Sins of Commissions or Omissions

Today Aug 23 (tomorrow is the last day of the Beijing Olympics) is the 1st Anniversary of the Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) meltdown in Canada. And it looks like the end is finally in sight as most retail holders voted and approved the bailout package. Only Corporate (such as Robert Friedland's First Dynasty Mines, is a holdout as $200+ million in proceeds from an equity financing were placed in ABCP prior to project approval - but there is no sympathy for the devil) and large Institutions remains as holders.

Soon after this story broke I found myself wondering how some of these retail investors could sleep with themselves at night. In the old days, before the new cyber-sins were invented, sins fell into two categories; Sins of Commission - things you did but shouldn't have and Sins of Omission - things you didn't do but should have.

Yet, in every market cycle Financial Advisor's learn the wages of these sins the hard way.

Clients are often disappointed to learn that they can't get unlimited returns without undertaking higher risks. But for those truthful enough to reveal the truth are often fired for doing so or replaced by someone else who tells the client what he wants to hear.

There is lots of blame to go round when individual investors claim - as I have read in the past year - that 1) a retail investor placed 100% of his widowed father's home sale proceeds because ABCP had higher much yields that comparable GIC's or TBill's. This fellow acknowledged going against his advisors advice but still wants to be compensated!

HELLO! What was he thinking!

Redux Ross Perot

It has been some time since Ross Perot uttered that famous "great sucking sound" quote about the effect of the U.S/Canada Free Trade Agreement during his ill-fated run for the White House in 1992. In alot of ways he reminds me of the great Yogi Berra.

What brought him out of active retirement was probably pronouncements of support for another Texan, T. Boone Pickens’ and his public proposals for wind-based energy policy. But no matter, from a different perspective here is ZDNet's take on Mr. Perot's recent activities.

Magna Charta: Welcome Back, Ross Perot by ZDNet's Tom Steinert-Threlkeld -- So, EDS is gone (again), subsumed by HP. But, lo and behold, H. Ross Perot is back, just in time for the presidential elections. Now, you can view his slides about the dangers of the federal deficit and debt online, any time you want. Or, hear him posit that the only silver lining [...]

To exert some influence over the upcoming US election is the most obvious, and who can dispute that US Federal Debt is now $9.4 trillion (versus $4 trillion when Perot railed against it in 1992) or that the US Federal Debt is now accumulating at the rate of $1 billion per day (and the FNMA/FMAC bailout have not yet been finalized!). I predict his next famous quote will be:

It’s one thing to promise me free candy forever, but where are you going to get it?

Also nothing beats Ross Perot reciting the Pioneers Creed:

The cowards never started, the weak died on the way and only the strong survived.

Perot is correct when he says that Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility will handcuff the next president by limiting his options. On July 28, 2008 the WhiteHouse Office of Management and Budget stated that it had revised the budget deficit projected for fiscal year 2009 to a record $482 billion from only 6 months earlier.

p.s In order to comprehend these VERY LARGE numbers I refer you to this post - a "visual aid" to help my daughter understand the "Age of Earth". Make that last "square" a "cube" (by adding a third "100 cell" dimension - with each cell representing a 1 million cell cube) and THIS NEW SUPER-CUBE equals 1 Trillon! The U.S Federal Debt is therefore represented by almost 10 SUPER-CUBES. Sobering, n'est pas?

No punchlines landing on Obama

Following failed New Yorker satire cover of Obama of last week, Fulford resurrected a review of a new book by Jim Holt that I would classify as "Philosophy of Humour" - for want of something better. I enjoyed the piece, in particular recounting early latin gags!

Barber: How shall I cut you hair? Client: In Silence!

Slave: Master, the winds are ferocious and we will soon drown!
Master: Don't cry, I have freed you in my will.

Philogelos 500AD

In addition Fulford adds another wonderful account (besides the one with Morely Calallahan) of a brawl between Ernest Hemmingway and writer Max Eastman in 1937.

Human Rights Commission Charges Comedian with Not Being Funny

Laugh or cry?

Here is part of Ezra Levant's comments.

I think Heather MacNaughton has just made herself -- and the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal -- a punchline in a thousand jokes to come.

Amen

Like a bird on a wire? Leonard COHEN

I found this "interview" with Leonard COHEN rather banal. I mean is it not characteristic of an alcoholic that they can NOT not discuss and wax poetic about the object of their desire? So it seems with COHEN. He's a lush.


Leonard Cohen Live from Macleans Magazine on Vimeo.

