Tidbits on May 14, 2013
Bob Jensen
at Trinity University
This week I feature Set Set 2 of My
Favorite Early Springtime Photographs
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/Set02/EarlySpringtimeSet02.htm
More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and
Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
Tidbits on May 14, 2012
Bob Jensen
For earlier editions of Tidbits go to
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter ---
Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron"
enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and
other universities is at
http://www.searchedu.com/.
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations
Bob Jensen's Threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
Bob Jensen's Home Page is at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/
The Cult of Statistical Significance:
How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm
How Accountics Scientists Should Change:
"Frankly, Scarlett, after I get a hit for my resume in The Accounting Review
I just don't give a damn"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
One more mission in what's left of my life will be to try to change this
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ---
http://plato.stanford.edu/
"100 Websites You Should Know and Use (updated!)," by Jessica Gross,
Ted Talk, August 3, 2007 ---
http://blog.ted.com/2007/08/03/100_websites_yo/
Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available
free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Science: Video Portal ---
http://video.sciencemag.org/
An Introduction to Great Economists — Adam Smith, the
Physiocrats & More — Presented in New MOOC ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/an_introduction_to_great_economists_--_adam_smith_the_physiocrats_more_--_presented_in_new_mooc.html
Video: Why Google in Investing in Deep Learning ---
Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/video/513931/why-google-is-investing-in-deep-learning/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20130424
Google Reveals the Evolution of Our Planet in Timelapse Motion
---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/google_reveals_the_evolution_of_our_planet_in_timelapse_motion.html
Full Moon Silhouettes ---
http://vimeo.com/58385453
Digital Arts ---
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/
My little Red Wagon ---
http://www.youtube.com/embed/-1w48qPF5hc
Dartmouth Digital Collections: Films ---
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/dartmouthfilms/
Women Who Rock Oral History Archive ---
http://content.lib.washington.edu/wwrweb/
Existentialism ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
The Philosophy of Kierkegaard, the First Existentialist Philosopher, Revisited
in 1984 Documentary ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_philosophy_of_kierkegaard.html
David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Commencement Speech “This is
Water” Visualized in New Short Film ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/david_foster_wallaces_2005_commencement_speech_this_is_water_visualized_in_new_short_film.html
The History of Typography Told in Five Animated Minutes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_history_of_typography.html
History of Women ---
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Women
Former President of Yale University
What Happened to Academic Freedom: City
University of New York Chairman Benno Schmidt about the evolution of academic
freedom on college campuses ---
Click Here
http://live.wsj.com/video/opinion-what-happened-to-academic-freedom/96EAC42D-21AD-4C97-BC69-8E0D5247FEB9.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h#!96EAC42D-21AD-4C97-BC69-8E0D5247FEB9
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Taps for the Fallen ---
http://youtu.be/B4z9XW26NCM
Andrés Segovia: Song of the Guitar, Beautifully
Filmed at the Alhambra ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/iandres_segovia_song_of_the_guitari_beautifully_filmed_at_the_alhambra.html
Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed
Collection ---
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/reed/
Evian Commercial ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxB5ut-KTs
Attraction (Shadow Dance Group) on Britain's Got
Talent - YouTube ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQBUccxBr4
Singing in the Supermarket ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44UC6muN8KY
Joan Baez Live in 1965: Full Concert ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/joan_baez_live_in_1965_full_concert.html
Music From a German Beer Hall ---
www.youtube.com/embed/TA-vURGvMA0?feature=player
Rare Miles Davis Live Recordings Capture the Jazz
Musician at the Height of His Powers ---
Click Here
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/v4pfXPfBUvI/rare_miles_davis_live_recordings_capture_the_jazz_musician_at_the_height_of_his_powers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
New Jazz Archive Features Rare Audio of Louis
Armstrong & Other Legends Playing in San Francisco ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/new_jazz_archive_features_rare_audio_of_louis_armstrong_other_legends_playing_in_san_francisco.html
The 1940s ---
http://oldfortyfives.com/decadeofthe1940s.html
Watch Joni Mitchell Perform “Both Sides Now” on
the First Episode of The Johnny Cash Show (1969) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/watch_joni_mitchell_perform_both_sides_now.html
Web outfits like
Pandora, Foneshow, Stitcher, and Slacker broadcast portable and mobile content
that makes Sirius look overpriced and stodgy ---
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc20090327_877363.htm?link_position=link2
Pandora (my favorite online music station) ---
www.pandora.com
TheRadio (online music site) ---
http://www.theradio.com/
Slacker (my second-favorite commercial-free online music site) ---
http://www.slacker.com/
Gerald Trites likes this
international radio site ---
http://www.e-radio.gr/
Songza:
Search for a song or band and play the selection ---
http://songza.com/
Also try Jango ---
http://www.jango.com/?r=342376581
Sometimes this old guy prefers the jukebox era (just let it play through) ---
http://www.tropicalglen.com/
And I listen quite often to Soldiers Radio Live ---
http://www.army.mil/fieldband/pages/listening/bandstand.html
Also note U.S. Army Band recordings
---
http://bands.army.mil/music/default.asp
Bob Jensen listens to music free online (with commercials)
---
www.pandora.com
Bob Jensen's threads on nearly all types of free
music selections online ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Music.htm
Photographs and Art
Stunning Images Of The Universe From Hubble ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-hubble-telescope-pictures-2013-4
Full Moon Silhouettes ---
http://vimeo.com/58385453
Digital Arts ---
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/
Sicily: Art and Invention ---
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/sicily/index.html
Dartmouth Digital Collections: Films ---
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/dartmouthfilms/
Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Portraits ---
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/caption/captionliljenquist.html
Matthew Brady's Portraits of Union Generals ---
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/uniongenerals/
Old Barns ---
http://www.youtube.com/embed/J8Ioa1gVVeA?showinfo=0&rel=0
Bob Jensen's threads on history, literature and art ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History
Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various
types electronic literature available free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
From Abigail Adams to Anne Sexton to Maya Angelou, History's
Finest Letters of Motherly Advice ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/10/motherly-advice/
Mother's Day Poems 13 poems about the enduring bond between
mother and child ---
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/178590
The Odd Collection of Books in the Guantanamo Prison Library
---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/the_odd_collection_of_books_in_the_guantanamo_prison_library.html
Free Electronic Literature ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on May 14, 2013
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2013/TidbitsQuotations051413.htm
U.S. National Debt Clock ---
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Also see
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
Peter G.
Peterson Website on Deficit/Debt Solutions ---
http://www.pgpf.org/
Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
"12 Colleges That Aren't Worth The Money (slide show)," by Vivian
Giang, Business Insider, May 4, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-with-the-worst-return-on-investment-2013-5
Jensen Comment
I think Ms. Giang missed a few that I would accuse of being less worth the
money. What is somewhat misleading is that a college, usually a private college,
on the gray zone of fraud in terms of high tuition, easy grading, low quality
faculty, and low admission standards is that the college may have one or two
respectable programs such as a nursing school Pharmacy school.
This begs the question of why students choose colleges that "aren't worth the
money." Based upon my own (family) anecdotal experience I find that some
students choose those schools due to greater assurances of high grades with less
stress. These students really fear the grading competition of overcrowded
flagship state-supported universities. Even some of our most reputable private
universities, notably in the Ivy League, suffer from grade competition to a
point where the median grade on most courses is an A or A-/
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#RateMyProfessor
11 Colleges That Are Worth the Money
(Slide Show) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-that-are-worth-the-money-for-graduates-2013-5
Bob Jensen's threads on Gaming for grades ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#GamingForGrades
"Student Lectures Teacher On How to Teach in Front of Classmates," by
Anita Li, Mashable, May 9, 2013 ---
https://mashable.com/2013/05/09/student-lectures-teacher/
Thank you Lim Teoh for the heads up.
May 9, 2013 reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Lim,
Thank you for this link, and I hope you will continue to send informative
links to the AECM.
There's a fine line between a great lecture and a spoon-feeding lecture,
because both types of lectures can be great in the opinions of students.
The most serious risk of spoon-feeding lectures is that they are only
retained in the short-term memories of students, possibly long enough for
the final exam. There are serious metacognitive advantages to longer-term
memory regarding what students learn on their own ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm
The problem for instructors centers on teaching evaluations. Spoon
feeders tend to get high marks from their students whereas instructors
forcing students to learn on their own generally take hits on their teaching
evaluations even though they tend to be going students greater favors by not
spoon feeding.
Thanks,
Bob Jensen
Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous learning ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm
Checklist for Starting a Business ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/13e81bf8953d86ce
"Five iPad questions," by J. Carlton Collins, Journal of
Accountancy, May 2013 ---
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2013/May/TechnologyQA.htm
Comparisons of Antivirus Software ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_antivirus_software#Microsoft_Windows
Screencast (I like Camtasia) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast
"Who does screencasting help the most?" by Robert Talbert,
Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2013/05/06/who-does-screencasting-help-the-most/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
. . .
What does this mean? I think it suggests that
screencasts, when done well and deployed properly, help all students – they
certainly don’t hurt – and they help most thise students who need the most
help. The analogies to mathematics courses are clear. In any math course
there will be a large contingent of students whose backgrounds aren’t
congruous with the course: students whose prior math background is weak to
rusty, students from non-STEM disciplines, and so on. For those students, if
they use the screencasts, then they may be likely to improve at a
surprisingly fast rate.
Finally, let me reiterate this was not a flipped
classroom situation in this study. It was a traditional classroom with
screencasts made on demand based on what students said was the “muddiest
point” in a class meeting. So there was a high degree of student engagement
from the beginning with these screencasts — students asked for them, they
watched them voluntarily, and they did so with specific agendas in mind.
This makes a good case for using screencasts to augment an existing course
that might be quite traditional in its setup.
But what if this had been a flipped classroom, and
the screencasts were not homework review but rather the first contact
students had with the material, and students were required to watch them
before coming to class? What if the element of choice is missing, and what
if students don’t approach the videos with a specific to-do list? Would we
see similar learning gains when compared to a traditional class (without
screencasts)? I suspect we might, but since the flipped classroom is not
really about videos but about meaningful classroom experiences, it would be
a lot hard to say just exactly what the screencasts are doing for the
students. What do you think?
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
I made over 100 Camtasia videos, most of which I served up on a campus
LAN drive. I found that they helped almost all of my students, especially
when teaching very technical topics. For example, I have an Excel
illustration of how to value an interest rate swap. This is a very
complicated task, especially when combined with accounting rules on how to
account for interest rate swaps as speculations versus hedges.
The advantage of these screen casts is that students can repeat each
screencast until they yell out;
"Eureaka --- At last I understand it!"
Bob Jensen's threads on screencasting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm#Video2
"Belkin Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad: A Review," by Erin E.
Templeton, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/belkin-ultimate-keyboard-case-for-ipad-a-review/48851?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Technology
"The Verdict Is In: Nobody Likes Google Glass ," by Jay Yarrow,
Business
Insider, May 3, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nobody-really-likes-google-glass-2013-5
"I Just Wore Google's Glasses For 2 Weeks And I'm Never Taking Them Off,"
by Robert Scoble, Business Insider, April 27, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/robert-scoble-i-just-wore-googles-glasses-for-2-weeks-2013-4
This week I gave five speeches while wearing it.
I passed through airports four times (two more in a
couple of hours).
I let hundreds of people try my Google Glass.
I have barely taken it off since getting it other
than to sleep.
Here's my review after having Google Glass for two weeks:
1. I will never live a day of my life from now on without it (or a
competitor). It's that significant.
2. The success of this totally depends on price.
Each audience I asked at the end of my presentations "who would buy this?"
As the price got down to $200 literally every hand went up. At $500 a few
hands went up. This was consistent, whether talking with students, or more
mainstream, older audiences.
3. Nearly everyone had an emotional outburst of
"wow" or "amazing" or "that's crazy" or "stunning."
4. At NextWeb 50 people surrounded me and wouldn't
let me leave until they had a chance at trying them. I haven't seen that
kind of product angst at a conference for a while. This happened to me all
week long, it is just crazy.
5. Most of the privacy concerns I had before coming
to Germany just didn't show up. I was shocked by how few negative reactions
I got (only one, where an audience member said he wouldn't talk to me with
them on). Funny, someone asked me to try them in a bathroom (I had them
aimed up at that time and refused).
6. There is a total generational gap that I found.
The older people said they would use them, probably, but were far more
skeptical, or, at minimum, less passionate about the fact that these are the
future, than the 13-21-year-olds I met.
So, let's cover the price, first of all. I bet that +Larry
Page is considering two price points:
something around $500, which would be very profitable. Or $200, which is
about what the bill of materials costs. When you tear apart the glasses,
like someone else did (I posted that to my
Flipboard "Glasshole"
magazine) you see a bunch of parts that aren't expensive. This has been
designed for mass production. In other words, millions of units. The only
way Google will get there is to price them under $300.
