Last-Minute Holiday Gifts December 17, 2014December 16, 2014 FOR THE FOLKS Remember “All In The Family?” Archie Bunker and Edith and Meathead and Gloria? With the Jeffersons next door and Maude dropping by? Maybe you don’t, but your folks do. Would they like to spend 19 intimate hours with Norman Lear, its creator, who at one point had 120 million Americans watching the various ground-breaking sitcoms he had on the air? (“Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!”) And who founded People for the American Way? And whose dad, improbably, was a crook? And who at 92 is sharper and more energetic than Archie ever was? Click here to have him tell you or your folks his amazing life story, Even This I Get To Experience. You could read it with your eyeballs, of course; but there’s something about the direct voice-to-brain experience I find pretty great. Maybe use this occasion to gift a membership in audible.com — which comes with your choice of a free book, so it could be this one. (How you wrap or deliver such a thing I don’t know. I just know it’s the second day of Hannukah, so get on the stick.) FOR GRAMPS How’d you like to lessen the chance your grandparent will break his or her hip? Long-time readers know I have an interest in the private company behind BrainHQ — “brain training that works.” To wit: You may have heard that doing physical exercise can be good for your brain function. But you might be surprised to hear the reverse can be true, too: doing BrainHQ can improve physical function. Two recent studies led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have shown that using a set of BrainHQ exercises significantly improves balance and mobility among older adults, reducing fall risk.1 These are the first studies to show that BrainHQ improves physical function. But many, many customers have told us how BrainHQ exercises have helped them in physical activities. Dave Demko says brain training helped him be his best in competitive skiing. Howard Newman became a better softball player. Diane Goldman felt like she had a surer step. And Morley Melden got his highest bowling score ever—at age 82. This holiday, you can give BrainHQ to the person in your life who could benefit from its many benefits—including better balance and mobility—for 25% less. Or buy yourself a subscription—they’re 25% off, too. Smith-Ray RL, Hughes,SL et al (2014) Impact of Cognitive Training on Balance and Gait in Older Adults, J Gerontol Psychol Sci Soc Sci, doi:10.1093 /geronb/gbt097.Smith-Ray RL, Makowski-Woidan,BS et al (2014) A Randomized Trial to Measure the Impact of a Community-Based Cognitive Training Intervention on Balance and Gait in Cognitively Intact Black Older Adults, Health Educ Behav vol 41 no 1 supp 62S-69S. I’d love to end this by telling you Norman Lear is so sharp at 92 because he’s one of our customers, but to my knowledge it’s simply because he’s Norman Lear.
Oh, Boy – $324,000 December 16, 2014 EVER SMALLER PLANET In five or ten years, one company hopes, we may start flying six times faster. New York to New Delhi in 4 hours. Totally cool. MONEY Even as we got poorer this past week, if we own stocks, the cost of being a “max-out” political donor seems to have gone up. Again. In return for not shutting down the government, the Republican Party has required a tenfold increase in the limit any citizen (or Green Card holder) may give the Republican National Committee. That’s $324,200 a year, up from $32,400. Which, because of the “McCutcheon” decision rendered by the Republican Supreme Court (the Court that gave us President George W. Bush who then added Justices Roberts and Alito, making it even more reliably Republican), can now be $324,000 to each of the three Republican Committees — $972,000 a year — with your spouse matching that for a further $972,000. So $1,944,000 per couple for the 2015-2016 cycle now beginning. Plus $10,000 a year to each of the 50 state Republican parties — another $2 million per couple per cycle. Plus $10,400 per couple to each of 535 House and Senate candidates — another $5,564,000. Except that at least some of these federal limits may be notched up a bit early next year, as the Federal Election Commission adjusts them for inflation. So figure about $10 million all in for you and your spouse to federally max for the 2015-2016 cycle (up from $123,200 this last cycle). On top of which there’s the essentially unlimited cash people can contribute to non-federal state and local races and non-federal committees . . . and given anonymously to various committees with misleading names. Of course, all this applies to Democratic donors, candidates, and committees as well — with two differences. First, there are more ultra-wealthy Republicans than ultra-wealthy Democrats. Second, many of the ultra-wealthy Democrats think all this is a horrible distortion of democracy and so refuse to participate; let alone to the extent, or as gleefully, as some Republicans have. To me, the Citizens United decision . . . followed by the McCutcheon decision . . . and now this tenfold increase in giving limits . . . are cause for dismay, as they shift yet more political power to the already powerful . . . even as widening inequality threatens our economic engine and social fabric. Dismay — but not despair, because there are still millions of Democrats, rich and poor, more than capable, collectively, of funding the basics required to win. It all comes down to whether people who would like to see the Democratic agenda enacted take the trouble to vote: People who’d like to see America’s infrastructure revitalized and health insurance remain available even to those who might develop a preexisting condition . . . people who’d like to see the bipartisan immigration bill made law and federal student loans made refinanceable . . . people who’d like to see the minimum wage hiked (if only because economists predict it will improve the economy for the rest of us) and universal background checks required for gun purchasers . . . and climate change addressed . . . and voting made more convenient not less. People pleased to have a Credit Card Bill of Rights and a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and Plan B sold over the counter to enhance reproductive choice and reduce abortion. The list goes on — including campaign finance reform. Not shifting more power to multi-billionaires, as the Republicans insisted be done Saturday in return for not shutting down our government.
