So I emailed Jeffrey Miron to try and "tom sawyer" (thats a joke) him to submit to the growing blog known as TamingZeus. And, he responded promptly. Below is his response back to my invitation to submit a post or answer some questions for readers. In bold are some comments that I felt were important to call out.
Dear Mike:
Many thanks for the message and kind words. In future I would love to write something for you to post, but in the near future I am staying away from any writing commitments other than finishing my book (on basically the same themes as the blog). If you would like to do an interview at some point, that would be fine. I definitely do have views on school vouchers and other topics that might be of interest to your audience.
Your blog looks great, and I really like the name!
Let me know if you have an interest in the interview. One possibility is to schedule it when my book comes out, but that will be at least 18 months from now.
Happy thanksgiving, and best,
jeff
Hopefully, come time for an interview in 18 months, I can do it live (in Boston)...
Friday, November 24, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Jeffrey Alan Miron - The Case for Small Government: Musings of a Libertarian Economist
In researching wal-mart banking perspectives I stumbled onto this blog - http://jeffreyalanmiron.typepad.com/.
Jeffrey Miron has some really fascinating opinions and thoughts that run the gamet from comparing the Bay of Pigs invasion to Iraq to "unhealthy foods in schools". This will most likely become nightly reading material for awhile. My interest led to an email to Mr. Miron looking for perhaps a guest post to TamingZeus. We love smart people here with insights that inspire conversation.
I have to see what happens.
Jeffrey Miron has some really fascinating opinions and thoughts that run the gamet from comparing the Bay of Pigs invasion to Iraq to "unhealthy foods in schools". This will most likely become nightly reading material for awhile. My interest led to an email to Mr. Miron looking for perhaps a guest post to TamingZeus. We love smart people here with insights that inspire conversation.
I have to see what happens.
The Fee Strategy banks use
I was on the phone with Chase at lunch (big surprise) because I continue to find that our banking system is more and more reliant on fees to drive profits. And, they customer service surpervisors take no issue being blatant about this. In the supervisor's words "When Chase charges you a fee, in this instance being an overdrawn account, we pay the fee first, then the vendor where you used the card". She went on to explain that I should learn how to keep a balanced check book. All this because it took them 10 days to process a check that I sent to my sister and by the time it cleared it bounced - and then took 2 days to show up on my account online when Chase charged me $32 for the instance and drove my account into the red.
Let's consider banks. You call them, and have to punch in 3 numbers now to talk to anyone. An account number, soc security # and a "password". Then, when one of the numbers is entered wrong you have to do it all over again. This is what I compare to conquering a castle - not only do I have to get through the woods, and cross the moat, but then I have to take out the huge gate - all while fighting with time and frustration of the arrows...can you tell I am frustrated? Then you get to talk to a customer servce rep that cannot do anything, and once you talk to the supervisor, you become a 2 yr old. They use child-like tactics to express their position and then I have to finally ask if I am going to get a refund...Not an industry that has a lot of upside to me.
In curiousity I took a look at Chase's annual report, to understand the "fee strategy" in place
- Lending and Deposit related fees in 2005 were $3.38 billion, up 27% from 2004. Wow!
What do others say on the subject of "consumer banking"?
- The average bounced-check fee is now $27.40, a record high, according to the
fall checking study by consumer finance Web site Bankrate.com.
What's interesting is that Wal-Mart could totally revolutionize the industry. If they applied their low-cost structure to banking, I can only imagine the uproar, and hopefully peer pressure it would have on other large banks to drop their fees. I mean, $36 charge for insufficient funds per transaction along with $10 a day?! That is practically robbery. And a Wal-Mart atm at every location - why would you need to bank anywhere else?
Its hard anymore to know who to trust. When a bank has control of your finances, and can just add and subtract fees, deposits, etc from a call station in the phillipines, there is certainly not enough control left in the customer's hands.
Let's consider banks. You call them, and have to punch in 3 numbers now to talk to anyone. An account number, soc security # and a "password". Then, when one of the numbers is entered wrong you have to do it all over again. This is what I compare to conquering a castle - not only do I have to get through the woods, and cross the moat, but then I have to take out the huge gate - all while fighting with time and frustration of the arrows...can you tell I am frustrated? Then you get to talk to a customer servce rep that cannot do anything, and once you talk to the supervisor, you become a 2 yr old. They use child-like tactics to express their position and then I have to finally ask if I am going to get a refund...Not an industry that has a lot of upside to me.
In curiousity I took a look at Chase's annual report, to understand the "fee strategy" in place
- Lending and Deposit related fees in 2005 were $3.38 billion, up 27% from 2004. Wow!
What do others say on the subject of "consumer banking"?
- The average bounced-check fee is now $27.40, a record high, according to the
fall checking study by consumer finance Web site Bankrate.com.