I wouldn't be shocked if Larry went very aggressive and priced them at $200.
Why would Google do this?
Continued in article
Google Glass: What Do You Want To Know About Google's Internet Eyewear?
---
http://readwrite.com/2013/05/08/google-glass-faq-what-do-you-want-to-know
Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Technology
"11 Advanced Excel Tricks That Will Help You Get An Instant Raise
At Work," Walter Hickey, Business Insider, May 3, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/excel-tricks-vlookup-index-match-pivot-tables-array-2013-5
Bob Jensen's neglected Excel Helpers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm
"Microsoft Is Trying To Sell Windows 8 To Enterprises, But Most Want
Windows 7 Instead," by Mark Hackman, ReadWriteWeb, May 1, 2013 ---
http://readwrite.com/2013/05/01/microsoft-windows-8-enterprises-windows-7
"Microsoft Is Frantically Fixing The
New Version Of Windows That Confuses Everyone," by Michael Liedtke,
Business Insider, May 6, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-fixing-windows-8-2013-5
Traveling in Europe Versus the USA
"A Journey to the World of European Tech," by David A. Pogue, The
New York Times, May 2, 2013 ---
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/a-journey-to-the-world-of-european-tech/
. . .
¶* Americans
like to think that conserving power and water is a huge inconvenience. But
in Europe, it’s just the way things are, and somehow people survive.
¶Toilets have
two buttons: a big one and a small one, depending on how big a flush you
need.
¶In public
buildings and hotels, motion sensors turn the lights on when you enter a
hallway, off again once you’re past.
¶Hotel showers
tend to have wall-mounted shampoo dispensers, to prevent millions of small
plastic bottles from winding up in the landfill every year.
¶And most
controversial (to Americans) of all, your room key has to be inserted by the
hotel-room door to turn on power and air-conditioning.
¶Yes, it means
that your room takes a couple of minutes to cool when you return in the
summer. But it also means that you can’t leave for the day with all lights
and chillers blazing. (As a handy by-product, you can’t misplace your room
key, either.)
¶* Speaking of
room keys: the hotels we stayed in all had stripeless key cards. That is,
you just place your key card next to a sensor rather than inserting it into
a slot. The beauty of this system is that there’s no magnetic stripe to get
demagnetized by a phone in your pocket.
¶* I won’t
point out how much less expensive cellphone service is here, and how
superior the coverage.
¶* In one of
our hotels, there was no Wi-Fi in the rooms — only a wired connection, an
Ethernet cable. Since our rooms were adjacent, we resorted to a sneaky trick
you might need someday: we hooked up the Ethernet to the producer’s laptop
in the middle room, and turned on Internet Sharing.
¶That’s a
feature of both Mac OS X and Windows that turns any computer into a Wi-Fi
hot spot. In our case, that meant that the laptops in the rooms on either
side could get online.
¶* I didn’t
bother signing up for one of those international roaming plans for my
cellphone; it has stayed in airplane mode all week, except for Wi-Fi. I used
services like Google Voice and Messages to send and receive text messages
whenever I had an Internet signal.
¶* In Germany,
T.S.A. doesn’t stand for “tub stacking agency.” Once you’re past the X-ray
machine, you set your tub on edge in a special sloping track. It rolls on
its own, gravity-style, back to the front of the line, where the next
passenger grabs it. Nobody wastes time collecting them and hauling them
around.
¶The
power, water and time savings of the tweaks we’ve observed here are designed
to address whole-world problems. And they’re
something more American institutions might want to consider.
Bob Jensen's travel helpers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Travel
Teaching Case from The Wall Street Journal Accounting Weekly Review on
May 9, 2013
Colleges Cut Prices by Providing More Financial Aid
by:
Ruth Simon
May 06, 2013
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com
Click here to view the video on WSJ.com
TOPICS: Accounting
SUMMARY: The article addresses pricing at private colleges and
universities and the challenges faced by these institutions. Private
colleges are facing a drop in student enrollments due to a confluence of
factors including simple demographics.
CLASSROOM APPLICATION: The article may be used in a financial
reporting class covering not for profit financial statements, or in any
financial accounting class when covering sales discounts.
QUESTIONS:
1. (Advanced) What is the purpose of the National Association of
College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)? In your answer, define
the position of a college or university business officer.
2. (Introductory) What information has NACUBO accumulated on which
this article reports?
3. (Advanced) What is a tuition discount? a tuition discount rate?
How does a college or university offer a tuition discount? How does a
tuition discount compare to a sales discount in a business setting?
4. (Introductory) What have private colleges hoped to achieve by
offering tuition discounts (financial aid) to students? What has happened to
discount rates at private colleges and what problems have arisen in
achieving the colleges' goals?
5. (Introductory) The article offers an example of Sewanee, the
University of the South. What did this liberal arts institution do to adjust
its tuition, discount rate, and its tuition impact on its students over a
four year degree program?
6. (Advanced) What impact did Sewanee's pricing actions have on the
institution's total tuition revenue in the first year of change and
thereafter? What factors can explain these results?
SMALL GROUP ASSIGNMENT:
Refer to the related video and discuss the following questions: What is
return on investment (ROI)? In the video, what measure is used to evaluate
the return portion of this ratio? Is the return measure that is discussed in
the video one you did or might consider in evaluating the return on your
educational investment dollar? What other possibilities would you consider?
Can you quantify all of these?
Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island
"Colleges Cut Prices by Providing More Financial Aid," by Ruth Simon, The
Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324582004578461450531723268.html?mod=djem_jiewr_AC_domainid
Private U.S. colleges, worried they could be
pricing themselves out of the market after years of relentless tuition
increases, are offering record financial assistance to keep classrooms full.
The average "tuition discount rate"—the reduction
off list price afforded by grants and scholarships given by these
schools—hit an all-time high of 45% last fall for incoming freshmen,
according to a survey being released Monday by the National Association of
College and University Business Officers.
It's a buyer's market" for all but the most select
private colleges and flagship public universities, said Jim Scannell,
president of Scannell & Kurz, a consulting firm in Pittsford, N.Y., that
works with colleges on pricing and financial-aid strategies.
It is likely that some private colleges will be
forced to be even more generous with discounts this fall. As of the May 1
deadline for many high-school seniors to commit for their freshman year of
college, early reports suggest some non-top-tier schools fell 10% to 20%
short of enrollment targets, said Mr. Scannell.
The jump in aid shows that many colleges are losing
pricing power as more families focus on cost and value, with about 65%
increasing their discount rate in the fall of 2012. Except for the most
exclusive schools, private colleges increasingly are vulnerable to the
stagnant wages of many families, deepening student debt, the uncertain job
market, growing questions about the value of costly four-year degrees and
unfavorable demographics.
About one of every eight U.S. undergraduates is
enrolled at a private nonprofit college. Such schools provided 70% of all
grant aid to undergraduate students in 2009, the most recent year for which
data are available, Nacubo says.
The average discount rate at private colleges has
climbed for seven years in a row, and the latest increase was smaller than
the jump in 2011, said Natalie Pullaro Davis, the study's author. But
colleges also are having a tougher time boosting their sticker prices. That
makes it harder for colleges to generate enough new revenue to offset the
impact of higher aid and their own rising costs.
Because of economic factors and political pressure
on colleges to hold the line on tuition, "we have hit a tipping point on
price," said John Nelson, managing director at Moody's Investors Service MCO
+0.52% . Last year, the median sticker price at about 280 private colleges
and universities tracked by the debt-rating firm rose 3.9%, the smallest
increase in at least 12 years.
Tuition increases for the 2013-14 year at these
schools are likely to be about the same or slightly smaller, Mr. Nelson
said.
Meantime, at four-year public colleges and
universities, tuition and fees for in-state students rose 4.8% in the
2012-13 academic year, the smallest increase since 2000-01, according to the
College Board. Tuition at these schools for out-of-state students rose 4.2%.
The discount rate for public universities fell
modestly in 2012, said Mr. Nelson of Moody's, after rising from 2007 to
2011.
Last fall, enrollment fell at 46% of the 383
private colleges in the new Nacubo survey as the pool of high-school seniors
declined. John Walda, the group's president, said the financial squeeze from
fewer students is forcing such colleges to find ways to boost revenue,
control costs and seek a way to stand out from the crowd. Some of those that
can't eventually will shrink, merge or fold, he predicted.
Bill Hall, president of Applied Policy Research
Inc., said about 10 of the 20 undergraduate colleges he advises on pricing
and aid strategies still are scrambling to fill seats for this fall's
freshman class. Officials at some schools are asking accepted applicants who
haven't said yes or no if "there are financial issues within reason where we
can make an adjustment," he said.
Some private colleges are seeing just 20% of the
students they accepted actually enrolling, down from about one-third of
accepted students five years ago, Mr. Scannell said.
Bob Jensen's threads on CPV analysis ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory02.htm#ManagementAccounting
Teaching Case from The Wall Street Journal Accounting Weekly Review on
May 9, 2013
City (Harrisburg, Pa.) Hit by SEC Fraud Charges
by:
Kris Maher and Michael Corkery
May 07, 2013
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com
TOPICS: Disclosure, Disclosure Requirements, Governmental
Accounting, Municipal Bonds, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission
SUMMARY: The SEC has charged the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
for insufficient disclosures of importance to their municipal bond
investors. "The SEC found that the city's 2009 budget misstated Harrisburg's
credit as being rated Aaa by Moody's Investors Service even though Moody's
had downgraded the city's general obligation rating to Baa1. The city didn't
disclose a subsequent downgrade by Moody's in February 2010 until March
2011. ...Moreover, the SEC said the city didn't submit annual financial
information or audited financial statements between January 2009 and March
2011...[so that] '...financial information and notices available to the
market were incomplete and outdated'...." The article quotes the CEO of a
private-equity firm saying that "'this isn't just Harrisburg, there are lots
more issuers like it....'" The related article discusses the new
Commonwealth of Massachusetts investor web site and the last several
questions provide an opportunity for students to investigate that web site.
CLASSROOM APPLICATION: The article may be used to introduce the
critical nature of government reports for investors in state and municipal
bonds.
QUESTIONS:
1. (Introductory) In what report(s) do city and town governments
describe their fiscal health?
2. (Advanced) With what charge did the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) fault the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania? What specific
actions by the city led to this SEC action?
3. (Advanced) Why does the SEC have influence over the financial
reporting actions of the City of Harrisburg?
4. (Introductory) Refer to the related article. What has
Massachusetts done to provide information to investors in its
state-government issued bonds?
5. (Introductory) Access the Massachusetts disclosure web site at
http://www.massbondholder.com/ What is the purpose of this web site?
6. (Introductory) Again refer to the Massachusetts web site. Under
KEY INITIATIVES, click on "Ratings Report Archive." What is available there?
How does this archive address an issue raised by the SEC in relation to
Harrisburg, PA?
7. (Introductory) Again refer to the Massachusetts web site. Under
KEY RESOURCES, click on "Investor Tools and Resources." Then click on "Bond
Secondary Market Trading Activity." This page is also available directly at
http://www.massbondholder.com/investor-resources/bond-secondary-market-trading-activity
Click on the first year listed (2013) and then select the first CUSIP
number. What information is available there? How does this information
provide "transparency" about the market for Massachusetts bonds? In your
answer, be sure to discuss the meaning of "transparency."
Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island
RELATED ARTICLES:
MoneyBeat: Massachusets Sees Itself as the Anti-Harrisburg
by Andrew Ackerman
May 07, 2013
Online Exclusive
"City (Harrisburg, Pa.) Hit by SEC Fraud Charges," by Kris Maher and Michael
Corkery, The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324326504578467121184204706.html?mod=djem_jiewr_AC_domainid
The Securities and Exchange Commission has put
local government officials on notice that it is closely monitoring the way
they describe their cities' fiscal health, charging Harrisburg, Pa., with
securities fraud for allegedly failing to disclose information on its
financial troubles.
Harrisburg agreed to settle the charges without
admitting or denying the findings, and no fine was levied against it or city
officials. The SEC faulted Harrisburg for allegedly making misleading
financial statements from 2009 to 2011 outside its securities disclosure
documents related to bond offerings, including in the city's budget report
and a mayor's state-of-the-city address.
t is the first time the regulator has brought such
charges, and investors say other municipalities could face sanctions for
issuing incomplete or misleading information about their finances.
As much as 20% of the nearly 50,000 issuers of
municipal debt in the U.S. don't supply timely disclosures after their bonds
have been issued, according to analyst estimates.
"This isn't just Harrisburg, there are lots more
issuers like it,'' said Laurence Gottlieb, chairman and CEO of Fundamental
Advisors, a private-equity firm that invests in distressed municipal debt.
