As Inventor of Subprime Car Loans Exits, Critics Smell a Lemon - Bloomberg
... In the portfolio program, when a cash-strapped customer wants to buy a car, Credit Acceptance will advance the dealer about 40 percent of the total value of the loan. That is typically enough to cover the cost of the car to the dealer plus a small profit. Once that part has been repaid, Credit Acceptance shares any remaining payments with the dealer. The company is shielded from much of the credit risk, because its advance is secured by the car. It can repossess the vehicle while pursuing the defaulting customer in court....
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Trump's Repatriation Deal Makes No Sense for Apple - Bloomberg View
Trump's Repatriation Deal Makes No Sense for Apple - Bloomberg View
...it makes no sense for Apple to jump at President Donald Trump's proposed one-time tax of 10 percent on profits -- it's cheaper to pay the foreign tax and the 3 percent interest on the bonds it issues to move the money to the U.S.
...it makes no sense for Apple to jump at President Donald Trump's proposed one-time tax of 10 percent on profits -- it's cheaper to pay the foreign tax and the 3 percent interest on the bonds it issues to move the money to the U.S.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Genetic Engineering Will Make Pills and Needles Obsolete (and Enable Radical Life-Extension) - Patrick Cox's Tech Digest | Mauldin Economics
Patrick Cox's Tech Digest | Mauldin Economics
... Most medicines, up to this point, have been delivered into the body via simple pills or needles. But now, new drug delivery systems enabled by genetic engineering will make these old systems obsolete.
Our genomes are the chemical factories of our bodies. They produce everything that we are. This means that genetically engineered cells can use our genomic machinery to make valuable bioactive molecules. There are two major ways to do this.
One uses stem cells that are designed to become certain types of adult cells. For example, hemophiliacs could have cells that make Factor XI implanted into their bodies. This would enable normal coagulation. This approach could also be used to treat those who are deficient in other compounds. This includes diabetes, atherosclerosis, age-related muscle loss, and obesity.
The second cell-engineering strategy uses engineered gene plasmids. Plasmids are microscopic circular rings of DNA like those found in our mitochondria and bacteria. Almost any gene can be inserted by genetic engineers into these rings. Once activated, the transcriptional process runs nonstop to make the needed molecules… just like a model train on a circular track.
While this may seem like science fiction, this approach is already widely used in agricultural animals. FDA approval for human use is a little way off, but that might change due to the Zika virus threat...
...plasmids as DNA-manufacturing plants...Inovio’s secret sauce, by the way, is electroporation. Tiny openings in cell membranes are temporarily opened to allow plasmid entry using precise electrical signals....
... an injection of plasmids every year or two could replace routine pills and injections...
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
WSJ MARKETS ALERT: Jay Clayton Confirmed as SEC Chairman -
WSJ MARKETS ALERT: Jay Clayton Confirmed as SEC Chairman - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail
Jay Clayton Confirmed as SEC ChairmanThe Senate approved President Donald Trump's choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, elevating a Wall Street lawyer who hopes to turn around the decline in the number of public companies over the past 20 years. Jay Clayton's agenda could be aided by an unusual alignment of political forces that escaped the SEC's most recent leaders. He will enter office without a checklist of regulations mandated by Congress, which passed sweeping legislation in 2010 that pinned down the SEC with an abundance of directives both audacious and picayune. For now, his most pressing commitment will be finding ways to reverse a two-decade trend of the government layering new regulations on public companies. |
Monday, May 1, 2017
Watch how Elon Musk’s Boring Company tunnels will move cars faster
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/28/watch-how-elon-musks-boring-company-tunnels-will-move-cars-faster/?ncid=tcdaily
Angst in America, Part 6: Middle Class Blues | Thoughts from the Frontline Investment Newsletter | Mauldin Economics
Angst in America, Part 6: Middle Class Blues | Thoughts from the Frontline Investment Newsletter | Mauldin Economics
...he middle class is a fairly new development in economics. Up until the last century or two, most societies had a tiny wealthy elite and great masses of common laborers. We now regard having this group in the middle, not wealthy but with their own assets and spending power,...
...There is, however, some research – and it’s controversial – which indicates that relative income is important.A majority of respondents would rather have more relative income than more absolute income, especially if they are relatively lower-income than everybody else. ...we’re dealing with human emotions ...
.. angst – no matter your current circumstances – makes it more difficult to make decisions now than it is in more confident times. ... in times of high anxiety ... is the most difficult to get our clients and readers to actually respond. The best time to elicit a response is in a boom period, and the next best time is, ironically, just after a bust, when people are ready to figure out what to do...
... approaching that moment when the two greatest bubbles in human history – sovereign debt and government promises (which are conflated in many people’s minds) – will burst, and politicians and central banks will be forced to take actions that are unthinkable today....
good news
...on a global basis the number of people trapped in extreme poverty has plummeted this century. That trend doesn’t mean everyone everywhere is living comfortably. ...
...he middle class is a fairly new development in economics. Up until the last century or two, most societies had a tiny wealthy elite and great masses of common laborers. We now regard having this group in the middle, not wealthy but with their own assets and spending power,...
...There is, however, some research – and it’s controversial – which indicates that relative income is important.A majority of respondents would rather have more relative income than more absolute income, especially if they are relatively lower-income than everybody else. ...we’re dealing with human emotions ...
.. angst – no matter your current circumstances – makes it more difficult to make decisions now than it is in more confident times. ... in times of high anxiety ... is the most difficult to get our clients and readers to actually respond. The best time to elicit a response is in a boom period, and the next best time is, ironically, just after a bust, when people are ready to figure out what to do...
... approaching that moment when the two greatest bubbles in human history – sovereign debt and government promises (which are conflated in many people’s minds) – will burst, and politicians and central banks will be forced to take actions that are unthinkable today....
good news
...on a global basis the number of people trapped in extreme poverty has plummeted this century. That trend doesn’t mean everyone everywhere is living comfortably. ...
The reason for the improvement, I believe, is that technology and free trade brought economic growth to formerly stagnant economies.
(chart link: https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty/#the-link-between-economic-growth-and-poverty)
bad news
Median Income
wide variation within Europe. In 2010, median income for a three-person household ranged from $31,885 in Spain to $65,466 in Luxembourg....
...median income in the US is actually down over the last 17 years and is only 3% higher now than it was 30 years ago. Those are inflation-adjusted numbers. But the reality is that, for the average person, inflation has been much higher than the average of 2% per year over that time, because the things that the average person actually buys, like housing and education and healthcare and all the other necessities of life, are rising at a much faster rate than 2%. So this chart reflects the fact that life has gotten much more difficult for average Americans....
[the problem - sliding down]
...“I’ve had to rethink my whole life to make ends meet on what I’m now making.”...
Summary
....The challenge that we have today is to recognize that the political, economic, and investment forces that we have become used to dealing with over the last 70 years, through all their ups and downs, are getting ready to shift more radically than we have yet seen or can even imagine. We will have to think more deeply and creatively than ever about how to prepare for the changes – the transformation – coming to our lives.
...the key is to diversify trading strategies, not just asset classes. Technology has allowed us to do some marvelous new things, and portfolio diversification that smoothes out the ride is one of them....the storms that we all know are coming as the world struggles to figure out how to deal with the massive amounts of debt and government obligations that are building up.
...
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