Where To Click? December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 BILL GATES COULD BUY EVERY HOME IN BOSTON Including condos. Without taking out a mortgage. To see which entire cities other wealthy Americans could buy, click here. To understand why, even so, the Republican Party feels America’s billionaires should have yet more influence over our electoral process (most recently, the demand to increase party campaign contribution limits tenfold) . . . and should have to throw even fewer of their chips back into the game when they die (which is to say: none of them, with a zero percent estate tax; which is how Monopoly would work if, after your big brother beat you, you’d start out the new game with his having all the cash and real estate and your having nothing but the chance to collect $200 when you passed GO) . . . and to understand why the Republican Party thinks the banks should again be allowed to gamble with depositors’ money, reaping the profits when the bets win but bailed out by the taxpayers when they implode (another of their patriotic, principled demands this past week in return for not shutting down the government) . . . or why we should not put people back to work revitalizing our crumbling infrastructure, should not allow federal-student-loan-holders to refinance at today’s low rates as millions refinance their mortgages, should not perform universal background checks on gun buyers, should not allow a vote on the immigration bill that passed the Senate 68-32, should not boost the minimum wage, should not make it easy for people to vote . . . click . . . where? Here? INCH BY INCH Long-time readers will know that, where Sidney Greenstreet (aka, “The Fat Man”) had his Maltese Falcon, I have my Borealis . . . which has WheelTug . . . which could meaningfully improve the efficiency of global air travel and make us all a fortune. I do know that Greenstreet’s dingus turned out to be a disappointment but I am of merely normal girth, and our dingus has been demonstrated to work, has 23 airlines signed up and a whole bunch of partners, like this new one: HUNTSVILLE, AL–(Marketwired – Dec 11, 2014) – RMCI, Inc. announced today that it has signed a partnership agreement with WheelTug plc to develop and be the exclusive worldwide supplier of the sensor module for the forthcoming WheelTug E-Taxi system. The WheelTug system uses high-performance electric motors, installed in the nose gear wheels of an aircraft, to provide full mobility while on the ground, without the use of the aircraft’s jet engines or tugs for both pushback and taxi operations. “RMCI is pleased to partner with WheelTug on this effort. The WheelTug system promises to revolutionize ground operations for airliners, providing dramatic savings in both time and engine wear,” said Ken Speaks, RMCI’s CEO. “We look forward to leveraging our expertise in aviation sensors, diagnostics, and avionics to design and produce a sensor module for this essential component of the WheelTug system. We have been working with WheelTug for several months, and our two organizations make a great team. I anticipate great success and significant mutual benefit as we move forward on this project.” . . . ☞ And so, mixing my Bogart metaphors all but unforgivably, we sit in Casablanca . . . and we wait. And wait. And wait. And . . . wait. # [Hope to get back to this site’s just-past-midnight daily posting schedule Tuesday or Wednesday.]