The Pennsylvania capital has been mired in debt for
years. Its fiscal woes stem largely from years of cost overruns related to a
troubled incinerator project. The city of 49,500 was nearly pushed into
bankruptcy in 2011. Republican Gov. Tom Corbett declared a state of fiscal
emergency, and a state court appointed a receiver to oversee the city's
finances.
The SEC found that the city's 2009 budget misstated
Harrisburg's credit as being rated Aaa by Moody's Investors Service MCO
+0.52% even though Moody's had downgraded the city's general obligation
rating to Baa1. The city didn't disclose a subsequent downgrade by Moody's
in February 2010 until March 2011.
The SEC also took issue with Harrisburg officials
for doing what many public officials often do: Putting a good face on a
difficult situation. For example, in the state of the city address in 2009,
Harrisburg's then-mayor described the incinerator as an "additional
challenge'' and an "issue that can be resolved." In its order on Monday, the
SEC called the address misleading because it didn't go into detail about the
impact the incinerator debt was having on the city's finances.
Moreover, the SEC said the city didn't submit
annual financial information or audited financial statements between January
2009 and March 2011. "Harrisburg's financial information and notices
available to the market were incomplete and outdated," the SEC said.
"I would expect the SEC is going to be inquiring of
other financially troubled cities: Are they lipsticking the pig?" said Matt
Fabian, a managing director at Municipal Market Advisors.
Mayor Linda Thompson, who has held office since
2010, said in a prepared statement Monday she was happy to have the matter
concluded and called the settlement "a turning point" for the troubled city.
Ms. Thompson said the SEC's charges "are what they
are," and added that the city has "completely revamped its policies and
procedures…to ensure that accurate and complete financial information" is
made available to investors and the public in a timely manner.
In recent years, the SEC has been stepping up its
investigations in the $3.7 trillion municipal-debt market. In an interview,
Elaine Greenberg, chief of the SEC's Municipal Securities and Public
Pensions unit, said policing financial disclosures by cities, states and
other municipal borrowers is a priority.
Earlier this year, the SEC charged the state of
Illinois for failing to adequately disclose in bond documents the shaky
condition of the state pension system.
The agency brought a similar case against New
Jersey in August 2010. The states agreed to settle the charges without
admitting wrongdoing.
But with the Harrisburg case, the SEC is going even
further by policing the accuracy of speeches and presentations of government
officials. "Public officials should take steps to avoid misleading
investors,'' Ms. Greenberg said.
In deciding not to fine Harrisburg, Ms. Greenberg
said the SEC considered the city's difficult financial condition. She
declined to discuss the specific reasons why the SEC didn't cite individual
Harrisburg officials, but noted that the agency issued a separate report on
Monday that was meant to be a broad warning to public officials in the U.S.
about their disclosure obligations.
"We're glad to see that the SEC didn't levy any
fines on the city. That could have made it more challenging," said Cory
Angell, a spokesman for Harrisburg's current receiver, William Lynch.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on the sad state of governmental accounting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory02.htm#GovernmentalAccounting
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Columbia University is Building a New Business School in West Harlem
"Perelman Pledges $100 Million for New Columbia Campus," by Louis
Lavelle, Bloomberg Business Week, May 2, 2013 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-02/perelman-pledges-100-million-for-new-columbia-campus
Billionaire investor Ron Perelman has pledged $100
million to Columbia Business School for a new building going up in West
Harlem that will bear his name. It’s a matching a gift made nearly three
years ago that was the largest in the school’s history.
The building is part of a controversial $6.3
billion expansion of the Columbia University campus that won’t be completed
until 2030. The expansion includes two new business-school buildings that
will cost about $600 million and are expected to open about 2018. The
business school is currently housed in Uris Hall, a 12-story building that
opened in 1964, and Warren Hall, a 1999 facility it shares with the law
school. With nearly 2,300 graduate business students and more than 300
faculty, space in both facilities is severely cramped.
In recognition of the Perelman gift, one of the new
buildings will be named the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Business
Innovation. Perelman’s pledge follows another $100 million gift from Henry
Kravis, the billionaire co-founder of private-equity shop KKR (KKR), in
2010. The second business school building will be named the Henry R. Kravis
Building. Both Kravis and Perelman serve on Columbia’s board of overseers.
Kravis earned an MBA from Columbia in 1969; Perelman has an MBA from the
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Perelman gift brings the total raised for the
business-school project to $455 million, leaving the school $145 million
short of its goal, according to school spokesman Christopher Cashman. Other
big gifts came from Leon Cooperman, the billionaire chief executive of
investment firm Omega Advisers, who gave $25 million, and several anonymous
donors, Cashman says.
The new Columbia campus is being built on 17 acres
in the Manhattanville neighborhood in West Harlem, about a mile from
Columbia’s main campus in Morningside Heights. It will add more than 6.8
million square feet to the university. The business school
buildings—totaling 450,000 square feet—were designed by Diller Scofidio +
Renfro, the firm responsible for recent projects at some of New York City’s
most important cultural institutions, including Lincoln Center.
The business buildings “will reflect the
fast-paced, high-tech, and highly social character of business in the 21st
century,” the school said in a statement. The goal, said Dean Glenn Hubbard,
is “moving beyond functional expertise or siloed learning and ensuring a
more integrated curriculum” for Columbia business students.
Continued in article
Best Undergraduate Business Schools in International Business ---
http://www.businessweek.com/reports/business-schools/best-undergraduate-business-schools-2013#r=lr-sr
May 8, 2013 message from Dan Stone
source:
http://tinyurl.com/abb6q4p
Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers 2013
By Jeffrey Beall
Released December 4, 2012
The gold open-access model has given rise to a great many new
online publishers. Many of these publishers are corrupt and exist
only to make money off the author processing charges that are billed
to authors upon acceptance of their scientific manuscripts.
There are two lists below. The first includes questionable, scholarly
open-access publishers. Each of these publishers has a portfolio
that ranges from just a few to hundreds of individual journal titles.
The second list includes individual journals that do not publish
under the platform of any publisher — they are essentially
independent, questionable journals.
In both cases, we recommend that researchers, scientists, and
academics avoid doing business with these publishers and
journals. Scholars should avoid sending article submissions to
them, serving on their editorial boards or reviewing papers for them,
or advertising in them. Also, tenure and promotion committees
should give extra scrutiny to articles published in these journals, for
many of them include instances of author misconduct.
There are still many high-quality journals available for scholars to
publish in, including many that do not charge author processing
fees. An additional option is author self-archiving of articles in
discipline-specific and institutional repositories.
The author is grateful to the many colleagues who have shared
information about potential predatory publishers. Last year’s list
included 23 publishers, and this year’s has over 225, evidence of the
rapid growth in the number of predatory journals and publishers.
This list will be updated throughout the year at the blog Scholarly
Open Access,
http://scholarlyoa.com.
The criteria for inclusion in the lists can be found here. The author’s
email address is: jeffrey.beall@ucdenver.edu.
A PDF version of this document is available here.
List 1: Predatory Publishers
1.Abhinav
2.A M Publishers
3.Academe Research Journals
4.Academia Publishing
5.Academic and Business Research Institute
6.Academic Journals
7.Academic Journals and Research ACJAR
8.Academic Journals, Inc.
9.Academic Journals Online (AJO)
10.Academic Publications, Ltd.
11.Academic Research Publishing Agency
12.Academic Sciences
13.Academy & Industry Research Collaboration Center(AIRCC)
14.Academy Journals
15.Academy of Knowledge Process
16.Academy of Science and Engineering (ASE)
17.Academy Publish
18.Access International Journals
19.Ada Lovelace Publications
20.Advanced Research Journals
21.Advancements and Development in Technology International
(Aditi)
22.AENSI
23.Akademik Plus Publication
24.American Academic & Scholarly Research Center(AASRC)
25.American V-King Scientific Publishing
26.ANSINetwork
27.Antarctic Journals
28.Apex Journals
29.ARPN Journals
30.Ashdin Publishing
31.Asian Economic and Social Society (AESS)
32.Asian Research Consortium
33.Australian International Academic Centre Pty. Ltd.
34.Baishideng Publishing Group
35.Basic Research Journals
36.Bentham Open
37.Better Advances Press
38.BioInfo Publications
39.BioIT international Journals
40.BioMedSciDirect Publications
41.Bioscience Research & Educational Institute [Link dead as of
2012-11-14]
42.Bonfring
43.British Association of Academic Research (BAAR)
44.British Journal
45.Business Journalz (BJ)
46.Canadian Center of Science and Education
47.Center for the Development and Dissemination of Knowledge
48.Center for Enhancing Knowledge (CEK), UK
49.Center for Promoting Ideas
50.Centre For Info Bio Technology (CIBTech)
51.Centre of Promoting Research Excellence (CPRE)
52.Cloud Journals
53.The Clute Institute
54.Computer Science Journals
55.CONFAB Journals
56.Cosmic Journals
57.CSCanada
58.Discovery Publishing Group
59.David Publishing
60.Deccan Pharma Journals
61.E-International Scientific Research Journal Consortium (E-
ISRJC)
62.e-journals
63.e3Journals
64.eCanadian Journals
65.Econjournals
66.EISRJC Journals (E-International Scientific Research Journal
Consortium)
67.eLearning Institute
68.Elewa Bio Sciences
69.eJournals of Academic Research & Reviews
70.Electronic Center for International Scientific Information
71.Elmer Press
72.Engineering and Technology Publishing
73.Erudite Journals Limited
74.eSci. Journals Publishing
75.EuroJournals
76.Far East Research Centre
77.Ficus Publishers
78.Global Advanced Research Journals
79.Global Journals, Inc. (US)
80.Global Research Journals
81.Global Research Online
82.Global Research Publishing (GRP)
83.GlobalOpenJournals.org
84.GlobalSkope Publishing Society
85.Green Global Foundation (GGF)
86.Greener Journals
87.Growing Science Publishing Company
88.Herald International Research Journals
89.Herbert Open Access Journals
90.Hikari Ltd.
91.Human and Sciences Publications (HumanPub)
92.Human Resource Management Academic Research Society
(HRMARS)
93.IBIMA Publishing
94.Indian Society for Education and Environment
95.Indus Foundation for Education, Research & Social Welfare
96.Innovative Space of Scientific Research (ISSR Journals)
97.INREWI
98.Insight Knowledge
99.Institute of Advanced Scientific Research
100.Institute of Electronic & Information Technology
101.Institute of Language and Communication Studies
102.InTech Open Access Publisher - Mirror site
103.Integrated Publishing Association
104.Intellectual Archive
105.Intercontinental Electronic Journals
106.International Academic Journals
107.International Academy of Business & Economics
108.International Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
(International ASET)
109.The International Academy, Research and Industry Association
(IARIA)
110.International Association for Engineering & Technology
111.International Association for Engineering and Management
Education (IAEME)
112.International Association of Journals & Conferences (IAJC)
113.International Conference on Computer Science and Engineering
114.International Digital Organization for Scientific Information
(IDOSI)
115.International House for Academic Scientific Research
116.International Institute for Science, Technology and Education
(IISTE)
117.International Institute of Informatics and Systemics
118.The International Journal Research Publications
119.International Journals of Engineering & Sciences
120.International Journals of Multidisciplinary Research Academy
121.International Journals of Scientific Research (IJSR)
122.International Network for Applied Sciences and Technology
123.International Network for Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)
124.International Research Journal (Rajasthan, India)
125.International Research Journals (Lagos, Nigeria)
126.International Research Journals (Accra, Ghana)
127.International Scholars Journals
128.International Science Congress Association
129.International Scientific Engineering and Research Publications
130.International Scientific Publications
131.International Society of Universal Research in Sciences
(EyeSource)
132.Internet Medical Publishing
133.Internet Scientific Publications
134.Interscience Journals
135.Interscience Open Access Journals
136.ISISnet
137.Ivy Union Publishing
138.Jyoti Academic Press
139.KEJA Publications
140.Knowledgebase Publishers
141.Knowledgia Scientific (formerly Knowledgia Review)
142.Lifescience Global
143.Macrothink Institute
144.Marsland Press
145.Maryland Institute of Research
146.Maxwell Scientific Organization
147.MASAUM Network
148.Medical Science Journals [Link dead as of 2012-11-14]
149.Medwell Journals
150.Mehta Press
151.Merit Research Journals
152.MNK Publication
153.Modern Scientific Press
154.Muhammadon Centre for Research and Development (MCRD)
155.Narain Publishers Pvt. Ltd (NPPL)
156.National Social Science Association (NSSA)
157.Net Journals
158.NobleResearch Publisher
159.Noto-are
160.OA Publishing London
161.OMICS Publishing Group
162.Online Research Journals
163.OpenAccessPub
164.Open Research and Science Library (ORSlib)
165.Open Research Society
166.PBS Journals
167.Pelagia Research Library
168.Pharmaceutical Research Foundation
169.Pharmacognosy Network Worldwide
170.PharmaInfo
171.PharmaInterScience Publishers
172.Photon Foundation
173.Praise Worthy Prize
174.Prime Journals
175.Research Publisher
176.RedFame Publishing
177.RG Education Society
178.Ross Science Publishers
179.Sacha International Academic Journals
180.SAVAP International
181.Scholar Journals
182.Scholar People
183.Scholar Science Journals
184.Scholarlink Resource Centre Limited
185.Scholarly Journals International
186.Scholars Research Library
187.Sciedu Press
188.Science & Knowledge Publishing Corporation Limited
189.Science Academy Publisher
190.Science Alert
191.Science and Education Publishing
192.Science and Engineering Publishing Company
193.Science Education Foundation
194.Science Instinct Publications
195.Science Journal Publication
196.Science Park Journals
197.Science Publications
198.Science Publishing Group
199.Science Record Journals
200.Science Target
201.ScienceDomain International
202.ScienceHuâ
203.Sciencepress Ltd.
