collapse

* Recent Posts

Dallas bars tonite by Dr. Blackheart
[Today at 03:40:45 PM]


2024 NCAA Tournament Thread by NickelDimer
[Today at 03:31:19 PM]


2024 Coaching Carousel by avid1010
[Today at 03:29:22 PM]


2024 Transfer Portal by Pakuni
[Today at 03:28:48 PM]


10 years after “Done Deal” … It’s Happening! by The Sultan of Semantics
[Today at 03:24:51 PM]


Where is Marquette? by Uncle Rico
[Today at 03:05:12 PM]


Sweet 16 presser by tower912
[Today at 02:40:05 PM]

Please Register - It's FREE!

The absolute only thing required for this FREE registration is a valid e-mail address.  We keep all your information confidential and will NEVER give or sell it to anyone else.
Login to get rid of this box (and ads) , or register NOW!


Author Topic: GE = Enron?  (Read 7687 times)

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #25 on: August 17, 2019, 10:36:09 AM »

Truth is, there are many reasons CEOs make large buys. Fairly often, it is done as a sign to show the market some confidence. Sometimes, it can be a desperate attempt to pop the stock price.

Two examples from the not-distant past were CEOs of Kinder Morgan and Seadrill buying millions of dollars in their companies' stock even though both faced huge problems. After the initial boost of excitement in the market, both companies got crushed not long after.

While KMI has hung in there and is still a viable company -- albeit one trading at half the price it did 4 years ago and one that had to cut its dividend 75% -- Seadrill ended up going into bankruptcy after its stock plunged from $40+ to 10 cents. The Seadrill CEO made his big buy during the decline (just as the GE CEO did), and what emerged is a shell of its former self.

I am NOT saying the GE CEO's purchase was a ruse or anything like that. I don't know what his motivation was ... and neither does anybody else. I also am not saying GE will meet the same fate as Seadrill, again because I don't know what its future holds ... and neither does anybody else.

I'm just throwing a little word of caution out there, using history as a guide.

Any stock investment is a "bet" on a company's future. To my fellow Scoopers who have decided to place this bet on GE, I wish you good fortune.

Mike

It is very rare that an individual buys such a large quantum in a desperate attempt to prop up the share value.

But I have some first hand insight on this matter. And GE has the ability to meet all obligations. Period. And that is the heart of the matter. As I said above, GE will leveraged securitized vehicles to see it through this situation.

It is terrible what has happened to the Meatball but the enterprise will survive.

As for Culp buying stock - he knew that the stupidity of the herd was an opportunity for the rational.


Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #26 on: August 17, 2019, 10:57:38 AM »
Seadrill got caught up in a rapid fundamental shift in offshore drilling. Same thing happened to Transocean (RIG). It recovered strongly after Deepwater Horizon but has just bled out for years to a sub $5 share price. SDRL happened too fast for that to be a desperate attempt to pump the stock, I really think the CEO and others truly felt it was an anomaly they could ride through and it was not. That industry has just changed precipitously in ways that many didn’t foresee.

I agree with the above points about the damage overly focused cost accountants can do. In many ways, I view it as a team that goes into a prevent defense or takes the air out of the basketball after generating a lead. A market leading position has been created, then they shift to far too acute a focus on stripping spend and keeping costs down.

Great example is Signet Jewelers. They became the largest jeweler in the US and the world by being a branding and marketing machine. They were skilled merchants, but put money behind brand vision. Sought to compete not with other mall stores, but the local family jewelers. And they were wildly successful. Zales, on the other hand, was the larger chain for a long time and had a very cost centric approach. They struggled most of the 2000s before Signet surpassed them and then swallowed them up. Signet subsequently was the unquestioned top dog and slowly their practices began to change. Beating suppliers down on costs, losing focus on creating and sustaining brands, focusing heavily on internal credit offerings to customers, etc... The management turned over and the result C-suite and adjacent had little marketing or retail experience or focus, and relied heavily on Excel jockeying. The Street recognized this and SIG has been a short seller fav for some time. Many of the retail jewellery struggles in the US recently, they ushered in themselves and thus will make it even harder to rebound

Wags

You are spot on re seismic shifts in offshore drilling. Technology, regulatory oversight, access, and consolidation culled the flock. I have friends from various points in my life who spent decades at Transocean, Nabors, Diamond, and Schlumberger and who witnessed that change; some are in early retirement while others are part of the executive team running much larger businesses.

