Report Card on Kansas Schools and . . . the Agenda January 17, 2014 REPORT CARD Patrick Johnson: “Here’s the latest. The stock market and your picks have both been on a tear the last several weeks.” ☞ Assuming Patrick has it right (click that link to download his spreadsheet and review his work), we’re now up to a 15% annualized rate of return . . . with an average holding period of 4.41 years for each position (some of which remain open) . . . and a maximum of $53,837 having grown to $393,018 . . . compared with $289,454 had those same trades been made with the S&P 500 index instead. If we get lucky with BOREF, SIGA, and ETRM — the three speculations on which I have the most riding these days — that 15% IRR could go higher. But for those new to this page (or newly liquid), I remind you that these are speculations to be made only with money you can truly afford to lose. ETRM, especially, is just a gamble. Having now doubled, it’s not something I’d start with if you’re not already in it (though I hope it will double again). SIGA, I like to think, is worth more than it’s selling for no matter what and could be several times higher two or three years from now. (“Famous last words.”) If I didn’t already have a lot, I’d buy it here. Likewise, BOREF — only in spades. (“Famous last words delivered out on a limb holding chain saw in the hand closest to the tree trunk.”) KANSAS SCHOOLS Did you see, “What’s the Matter with Kansas Schools?” In tiny part: Even though the [Kansas] state Constitution requires that it make “suitable provision” for financing public education, Gov. Sam Brownback and the Republican-led Legislature have made draconian cuts in school spending, leading to a lawsuit that now sits before the state Supreme Court.. . . . Kansas’ current constitutional crisis has its genesis in a series of cuts to school funding that began in 2009. The cuts were accelerated by a $1.1 billion tax break, which benefited mostly upper-income Kansans, proposed by Governor Brownback and enacted in 2012. . . . The [lower court] judges called the school funding cut “destructive of our children’s future.” It is just so important to the Republican Party — not most actual Republican voters, I think, but the billionaire-backed candidates they elect — to lower taxes for the rich at the expense of everyone else. The surest path to the kind of America they want — and they feel we should want — is to cut funding for public education! block investment in infrastructure! cut food stamps for the poor and hungry! terminate unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed! block increases in the minimum wage! kill unions! kill ACORN! kill affordable health care!* What an agenda!!! And — to increase the odds of success — the capstone of the agenda — make it harder for poor people and young people to vote! These ideas are so wrong-headed economically (let alone morally) one could cry. It’s exactly the opposite of what’s needed to juice up the mighty middle class who — not the wealthy, as Nick Hanauer demonstrates — are the job creators and engine of prosperity. Vote Democrat, my fellow Harvard MBA moderates. Break the gridlock. Pass the American Jobs Act to put people to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. Invest in kids. Raise the minimum wage. Restart that middle-class engine of growth. Celebrate the progress on health care security. Allow the pendulum to swing back toward the center when, sure, the rich did great and the stock market made records, but workers got a share of their increased productivity as well. (They do do the work, after all. That should count for something.) How Roger Ailes and the Koch Brothers brought our beloved country to this sorry, polarized, know-nothing state of affairs (I’m short-handing it wildly here, but those three surely deserve outsize credit) is . . . well, read The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News–and Divided a Country. It is, as I say, enough to make you cry. Or at least switch the channel to MSNBC and Comedy Central. *Because paying for it requires the best-off to be taxed more on their dividends and capital gains — though less heavily than when Ronald Reagan left office.
Where Am I? January 15, 2014 Ted Strange: “Re the absence of column. You are ether sick or in love, which is it?” ☞ More like just, well, irresponsible. In the old days, I at least had the good grace to tell you when I was taking an Andyday and write you a poem. (Roses are red . . .) Here’s an example, from about 1,800 columns ago. Have a great day! And rush to the mail box with your fourth quarterly estimated 2013 tax payment, if you owe one.
Piggy Trevalion January 13, 2014January 14, 2014 I had some risotto last night. I never eat stuff like that, but what do you do when it has put in from of you? It was so good I literally dreamt about risotto some hours later. So here is food for thought: THAT “DIETING” TED TALK If you haven’t seen it, and worry about your weight — or worry that your daughter worries about her weight — click here. If Sandra Aamodt’s right about the “set point” and the “thermostat” in your brain, it may save you a lot of time and money and angst. DON’T EAT As I wrote once before: I don’t eat much. Saves time, saves money, saves the planet*; good for your looks, good for your health — and makes everything you do eat taste better. This is such a simple yet life-changing, life-extending win-win-win-win-win-win I think I’ll leave it at that. Just sayin’. PIGGY It’s impossible to think of all this without thinking of Piggy Trevalyan. You know Piggy? “Fattest damn woman in London?” “In the whole world, actually?” If you have 99 cents and just under 8 minutes, treat yourself to a re-listen to Mike Nichols & Elaine May’s “Adultery” sketch, into which Piggy figures as “small talk” (as it were), in the British hotel lobby. I say re-listen because it’s all but impossible to imagine that you have not already enjoyed this. (Next you’ll be telling me you haven’t seen The Maltese Falcon? Casablanca? Dr. Strangelove? Dr. Zhivago? What kind of generation are we raising?) OH — AND BY THE WAY? Here’s a report on America’s new hunger crisis. (“In the 22 years that Swami Durga Das has managed New York’s River Fund Food Pantry, he has never seen hunger like this. Each Saturday, hundreds of hungry people descend on the pantry’s headquarters, an unassuming house on a residential block. The first people arrive around 2 am, forming a line that will wrap around the block before Das even opens his doors.”) Since that report first appeared last October, the Republicans have been working hard to cut food stamps for the poor, end long-term unemployment benefits, keep the minimum wage low, and block Medicaid expansion. How else to keep taxes low? Which, George W. Bush proved, leads to a booming economy, a budget surplus, and a growing pie for everyone. (Oh, wait. That was Clinton. Who raised taxes. Well, never mind.)