204.Scientific & Academic Publishing
205.Scientific Journals
206.Scientific Journals International
207.Scientific Research Publishing
208.SciTechnol
209.ScottishGroup Education and Testing Services
210.Segment Journals
211.Signpost e Journals
212.Silicon Valley Publishers
213.SJournals
214.Sky Journals
215.Society for Science and Nature
216.Society of Engineering Science and Technology (SEST India)
217.Sphinx Knowledge House
218.Southern Cross Publishing Group
219.Suryansh Publications
220.Swiss Journals
221.Technical Journals Online
222.Technopark Publications
223.Textroad Journals
224.Thavan E ACT International Journals
225.Today Science
226.Trade Science, Inc
227.Trans Stellar (Transstellar)
228.Transnational Research Journals (formerly Universal Research
Journals)
229.Universal Research Publications
230.Valleys International
231.VBRI Press
232.Whites Science Journals
233.Victorquest Publications
234.Wilolud Journals
235.Wireilla Scientific Publications
236.World Academic Publishing
237.World Academy of Research and Publication
238.World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
(WASET)
239.World Scholars
240.World Science Publisher
241.World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS)
242.Wudpecker Research Journals
243.Wyno Academic Journals
List 2: Individual Journals:
1.Academic Exchange Quarterly
2.American Journal of PharmTech Research (AJPTR)
3.Archives Des Sciences Journal
4.Archives of Pharmacy Practice
5.Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
6.Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences(AJBMS)
7.Asian Journal of Pharmacy and Life Science
8.Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research and Health Care
(AJPRHC)
9.Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences
10.British Journal of Economics, Finance and Management
Sciences
11.British Journal of Science
12.Bulletin of Mathematical Sciences & Applications
13.Bulletin of Society for Mathematical Services and Standards
14.ChemXpress
15.Computer Science Chronicle
16.Computer Science Journal
17.Current Discovery
18.Elixir Online Journal
19.Frontiers in Aerospace Engineering
20.Global Journal of Management Science and Technology
21.Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health
22.Indian Journal of Research Anvikshiki
23.Indian Journal of Scientific Research
24.Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
25.Indo-Global Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
26.Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business
27.Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business (IDJRB)
28.An International Journal of Agricultural Technology (IJAT)
29.International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature
30.International Journal of Applied Research & Studies (iJARS)
31.International Journal of Applied Research & Studies (iJARS)
32.International Journal of Biomedical Science
33.International Journal of Business and Social Research
34.International Journal of Computational Engineering Research
35.International Journal of Computer and Information Technology
(IJCIT)
36.International Journal of Computer Applications
37.International Journal of Computer Applications in Engineering
Sciences (IJCAES)
38.International Journal of Computer Science and Information
Security
39.International Journal of Computer Science and Network(IJCSN)
40.International Journal of Computer Science Engineering (IJCSE)
41.International Journal of Computer Science Issues
42.International Journal of Current Research
43.International Journal of Current Research and Review
44.International Journal of Current Research and Review
45.International Journal of Development and Sustainability(IJDS)
46.International Journal of Development Research
47.International Journal of Drug Development and Research(IJDDR)
48.International Journal of E-Computer Science Evolution
49.International Journal of Economics and Research
50.The International Journal of Educational and Psychological
Assessment
51.International Journal of Emerging Sciences (IJES)
52.International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced
Engineering
53.International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology
(IJEAT)
54.International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
55.International Journal of Engineering and Computer Science
(IJECS)
56.International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology
(IJEIT)
57.International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications
58.International Journal of Engineering Science & Advanced
Technology
59.International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology
60.International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research
Technology (IJESRT)
61.International Journal of Fundamental & Applied Sciences
62.International Journal of Health Research
63.International Journal of Humanities, Engineering and
Pharmaceutical Sciences
64.International Journal of Information and Communication
Technology Research
65.International Journal of Information Technology & Management
66.International Journal of Innovative Ideas
67.International Journal of Innovative Research and Development
68.International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring
Engineering (IJITEE)
69.International Journal of Life science and Pharma Research
70.International Journal of Life Sciences Biotechnology and Pharma
Research (IJLBPR)
71.The International Journal of Management
72.International Journal of Management Research and Business
Strategy (IJMRBS)
73.International Journal of Mathematics and Soft Computing(IJMSC)
74.International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health
(IJMSPH)
75.International Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research
76.International Journal of Medicine and Public Health
77.International Journal of Medicobiologial Research
78.International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER)
79.International Journal of Novel Drug Delivery Technology
80.International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences (IJPBS)
81.International Journal of Pharmaceutical & Research Science
(IJPRS Journal)
82.International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical
Research
83.International Journal of Pharmacy and Technology (IJPT)
84.International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental
Sciences
85.International Journal of Power Electronics Engineering
86.International Journal of Recent Scientific Research
87.International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering
(IJRTE)
88.International Journal of Research and Innovation in Computer
Engineering (IJRICE)
89.International Journal of Research in Ayurveda and Pharmacy
90.International Journal of Research in Computer Science
91.International Journal of Reviews in Computing
92.International Journal of Science and Advanced Technology
(IJSAT)
93.International Journal of Science and Technology
94.International Journal Sciences (IJSciences)
95.International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research
96.International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research
97.International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications
(IJSRP)
98.International Journal of Scientific Knowledge (IJSK)
99.The International Journal of Social Sciences (TIJOSS)
100.International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering
101.International Research Journal of Applied Finance
102.International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities
103.Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences (Nairobi, Kenya)
104.Journal of Applied Pharmacy
105.Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
106.Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy
107.Journal of Business Management and Applied Economics
108.Journal of Comprehensive Research
109.Journal of Contradicting Results in Science
110.Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information
Sciences
111.Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and
Information Technology
112.Journal of Medical Research and Practice (JMRP)
113.Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences (JPBMS)
114.Journal of Scientific Theory and Methods
115.Mathematical and Computational Applications (MCA)
116.People’s Journal of Scientific Research
117.The Pharma Research (Journal)
118.Research in Biotechnology
119.Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical
Sciences (RJPBCS)
120.Researchers World – Journal of Arts Science & Commerce
121.Seventh Sense Research Group Journal
122.South Asian Journal of Mathematics
123.Universal Journal of Applied Computer Science and Technology
124.Universal Journal of Computer Science and Engineering
Technology (UniCSE)
125.World Applied Sciences Journal
126.World Journal of Science and Technology (WJST)
"Before And After Pics From Pixtr, The
Photo App That Erases Your Flaws," by Julie Bort, Business Insider,
May 4, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/before-and-after-pics-from-pixtr-the-photo-app-that-erases-your-flaws-2013-5
Bob Jensen's threads on Tricks and Tools of the Trade ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
Is Fed Chairman Ben Berrnanke a Junk Yard Dog?
"Yields on Junk Bonds Reach New Low As Investors Fight for Returns, Payout
on Debt From Weak Companies: Takes Its First Dip Below 5%," by Katy
Burne, The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324744104578470812182691622.html?mod=djemCFO_t
Jensen Comment
My parents were very conservative investors and put the bulk of their retirement
savings into certificates of deposits with FDIC banks that sometimes paid nearly
a 6% APR on government-insured long-term CDs. In retirement hey lived
largely on the interest on those savings.
If they were alive today they would be lucky to find a FDIC bank paying
something close to 1%. What many people in the USA do not understand is that
the Fed low-interest rate policy has become what is tantamount to a tax of
people who do not want to take equity risks with their savings. It is really
confiscation of their savings if they are burning capital rather than income on
capital. Who was it who promised no new taxes on middle income families and the
elderly? Yeah right!
“If you want to hire a woman who will stay, don’t
hire a Harvard MBA,” the Vanderbilt University law and economics professor says.
"Female MBAs From Elite Schools Are More Likely to Opt Out," by Francesca
Di Meglio, Bloomberg Businessweek, April 28, 2013 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-26/female-mbas-from-elite-schools-more-likely-to-opt-out
Joni Hersch has a message for companies
hiring women, especially MBAs: “If you want to hire a woman who will stay,
don’t hire a Harvard MBA,” the Vanderbilt University law and economics
professor says.
In her article “Opting Out Among Women with Elite
Education,” which was recently accepted for publication in a future issue of
the Review of Economics of the Household, Hersch explains that
female MBAs from top business schools don’t necessarily want to “have it
all.” In fact, she found that the largest gap in labor market activity
between graduates of elite schools—think Harvard and its peers—and less
selective institutions is among MBAs.
Married mothers who hold an MBA from a top business
school are 30 percent less likely to be employed full-time than graduates of
less selective programs, according to the research. Also, only 35 percent of
females with children who also hold an MBA from the most selective schools
were employed full-time, compared with 85 percent of those without children
from the same group of institutions.
To reach these conclusions, Hersch gathered data
from the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, which provided
information on 100,000 grads from the full spectrum of four-year colleges
and universities. She says she chose to use the 2003 report because it was
the most comprehensive. Since the 2010 report was just recently made
available to the public, Hersch plans to incorporate the latest data in the
near future.
After collecting the grad data, Hersch then
classified the schools into four tiers of institutions, with tier one being
the most selective, “elite” institutions, and tier four being the least
selective.
The pay differences alone make Hersch’s findings
surprising. “For those working full-time, the average salaries [of grads
from elite MBA programs] are nearly double that of the other groups,” she
says. “In 2003 dollars it’s around $137,000, vs. around $74,000 for the
other tiers.”
Considering that women from elite schools are the
ones who are most likely to land senior management roles, this could begin
to explain why fewer women are gaining access to the C-suite, Hersch says.
If they stop working, they can never reach those positions, and the women
from lesser-recognized schools rarely get the same opportunities for
advancement.
Continued in article
"Third-Wave Feminism, Motherhood and the Future of Legal Theory," by
Bridget J. Crawford, SSRN, February 19, 2010 ---
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1095337
Abstract:
Using motherhood as a lens, this book chapter argues that third-wave
feminism needs law and law needs third-wave feminism. Twenty years ago,
young women in the United States boldly proclaimed the onset of feminism’s
“third wave.” Third-wave feminists embraced the “fun,” “sexy,” and “girly,”
rejecting the (supposedly) strident, humorless feminism of the 1970s and
1980s, while also taking up the feminist mantle. The third-wave feminist
agenda makes several claims about the law, and yet it has had little or no
impact on feminist legal theory. This is because third-wave feminist writing
fails to grapple with gender equality or law writ large. Far from improving
on the feminism of the past, third-wave feminists retreat -- to women’s
detriment -- from their predecessors’ theoretical and methodological
commitments. Nowhere is this clearer than in third-wave writings about
fertility and motherhood.
Much of third-wave feminist writing has taken the
form of the first-person narrative. Somewhat predictably, as third-wave
feminists have aged, their subject-matters have changed. For third-wave
feminists now in their thirties and forties, the personal account of one’s
“journey” toward motherhood seems to have become the new rite of passage.
Rebecca Walker’s Baby Love, Evelyn McDonnell’s Mama Rama, and Peggy
Orenstein’s Waiting for Daisy are three representative examples of this
milestone narrative. Taken together, these third-wave fertility and
motherhood narratives contribute (perhaps unwittingly) to a mythology of
motherhood that prior feminists sought to dismantle. These works pay
lip-service to the notion that motherhood should not be the measure of a
woman’s worth, but they embrace motherhood as the ultimate personal
fulfillment. Second-wave feminists critiqued the influence of state systems,
especially law, on motherhood as a practice and status. But third-wave
feminists keep most critical theory at a distance. Joining third-wave
feminism and law will help develop an equality jurisprudence that
acknowledges women’s reproductive capacities but neutralizes the role those
capacities play in women’s legal subordination.