Body Cams December 11, 2014 NO COLUMN YESTERDAY One thing led to another White Russian margarita and then the Internet went out. I have extended your subscription accordingly. Sorry! A CONSTRUCTIVE NOTE Amid the anger and controversy over shootings and non-indictments, I cling to silver linings. One is the momentum building for body cams. As reported here, one town of 100,000 tried a year-long experiment during which complaints against the police dropped by 88% and the use of force, by 60%. It would seem to me this is awfully good news for both the cops and for the citizens they serve. If the “only” thing that came out of this year’s turmoil were widespread adoption of body cams that led to similar results nationwide, that would be pretty huge all by itself. But other reforms are being discussed, especially with regard to drug laws, enforcement, and the criminal justice/prison system generally, so I’d once again urge you to (somehow) find time to watch the recent American Justice Summit — especially so if you are among those more annoyed by the protesters than by what they’re protesting. (Given disparate life experiences, I know people of good will and good intentions on both sides of that fence.) There’s a lot there — about five hours worth — much of it compelling, some of it riveting, a little of it boring or annoying . . . but all of it pointing to opportunities to make our society even more just and successful.
Rare Old Photos December 9, 2014 You know what’s so great about these? (Apart from the fact that they’re just so great?) They were all taken in the last few seconds, so to speak. Humans have been around for more than 100,000 years, so these were all taken in the last one-thousandth of our little journey — which just continues to accelerate. A few of the photographs seem (well, are) fairly modern. But those from the late 19th century and early 20th? If you had told someone in 1896 that their grandchildren would be able to watch a movie (“what’s a movie?”) and eat dinner, then walk to a bathroom, seven miles up in the sky, all while flying from Miami (“what’s Miami?”) to Seattle in six hours and 10 minutes . . . and all for the cost of half a week’s wages . . . I’m just saying (yet again): this is it, fellow species members. We’re at the beginning or the end, either blasting off into all but unimaginable well-being (“cancer, schmancer” indeed!) if we can figure out how to live together, sustainably, on this little spaceship; or else in the early stages of hurtling off the rails as the dinosaurs once did (except it was not of their own doing) or as so many other species have (of our doing). That so few Americans vote* as we attempt to steer a successful course — or even accept “evolution” or science — is not the most hopeful sign. That technology races ahead, and that we have world leaders — even the Pope! — who largely do get it, give us a shot. *Just 7% of our population voted for Republican senatorial candidates this last time around in an election considered by some a landslide. Many were too young to vote (should we lower the voting age? do 84-year-olds have a better grasp on the future, and more at stake, than 14-year-olds?). Others were prevented from voting by voter suppression efforts or because they’d once been convicted of marijuana possession or more substantial crimes for which they had “paid their debt to society” (should the states that deny ex-cons the right to vote revoke those laws?). And some populous states had no senate candidate on the ballot (which is the one wholly uncontroversial reason that 7% figure is so low). But many eligible voters just didn’t see the point. Even in Presidential years, nearly half don’t.
321,000 Jobs — But What About Benghazi? December 8, 2014December 7, 2014 “By any standard,” Mitch McConnell told the nation this summer, in prepared remarks, “Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country.” That is as preposterously false as was then-candidate George W. Bush’s multi-trillion-dollar lie that “by far the vast majority” of his proposed tax cuts would go to people “at the bottom of the economic ladder.” (Remember how outraged Republicans were over the $30,000 Whitewater investment the they found questionable? How does that compare with a clear-cut multi-trillion dollar lie?) Somehow we find ourselves in a world where enormous lies in service of the phenomenally wealthy require no retraction. But just for the record, 321,000 net new private sector jobs were added last month — the 57th consecutive month of private job creation, the longest streak of private-sector job growth on record. (Monthly job growth during the eight Bush years averaged 58,000.) Job growth, it seems to me, is “a standard” by which presidents might be judged. Others: Gasoline prices — lower than they’ve been in years. The stock market — near triple its Bush-inherited low. The deficit — cut by two-thirds from its Bush-inherited high. The housing market — stabilized. Detroit — thriving. Bin Laden — dead. China — cooperating on climate change. Health care inflation — lowest in 50 years. Health care security — highest ever, as no one need now worry about developing a “pre-existing condition.” And then there are other little things: Spectacular progress for millions of LGBT Americans and the tens of millions of friends and relatives who wish them well. Over-the-counter availability of Plan B, to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Tripled female representation on the Supreme Court. A better deal for those taking student loans. The Credit Card Bill of Rights. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A $10.10 minimum wage for the employees of federal contractors. A deal with Swiss banks to cooperate in giving up tax evaders. And — oh, yeah — regaining the respect of leaders around the globe. And health care coverage for 10 million people who lacked it a year ago. And more. Meanwhile . . . Major Republican accomplishments these same six years include: > Blocking the American Jobs Act that would have boosted the economy revitalizing our crumbling infrastructure; > Blocking an increase in the federal minimum wage (that would have cut the demand for food stamps and other government “hand-outs” and, economists say, boosted the economy for everyone); > Blocking the Senate passed (68-32) bi-partisan comprehensive immigration bill economists agree would also have boosted the economy; > Blocking the universal background checks that even 74% of NRA members favor; > Shutting down the government (and perhaps again at the end of this week!) over refusal to pay the bills they themselves racked up; > Misleading a growing number of Americans to think the scientists have it wrong on climate change; and, of course . . . > Completing 7 investigations into the deaths of 4 brave Americans killed at Benghazi. Most recently: WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees . . . no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue . . . [and that neither Susan] Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. . . .