The Understudy Went On! January 11, 2014 Last week, consumed by self-interest, I reported: Clancy O’Connor is subbing for Michael Urie in Buyer and Cellar, and according to this charming profile, “Clancy O’Connor is about to experience what every understudy dreams of: he gets to go on.” In the six days since, there’s been this terrific New York Times profile of Michael Urie (in tomorrow’s Real Estate section) . . . never mind that the photo caption makes it appear that his partner is a canine . . . and this profile of his understudy (Arts & Leisure): ” . . . with Mr. Urie on vacation this weekend, a perennial dream of New York actors is coming true. The understudy is going on.” And so he did. How did it go? Being an investor, I got a report. Fantastic show tonight for Clancy’s first performance. Really amazing show, he was relaxed and in control. You never would have guessed it was his first performance for a paying audience. Wonderful, supportive house, big laughs right from the start. Lots of big laughs in the prologue, and through the whole opening section. Good laugh for Sharon’s “So what happened in Toontown?” in the Interview scene. Long laugh for “Oh, so Mama wants to play.” They loved both the Fifi and Coupon scenes. Great responses in the Gift Shoppe scene as well. Several gasps at the Yentl joke. A really lovely “I’d be pretty” scene, and a big laugh for “Well now you have your own frozen yogurt machine so fuck him.” Huge response at curtain call, full standing ovation. We’re looking forward to the rest of the weekend. Which means that even if you buy tickets and our star catches cold — God forbid! — you’ll still have a really good time. And as I think of you as my friend, here’s a link to save $48 on each pair of tickets. Though because you’re my friend, don’t you think you should really use this link, to buy premium seats instead? After all these years? Really? MAKE MAIL As if that $48 savings weren’t perk enough for one day, this link takes you to a free (for now) app that my friend Marc Fest has created. I’ve read the description, downloaded it to my iPhone, and have no idea what it does. If you use email to control a blog, Evernote, alarms, IFTTT-controlled setups, or other Internet-connected things, this iPhone / iPad app is for you. Just tap the app and most of the email is already filled in. Enter your code or instructions and you are good to go! But . . . it’s . . . free! (For now.) And . . . I’m . . . old! (So you wouldn’t really expect me to know about IFTTT-controlled setups.) Check it out.
NPSP January 9, 2014 In August, I reported: First suggested here at $6.65 and then again at $5.50 or so, NPSP closed Friday at $22.59, for about a quadruple. I celebrated by taking some profits; yet Guru writes of the company’s wildly expensive drug ($295,000 a year): “There are probably 1,000 to 3,000 people in the US who could really benefit from Gattex. Could be more. That’s $300 million to $900 million in the US. They will launch in Europe where the market is similarly sized. For sure this is a $500 million in peak sales. Every year. For a long time. No competition. No one even trying to compete. This product could extend survival. Meanwhile, they have another product, for hypoparathyroidism — to supply the missing parathyroid hormone. Will file this year. Launch end of next year. Another $300 million potential market in the US. Then they get a royalty from Amgen of $100 million. The stock should hit 36 over the next year.” So I’ve kept some. Yesterday, it closed at $35.11, which is close enough. I took my six-fold gain (thanks, Guru) and sold the rest. Have a great day. I feel a political screed coming on, but for now, you’re spared.