Bob Jensen's threads on gender ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Feminism
Bob Jensen's History of Women (including women in accounting) ---
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Women
Criminals in Charge: Rampant Fraud in New York Government
"Corruption in Albany," by the NYT Editorial Board," The New
York Times, May 6, 2013 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/opinion/corruption-in-albany.html?hp&_r=0
For all the talk among Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other
leaders about cleaning up New York’s rancid state government, it is the
F.B.I. that is doing the cleaning — indictment by indictment. State Senator
John Sampson is the latest Albany politician to face corruption charges. On
Monday, he was taken into custody by federal agents on charges of embezzling
about $440,000 from the sale of foreclosed properties, obstruction of
justice and witness tampering.
¶ Mr. Sampson, who pleaded not guilty, is the
former leader of the Democratic caucus in the Senate, a big catch for
prosecutors and another huge embarrassment for New Yorkers. He also becomes
the 32nd state politician to be indicted or convicted of a crime, censured
or otherwise accused of misbehaving in the last seven years. Alan Hevesi,
the former state comptroller, went to jail as part of a pension scandal.
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace. Nearly two dozen state
senators and Assembly members have been accused and convicted. Assemblyman
Vito Lopez, once the Democratic power broker in Brooklyn, was censured for
harassing young women on his staff.
¶ Mr. Sampson, who led the Senate Democrats from
June 2009 to December 2012, is the fourth top Senate power broker to be
indicted on a charge of misusing his office. The others were: Joseph Bruno,
the Republican leader who is being retried on public corruption charges;
Pedro Espada Jr., a Democrat, who was convicted of stealing from his
nonprofit health care network; and, most recently, Malcolm Smith, a
Democrat, who is now fighting charges of trying to bribe Republicans to put
his name on their ballot for New York City mayor.
¶ New York’s ever-expanding gallery of rogue
politicians makes one wonder what can be done to keep the remaining
unindicted lawmakers in line. The numerous arrests and convictions are
certainly one way to weed out the worst of the bunch. No less helpfully, at
least two former legislators in trouble with federal investigators — Nelson
Castro, a Bronx assemblyman, and Shirley Huntley, a Queens senator — were
secretly taping their colleagues. Wiring politicians as part of a plea deal
is an unsavory business. But it may be exactly what is required to create an
atmosphere of fear and paranoia necessary to break the cycle of temptation.
¶ The indictment in Mr. Sampson’s case outlines a
scheme to embezzle money from the sale of forfeited property in Brooklyn
where he had been appointed a court referee. He is also accused of trying to
conceal the public records involving this scheme.
¶ It will take more than public shaming to get the
Albany crowd to do things right. Our list of proposals includes, foremost,
the public financing of campaigns in order to provide competition for those
entrenched in state office. That would be especially helpful in New York
City, where voters have elected too many of the worst malefactors in Albany.
Meanwhile, we encourage the prosecutors to keep probing — and listening
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
A Darkening Digital Future Authoritarian regimes want to set up separate,
ideological and religious versions of the Internet," The Wall Street
Journal, May 5, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324266904578460854196225068.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
Eric Schmidt lives a charmed life, not just because
of his success in running Google for over a decade, but also because his
company's mission is to make information more transparent and available.
This makes Mr. Schmidt a rare executive blessed with the freedom to speak
his mind, even if that includes offending powerful politicians.
In a new book, Mr. Schmidt says what many other
executives say only in private, especially about trying to do business in
China. In "The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations
and Business," Mr. Schmidt and co-author Jared Cohen, a former State
Department official who runs a unit called Google Ideas, hope for the best
from the Internet, but warn to prepare for the worst.
They call the Internet "the world's largest
ungoverned space," for both better and worse. The best aspect of the
Internet is that it is a permissionless medium. In the U.S., government
plays only a modest role, with few regulations or licenses. That makes the
Internet a source of constant innovation. By 2025, they write, "the majority
of the world's population will, in one generation, have gone from having
virtually no access to unfiltered information to accessing all of the
world's information through a device that fits in the palm of the hand."
The bad news: Many authoritarian regimes dedicate
significant resources to limiting what their people can do online. The
authors predict a "Balkanization of the Internet" as more countries and
groups hive off their own corners, narrowing what has been a globally
connected network. The authors warn of separate ideological and religious
versions of the Internet. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Yemen could create
a "Sunni Web," especially now that the Internet domain system allows
characters from non-Roman alphabets, including Arabic. Iran says it plans to
build its own "halal Internet," then disconnect from the rest of the world.
The book classifies government Internet filtering
systems into three tiers: "the blatant, the sheepish, and the politically
and culturally acceptable." The most blatant is China, which they call "the
world's most active and enthusiastic filterer of information." Beijing
employs hundreds of thousands of functionaries to post pro-communist
comments, and it cuts off many websites from outside the country. The
authors confirm media reports that Beijing has even rerouted traffic: "More
than a few times, Google's web address has mysteriously directed people to
www.Baidu.com, China's local search competitor."
The Chinese firewall that suppresses information
about historic topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre also
censors current events. When Mr. Schmidt went to Beijing in 2011, all traces
of his visit were instantly removed from the Web in China, showing "how
comprehensive and particular Chinese censorship authorities could be."
The authors do not think China can "survive the
transition to the new digital age in its current form." Going further than
U.S. government officials, they predict an unstable China "will experience
some kind of revolution in coming decades."
Google has publicly disclosed when it couldn't
protect its users from authoritarian governments. In 2009, the company
discovered that Beijing had broken into the Gmail accounts of human-rights
activists in China and the U.S.
"This led to the shutdown of its Google China
operations, the end of self-censorship of Chinese Internet content, and the
redirection of all incoming searches to Google in Hong Kong," the authors
note. The attacks targeted "dozens of other publicly listed companies," most
of which kept quiet. Many cyber attacks remain unreported.
The authors praise Vodafone for publicly refusing
demands by
Hosni Mubarak's government during the 2011
Egyptian uprising to send out propaganda messages over its mobile-phone
service. They note, however, that "there will always be some companies that
allow their desire for profit to supersede their responsibility to users,
though such companies will have a harder time achieving success in the
future."
While the Internet threatens dictators, even the
most inspiring use of social media and other digital tools alone can't
revolutionize governments. The Arab Spring hasn't produced a decent
government in Cairo, because reformers have not yet had the chance to create
alternative social and political institutions. Messrs. Schmidt and Cohen
quote
Henry Kissinger: "It is hard to imagine de Gaulles
and Churchills appealing in the world of
Facebook
FB -2.33%
. Unique leadership is a human thing, and is not going to be produced by a
mass social community."
The law does not pretend to punish everything that
is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.
Clarence Darrow ---
Click Here
"Leniency for Offshore Cheats: Courts Hand Down Lighter
Sentences Than in Other Types of Tax-Shelter Cases," by Laura Saunders, The
Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323687604578465132983095400.html?mod=djemCFO_t
U.S. courts are doling out more lenient punishment
to tax evaders hiding money offshore than to other tax cheats.
Despite a high-profile government crackdown on
secret offshore financial accounts since 2009, the average sentence in those
cases has been about half as long as in some other types of tax cases,
according to a comparison of Internal Revenue Service statistics and data
compiled by former U.S. Justice Department lawyer Jack Townsend. In many
cases, judges are also opting for shorter sentences than recommended under
federal guidelines.
Since U.S. officials began their intense campaign
four years ago, they have charged at least 71 taxpayers with crimes.
The average sentence handed down in offshore cases
has been less than 15 months, according to Mr. Townsend. In contrast, the
average sentence in tax-shelter schemes has been 30 months over the past
three fiscal years, according to IRS data.
Three-quarters of taxpayers charged in offshore
account cases have pleaded guilty. So far, judges have handed down prison
sentences about half the time.
"The cases involving offshore bank accounts are
drawing lighter sentences than other criminal tax cases," said Mr. Townsend,
who practices at Townsend & Jones LLP in Houston. He calls the discrepancy
"troubling, because cheating is cheating."
Experts say many factors have contributed to
lighter sentences in offshore cases. Among them: the IRS's successful
limited-amnesty programs, in which taxpayers admit having secret accounts;
cooperation by defendants; and light sentences in the first wave of cases in
the current campaign due to poor case selection.
Judges also may have been less harsh because of
huge penalties many defendants owe, including one equal to half the highest
balance in an account. Defendants so far have agreed to pay a total of more
than $170 million to resolve their cases. More than two dozen cases are
still pending.
Spokesmen for the IRS and the Justice Department
declined to comment.
The latest lenient sentence, and the most dramatic,
came in the case of Mary Estelle Curran, a wealthy 79-year-old widow in Palm
Beach, Fla. On April 25, Federal District Court Judge Kenneth Ryskamp
scolded prosecutors for pursuing her and sentenced her to a year of
probation. Within a minute, he revoked the probation, making her a free
woman.
Ms. Curran had pleaded guilty to having secret
foreign accounts containing more than $40 million. Her lawyers said she
inherited the money from her husband and relied on European advisers who
told her not to declare it to the U.S. Ms. Curran tried to enter the IRS's
limited-amnesty program in 2009, but the agency turned her down. She was
indicted in late 2011 and faced up to 37 months in prison.
Prosecutors concurred in asking for probation for
Ms. Curran. Although she didn't go to prison, she agreed to pay the
government almost $22 million.
While experts called Ms. Curran's case an
"outlier," two other defendants recently received sentences that were below
guidelines.
On April 10, Sybil Nancy Upham, who pleaded guilty
in 2010 in connection with concealing about $11 million in accounts in
Switzerland and Liechtenstein, was sentenced to three years of probation
rather than a possible 30 to 37 months in prison. She agreed to pay more
than $5.5 million.
On April 25, Michael Canale, formerly a doctor at
the Veterans Administration, was sentenced to six months in prison in
connection with $1.5 million held in secret Swiss accounts, compared with a
possible 24 to 30 months under the guidelines.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on why white collar crime pays even if you know ahead
of time that you will probably get caught ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#CrimePays
"Brand Thinking: Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Pink, and Other Mavens
on How and Why We Define Ourselves Through Stuff," by Maria Popova, Brain
Pickings, May 1, 2013 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/01/brand-thinking-debbie-millman/
"Preserving the American Dream," Center for Innovation, Stanford
University Graduate School of Business, April 26, 2013 ---
http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/preserving-american-dream
Bob Jensen's Threads on the American Dream ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/SunsetHillHouse/SunsetHillHouse.htm
"Warren Buffett Investing Quotes"
by Barry Ritholtz, May 5, 2013
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/05/warren-buffett-investing-quotes/
Given that its the Berkshire annual meeting this
weekend, now is as good a time to roll out these quotes from Warren himself:
“To invest successfully, you need not understand
beta, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, option pricing or emerging
markets. You may, in fact, be better off knowing nothing of these. That, of
course, is not the prevailing view at most business schools, whose finance
curriculum tends to be dominated by such subjects. In our view, though,
investment students need only two well-taught courses
-How to Value a Business, and How to Think About Market Prices.”
Source: Chairman’s Letter, 1996
“The best thing that happens to us is when a great
company gets into temporary trouble…We want to buy them when they’re on the
operating table.”
Source: Businessweek, 1999
“None of this means, however, that a business or
stock is an intelligent purchase simply because it is unpopular; a
contrarian approach is just as foolish as a follow-the-crowd strategy.
What’s required is thinking rather than polling. Unfortunately, Bertrand
Russell’s observation about life in general applies with unusual force in
the financial world: “Most men would rather die than think. Many do.”
Source: Chairman’s Letter, 1990
“Over the long term, the stock market news will be
good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and
other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or
so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the
resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.”
Source: The New York Times, October 16, 2008
“The line separating investment and speculation,
which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most
market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates
rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience
of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of
Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities ¾ that
is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations
relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future ¾ will
eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a
single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy
participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There’s a
problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no
hands.”
Source: Letter to shareholders, 2000
“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. Investing
is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ.”
Source: Warren Buffet Speaks, via msnbc.msn
Fundamentals Approach to Valuing a Business
In the great book Dear Mr. Buffett, Janet Tavakoli shows how Warren
Buffet learned value (fundamentals) investing while taking Benjamin Graham's
value investing course while earning a masters degree in economics from Columbia
University. Buffet also worked for Professor Graham.
The following book supposedly takes the Graham approach to a new level
(although I've not yet read the book). Certainly the book will be controversial
among the efficient markets proponents like Professors Fama and French.
Purportedly a Great, Great Book on Value Investing
From Simoleon Sense, November 16, 2009 ---
http://www.simoleonsense.com/
OMG Did I Die & Go to heaven?
Just Read, Applied Value Investing, My Favorite Book of the Past 5
Years!!
Listen To This Interview!
I have a confession, I might have read the best
value investing book published in the past 5 years!