It really does underscore the maxim that change is inevitable but the key lies in how we address it.

We are seeing fundamental shifts in intermittent renewable energy, especially in PV, the integration of stored energy systems, and the digital systems which optimize performance. Industries have inflection points where risk is magnified; for those who are willing to understand these dynamics there is incredible opportunity.

I know I have told you that the extent of my grasp of the jewelry biz is I go to Tiffany's at Bellevue Square when the Baby David's mother has some life event looming. What's interesting is that she has been telling me lately that Olson's Tack Shop has greater appeal for her than powder blue boxes.

How was the nasi goreng?

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #27 on: August 17, 2019, 11:14:29 AM »


When the venture capital folks took over, the death spiral accelerates.  Pabst and Schlitz were the # 1 and 2 beers not too long ago.

For every Schlitz horror story there are dozens where an infusion of outside capital and expertise brought significant benefit.

If I recall from a business school case study, the profound mistake at Schlitz was messing with the product formula.

This was a lesson I used when in Indonesia we took over a large local kretek cigarette enterprise (our real client was Philip Morris). The brand went from dominance to a distant #4 over the course of a decade. The third generation of this family business had been robbing it blind and failed to mind the store, as it were.

Cigarettes is a huge cash business so priority one was to secure the cash. We ran market tests to understand what was wrong with the product and the focus results were staggering: tastes like sh1t, harsh, etc... An audit of the tobacco stocks confirmed that staff were buying grade D tobacco rather than the superior grades called for in the specs (and pocketing the difference).

Because there was still equity in the brand, it had been the market leader for 80 years, addressing product quality was enough to reinvigorate sales and get the cash flowing again.

Stabilizing the product is essential in branded FMCG. If you change the Schlitz formula to save pennies the consumer will not only notice but will feel betrayed and defect. Loyalty goes two ways in branding.

But, as I say, for every Schlitz horror story there are dozens more where the capital markets have topped up the balance sheet and brought in expertise to drive success.   

The Sultan of Semantics

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 11519
  • "Private message me coward" - panda
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #28 on: August 17, 2019, 11:20:17 AM »
The basic problem with Schlitz and Pabst was that American beer at the time, as Mike Royko once put it, "was filtered through a horse."
“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” - Clarence Darrow

Dr. Blackheart

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 13005
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #29 on: August 17, 2019, 12:02:39 PM »
The basic problem with Schlitz and Pabst was that American beer at the time, as Mike Royko once put it, "was filtered through a horse."

Yep. Cost cut to swill. 

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #30 on: August 17, 2019, 07:26:38 PM »
The basic problem with Schlitz and Pabst was that American beer at the time, as Mike Royko once put it, "was filtered through a horse."

Mike Royko. I miss his sardonic take on the world as filtered through the prism of working class Chicago.

Reading Royko while sitting in various places around the world made me feel connected to home, albeit its gritty, unrepentant side.

Royko was accused of being a racist by rather dull witted sorts who failed to grasp the razor edge of his satire. Rather than give in to iniquitous, naive outrage, Royko turned up the volume on Slats Grobnik, much to the chagrin of the fools who were too dense to see Royko's actual message.

Royko's pen today would make this divided nation seem more comprehensible. Sumbitch died twenty years too soon, frankly.

ZiggysFryBoy

  • Registered User
  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 5115
  • MEDITERRANEAN TACOS!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #31 on: August 17, 2019, 08:15:31 PM »
Mike Royko. I miss his sardonic take on the world as filtered through the prism of working class Chicago.

Reading Royko while sitting in various places around the world made me feel connected to home, albeit its gritty, unrepentant side.

Royko was accused of being a racist by rather dull witted sorts who failed to grasp the razor edge of his satire. Rather than give in to iniquitous, naive outrage, Royko turned up the volume on Slats Grobnik, much to the chagrin of the fools who were too dense to see Royko's actual message.

Royko's pen today would make this divided nation seem more comprehensible. Sumbitch died twenty years too soon, frankly.

Royko and mu82, both penning witticisms in Chicago at the same time.  what a world. 