Bug-Eyed January 8, 2014 FUN WITH SNOW You thought you built an impressive snow man or fort. Look at these amazing images. (Thanks, Janet!) CONFLICTED I’m considering whether to wear shorts here today — wracked with survivor’s guilt at being someplace warm yet gripped in paroxysms of schadenfreude. It’s not easy to be wracked and gripped at the same time, but I soldier on. BUG-EYED Yes, that, too, and having nothing to do with the polar vortex (unless you count our inability to confront climate change). I am bug-eyed in frustration over how obvious it is what we should do — and the Republican Tea Party’s refusal to allow us to do it. Such as: put people back to work modernizing our crumbling infrastructure (and watch the deficit fall as this propels the economy into high gear). We should also raise the minimum wage (which would boost the economy in much the way Henry Ford did when he paid his workers enough to buy what they were making), extend unemployment benefits (not least as a way to avoid losing more jobs by sucking demand from the economy) and restore food stamps for those in need (because who are we, if we can’t do that much for the least among us?). We should enact universal gun-safety background checks (which the vast majority of even NRA members favor), make it easier for citizens to vote, not harder (I mean — really?) and focus on the tremendous improvement in health care security most of us now enjoy in case we should, say, ever lose our job or bump up against what used to be the lifetime cap on our coverage. These are topics about which I’ve written before and to which I had hoped to return this week. But — gripped, wracked, and bug-eyed — I am useless. (Plus, Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes do it better anyway.) NBIX Jim Batterson: “HOO BOY! So now what?” ☞ The stock jumped 90% yesterday, to $18.50, which is great for those of you who bought it at $2.60, when suggested here or around $4 here, unless — a big “unless” — you sold at $11 three months ago, as more or less suggested here. But maybe you kept some? Jim obviously did. (Reason enough not to read this page every day!) Guru thinks the stock is not the great bet at $18.50 it was at $2.60, so it could be a good time to take your profit. But that obviously doesn’t mean it won’t go higher.
All The Way With . . . The Understudy January 6, 2014January 6, 2014 THE CASE +AGAINST+ LIVING FOREVER Nicely articulated here in the New York Times. I get it but I’m not buying it. If I take up too much physical space, I’d still like the option of having my consciousness downloaded to a chip of some kind, playing Words With Friends, bingeing on House of Cards, and enjoying — virtually — all the natural-world wonders and sensations. (“All the taste, none of the calories.”) Not entirely unlike, brilliantly, “Her.” I WASTED YOUR $8! . . . when I suggested this razor-sharpening strop a year ago. Turns out you already have what you need to extend the life of your razors. (Thanks, Steve.) LBJ V. THE DIXIECRATS Did you see “Lincoln,” about his struggle to pass the Thirteen Amendment? Great movie. Well, I just read the script “All The Way,” opening on Broadway February 10 about Lyndon Johnson’s struggle to pass the Civil Rights Act. It’s terrific. And LBJ will be played by Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”). I can’t wait to see it. Along with LBJ, Martin Luther King, Jr., J. Edgar Hoover, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace and other major players of the day — Senators Everett Dirksen, Richard Russell, and others — it even features my soft-spoken eighth grade math teacher, Robert Moses, who left us to help found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and direct its Mississippi Project. EVEN THE UNDERSTUDY’S A HIT I don’t know who’s understudying for Bryan Cranston, but Clancy O’Connor is subbing for Michael Urie in Buyer and Cellar, and according to this charming profile, “Clancy O’Connor is about to experience what every understudy dreams of: he gets to go on.” . . . The idea to promote O’Connor’s performances was actually Urie’s, who is a friend of O’Connor since their Julliard days. Last month, during the Broadway Cares fundraising moments after every show, Urie decided to bring O’Connor on stage so the audience can see first hand how charming and fun O’Connor is as the two bantered about O’Connor’s life in the wings and their barbs about his wanting to injure Urie. . . . O’Connor may be performing “Buyer & Cellar” for the first time in front of an audience [January 10-12, while Urie is on vacation], but he certainly does have a lot of credentials, making it easy for audiences to take a chance on him. Besides,the brilliant Jonathan Tolins play really doesn’t need a name to make it a great show. Perhaps a star gets you to a show but it’s the writing that makes people want to come back. With “Buyer & Cellar” it seems to have a lot of repeat customers. . . . “ Full disclosure: I am an investor in this show. I am yet to hear anything but raves from anyone who’s seen it.
Well, I’ve Been Busy! January 1, 2014 Sorry for the spotty postings. I got to spend the holiday week in the shadow of amazing people. Like Roz Savage, who (as you know from this 2010 post) rows across oceans. Alone. In a row boat. And there I was sitting right next to her for 20 minutes getting, in effect, my own private TED Talk. (Here’s her real one.) To say she is charming in real life — as is her significant other, Howard Lack, who runs Plastic Oceans (“plastic pollution has become a man-made global catastrophe”) — would barely begin to describe their positive energy. And like Amory Lovins, about whom I’ve also written, who invented “negawatts” and lives in a huge Colorado home completely heated and cooled with the power of a 100-watt lightbulb. (Give or take.) He showed me photos of his latest indoor banana crop — yes, you can grow bananas in Colorado in the winter. You’ll find his TED Talk here. And like the Iraqi-Jamaican-American astrophysicist who explained to me (insofar as that would be possible) how to think about the seven dimensions we can’t sense. (The current thinking, he says, is that no more dimensions will be found; 11 are all that are needed to explain everything.) And enough others to send my little brain into overload. Hence the missed posts. You deserved a break anyway. GHOTI Jerry: “I don’t know if you were joking when you wrote about Shaw’s spelling of ‘fish.’ I think the original had it as ‘ghoti’ – GH as in ‘enough’ . . . O as in ‘women’ . . . and TI as in ‘nation’.” ☞ You spell it GHOTI, I spell it PHOT — either way, check its mercury level before you eat it. # Here’s wishing you a very happy, healthy New Year.