The book is called
Applied Value Investing By Joseph Calandro Jr. In
the book Mr. Calandro applies the tenets of value investing via (real) case
studies. Buffett, was once asked how he would teach a class on security
analysis, he replied, “case studies”. Unlike other books which are
theoretical this book provides you with the actual steps for valuing
businesses.
Without a doubt, this book ranks amongst the best
value investing books (with SA, Margin of Safety, Buffett’s letters to
corporate America, and Greenwald’s book) & you dont have to take my word for
it. Seth Klarman, Mario Gabelli and many top investors have given the book a
plug!
Here is an interview with the author of the book, Applied Value Investing
( I recommend listening to this). Who knows perhaps
yours truly will interview him soon.
Miguel
P.S.
A fellow blogger and friend will soon post a review
of this book (hint: Street Capitalist!).
Video:
Warren Buffett's Secrets To Success ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/business-news/nov-24-alice1-2009-11
Bob Jensen's threads on valuation are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on the economic crisis are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm
Throw away pension fund cash on lavish parties and travel to raise the ROI of
the pension fund
"This Accounting Quirk Is Setting Up Public Pensions For Disaster," by
Simon Lac, Business Insider, May 5, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/through-the-looking-glass-into-public-pension-accounting-2013-5
The Economist has an interesting piece in
Buttonwood this week about how U.S. public
pensions do their accounting. Basically, they discount their liabilities
using the expected return on their assets.It
results in some curious outcomes. For example, since holding cash typically
drags down return expectations, if a pension fund simply gave away its
cash (or burned it as The Economist posits) by raising its expected
return on assets (no longer burdened by the cash drag) they would reduce the
value of their liabilities. Their funded status might appear better even
with fewer assets.
This perverse accounting treatment got me thinking
about why pension funds continue to invest in hedge funds seeking 8%
returns, even though it’s been many years since hedge funds made 8% and it’s
not likely they will in the near future either. Certainly not with over $2
trillion competing for opportunities.
Based on the accounting, including an asset with an
8% return target helps reduce the value of their liabilities even if the 8%
return expectation is an unreasonable expectation. So the motivation for a
pension fund trustee could be to include hedge funds because of their
helpful impact on the discount rate on their liabilities even while their
continued failure to achieve that target doesn’t cause huge immediate
problems.
Far better than lowering the discount rate to a
more appropriate level and revealing the true shortfall with all its
political consequences.
This is how the $3 trillion underfunded position is
growing. Sometimes accountants can cause a lot of damage.
Read more posts on
In Pursuit of Value
Bob Jensen's threads on pension accounting are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory02.htm#Pensions
"Academic Cesspools," by Walter E. Williams, Townhall, April
24, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/04/24/academic-cesspools-n1575006?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
"Dartmouth College Calls a Timeout After Student Protest Draws Hostile
Reactions," by Ann Schnoebelen, Chronicle of Higher Education, April
24, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Dartmouth-College-Calls-a/138753/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
"These Slides Show Why We Have Such A Huge Budget Deficit And Why Taxes
Need To Go Up," by Rob Wile, Business Insider, April 27, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/cbo-presentation-on-the-federal-budget-2013-4
This is a slide show based on a presentation by a Harvard Economics Professor.
Bob Jensen's threads on Entitlements ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm
How to Sign Up for a MOOC
Note the Great Graphic
"Major Players in the MOOC Universe," Chronicle of Higher Education,
April 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Major-Players-in-the-MOOC/138817/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Most MOOC, EdX, MITx, and Harvardx courses sign ups are only available on
designated schedules. The best approach is to go to an elite university
Website and look for links to free online courses.
"10
Top Education Companies of 2013," Center for Digital Education, February 14,
2013 ---
http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/10-Education-Companies-2013.html
From the Scout Report on March 22, 2013
Massive open online courses move ahead amid
support and controversy
Colleges Assess Cost of Free Online-Only Courses
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/education/colleges-assess-cost-of-free-online-only-courses.html?ref=technology&_r=0
The Professors Who Make the MOOCs
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Professors-Behind-the-MOOC/137905/#id=overview
Google Will Fund Cornell MOOC
http://www.cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2013/03/05/google-will-fund-cornell-mooc
California’s Move Toward MOOCs Sends Shock Waves, but Key Questions
Remain Unanswered
http://chronicle.com/article/California-Considers-a-Bold/137903/
UW-Madison to offer free public online courses starting in fall
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/uwmadison-to-offer-free-public-online-courses-starting-in-fall-198rsr2-192186161.html
Who Owns a MOOC?
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/19/u-california-faculty-union-says-moocs-undermine-professors-intellectual-property
"The Idea Makers: Tech Innovators for 2013," Chronicle of
Higher Education, April 29, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Idea-Makers-Tech/138823/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on Tools and Tricks of the Trade ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
Joe Hoyle has a question for you?
"I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, April 27,
2013 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-have-question-for-you.html
Jensen Comment
I would never ask such a question about the entries in my three blogs, because
faithful followers would have to sift through over 50,000 postings in my three
blogs that are also posted in various places in my massive Website. Joe has only
166 postings to sift through which is a much more manageable task. But sifting
through my postings for likes and dislikes is out of the question even for me
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
This is not to imply that my stuff has been better or worse than that of my good
friend Joe. It's simply a fact that I'm a more active blogger and Web site
manager.
I also have over 31,000 postings to the AECM and nearly 18,000 postings and
comments on the AAA Commons. Obviously searching for "favorites" is out of the
question. My postings have covered the waterfront for education technology to
learning theory to nearly all accounting topics.
I do have some early-on postings that I'm very proud of in the early stages
of my blog. I was one of the early writers who tried to dispel the myth that
online courses needed to be less interactive and intense with individual
students. When done "optimally" the communications between a student and an
instructor and other students in an online course are more intense than any
onsite course. Of course, online courses are not always conducted with such
intensity just as onsite courses vary to a tremendous extent in terms of
interactions of students and instructors.
But when it comes down to identify the real game changers arising from my
postings I can hardly take credit for most of the game changers since in most
of my postings I'm mostly referencing and quoting articles. I have to give
others most of the credit for seminal ideas. In most ways I'm more of a scout
for new inventions than an inventor. I like to think I've been a pretty good
scout.
What I enjoy most are the debates with such writers as Tom Selling, Stever
Kachelmeier, Richard Sansing, Paul Williams, Patricia Walters, and many, many
others. I've learned immensely from these scholars and hope I returned something
of value to them.
Although I'm a bit more active as a blogger after my retirement from teaching
in 2006, I want to stress that I was nearly as active since the late 1980s when
commenced to blog more and more and then more and more. My point is that
bloggers need not be retired just to make blogging contributions just like Joe
Hoyle is not yet retired and makes many valuable contributions to our craft.
Reply from Joe Hoyle on April 28, 2013
I bet you'd be surprised -- if you simply asked the
question "what have I ever said that you immediately remember," you'd get a
lot of interesting comments. People's memory serves as a pretty good filter.
Almost invariably when people write to me, they start off with "you once
said the following and it has stuck with me." And, it is often something
that wasn't all that important to me. But it clearly meant something to
them. I find that interesting with my students also -- years after they
graduate, they will tell me something that I said to them that impacted
their life and I won't even remember having said it.
That's one of the things that makes this teaching
job so interesting.
Joe
April 29, 2013 reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Joe,
Our styles tend to be different and are probably
not comparable. Your blog is more like a personal diary that discusses your
own feelings and beliefs and philosophy.
My postings are full of commentaries on what other
scholars and researchers have written. My style is more like a journal
referee commenting on an article at hand --- pointing out the good and the
bad aspects of the article.
You also focus mostly on your personal teaching
experiences. I cover more of the ball park --- fraud updates, audit
professionalism, communications from standard setters, education technology
(bright and dark sides), tools and tricks of the trade, learning theory,
accounting theory, and on and on and on.
I think we both provide a service to our
professions Joe. We just have different styles and scope of coverage.
Keep up the good work Joe. I still wish you would
join the AECM even as a lurker.
Keep up the good work Joe,
Bob Jensen
By the way, my answer to Joe Hoyle's question about his posting that I
like best is
"How You Test Is How They Will Learn," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog,
January 31, 2010 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-you-test-is-how-they-will-learn.html
An example of a Website helper page that I take pride in is at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
Bob Jensen's links to similar Website helper pages ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
My Outstanding Educator Award Speech ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/AAAaward_files/AAAaward02.htm
From the CFO.com Morning Ledger on April
29, 2013
Debate grows over corporate tax havens
The
FT takes a deep dive
into the growing global anger over corporate tax avoidance. There has been a
blurring of the distinctions between tax havens and larger industrialized
countries that use fiscal measures as a source of competitive advantage to
secure investment, jobs and revenues,
writes Vanessa Houlder. Economies such as
the Netherlands and Ireland have sucked up corporate investment by helping
companies avoid—entirely legally—hefty tax bills at home. The Netherlands
and Luxembourg had booked foreign direct investment of $5.8 trillion by the
end of 2012—more than the U.S., U.K. and Germany combined. Meanwhile, the
OECD is warning of a “race to the bottom” on corporate taxes.
Why We Won't Really Know if Johnny Can't Read
and Mr. Chips Can't Teach
"'No Child Left Behind' Gets Left Behind: Washington grants waivers to
dozens of states, despite the law's clear benefits," by Eric Smith, The Wall
Street Journal, April 28, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324493704578431252983668668.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
It has been 30 years since the landmark report "A
Nation At Risk" documented the failings of America's public-school system,
and the past three decades have seen much promising reform on the local,
state and federal levels, in legislatures, on school boards and in
classrooms. Yet today the trend lines again are moving in the wrong
direction, with federal policy inviting states to back away from their duty
to ensure that students receive the education they deserve.
Since 2011, the U.S. Department of Education has
granted waivers to 34 states and the District of Columbia exempting them
from some of the core accountability measures in the bipartisan 2001 No
Child Left Behind law. Ten more states have waiver applications pending.
Meanwhile, the Texas legislature is considering loosening public-school
testing standards, and nine districts in California have independently moved
to submit NCLB waiver requests.
No Child Left Behind was based on the idea that
schools should establish measurable educational goals and be held
accountable for meeting them. This is the only proven formula for improving
education in this country—and NCLB has generated some amazing results,
particularly in low-income minority communities. Unfortunately, opponents of
the law have relied on disingenuous claims in pushing for waivers.
Myth No. 1: The federal government doesn't have a
role to play in local education decisions. Teachers and local educators have
primary responsibility for teaching students, but that doesn't mean that
other levels of government should remain silent. When schools fail, no
corner of government can abdicate responsibility.
Most American schools derive 10% or more of their
budgets from the federal government, and schools have lobbied for more
federal dollars even as their performance has stagnated. (The Economist
magazine recently ranked America's education system a dismal 17th in the
world.) NCLB allows states some flexibility to set their own standards, but
it ties funding to whether they meet meaningful goals. Its simple premise is
that Washington shouldn't reward schools if they fail to educate students.
Myth No. 2: Standardized tests are a poor means of
measuring student learning. Of course the education system shouldn't
discount the judgment of teachers and school administrators, but objective
data can make educators and policy makers aware of problems that were
previously ignored.
While schools had long been concerned about low
achievement among minority students, only NCLB testing revealed the true
depths of America's racial-achievement gaps. This was a long overdue wake-up
call. Just three years after the law was signed, proficiency in reading and
math among Hispanic and African-American students hit an all-time high.
Myth No. 3: NCLB unfairly holds teachers chiefly
responsible for student performance. The best chance a child has to succeed
academically is to be in the classroom of a skilled teacher. Student testing
and accountability standards can help identify good teachers, retain them
and determine best practices for helping others improve their craft.
Even marginal improvements in teacher quality can
be significant. A 2012 study by three economists—Raj Chetty and John N.
Friedman of Harvard and Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia—found that if a student
has just one excellent teacher for a full term between fourth grade and
eighth, the student will earn $4,600 more in lifetime income.
That's one good reason why it makes sense that
student achievement be tied to teacher evaluation.
Myth No. 4: The fact that so many states want
waivers from NCLB shows that the law didn't work. In 2006, five years after
NCLB's passage, the Department of Education determined that 43 states and
Washington, D.C., had either improved academically or held steady in all
categories. America's 9-year-olds have made more progress in reading skills
since 2002 than they did in the 28 years before NCLB's passage.
Despite this success, schools in 16 states can now
repeatedly miss their "annual measurable objectives" without any significant
state intervention or consequences. This isn't a reflection of NCLB's
failure but of failed political leadership in Washington.
Continued in article
Brown Center on Education Policy ---
http://www.brookings.edu/brown.aspx
2012 Report on How Well American Students are Learning ---
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2012/0216_brown_education_loveless.aspx
Full Report ---
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2012/0216_brown_education_loveless/0216_brown_education_loveless.pdf
John Stuart Mill's Harm Principle ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle
. . .