MU82

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 22729
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #32 on: August 17, 2019, 11:02:19 PM »
Royko and mu82, both penning witticisms in Chicago at the same time.  what a world.

Unfortunately, Royko and I barely overlapped in Chicago, as he died about 2 years after I got there. And he died before I became a columnist who dispensed "witticisms." But thanks for mentioning me in the same sentence as one of the all-time greats.
“It’s not how white men fight.” - Tucker Carlson

MU82

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 22729
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #33 on: August 17, 2019, 11:05:05 PM »
Mike

It is very rare that an individual buys such a large quantum in a desperate attempt to prop up the share value.

But I have some first hand insight on this matter. And GE has the ability to meet all obligations. Period. And that is the heart of the matter. As I said above, GE will leveraged securitized vehicles to see it through this situation.

It is terrible what has happened to the Meatball but the enterprise will survive.

As for Culp buying stock - he knew that the stupidity of the herd was an opportunity for the rational.

As I said in my post, I was not making any claims about this particular situation.

What I will say is that it happens more times than you might expect that a CEO, chairman or other high-ranking corporate officer makes a major buy for reasons other than believing he or she will make a big profit on the purchase.

I gave 2 examples from the last few years alone, and there have been plenty of others.

I was going to say something like, "To these guys $1 million or $2 million is like $100 or $200 to me or you," except you or I actually probably would miss  the $100 or $200 more than they would miss the $1M or $2M.
“It’s not how white men fight.” - Tucker Carlson

JWags85

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 2978
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #34 on: August 18, 2019, 02:44:29 AM »
I know I have told you that the extent of my grasp of the jewelry biz is I go to Tiffany's at Bellevue Square when the Baby David's mother has some life event looming. What's interesting is that she has been telling me lately that Olson's Tack Shop has greater appeal for her than powder blue boxes.

How was the nasi goreng?

Normally I’d encourage you to steer her back to the shiny baubles, but breaking out of the powder blue vortex, no matter what the alternative, is something I co-sign. Those guys are excellent at what they do but wholly insufferable from a business perspective, and with more snake oil than they’d care to admit.

I had an braised oxtail nasi goreng that knocked my socks off. Another variant with foie that was sublime. Between that and the dim sum fried rices I’ve had in Shanghai and Shenzhen, I’m ruined for the dish from any “Americanized” Chinese joint in the US.

Cheeks

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 6045
  • Hall of Fame Hugger
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #35 on: August 18, 2019, 09:28:35 AM »
As I said in my post, I was not making any claims about this particular situation.

What I will say is that it happens more times than you might expect that a CEO, chairman or other high-ranking corporate officer makes a major buy for reasons other than believing he or she will make a big profit on the purchase.

I gave 2 examples from the last few years alone, and there have been plenty of others.

I was going to say something like, "To these guys $1 million or $2 million is like $100 or $200 to me or you," except you or I actually probably would miss  the $100 or $200 more than they would miss the $1M or $2M.

That’s a large exaggeration, but we get it.  Using $500k net worth for you ( I know it is much higher, but just bare with me), his stock purchase is like $7400 equivalent based on Culp’s estimated net worth.  If you are worth $1M, then it’s like $14k impact to you.  That’s real money.  You would be fine without, but a lot more than just $100 or $200.

"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

tower912

  • Registered User
  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 23348
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #36 on: August 18, 2019, 11:06:34 AM »
but just bare with me
I don't know of anybody here that wants to get just bare with you
Luke 6:45   ...A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; an evil man produces evil out of his store of evil.   Each man speaks from his heart's abundance...

It is better to be fearless and cheerful than cheerless and fearful.

Cheeks

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 6045
  • Hall of Fame Hugger
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #37 on: August 18, 2019, 12:17:23 PM »
I don't know of anybody here that wants to get just bare with you

Jockey, MU82, TSmith for sure....they are so attached to everything I say it's as if they are my underwear looking for the next step in our relationship.   ;D

My device sucks for autocorrect....bear with me. 
"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

tower912

  • Registered User
  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 23348
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #38 on: August 18, 2019, 12:32:13 PM »
Barely
Luke 6:45   ...A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; an evil man produces evil out of his store of evil.   Each man speaks from his heart's abundance...