50,000 Lives Saved — But What About Benghazi? December 5, 2014December 5, 2014 SAVING LIVES AND MONEY Four brave Americans died at Benghazi. Seven Congressional investigations later, Republicans have concluded* that no one in the Administration is to blame — so an eighth investigation is now underway. Less well known to the viewers of FOX News are the 50,000 lives — and $12 billion — saved at least in part because of Obamacare (aka Romneycare) . . . even as Republicans were voting 52 times to repeal it: Dec 2 (Reuters) – About 50,000 people are alive today because U.S. hospitals committed 17 percent fewer medical errors in 2013 than in 2010, government health officials said on Tuesday. The lower rate of fatalities from poor care and mistakes was one of several “historic improvements” in hospital quality and safety measured by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They included a 9 percent decline in the rate of hospital-acquired conditions such as infections, bedsores and pneumonia from 2012 to 2013. . . . Hospitals have made a concerted effort to improve safety, spurred in large part by changes in how Medicare pays them. President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law requires CMS to reduce the reimbursement rate for hospitals that re-admit too many patients within 30 days, an indication of poor care the first time. As a result of the improvements in hospital safety, 1.3 million fewer patients suffered a hospital-acquired condition in 2013 than if the 2010 rate had remained steady, CMS Deputy Administrator Dr. Patrick Conway told reporters. That produced savings of some $12 billion from avoidable costs . . . “This is welcome news for patients and their families,” Conway said, and represents an “unprecedented decline in patient harm in this country.” ☞ Saves lives, saves money, avoids more than 1 million cases of harm short of death, has cut the ranks of the uninsured by about 25% in just the first year — is it possible the Affordable Care Act (Romneycare) is actually a good thing? How much longer will Republicans work to demonize it as they demonized Medicare and Social Security? How much longer will they fight a higher minimum wage and universal background checks? How much longer will they block repair of our crumbling infrastructure? Passage of the Senate’s bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill? The refinancing of federal student loans at today’s lower rates (just as one would refinance a mortgage)? How much harder will they try to make it for young and low-income people and minorities to register and to vote? AND THIS JUST IN: In the wake of the Administration’s handling of the Ebola pandemic — all FOX could talk about in the weeks before the election — the death toll among American citizens seems finally to have plateaued at . . . still zero. SAVING ON SMOKES Chuck McLean: “In addition making me a little money over the years, you have cajoled me into doing good things that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise (sending money to the Dems, etc.). I just wanted you to know that I have just donated the amount of money that I saved during my first month of not smoking (an event prompted in large part by your mention of Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Stop Smoking) to Carry the Light to the World. (I also want to plug the free app QuitIt that has been a great encouragement during this period of quitting.) Keep cajoling!” ☞ As if I could ever restrain myself. *WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees. Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue . . . In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. . . .
SMBC December 4, 2014 Andy Frank: “Last October you posted this update by Chris Brown of Aristides on SMBC: I think the stock trades at least at 1.3x book 24 months from now, which gives you a $38 stock at that point, plus a 2% dividend while you wait. It is one of our top five holdings. A kicker, which is not needed to make this investment successful (I did not include it in my estimate above), but will help, is that as steady as the company’s growth has been, it seems likely to be a Russell 2000 addition in 2015. That could give shareholders an additional 10% upside, along with some better liquidity. “Once again Chris has gotten it right, though it’s ahead of his prediction having hit 38 in 13 rather than 24 months. I’m comfortable holding but thought I’d see if Chris still likes it at this price.” ☞ Good news: he still likes it. And it closed above $40 yesterday.