Broader
definitions of harm
In the same essay, Mill further explains the
principle as a function of two maxims:
The maxims are, first, that the individual is
not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern
the interests of no person but himself. Advice, instruction, persuasion,
and avoidance by other people, if thought necessary by them for their
own good, are the only measures by which society can justifiably express
its dislike or disapprobation of his conduct. Secondly, that for such
actions as are prejudicial to the interests of others, the individual is
accountable, and may be subjected either to social or to legal
punishments, if society is of opinion that the one or the other is
requisite for its protection.
The second of these maxims has become known as the
social authority principle.
However, the second maxim also opens the question
of broader definitions of harm, up to and including harm to the society. The
concept of harm is not limited to harm to another individual but can be harm
to individuals plurally, without specific definition of those individuals.
This is an important principle for the purpose of
determining harm that only manifests gradually over time—such that the
resulting harm can be anticipated, but does not yet exist at the time that
the action causing harm was taken. It also applies to other issues—which
range from the right of an entity to discharge broadly polluting waste on
private property, to broad questions of licensing, and even to the right of
sedition.
Free Speech and The Harm Principle Polemic
"The Incompleteness of the Harm Principle," by Richard A. Epstein, MIT's
Technology Review, April 26, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514271/the-incompleteness-of-the-harm-principle/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20130429
"Self-Sabotage in the Academic Career 15 ways
in which faculty members harm their own futures, often without knowing it,"
by Robert J. Sternberg, Chronicle of Higher Education's Chronicle Review,
April 29, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Self-Sabotage-in-the-Academic/138875/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
This article lacks advice on how to really play the game in a publish-or-perish
setting:
Gaming for Tenure as an Accounting Professor ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTenure.htm
(with a reply about tenure publication point systems from Linda Kidwell)
"Students Avoid ‘Difficult’ Online
Courses, Study Finds," by Ann Schnoebelen, Chronicle of Higher Education,
April 26, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/students-avoid-difficult-online-courses-study-finds/43603?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
Students just don't understand that when done correctly online courses can have
more rather than less interactions with the instructor and other students who
can help them. Of course, not all distance education courses are "done
correctly/" MOOC classes tend to be so huge that interactions are
minimized. MOOCs, however, often have some of the best lecturers in the world
and are sought after because they are free. MOOCs sometimes take advantage of
technology like screen cast videos that can be repeated over and over until
mastered. This is also the idea behind Khan Academy videos.
Bob Jensen's threads on distance education alternatives around the world
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm
17,000 Students (60% from the USA)
"Hong Kong MOOC Draws Students from Around the World," by Yojana Sharma,
Chronicle of Higher Education, April 22, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Hong-Kong-MOOC-Draws-Students/138723/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on MOOC, EdX, and MITx
free open source alternatives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
The New Yorker:
From maids to roofers to drug dealers the underground economy resulted in an
estimated $2 Trillion (with a T) of underreported taxable income in 2012
Unemployment and Welfare Fraud
"The Underground Recovery," by James Surowiecki," The New Yorker,
April 29, 2013 ---
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2013/04/29/130429ta_talk_surowiecki
When we all finished filing our tax returns last
week, there was a little something missing: two trillion dollars. That’s how
much money Americans may have made in the past year that didn’t get reported
to the I.R.S., according to a recent study by the economist Edgar Feige,
who’s been investigating the so-called underground, or gray, economy for
thirty-five years. It’s a huge number: if the government managed to collect
taxes on all that income, the deficit would be trivial. This unreported
income is being earned, for the most part, not by drug dealers or Mob bosses
but by tens of millions of people with run-of-the-mill jobs—nannies,
barbers, Web-site designers, and construction workers—who are getting paid
off the books. Ordinary Americans have gone underground, and, as the
recovery continues to limp along, they seem to be doing it more and more.
Measuring an unreported economy is obviously
tricky. But look closely and you can see the traces of a booming informal
economy everywhere. As Feige said to me, “The best footprint left in the
sand by this economy that doesn’t want to be observed is the use of cash.”
His studies show that, while economists talk about the advent of a cashless
society, Americans still hold an enormous amount of cold, hard cash—as much
as seven hundred and fifty billion dollars. The percentage of Americans who
don’t use banks is surprisingly high, and on the rise. Off-the-books
activity also helps explain a mystery about the current economy: even though
the percentage of Americans officially working has dropped dramatically, and
even though household income is still well below what it was in 2007,
personal consumption is higher than it was before the recession, and retail
sales have been growing briskly (despite a dip in March). Bernard Baumohl,
an economist at the Economic Outlook Group, estimates that, based on
historical patterns, current retail sales are actually what you’d expect if
the unemployment rate were around five or six per cent, rather than the 7.6
per cent we’re stuck with. The difference, he argues, probably reflects
workers migrating into the shadow economy. “It’s typical that during
recessions people work on the side while collecting unemployment,” Baumohl
told me. “But the severity of the recession and the profound weakness of
this recovery may mean that a lot more people have entered the underground
economy, and have had to stay there longer.”
The increasing importance of the gray economy isn’t
only a reaction to the downturn: studies suggest that the sector has been
growing steadily over the years. In 1992, the I.R.S. estimated that the
government was losing $80 billion a year in income-tax revenue. Its estimate
for 2006 was $385 billion—almost five times as much (and still an
underestimate, according to Feige’s numbers). The U.S. is certainly a long
way from, say, Greece, where tax evasion is a national sport and the shadow
economy accounts for twenty-seven per cent of G.D.P. But the forces pushing
people to work off the books are powerful. Feige points to the growing
distrust of government as one important factor. The desire to avoid
licensing regulations, which force people to jump through elaborate hoops
just to get a job, is another. Most important, perhaps, are changes in the
way we work. As Baumohl put it, “For businesses, the calculus of hiring has
fundamentally changed.” Companies have got used to bringing people on as
needed and then dropping them when the job is over, and they save on
benefits and payroll taxes by treating even full-time employees as
independent contractors. Casual employment often becomes under-the-table
work; the arrangement has become a way of life in the construction industry.
In a recent California survey of three hundred thousand contractors,
two-thirds said they had no direct employees, meaning that they did not need
to pay workers’-compensation insurance or payroll taxes. In other words, for
lots of people off-the-books work is the only job available.
Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociologist at Columbia and the
author of a study of the underground economy, thinks that many workers,
particularly younger ones, have become comfortable with casual work
arrangements. “We have seen the rise of a new generation of people who are
much more used to doing things in a freelance way,” he said. “That makes
them more amenable to unregulated work. And they seem less concerned about
security, which they equate with rigidity.” The growing importance of
services in the economy is also crucial. Tutors, nannies, yoga teachers,
housecleaners, and the like are often paid in cash, which is hard for the
I.R.S. to track. In a 2006 study, the economist Catherine Haskins found that
between eighty and ninety-seven per cent of nannies were paid under the
table.
Continued in article
Case Studies in Gaming the Income Tax Laws ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/TaxNoTax.htm
Teaching Case from The Wall Street Journal Accounting
Weekly Review on April 26, 2013
Attention Online Shoppers: Senate Weighs Sales-Tax Bill
by:
John McKinnon and Siobhan Hughes
Apr 22, 2013
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com
Click here to view the video on WSJ.com
TOPICS: sales tax
SUMMARY: "The Senate is expected to vote as soon as this week on
legislation allowing states to require Internet retailers to collect sales
taxes.... Online retail sales totaled $169 billion in 2010, about 4.4% of
total retail sales.... From 2002 to 2010, such sales rose at an average
annual rate of 18%, compared with 2.6% for total retail sales. " States are
therefore focusing on Internet sales rather than catalogue retailers because
the Internet sales are growing so much faster.
CLASSROOM APPLICATION: The article may be used in a tax class, in a
financial accounting class covering sales taxes, or in an MBA class.
QUESTIONS:
1. (Advanced) Who is responsible for paying sales taxes? How are
sales taxes collected and remitted? To what governing authorities in the
U.S. are they remitted?
2. (Introductory) What proposed new tax law related to online sales
has been moving through the U.S. Senate this week?
3. (Advanced) Why has the Senate proposed this bill with an
exemption for smaller retailers? In your answer, include the definition of
"smaller retailer" that is included in the Senate proposed legislation.
4. (Introductory) Why does online retailer Amazon support the
legislation?
5. (Advanced) Why do you think this Senate bill focuses on online
retail sales but not catalogue retailers?
SMALL GROUP ASSIGNMENT:
Group discussion (may vary according to the mix of in-state, out-of-state,
and international students in the class): 1. Compare the sales tax rates
applied in your home state or home country. 2. How would your state
legislator estimate the amount of tax losses being incurred in your home
state or country because of untaxed internet sales?
Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island
"Attention Online Shoppers: Senate Weighs Sales-Tax Bill,"
by John McKinnon and Siobhan Hughes, The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323551004578437040452142034.html?mod=djem_jiewr_AC_domainid
The Senate is expected to vote as
soon as this week on legislation allowing states to require Internet
retailers to collect sales taxes, opening up a battle over a tax break that
consumers love but that states say costs millions.
The outcome is uncertain, largely because of
opposition from some conservatives who see the move as a new tax and an
unfair burden on business, and from lawmakers from states that don't tax
sales.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to
move to a procedural vote on the proposal suggests its prospects are
improving. In a nonbinding vote last month, senators approved a broadly
worded resolution of support for the idea by a wide margin, 75-24.
Conservative opposition has appeared to splinter, as more lawmakers see the
growth in online sales as a major source of revenue.
A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling held that states
can't force retailers to collect sales tax unless they have a physical
presence—such as a warehouse or store—within their borders. Consumers are
supposed to pay tax themselves, but few do; states seldom pursue those who
don't.
State officials say catalog sales by out-of-state
merchants also cost them revenue, but online sales are a bigger worry.
Online retail sales totaled $169 billion in 2010, about 4.4% of total retail
sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2002 to 2010, such sales
rose at an average annual rate of 18%, compared with 2.6% for total retail
sales.
Governors estimate state and local governments lose
about $20 billion a year in sales-tax revenue because of online sales.
Brick-and-mortar retailers have argued that tax-free sales give online
retailers an unfair edge.
Supporters of the legislation—which would affect
some mail-order sales as well—say it would help states collect taxes that
are already owed.
Backing by high-profile former and current GOP
governors, including Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Bob McDonnell of
Virginia, has given the measure a boost. "As we started getting some
Republican governors…Republican senators got more comfortable," said Dan
Crippen, executive director of the National Governors Association.
Support from a few big online retailers, notably
Amazon.com Inc., AMZN -7.81% also has helped. Amazon has said it supports a
national online sales tax, and a spokesman said the company is in favor of
the Senate bill, known as the Marketplace Fairness Act. The company often
has opposed state-by-state legislation, instead brokering deals to build new
distribution centers in certain states.
But some online retailers warn the legislation
could create significant new regulatory burdens on small businesses that
sell over the Internet. EBay Inc. EBAY +0.34% on Sunday said it sent tens of
millions of emails urging its active U.S. sellers to push for changes to
Congress's sales-tax bill. EBay said the bill's sales threshold for
triggering the tax is too low.
"The legislation treats you and big multi-billion
dollar online retailers—such as Amazon—exactly the same," said John Donahoe,
eBay's chief executive, in one of the emails. He said only businesses with
at least $10 million in annual out-of-state sales, or 50 or more employees,
should qualify for sales tax, compared with the $1 million sales threshold
in the bill.
Forcing businesses to comply with tax laws of other
states "is an incredible precedent to set right now," said Jim DeMint, a
former Republican senator from South Carolina who now is president of the
conservative Heritage Foundation. He added, "it violates federalism" to
require businesses in one state to collect taxes for another.
Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), Finance Committee
chairman, said he opposes the bill because it could hurt businesses in his
state, which has no sales tax. He said in an interview he hopes it can be
improved through amendments. The decision to vote on the measure without
full consideration by Mr. Baucus's committee could generate opposition.
A top Senate Democratic aide predicted that the
legislation would pass the Senate, but even supporters worry that opposition
could grow if the bill remains pending too long. Sixty votes would be needed
to overcome a filibuster threat.
Continued in article
"When Can I Rollover My 401(k) Retirement Plan?,"
by Laura Adams, Money Girl, April 24, 2013 ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/13e42c96e585c939
My employer discontinued our 401(k) plan. Do I have
to wait until I leave the company to roll it over into a Roth IRA or can I
do it now?
A. In general, you can't take money out of a 401(k)
until one of the following situations occurs:
- You reach age 59½ You have a financial
hardship
- You die or become disabled
- You are terminated from employment
- The plan terminates and no successive
retirement plan is established by your employer
So, if your employer doesn't intend to replace your
401(k) with another qualified retirement plan, then you're allowed to do a
rollover while you're still employed. But you can't move pre-tax 401(k)
funds directly into an after-tax Roth IRA.