What's interesting is that Wal-Mart could totally revolutionize the industry. If they applied their low-cost structure to banking, I can only imagine the uproar, and hopefully peer pressure it would have on other large banks to drop their fees. I mean, $36 charge for insufficient funds per transaction along with $10 a day?! That is practically robbery. And a Wal-Mart atm at every location - why would you need to bank anywhere else?
Its hard anymore to know who to trust. When a bank has control of your finances, and can just add and subtract fees, deposits, etc from a call station in the phillipines, there is certainly not enough control left in the customer's hands.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Bowling
Let me take a minute to reflect on my full year of participating in a bowling league. I have come to truly appreciate this sport in much the same way The Dude and Walter love it in the classic movie The Big Lebowski. For those of you who have not seen this movie, shame on you. The fact that John Goodman did not receive critical acclaim was one of the real travesties of american cinema.
I digress. The sport truly is one of frustration. It is one of artistic expression. So many approaches. So many disciplines. It is a simpler form of golf. It is a game that can be played by all age levels at all levels of sobriety. It can be played by all demographics. It knows no income level. It is the one sport of skill (as opposed to athletic prowess) that the equipment does not play a real role. It is easy to show up and use some lane ball and do just as well as the guy who shows up with a clear ball with a rose in the middle. You can throw the straight ball or you can throw the big curve. I am yet to understand the curve without nearly breaking my wrist.
With that it is important to note that my team (Balls and Strikes) is comfortably in first place. We had a scare the other night until we added some beer to the equation. That led to the greatest comeback in history in the first game and then two absolute thrashings in the other two. This does nothing but add to my theory that beer can be a performance enhancer but I will leave that for another time. With that I wanted my first post to light hearted and look forward to many future posts over a wide range of topics
Pils
I digress. The sport truly is one of frustration. It is one of artistic expression. So many approaches. So many disciplines. It is a simpler form of golf. It is a game that can be played by all age levels at all levels of sobriety. It can be played by all demographics. It knows no income level. It is the one sport of skill (as opposed to athletic prowess) that the equipment does not play a real role. It is easy to show up and use some lane ball and do just as well as the guy who shows up with a clear ball with a rose in the middle. You can throw the straight ball or you can throw the big curve. I am yet to understand the curve without nearly breaking my wrist.
With that it is important to note that my team (Balls and Strikes) is comfortably in first place. We had a scare the other night until we added some beer to the equation. That led to the greatest comeback in history in the first game and then two absolute thrashings in the other two. This does nothing but add to my theory that beer can be a performance enhancer but I will leave that for another time. With that I wanted my first post to light hearted and look forward to many future posts over a wide range of topics
Pils
Thanksgiving Lamb
This thursday the weber dallas apt will be cooking lamb for thanksgiving. We're doing thanksgiving dirty. Anyway, the menu currently consists of meat - that's how it should be.
-- Weber Thanksgiving Menu --
Appetizer 1: Boerewors (classic south africa sausage style meat)
Appetizer 2: To be named later...
Appetizer 3: To be named later...
Appetizer 4: To be named later...
Entree: Grilled Lamb Chops (most likely marinaded a day before in some red wine concoction)
Dessert: Mike Weber's surprise
I am seeking responses to fill in ideas for the appetizers and dessert. In my mind, cheesecake is always a great answer, but certainly I will consider any great ideas that I can execute.
Respect the meat.
On thanksgiving I will post the final menu.
-- Weber Thanksgiving Menu --
Appetizer 1: Boerewors (classic south africa sausage style meat)
Appetizer 2: To be named later...
Appetizer 3: To be named later...
Appetizer 4: To be named later...
Entree: Grilled Lamb Chops (most likely marinaded a day before in some red wine concoction)
Dessert: Mike Weber's surprise
I am seeking responses to fill in ideas for the appetizers and dessert. In my mind, cheesecake is always a great answer, but certainly I will consider any great ideas that I can execute.
Respect the meat.
On thanksgiving I will post the final menu.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Unchecked aggression and Goooooooold (Solid Gold!)
First of all Mike, this unchecked aggression against Cleveland will not stand. In case you forgot, here is the Interview Ocho Cinco tried to give after getting rocked in the last meeting. Just remember the pain train is coming baby (whoooo!! whoooooo!!).
On to gold.
I like gold for a lot of reasons (bling!) but as an investment there are really only two reasons I have some in my portfolio. One, a booming global economy, led by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), increases demand for gold through both industrial uses and jewelry. The second reason is that gold acts as a hedge against inflation. Since gold is a dollar-denominated commodity, any weakness in the dollar (which is bad for us as consumers) is good for gold and should increase its value. Again, like the oil play mentioned last week, its an investment that makes money when conditions are undesireable for us as a consumers (high oil/inflation).