It is better to be fearless and cheerful than cheerless and fearful.

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #39 on: August 18, 2019, 02:58:02 PM »
That’s a large exaggeration, but we get it.  Using $500k net worth for you ( I know it is much higher, but just bare with me), his stock purchase is like $7400 equivalent based on Culp’s estimated net worth.  If you are worth $1M, then it’s like $14k impact to you.  That’s real money.  You would be fine without, but a lot more than just $100 or $200.

Jams,

Your analytics demonstrate why marketing folks need to steer clear of finance matters. The flaw in your logic is that capital isn't linear.

The impact of capital through concentration or centralization, like air power or massed armor in war fighting doctrine, increases exponentially. And unlike how Karl Marx defined it, in terms of how workers are exploited, the ability to deploy capital efficiently improves through mass.

So if our sports writer has accumulated half a million he cannot use it as efficiently as a post-IPO dot com wunderkind who has $100 MM to play with. And the wunderkind isn't even close to a Bezos or Gates.

Lennys Tap

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 12220
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #40 on: August 18, 2019, 06:01:01 PM »
Mike Royko. I miss his sardonic take on the world as filtered through the prism of working class Chicago.

Reading Royko while sitting in various places around the world made me feel connected to home, albeit its gritty, unrepentant side.

Royko was accused of being a racist by rather dull witted sorts who failed to grasp the razor edge of his satire. Rather than give in to iniquitous, naive outrage, Royko turned up the volume on Slats Grobnik, much to the chagrin of the fools who were too dense to see Royko's actual message.

Royko's pen today would make this divided nation seem more comprehensible. Sumbitch died twenty years too soon, frankly.

Back in the late 70s I used to play racketball once a week with a good friend from work at the Downtown Court Club. This guy is now in the 16" Softball Hall of Fame and at that time he played for the legendary Bobcats who won 16" softball's version of the World Series regularly. Royko loved the game (he fashioned himself quite a pitcher) and had played against my friend in some charity games. One was at Thillens Stadium, where there was a standing offer that hitting the scoreboard with a home run netted the player a  $10,000 savings bond. The only guy (to my knowledge) who ever did it was my friend and he hit it off of (you guessed it) Mike Royko. 

Just so happened that the Billy Goat Tavern was right below the Downtown Court club on lower Wacker - so two double cheeseburgers, chips (no fries) and several beers was our usual reward after a workout. One evening Royko and a few of the younger staff (reporters? copy guys?) were sitting at a table when we walked in. He immediately recognized Kenny (my friend) and invited us to join them. For 2+ hours Royko shared stories and drinks with the group. Then his wife (#2 I think) showed up and we all had one more. Before he left, he told the waiter to keep the tab open for as long as anyone stayed - it was on him. He had a reputation as a bit of a curmudgeon, but in my one encounter with him he couldn't have been nicer.

Cheeks

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 6045
  • Hall of Fame Hugger
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #41 on: August 18, 2019, 06:17:04 PM »
Jams,

Your analytics demonstrate why marketing folks need to steer clear of finance matters. The flaw in your logic is that capital isn't linear.

The impact of capital through concentration or centralization, like air power or massed armor in war fighting doctrine, increases exponentially. And unlike how Karl Marx defined it, in terms of how workers are exploited, the ability to deploy capital efficiently improves through mass.

So if our sports writer has accumulated half a million he cannot use it as efficiently as a post-IPO dot com wunderkind who has $100 MM to play with. And the wunderkind isn't even close to a Bezos or Gates.

Completely agree on the efficiency of money.  My point was there are exaggerations done to try and show how much money CEO’s are compensated or worth, and many certainly have huge hauls that the marketplace has dictated, but that doesn’t mean we need to over exaggerate on top of that with some claims that are simply that...over exaggerations.
"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

Dr. Blackheart

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 13005
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #42 on: August 18, 2019, 06:19:54 PM »
Jams,

Your analytics demonstrate why marketing folks need to steer clear of finance matters. The flaw in your logic is that capital isn't linear.

The impact of capital through concentration or centralization, like air power or massed armor in war fighting doctrine, increases exponentially. And unlike how Karl Marx defined it, in terms of how workers are exploited, the ability to deploy capital efficiently improves through mass.

