getting bombarded by requests to link up with whomever.  I never received any value from it.  Recently, a good friend sent me a Linked In request, so I reactivated my account.  What a mistake!  Several emails each day cluttering my phone and computer.  I just don't see the value.  What am I missing?

189: Democracy Is Not Good For USA

Democracy only works in small groups.  Countries as large and diverse as the USA should really have some more dictatorial form of government.  Democracy always boils down to decision-making by groups, and the larger the group, the more incompetent the decision.  Take for instance the United States Congress.  Here we have 535 individuals almost all of whom are simply looking out for number one.  The wind up passing laws and making decisions using the lowest common denominator of IQ in the group.

Either a benevolent dictatorship or a confederation of states would be better for the citizens of the USA.

188: How Does AMZN Do It?

I am a HUGE AMZN fan and customer.  Amazon Prime is amazing.  But financially, how the hell does AMZN stay afloat?  Last year (2014) AMZN had almost $90 billion in revenue and lost money.  The stock is solid at over $400 per share.  The market cap approaches $200 billion.  Is Amazon a house of cards?

187: Ignorance At Well Fargo

I do a lot of estate planning work.  Trusts of all sorts, wills, probate, etc.  It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant the employees are at big banks when it comes to the legal aspects of the relationship between a trustee and the bank (or brokerage). 

In this instant case, I am co-trustee of a brokerage account at Wells Fargo.  The other co-trustee has died, leaving me as sole trustee.  WF has now frozen the account since the SSN of the deceased trustee was associated with the account.  WF seems to think that there can be no tax liability for a SSN after the death of the SSN holder, which of course is not true.

WF is frustrating the whole purpose behind establishing a revocable trust.  The purpose is to avoid any interruption in ownership of the asset upon death. 

As I've said and written before, anyone with less than $100 million that does business with a money center bank is an idiot.

186: Corporate Charity

Recently, the Chicago Tribune did an excellent article on ComEd's (an operating unit of EXC) sleazy practice of taking money from ratepayers so that ComEd can then pass the money out to charities ComEd likes or needs.  Many corporations do this.  Some, blatantly ask you at the cash register if you want to donate this or that to some charity.  Only an idiot would say "yes" to that, but most people are idiots, so a lot of money gets raised for the company which then gets credit for the donations.  I always answer "no" to these requests.  I only wish I could say "no" to ComEd, but ComEd has the Illinois regulatory people practically on the ComEd payroll, so I along with all ratepayers will continue to get screwed.

After the above mentioned Tribune article, the CEO of ComEd, one Anne Pramaggiore, wrote a huffy and self-serving letter to the editor trying to defend ComEd's legal theft.  Do we really need Anne to decide who should be the beneficiaries of our largess?

185: Brian Williams

BW six month suspension for lying about war correspondent experience is a joke.  He should be banished from any type of broadcast journalism forever.  Sure, it's a tragedy for BW and his family.  But here was a guy making in excess of $10 million a year for reading what passes on network TV for "news."  Then, on top of that obscene compensation, he has to lie about his role in covering military ops.  He should take his lumps and retire to a life of cushy life of teaching young news readers how not to self-aggrandize.