One More Reason It Won’t Be Romney; CISG December 3, 2014December 2, 2014 MITT Earlier this fall I offered competing slogans for the 2016 campaign were Gov. Romney to be the nominee (“Third time’s a charm” versus “Three strikes and you’re out”) but linked to a persuasive post on why he won’t run. Here‘s another reason it won’t be Mitt: that Gruber guy caught on camera saying that passing Obamacare relied on the stupidity of the American people? He was Romney’s guy first. And as he told Forbes: . . . There’s “zero difference” between Romneycare and Obamacare, he told Pillifant. “This is, to my mind, the most blatantly obvious case of politics trumping policy I’ve ever seen in my life. Because this is an idea, that four or five years ago, Republicans were touting. A guy from the Heritage Foundation spoke at the bill signing in Massachusetts about how good this bill was.” But, what about when Romney says his law is different from Obamacare? “The problem is there is no way to say that, because they’re the same f***ing bill. He just can’t have his cake and eat it too. Basically, you know, it’s the same bill. He can try to draw distinctions and stuff, but he’s just lying.” . . . CISG Last December I suggested switching out of GLD into CISG “because someone much smarter than me thinks gold is headed back to $800 an ounce and that CISG — which sells for $5.40 yet has, he says, $8.50 a share in cash — could one day this decade be valued at more like $20 or $25.” Today, GLD is almost exactly where it was and CISG is up only 10%, so not much has happened. But I hold all my shares and was encouraged by this post Monday on Seeking Alpha: CNinsure Has More Cash Than Its Market Cap And Double-Digit Revenue Growth Dec. 1, 2014 11:39 AM ET | About: CNinsure Inc. (CISG) by: Edward Vranic, CFA Disclosure: The author is long CISG. The author wrote this article themselves, and it expresses their own opinions. The author is not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). The author has no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More…) Summary A failed takeover bid and concern over inflated profit numbers caused CNinsure’s market cap to drop below its working capital in 2011. Three years later CNinsure has settled a lawsuit regarding any alleged impropriety and no additional claims of fraud have been made against the company. When comparing CNinsure’s valuation metrics to China Life Insurance Company Limited, it shows the stock price is under-priced by at least 50%. The CEO has shown a willingness to use excess funds to increase shareholder value, though was vague on how that will be accomplished. It’s not every day that an investor can find a company with negative enterprise value – that is, more cash than its market cap – which also has double-digit revenue growth and solid profitability. But that is the case when examining CNinsure Inc. (NASDAQ:CISG). Q3 results show a $USD equivalent of $327 million in cash, $117 million in short term investments and $529 million in total current assets against $53 million in current liabilities for a working capital position of $476 million compared to a market cap of $312 million. When investors look at those numbers, they must ask “What’s the catch?”. In September 2011, a proposed deal to take the company private at $19 fell through. The stock dropped to less than $10 and hasn’t recovered since. The deal was led by the CEO at the time and he blamed challenging market conditions for its failure but there were allegations over the company overstating profits. One of the financial backers, TPG Asia also came to that conclusion. In 2010 OLP Global released a report surrounding concerns over CISG’s equity incentive program to compensate sales reps which resulted in overstated profits. In April 2011, OLP Global raised concerns over CISG’s eCommerce acquisitions and other investments. In October 2011, Yinan Hu resigned as CEO of CISG, succeeded by Chunlin Wang. In the three years since there hasn’t been much follow-up to the questions over the legitimacy of the company’s business and in August 2014 a lawsuit was settled against the company where it agreed to pay $6.625 million (covered by insurance) for settlement of all claims related to the questionable practices and failed buyout in 2010 and 2011. The company denies all allegations made against it in the lawsuit and only settled it to eliminate further risks related to future proceedings. Three years have passed and no further allegations of inflated profits or fraud has been made against the company and it has remained in good standing with the regulators. Working capital was $403 million in Q3 2011 and has since improved to the $476 million calculated above thanks to three years of profitable operations. Yet the stock is still punished by the market. Investors who believe that any wrongdoing by CISG is in its past could be getting a bargain by investing at this low price. The insurance business is robust in China relative to global markets. The overall insurance market in China has grown 16.5% annually over the past decade and is expected to grow around 15% in 2014 and 2015. CISG has bested those figures so far this year thanks to its aggressive online sales strategy. Revenue grew 26% in Q3, exceeding company guidance of 15% and has grown 21% year-to-date. The company increased its guidance for