So if our sports writer has accumulated half a million he cannot use it as efficiently as a post-IPO dot com wunderkind who has $100 MM to play with. And the wunderkind isn't even close to a Bezos or Gates.

This is true as is certainly seen in tech, but it is also flawed in the downside. Case in point, 70%-90% of all mergers fail as debt accumulates much faster than those mass synergies (cuts) can be redeployed. Thus, the asset bleed begins after those savings evaporate in 3-4 years. Buffett + 3G have called down their KHC assets by over $18 Billion in six months despite them sitting on a bunch of capital, for example.

That's a lot of wars lost due to leaders starving their armies. Is GE in the former or latter bucket?  We are on different sides on that outcome.

https://chiefexecutive.net/increasing-odds-success-merger/
« Last Edit: August 18, 2019, 08:58:06 PM by Dr. Blackheart »

Cheeks

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 6045
  • Hall of Fame Hugger
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #43 on: August 18, 2019, 06:27:43 PM »
This is true as is certainly seen in tech, but it is also flawed in the downside. Case in point, 70%-90% of all mergers fail as debt accumulates much faster than those mass synergies (cuts) can be redeployed. Thus, the asset bleed begins after those savings evaporate in 3-4 years. Buffett + 3G has called down their KHC assets by over $18 Billion in six months despite them sitting on a bunch of capital, for example.

That's a lot of wars lost due to leaders starving their armies. Is GE in the former or latter bucket?  We are on different sides on that outcome.

https://chiefexecutive.net/increasing-odds-success-merger/

Plus the synergy calculations are often total horse crap.  1 + 1 =3 nonsense.  In my experience the synergy calculations are way too optimistic.
"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

Newsdreams

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 9564
  • Goal - Win BE
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #44 on: August 18, 2019, 08:51:15 PM »
Which is why in the HK thread, I said I was going to wait and see on this.    It could very well be legit, but right now it smells funny.
Just so you all know my son worked for Wells Fargo for awhile and he was part of a whole unit they made to go over all the GE assets they had purchased. My son told me there was almost not one spreadsheet that was correct and they went over hundreds of them. So that says something.
Goal is National Championship

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #45 on: August 18, 2019, 09:11:39 PM »
Back in the late 70s I used to play racketball once a week with a good friend from work at the Downtown Court Club. This guy is now in the 16" Softball Hall of Fame and at that time he played for the legendary Bobcats who won 16" softball's version of the World Series regularly. Royko loved the game (he fashioned himself quite a pitcher) and had played against my friend in some charity games. One was at Thillens Stadium, where there was a standing offer that hitting the scoreboard with a home run netted the player a  $10,000 savings bond. The only guy (to my knowledge) who ever did it was my friend and he hit it off of (you guessed it) Mike Royko. 

Just so happened that the Billy Goat Tavern was right below the Downtown Court club on lower Wacker - so two double cheeseburgers, chips (no fries) and several beers was our usual reward after a workout. One evening Royko and a few of the younger staff (reporters? copy guys?) were sitting at a table when we walked in. He immediately recognized Kenny (my friend) and invited us to join them. For 2+ hours Royko shared stories and drinks with the group. Then his wife (#2 I think) showed up and we all had one more. Before he left, he told the waiter to keep the tab open for as long as anyone stayed - it was on him. He had a reputation as a bit of a curmudgeon, but in my one encounter with him he couldn't have been nicer.

Mr Bernstein,

I am green with envy. Royko is one of those outsized personalities I have often said would be fun to have a beer with.

Royko was known for his direct, unforgiving, relentless style but, in fact, possessed a rather deft pen. He demonstrated scintillating wit and acerbic commentary, often in the same sentence.

If he were writing today, he would be labeled as a racist, an anachronism, a defender of unfairness and entitlement......wait a second, he was called those things back in the day. Imagine the outrage if he were still active.

Fact is, he was none of that. People then, and today, are too dense and naive to grasp well crafted commentary presented as satire.

Royko was a curmudgeon. He crusaded against graft, corruption, unfairness, patronage, redlining, injustice, the pathology of the ghetto, and other defects manifest in the Chicago genome. 

Imagine the grist available to him today. His words would sparkle.

