Financial industry execs testify before Congress

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 13, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments In keeping with today’s “calling out hypocrisy” theme… Many financial industry executives are testifying before Congress’s “Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission” today. The gist of the message from the Wall Streeters: yes, we did a lot that was wrong, but we have learned our lessons and please don’t regulate us. Oh brother. First of all, the errors...
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"We’re pulling out of China" – Google

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 13, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments In a press release yesterday Google announced that it was pulling out of China. The reasons stated were the ongoing battle with Chinese hackers and the constant meddling of the government in censoring search results. I applaud Google for its actions. Because China has long been the “final frontier” in terms of market growth it has been allowed to dictate terms to businesses operating...
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The assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 12, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Earlier today in Iran a nuclear scientist was assassinated with an improvised explosive device. At this point no one has taken responsibility for the murder. My hunch though is that Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, is behind the attack. The likely Iranian response will be to: crack down even harder on those believed to have western sympathies dig their heels in even more on the...
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Slightly disappointing earnings

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 12, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Alcoa, alias the Aluminum Corporation of America, is traditionally the first major corporation to report its earnings. In the fourth quarter the Company lost $277 million despite the fact that in 2009 they massively restructured, laid off thousands of employees, idled plants, cut dividends and reduced new investments in the business. Additionally, the company’s sales were down across their...
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Proposal for Feds to earn back TARP monies

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 12, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Over the weekend the Obama Administration proposed a way for the U.S. Federal Government to recoup bailout monies paid in 2008 and 2009. At this point the details are uncertain, but the general idea is that the Feds would charge a fee to banks. One idea is to levy the fee on banks liabilities. The riskier the liabilities, the higher the fees paid. Effectively it would be a tax on risk....
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Earnings season guide

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 11, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments The fourth quarter of 2009 and the full year 2009 officially ended December 31st so earnings season must be just around the corner. The fourth quarter/full year earnings season kicks off a little later than a typical quarter because it takes longer for corporations to close their full year books. However, the first of the major corporate reports will come trickling in next week. What important...
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Job cuts – job cuts

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jan 8, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Job Losses: The U.S. Department of Labor reported today that employers shed 85,000 jobs in the month of December. That loss puts the overall U.S. unemployment rate at a double-digit rate of 10.0%. This loss was a much greater loss of jobs than the expected loss of just 11,000. For the month of November, a previous job loss was revised to an actual job gain of 4,000. Analysis: The unemployment...
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