Two ways to play, GLD and AUY
Back in the day it was really difficult to buy gold bullion as a small investor. It's expensive to transport because it's heavy and storage costs are high. The other way you could "own" gold is by buying futures contracts, but that has its own set of undesirables and risks. Lucky for small investors today, there's an ETF that basically tracks the price of gold (symbol GLD). By pooling together many investors they've lowered the costs of buying, storing, and selling gold for small investors. If you invest in GLD, you're basically buying gold bullion and your investment moves with the whims and supply and demand of the gold market. For example, some people have said that gold rose to $700 an oz last spring because of increased investor demand due in large part to the existance of the GLD ETF.
Gold miners -- AUY
The way I've added exposure to gold in my portfoio is by buying a gold miner, Yamana Gold (symbol AUY). Gold miners by nature are tied to price of gold since the produce gold. The nice thing about AUY, is that it's one of the few gold miners that is ramping up gold production. Most of the others are "increasing" gold production, revenues, and profits by aquiring other miners since they're mines are nearing the end of their productive lives. Now should make a decent entry point into AUY as well since it was up to $11.5 recently after a good quarter and has come back to $10.6. Cramer has liked it since it was $8 a share; I've bought at around $8.5 and $10.5. Keep in mind a dime in share price is around 1% so be picky and try to get it on a down day. Also, buying in increments helps as well (buy it in halves, at least, to average to a better price).
I'll be adding GLD and AUY in equal amounts to my virtual portfolio tomorrow just to track my picks. 2/3 from last week are up slightly. I may be early on the bottom for oil services so I may add to that position on weakness. Also, HAL is a buy in that sector long term since they should make good money on spinning off KBR, but again, i dont see a rush to buy it. There should be plenty of time to build a position there.
Enjoy Turkey Day
MC
On to gold.
I like gold for a lot of reasons (bling!) but as an investment there are really only two reasons I have some in my portfolio. One, a booming global economy, led by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), increases demand for gold through both industrial uses and jewelry. The second reason is that gold acts as a hedge against inflation. Since gold is a dollar-denominated commodity, any weakness in the dollar (which is bad for us as consumers) is good for gold and should increase its value. Again, like the oil play mentioned last week, its an investment that makes money when conditions are undesireable for us as a consumers (high oil/inflation).
Two ways to play, GLD and AUY
Back in the day it was really difficult to buy gold bullion as a small investor. It's expensive to transport because it's heavy and storage costs are high. The other way you could "own" gold is by buying futures contracts, but that has its own set of undesirables and risks. Lucky for small investors today, there's an ETF that basically tracks the price of gold (symbol GLD). By pooling together many investors they've lowered the costs of buying, storing, and selling gold for small investors. If you invest in GLD, you're basically buying gold bullion and your investment moves with the whims and supply and demand of the gold market. For example, some people have said that gold rose to $700 an oz last spring because of increased investor demand due in large part to the existance of the GLD ETF.
Gold miners -- AUY
The way I've added exposure to gold in my portfoio is by buying a gold miner, Yamana Gold (symbol AUY). Gold miners by nature are tied to price of gold since the produce gold. The nice thing about AUY, is that it's one of the few gold miners that is ramping up gold production. Most of the others are "increasing" gold production, revenues, and profits by aquiring other miners since they're mines are nearing the end of their productive lives. Now should make a decent entry point into AUY as well since it was up to $11.5 recently after a good quarter and has come back to $10.6. Cramer has liked it since it was $8 a share; I've bought at around $8.5 and $10.5. Keep in mind a dime in share price is around 1% so be picky and try to get it on a down day. Also, buying in increments helps as well (buy it in halves, at least, to average to a better price).
I'll be adding GLD and AUY in equal amounts to my virtual portfolio tomorrow just to track my picks. 2/3 from last week are up slightly. I may be early on the bottom for oil services so I may add to that position on weakness. Also, HAL is a buy in that sector long term since they should make good money on spinning off KBR, but again, i dont see a rush to buy it. There should be plenty of time to build a position there.
Enjoy Turkey Day
MC
Book Alert!
Its time to start thinking about really interesting business/social concepts. So, I went to my most-hated online book provider and purchased
The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank
.
I don't recommend purchasing it new from amazon, but their 3rd party prices are hard to beat. Give me a week and look for a post related to micro-loans. Heck, I may just get my thoughts together and post before Friday.
Oh, and congrats again to my boys in orange. Great game. Especially for ocho cinco. The youtube video below highlights what we are going to do to Cleveland next week.
The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank
.I don't recommend purchasing it new from amazon, but their 3rd party prices are hard to beat. Give me a week and look for a post related to micro-loans. Heck, I may just get my thoughts together and post before Friday.
Oh, and congrats again to my boys in orange. Great game. Especially for ocho cinco. The youtube video below highlights what we are going to do to Cleveland next week.
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