Illustration of LARGE NUMBERS

In helping my daughter with Gr 8 Science this past year she did "Rocks". Among the stats she was expected to learn was the "age" of Pre-Cambrian rocks. I am not a "creationist" but 600 million years is a BIG number and it started me thinking of how to illustrate it for myself, her and perhaps others!

So, here goes. (Remember, it has been just over two millennium's since the Death of Christ). I hope it helps!

Can we BELIEVE?

I BELIEVE that every ACTION we take can ripple out farther than we realize

I BELIEVE that ORDINARY people can do EXTRAORDINARY things

I BELIEVE that COMPASSION is stronger than HATRED

I BELIEVE that KNOWLEDGE is stronger than IGNORANCE

I BELIEVE that UNDERSTANDING is stronger than FEAR

I BELIEVE that HOPE is stronger than DESPAIR

I BELIEVE that it is possible to change which PATH you travel

I BELIEVE that you have to LEAD by EXAMPLE

I BELIEVE you do unto OTHERS as you would have others do unto YOU

I BELIEVE Random Acts of KINDNESS make the world BETTER

I BELIEVE all INDIVIDUALS have a right to DIGNITY and RESPECT

I BELIEVE that each of us is connected by our shared HUMANITY

I BELIEVE that while countries declare WAR, individuals make PEACE

IF WE BELIEVE together, can we can Heal Humanity?

Text altered by CRJ, apologies to creators but I wanted to cut it down.
Youtube Video : Christopher B. Buck 2007 Copyright
Music Credit: Vangelis: Gladiator Soundtrack

also "One Voice [What have I Done? - Linkin Park] , "Change a Prelude to Growth" [Deliver Me - Sarah Brightman] and "The Rainbow Warriors" [Gravity of Love - Enigma]

90-Day-Jane, a distasteful hoax.

[Ed note: As of Feb 17, 2008, this site has been removed. See Webtards]



I read about this yesterday and it disturbed me as I lost a friend to suicide many years ago.

It appears I am not alone.

Well, at last the hoax is revealed - 90-Day-Jane was "a personal art piece".

Whew! I guess that is better than the alternative.

Yet, on the other hand, this kind of "emotional blackmail" sours me.

A number of years ago something similar happened.

I gave a "down-on-his luck" looking fellow who was panhandling on Whyte Ave. a fist of all my pocket change - it was all I had besides a twenty - and as I walked away I heard the "pinging" of copper pennies echoing around me. I looked back to see this fellow smirking at me as he skipped the pennies at me. He was throwing them away so he could keep the silver!

I was totally offended. He was obviously mocking me and I had been "flim-flam"ed.

Now I rarely give out cash to panhandlers on the street and sometimes challenge those who insist on approaching me with a sorry tale. I suppose it is my attempt to "shake-out" the near-do-well's from "legit" charity cases.

Yet being a "hard-a**" does not always play well.

On another very cold November night while picking up my daughter from Brownies at the church, a fellow approached me as we were getting into the car. (These guys know good "fishin-holes" - how does it look to deny a beggar in front of a church & young daughter!) He was "only asking" for $25 so he could afford to stay overnight at the YMCA for $60. It was cold so I told him to get in the car so we could talk. I was skeptical about the $60 when there were shelter's - and I offered to drive him to one - but on the way he changed his mind and just asked that I drop him off at the nearby strip-mall. I think he just decided to keep trying until he raised the cash. I have since learned that the "public shelters" are rife with gang crime, substance abusers, the mentally ill and dis-abused staff who function more like prison-guards than warm-hearted supporters. Ultimately, I believe he survived I caught a glimpse of him again that spring. Yet, did I really help him?

On still another occasion a young teen girl asked for money so "she could get some food" but was definitely less than interested when I led her into in the restaurant next door and bought her a take-out lunch. She left quickly and after consulting with her "boyfriend"resumed her campaign.

Perhaps it was such experiences that prompted me to participate in our communities "Out of the Cold" shelter project. It was a winter shelter that ran for 2 years but the NIMBY aspect eventually helped bring it down.

There is no resolution in such experiences, except that we must all learn from them.

90-Day-Jane's are in some way less harmful - but in creating "emotional fatigue" do they blind us when we are actually faced with a real "charity" situation?

Quotations

Stumbling about on the net I found this a useful resource - wikiquote.org - as I often want to find a quick quote.

Happy New Year !

Everyone,

Have a Happy 2008!

Cheers,