Q4 revenue growth to 20%. China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE:LFC) is the largest life insurance in the country and the most active Chinese insurance company trading in the United States. Below is a chart comparing CISG’s key valuation statistics to LFC’s stats as of market close on November 28. Because CISG has a negative enterprise value at $6.24, its EV/EBITDA has no meaning at that price. In order to come up with meaningful statistics that compare to LFC, a third column has been added showing what CISG’s stats would be with a $13 stock price. Even at more than double the stock price, CISG would still have a favorable EV/EBITDA compared to LFC along with reasonable P/E metrics considering recent revenue growth and continued high growth expectations. <image002.jpg> One key event that needs to take place before more investors take notice is the returning of cash to shareholders either through a dividend or share buyback program. Investors in Chinese companies question how the money earned in the business is able to leave China to reach foreign investors. The company’s hoarding of cash is not having a positive impact on the stock price like it may with US listings so CISG needs to become more proactive in rewarding shareholders. In the Q3 conference call, an analyst questioned the company on its excess cash and when it plans to use it to increase shareholder value. CEO Chunlin Wang said focus for the past two years was on turning around company fundamentals but now with strategic initiatives in place it may be time to look at some options with respect to the cash, though he was vague on the details. His comments relating to that question were as follows: “The management remains committed to increasing shareholder value. However, probably in the past two years the management has been focused a lot of energy on bringing a turnaround in our fundamentals. And we actually believe that without a turnaround in our earnings or top-line growth any means to — any means that anything we do in a capital market will not be sustainable. But right now as we have our online and mobile initiatives has started to up and running and we are back to the growth chart, probably it’s time for us to sit down and think about what options we have to increase the capital of the stock price, improve the stock price and increase shareholder value and there are a lot of options, several options in front of us and we need to consider about it.” CISG was accused of cooking its books and questionable business decisions in 2010-11 but got through it while maintaining its innocence. There have been no follow up accusations since then and it has remained a company in good standing with the regulators while many listings from China have been suspended from trading due to fraud from then until now. The market is still punishing CISG for its alleged impropriety three years later. If the Chinese stock market moves up as I expect it will as it is undervalued relative to other markets, watch for highly undervalued companies like CISG to move up, especially if it makes good on returning excess cash to shareholders. I wait in greedy anticipation.
Who Matters . . . December 2, 2014December 27, 2016 WHO, IN THE END, MATTERS? Republicans care SO MUCH about the four Americans who died serving their country in a dangerous part of the world that they’ve completed seven investigations into the tragedy.* An eighth is under way. They were so concerned with the . . . zero . . . Americans who’ve died from Ebola that the weeks leading up to the midterms allowed for talk of little else. (Once the election was over, so was the talk.) So I have a question. What about the American lives being saved by Obamacare? Like this guy’s? What about the estimated 45,000 American lives previously lost annually for lack of access to affordable insurance? Do they matter in any way? Or the thousands dead for lack of universal background checks? Or the millions blocked from a better life by Republican refusal to raise the minimum wage? How about seven or eight investigations into those? BOEBUS I mentioned last month the Marketforce Future of Air Transport conference WheelTug planned to attend. (And, Friday, the upcoming IATA conference in Miami.) Apparently, London went well, with an enthusiastic response to The Adventures of Boebus, a faux children’s book it will take you just a minute or two to read — it’s kind of sweet. (Or twelve minutes if you’d like it read to you, with videos of accidents WheelTug-enabled jets would avoid.) If/when the WheelTug vision is realized, passengers should be pleased by shorter travel time, especially those now stuck in the rear waiting to deplane (they’ll be able to exit the rear door); airports should be pleased to have meaningfully more capacity without having to build new terminals and runways; airlines should be pleased to save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per plane. Inch by inch, we taxi toward take-off. Or so I like to think. (Newcomers: click here for the first installment of this saga, 15 years ago, before the parent company even thought to put its motor into the nose wheel of an airplane.) *WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees. Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue . . . In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. . . .