In Search of the Perfect Investment

I keep thinking that this old favorite might take off, again.

But earnings and sales are going nowhere:

And only a few people love the stock

As a business, cyber-security is terrible. Nobody wants to invest in security. The costs of being hacked are minimal, viz. Equifax. And, as lazy executive, you get to keep your bonuses, viz Equifax.

I mention this because I do spend oodles of time looking at investment opportunities, only to reject 99%.

Here’s another one. This is Shopify over the last two years. It helps little companies get web sites and then handles their sales and collects the money from the sales.

I started looking at before its recent crash. But its P/E is minus 203 times and its customers are the world’s worst businesspeople — tiny businesses.

So much for that idea.

I did buy a few Adobe on its dip yesterday.

We get email. A syndicator is sending out random emails pushing investing in hotels:

Wow! Leverage is up to 85%.

That sort of high ultra-high leverage works big-time if we don’t have another real estate bust. Sadly, we do regularly.

Last time we had one — 2007-2008 — one of my over-ambitious, over-leveraged office building owners lost several key buildings because he had borrowed too much money.

What’s the right number for borrowing? Maybe 65% at the most?

Shipping is dumb

Don’t charge your customer shipping.

Charging is stupid in a world where Amazon has Prime.

Up your prices a few shekels and make shipping on your products free.

It works.

Should you get a new social security number? According to WikiHow to Do Anything:

You may qualify for a new Social Security Number (SSN) if your life is in danger, you’re the victim of identity theft, you have a duplicate number, or you have another valid reason for wanting a new SSN. Changing your number is not easy, and this is not a decision to be taken lightly.

I suspect you  now don’t want. You can read more here.

Commodities are not working

Here are results to September 29, 2017:

The best sunscreen — bar none — especially for sensitive skin

The main ingredients are  10% Zinc Oxide and 5% Titanium Dioxide. There’s no perfume, no fragrance, no fake chemicals. Super stuff. Buy the sunscreen here.

Best new articles on guns. First Matt Taibbi:

The Gun Lobby Is Down to Its Last, Unconvincing Excuse

Las Vegas rips apart the “good guy with a gun” justification, leaving only a flawed constitutional take to justify the madness.

For this article, click here. 

Another piece, this time by John Cassidy:

Las Vegas, Gun Violence and the failing American State
Of all the ways in which American democracy is showing symptoms of dysfunction, the inability to face down the gun lobby is one of the most egregious.

For this piece, click here. 

Another piece, this one from The Week

Why the problem is guns

Paddock’s weapons were not exotic illegal machine guns, either. As this New York Times analysis of the shot pattern demonstrates, despite the closely spaced shots, Paddock probably did not have a fully automatic rifle, as it sounded much more like a semi-automatic equipped with a “bump-fire” device. This legal accessory achieves very rapid fire by using recoil to activate the trigger repeatedly. It costs about $99. The New York Times writes that several Republican congresspeople might be prepared to outlaw it.

Click here. 

A researcher at Western New Mexico University, Dr Jennifer Johnson, believes that the huge publicity given to mass shootings by the media actually stimulates more mass shootings. She believes that shooters share traits: suicidal depression, social isolation, and narcissism. They identify with a shooter and they want to exceed the shooter’s kills (make a new record) and make a name for themselves. They want to go out in  ablaze of glory. She’s interviewed by a journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Click on the arrow.

Countries warning against travel to the U.S. include the U.K., Germany, Ireland and Australia.

Australia is telling its citizens that the U.S. has more violent crime than Australia, and that “mass shootings continue to occur in public places.”

For more, read here. 

Since 1998, the National Rifle Association has donated $3,533,294 to current members of Congress. The Washington Post has an interactive map showing  how much money has been donated to members of Congress. Click on your state. Go here. 

Today the Wall Street Journal weighed in with the usual “Do nothing” nonsense:

The Gun Control Mirage
More gun laws won’t stop mass shootings by determined killers.

Click here. 

Australia is an example of where gun control can, and did work:

After the Port Arthur, Tasmania shooting in 1996, where 35 people died when a lone gunman opened fire with an assault rifle, Australia brought in strict and controversial gun laws including a weapons buyback scheme and banning semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. Australia has not had a mass shooting since.

I wrote more on guns yesterday. Click here.

Wake up call

A man and his wife were having some problems and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next week, the man realized that he’d need his wife to wake him at 5 a.m. for an early flight.

Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he finally wrote on a piece of paper: “Please wake me at 5 a.m.”

The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9 a.m. and he’d missed his flight.

Furious, he was about to scream at his wife when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.

It said: “It’s 5 a.m. Wake up.”

Harry Newton, whose grandson, Peter, is now 21 months, and eyeing great ambitions:

I love this picture. One day soon he’ll be able to his ball into the hoop.

Sorry about the gun stuff today. With mass shootings (four or more people shot) now occurring more than once every day in the U.S. , I’m seriously worried about my grandchildren. It’s time to stand up to the NRA and tell our Congresspeople to get something — anything — done.