Cheeks

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 6045
  • Hall of Fame Hugger
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #46 on: August 18, 2019, 09:16:18 PM »
Mr Bernstein,

I am green with envy. Royko is one of those outsized personalities I have often said would be fun to have a beer with.

Royko was known for his direct, unforgiving, relentless style but, in fact, possessed a rather deft pen. He demonstrated scintillating wit and acerbic commentary, often in the same sentence.

If he were writing today, he would be labeled as a racist, an anachronism, a defender of unfairness and entitlement......wait a second, he was called those things back in the day. Imagine the outrage if he were still active.

Fact is, he was none of that. People then, and today, are too dense and naive to grasp well crafted commentary presented as satire.

Royko was a curmudgeon. He crusaded against graft, corruption, unfairness, patronage, redlining, injustice, the pathology of the ghetto, and other defects manifest in the Chicago genome. 

Imagine the grist available to him today. His words would sparkle.

Yup, which means he couldn’t be Royko as a result, or he would be run out of town or simply quit.  We need more Royko’s and people telling like it is....unfortunately they are a dying breed as the mind / thought patrol starts to dominate.
"I hate everything about this job except the games, Everything. I don't even get affected anymore by the winning, by the ratings, those things. The trouble is, it will sound like an excuse because we've never won the national championship, but winning just isn't all that important to me.” Al McGuire

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #47 on: August 18, 2019, 09:41:53 PM »
This is true as is certainly seen in tech, but it is also flawed in the downside. Case in point, 70%-90% of all mergers fail as debt accumulates much faster than those mass synergies (cuts) can be redeployed. Thus, the asset bleed begins after those savings evaporate in 3-4 years. Buffett + 3G have called down their KHC assets by over $18 Billion in six months despite them sitting on a bunch of capital, for example.

That's a lot of wars lost due to leaders starving their armies. Is GE in the former or latter bucket?  We are on different sides on that outcome.

https://chiefexecutive.net/increasing-odds-success-merger/

Doc

I wasn't referencing mergers. I was specifically looking at the efficiency of aggregated capital deployed within a portfolio.

For our fund, we measure dynamic efficiencies where the employment of capital creates efficiencies in power production and and in the distribution and consumption of energy through the introduction or expansion of compelling new technologies. That

If you are thinking of the capital markets, in general, they are allocationally efficient if unfettered by regulatory interference. This is something Friedman and Stigler understood, embraced, and championed. In a truly free market assets find their most effective organic employment which maximizes value.

Jon

  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Fire Wojo!
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #48 on: August 18, 2019, 09:51:11 PM »
Normally I’d encourage you to steer her back to the shiny baubles, but breaking out of the powder blue vortex, no matter what the alternative, is something I co-sign. Those guys are excellent at what they do but wholly insufferable from a business perspective, and with more snake oil than they’d care to admit.

I had an braised oxtail nasi goreng that knocked my socks off. Another variant with foie that was sublime. Between that and the dim sum fried rices I’ve had in Shanghai and Shenzhen, I’m ruined for the dish from any “Americanized” Chinese joint in the US.

Wags,

When it came time to buy "The Rock" i looked at Tiffany's but ended up going with James Allen (I looked at Blue Nile, the hometown team, but the 10% sales tax was a big number, especially compared with zero at James Allen.)

theBabyDavid's momma isn't all that big on baubles and beads but keeping horses is like boat ownership.

The food in Asia is varied and sumptuous. And you are correct: it makes the local Jade Garden inedible.

Of course, if you get the fried Canadian tofu at the Golden Dragon in Oconomowoc you are an instant expert on China! 

Pakuni

  • Registered User
  • All American
  • *****
  • Posts: 9876
Re: GE = Enron?
« Reply #49 on: August 18, 2019, 09:55:52 PM »
Yup, which means he couldn’t be Royko as a result, or he would be run out of town or simply quit.  We need more Royko’s and people telling like it is....unfortunately they are a dying breed as the mind / thought patrol starts to dominate.

Mike Royko was a left-leaning columnist who supported gun control, was strongly anti-war, railed against the rich and powerful taking advantage of the poor and weak, and famously said "It's harder to be a liberal than a conservative because it's easier to give someone the finger than a helping hand." He quit his beloved Sun-Times rather work for Rupert Murdoch.

I don't see you two seeing eye to eye on much