The week’s over already – how did that happen? Finish strong with our hand curated morning train reads:
• Did you miss the stock market rally? You’re not alone (Bankrate)
• You’ve Never Heard of the Bull Market’s Best Stock Pickers (Bloomberg)
• QOTD: Jamie Dimon Addresses His Critics (TRB) but see The unflattering chart that Jamie Dimon forgot to put in his letter to JPMorgan shareholders (Quartz)
• European Stocks Are Breaking Out (Irrelevant Investor)
• Markets Change. So Should You. (Housel) see also Just How Dumb Are Investors? (MoneyBeat)
Re: JP Morgan’s (and other banks) legal costs.
I understand Jamie Dimon’s frustration with all of these different regulators demanding fines. I wonder if he understands the bewilderment and outrage in the general public that they are getting fined instead of responsible individuals getting jailed. I think most of the public would be fine if the banks’ fines were slashed 90% if perp walks replaced them instead. The perp walks would probably be the most effective way of preventing similar problems in the future. Instead, the bankers get to complain about excessive fines that impact their bonuses while people selling a handful of untaxed cigarettes in the street get choked to death by the police. Somehow, I think priorities are getting confused.
The bankers in Holland are getting annoyed that the people are revolting.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/mar/27/dutch-bankers-bonuses-axed-by-people-power
The interesting part about this is that the Dutch bankers are probably some of the most fairly paid bankers in the world. However, people power has much more clout with nationalized banks than ones that were bailed out without nationalization – another thing for Jamie Dimon to remember.
iWatch, Apple Pay Prequel to ‘Mark of the Beast?’ – Finance – Christian News 24-7
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/finance/2015/March/iWatch-Apple-Pay-Prequel-to-Mark-of-the-Beast/
The GOP base.
Sam Zell and Steve Schwarzman sold much of their holdings in IPOs in 2007, at the last market top.
Jeff Immelt just spun off GE Capital. Does this mark a market top for financial firms?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ges-immelt-shows-how-to-break-up-a-big-bank-2015-04-10?dist=lcountdown
The NRA has a new ally they can work with. The Russians are now working to rebrand the AK-47 as an “instrument of peace” instead of revolution and terrorism.
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-russian-socialite-just-got-the-job-of-re-branding-the-ak47-as-an-instrument-of-peace-2015-4
I assume that means that Putin will be encouraging his citizens to carry them openly on the streets of Moscow and even in baby strollers, although they are a bit big to fit in a glove compartment of a car.
Elizabeth Warren continues to make sense on student debt.
http://thereformedbroker.com/2015/04/10/elizabeth-warren-is-right-on-student-loan-debt/
The fact that major publications are doing stories on the impact of student debt on people receiving Social Security should be a warning sign that student loans and college costs are out of control in the US:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/24/news/economy/social-security-student-debt/index.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasondelisle/2014/09/11/social-security-and-unpaid-student-loans-what-the-feds-wont-tell-you/
best BR links: The US Government is not ‘$16 trillion in the hole’ (pragmatic cap http://bit.ly/1aPhLvZ)
How Athletes Get Great (Outside http://bit.ly/1Jw0xix ) the 10,000 hours debunked. what to make of Malcolm Gladwell? we used to walk around with this half baked ideas like they were alchemy. i could never be really good enough because i would never practice enough. now i’m never good because i wasn’t born with the right genes lol
best BR posts: too many
Discuss: Barack Obama is a Liberal Republican http://bit.ly/16GUWqR
Liesman to Santelli: “You Are a Money Loser!” http://bit.ly/1CzCtG0 a little assist from Downtown
Ayn Rand: The Boring Bitch is Back http://bit.ly/QWu9r the comments used to be wide opened and a free for all, if you knew certain words not to use and get caught in the filter. Downtown was in the comments before he was a partner. the comments are must read, start w the oldest. same here with this Jeremy Grantham global warming thread http://bit.ly/1FuxkRd climate health care were banned words
Bill George on CNBC ridiculing the idea that getting rid of R&D by bozo activists to make short term stock pops is somehow good for America, shredding Scott Wapner.
The stock market is NOT the reason America exists you asshat Ichan, Peltz, and Romney worhsipers
The Science of Smelling Older
Apr 9, 2015
Do elderly folk have a distinctly unique body odor?
According to claims on the Internet, they do. It’s not necessarily a bad one — observers describe it as everything from “grassy” to “stale” — but it’s supposedly there, permeating retirement home bridge games, and wafting through your grandfather’s bedroom.
Is this apparent “Old Person Smell” just a form of ageism, or is there any actual science behind it?
“There’s absolutely a particular smell we associate with aging, but there isn’t one specific cause,” writes physician Eric Shapira. “It’s a combination of many different things that are all associated with what happens to the body as we get older.”
A quick scan of senior living websites yields a number of these factors:
…
http://priceonomics.com/the-science-of-smelling-older/
Economy | A Shifting Middle
Middle Class, but Feeling Economically Insecure
APRIL 10, 2015
It’s not only what you have, but how you feel.
When it comes to membership in the middle class, earnings and assets are just part of the definition. Nearly nine out of 10 people consider themselves middle class, as a recent survey by the Pew Research Center found, regardless of whether their incomes languish near the poverty line or skim the top stratum of earners.
“Middle income is not necessarily the same thing as middle class,” said Rakesh Kochhar, a senior research associate at Pew. Even as the proportion of households in the middle-income brackets has narrowed, people’s identification with the middle class remains broad.
That’s because the middle-class label is as much about aspirations among Americans as it is about economics. But a perspective that was once characterized by comfort and optimism has increasingly been overlaid with stress and anxiety.
Part of the reason has to do with lost jobs and stagnating incomes.
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/business/economy/middle-class-but-feeling-economically-insecure.html