"6 Retirement Accounts You Should Know About (Part2),"
by Laura Adams, Money Girl, April 23, 2013, Episode 311 ---
http://moneygirl.quickanddirtytips.com/retirement-plan-types-pt2.aspx
Frontline broadcast on "The Retirement Gamble,"
April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/
For details see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/the-retirement-gamble-facing-us-all/
If you’ve been watching any commercial television
lately, you are well aware that the financial services industry is very busy
running expensive ads imploring us to worry about our retirement futures.
Open a new account today, they say.
They are not wrong that we should be doing
something: America is facing a retirement crisis. One in three Americans has
no retirement savings at all. One in two reports that they can’t save
enough. On top of that, we are living longer, and health care costs, as we
all know, are increasing.
But, as I found when investigating the retirement
planning and mutual funds industries in The Retirement Gamble, which airs
tonight on FRONTLINE, those advertisements are imploring us to start saving
for one simple reason. Retirement is big business — and very profitable. It
doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the more we save into the
industry’s financial products, the more money they make in fees and
commissions trading our hard-earned cash. And as long as they don’t run away
with our money or invest it in a Ponzi scheme, they have little in the way
of accountability to us when something goes wrong. And even then it can be
hard to fight back.
Big banks, brokerages, insurance companies and
other financial service providers operate under something called a
suitability standard — which says they don’t have to give you the best
advice, just advice that isn’t too egregiously terrible.
Let’s say you sit down with an adviser at your
brokerage or bank and ask for some advice on how you should allocate your
retirement savings, or which funds you might want to choose for your IRA.
You’ll get lots of advice, but chances are it won’t
be worth much. Eighty five percent of all financial advisers and financial
planners are really just brokers or salesman. Their incentive is to sell you
a product that makes them a higher commission, not necessarily a product
that maximizes your chances of saving more. Only 15 percent of advisers are
“fiduciaries” — advisers who by law must operate with your best interests in
mind.
Last year, the Obama administration proposed a rule
to mandate that all financial advisers, financial planners and other
assorted financial wizards would have to adopt a fiduciary standard when it
came to employee retirement accounts such as your 401(k) or IRA account. The
financial services industry, which today manages something upwards of $10
trillion of our retirement nest eggs, thought this was a bad idea and pushed
back hard. Scores of their protest letters poured into the U.S. Labor
Department, the branch of our government responsible for regulating employee
retirement accounts.
Congress, too, was hit with a furious lobbying
campaign. This would be way too expensive, the industry said; if we have to
provide such a standard of service, we will either have to pack up and find
another business line, or have to pass the increased costs on to our
customers. The Obama administration pulled their proposal last fall.
How would a new fiduciary rule change things?
Chances are you would be sold less expensive products, not only in your IRA
accounts but inside your company 401(k) as well. It’s all about fees. While
reporting on retirement plans for FRONTLINE, nothing has been more
surprising to me than the corrosive effect of fees on our retirement
savings.
It’s this simple: Fund fees can erode as much as
half or more of your prospective gains.
For the sake of dramatizing the point, John Bogle,
founder of Vanguard, the world’s largest mutual fund company and pioneer of
low-cost index funds, gave me a startling example while we were filming.
Assume you are invested in a mutual fund, he says, with a gross return of 7
percent, but that the mutual fund charges you an annual fee of 2 percent.
Over a 50-year investing lifetime, that little 2
percent fee will erode 63 percent of what you would have had. As Bogle puts
it, “the tyranny of compounding costs” is overwhelming.
In short, fees matter. So what can you do? You
aren’t going to find a fund that invests your money for free, but experts
say you can come close by buying index funds. Their fees can be a tenth of
what the average mutual funds charges. And over time, in bull and bear
markets, on average, index funds perform better than their more expensive
actively managed fund cousins. This is no secret to anyone who is paying
attention.
So why aren’t our trusted financial advisers and
those ads telling us to buy index funds? Why do some 401(k) plans not even
offer them on their menus?
It’s because even though an index fund might be a
better option for you and me, a broker operating under a suitability
standard has no incentive to sell it to us. He or she will make higher
commissions from options that have higher fees.
Sadly, a recent AARP study reported that 70 percent
of mutual fund savers were not even aware that they were paying any fees at
all.
Continued in article
Dan Stone's summary of the above Frontline show:
Enjoyed it though didn't find
much new here. Basic messages:
1. index funds are cheaper and, in the long run, preferred (Jack Bogle)
2. managed funds are a scam to generate fees for the mutual fund industry
(which some would certainly debate)
3. most Americans don't have enough for retirement
4. mutual funds make it hard to determine their fees
5. the financial services industry, through massive donations, prevents any
attempts to increase transparency in the financial services industry.
I've bought Pound Foolish, after hearing an interview with its author, but
haven't
started reading it yet
(http://www.amazon.com/Pound-Foolish-Exposing-
Personal-Industry/dp/1591844894)
Dan Stone
Bob Jensen's personal finance helpers (but not his
advice which is free and not worth the money) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers
Remember that my financial advice is free and probably not worth the money.
After selling the family farm in Iowa and my home in San Antonio, most of my
liquid savings are invested in an enormous Vanguard Long-Term "Guaranteed"
Tax Exempt Fund.
"Apocalypse, Not Now, for Municipal Bonds," by Randall W. Forsyth, Barron's,
April 23, 2013 ---
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748703889404578438641361922074.html?mod=BOL_da_udwsd#articleTabs_article%3D0
$573.2 million in Munis defaulted in 2013 (0.6% of the $3.7 trillion
outstanding).
My investment returns were very satisfactory and stable throughout the economic
crisis that sent stocks soaring.
At my age I care more about steady annual tax-exempt cash flows rather than
valuation ups and downs and hyper inflation risk.
When I need cash for something big like a new tractor I simply write a Vanguard
check. I love the liquidity of this fund.
Fortunately, however, my TIAA lifetime annuities cover virtually all of our
living expenses, including payments on a large mortgage.
I could write a Vanguard check to pay off the mortgage, but there are tax
advantages of not doing so unless unlikely tax reform clobbers tax exempt
interest income.
"Is stepping on a Sheet of Paper with the name Jesus an Expression of
Academic Freedom?" by Accounting Professor Steven Mintz, Ethics Sage,
April 28, 2013 ---
http://www.ethicssage.com/2013/04/is-stepping-on-a-sheet-of-paper-with-the-name-jesus-an-expression-of-academic-freedom.html
Jensen Question
How about Allah, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Obamacare Tax "Surprise" High Earners for May Have Failed to See Coming
For married taxpayers filing
jointly: $250,000.
•For married taxpayers
filing separately: $125,000.
•For all other taxpayers:
$200,000.
"Overview Of The New 3.8% Investment Income Tax, Part 1,"
Forbes,
April 26, 2013 ---
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2013/04/26/overview-of-the-new-3-8-investment-income-tax-part-1/
Beginning January 1, 2013, Obamacare – through the
enactment of Section 1411 — will impose upon certain high earners a brand
spankin’ new 3.8% tax on their “net investment income.” This additional tax
has been the source of much confusion and misinformation for taxpayers and
tax advisors alike.
Much of the uncertainty is to be anticipated; after
all, Section 1411 is not an amendment, expansion, or alteration of
preexisting law. Rather, this is brand new statute, which means there are no
judicial precedents or administrative rulings available to help interpret
the legal language.
But this new statute presents hurdles beyond what
we typically see with recently enacted legislation; specifically, the
vagaries of a term as critical to its implementation as “net investment
income” is to Section 1411.
In my honest opinion (man, I wish there was a
shorthand way to write that), the determination of what does and does not
constitute “net investment income” for purposes of Section 1411 will vex tax
advisors more than any other issue in 2013. So as a public service, I
thought I’d take advantage of this post-April 15th downtime to
put together a handy, four-part overview of the new investment income tax,
focusing primarily on answering the question, “What IS net investment
income?”
Before we begin unraveling that mystery, however,
let’s address the basic mechanics of Section 1411.
Beginning January 1, 2013, taxpayers will pay an
additional 3.8% Medicare tax on the
lesser of:
- The taxpayer’s “net investment income,” or
- The taxpayer’s “modified adjusted gross
income” (if the taxpayer does not have foreign earned income excluded
under Section 911, this will be identical to adjusted gross income)”
less the “applicable threshold;” specifically:
•For married taxpayers
filing jointly: $250,000.
•For married taxpayers
filing separately: $125,000.
•For all other
taxpayers: $200,000.
There are two very important distinctions to be
made about the math behind this
lesser of calculation that should serve to dispel two popular
misconceptions about the new tax:
First, because this is a “lesser of” rather than
“greater of” computation, the tax cannot apply unless an
individual’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds the applicable
threshold. If the taxpayer’s MAGI does not exceed the applicable threshold,
the second component of the “lesser of” calculation will always be zero, and
the last time I checked, zero will always be the lesser of two positive
numbers. Thus, right from the start, we can eliminate from the reaches of
Section 1411 all married filing jointly taxpayers with MAGI less
than $250,000, married filing separately taxpayers with MAGI less than
$125,000, and all other taxpayers with MAGI less than $200,000.
Secondly, just because an individual’s MAGI exceeds
the applicable threshold does not necessarily sentence the taxpayer to
paying the 3.8% tax on all of their net investment income. Again,
this is due to the mechanics of the “lesser of” calculation.
Example: Hansel, a single taxpayer, earns
$195,000 in compensation and $30,000 of dividend and interest income during
2013. These are his only items of income or loss.
Hansel is subject to the 3.8% Medicare tax on
the lesser of:
1. Net investment income, or $30,000, or
2. MAGI ($225,000) less the applicable
threshold ($200,000) or $25,000.
Thus, despite the fact that Hansel has both net
investment income and MAGI in excess of his applicable threshold, he does
not owe the 3.8% on all of his investment income. Rather, he owes the tax on
the lesser of the two
components, or $25,000.
But let’s not kid ourselves; it’s not the
mechanics or mathematics behind Section 1411 that will be the bane of the
tax advisor’s existence during 2013, it’s the understanding of what
constitutes “net investment income.” And for clarity on that issue, we must
look to our only source of guidance on the topic.
In late November, the IRS released long-awaited
proposed regulations under Section 1411. While the proposed regulations are
not effective until tax years beginning after December 31, 2013, they may be
relied on until final regulations are issued, which is expected to happen
sometime during 2013.
The definition of “net investment income” is first
introduced in Prop. Reg. Section 1.1411-4(a)(1), which breaks those items
constituting “net investment income” into three subparagraphs:
(i) Gross income from interest, dividends,
annuities, royalties, rents, substitute interest payments, and substitute
dividend payment. (one little i income)
(ii) Other gross derived from a trade or business
described in Prop. Reg. Section 1.1411-5 (two little i income); and
(iii) Net gain attributable to the disposition of
property (three little i income).
In parenthesis following each of the three types of
income, you will find the term the tax community has begun to use to
describe the income as part of its general parlance. As you can see, the
term relates to which subparagraph the income is found in, and is as good a
way as any to present the types of net investment income in this overview.
So today, we take on “one little i income” – the interest, dividends, rent,
etc… found in Prop. Reg. Section 1.1411-4(a)(1)(i) — and we’ll examine “two
little i” and “three little i” income in subsequent posts.
One Little i Income, In General
While the Section 1411 regulations are full of
surprises, the items that constitute net investment income under Prop. Reg.
Section 1.1411-4(a)(1)(i) are not among them; in fact, these are the items
we all anticipated to be included in net investment income before
promulgation of the proposed regulations. As mentioned above, they include:
- Interest
- Dividends
- Annuities
- Royalties
- Rents
- Substitute interest and dividend payments
(even though these amounts are not categorically “interest” and
“dividends’” for income tax purposes.
The preamble to the regulations offers additional
detail. For example, gross income from dividends includes any item treated
as a divided for purposes of chapter 1 of the Code (the income tax
provisions). This includes:
- Constructive dividends
- Amounts treated as distributions under Section
1248(a), relating to the gain from the sale of stock in a controlled
foreign corporation, and
- Amounts distributed by an S corporation that
are treated as a dividend by virtue of the fact that the distribution is
deemed to have come from earnings and profits accumulated in prior C
corporation years.
Exceptions
In general, any interest, dividends, etc… listed
under Prop. Reg. Section 1.1411-4(a)(1)(i) will constitute net investment
income. However, the regulations and preamble note four exceptions to this
general rule:
- Interest earned on state and local bonds that
is exempt from income tax under Section 103 is excluded from the
definition of net investment income for purposes of Section 1411.
- Net investment income does not include
distributions from a qualified plan described in Sections 401(a),
403(a), 403(b), 408, 408A or 457(b).
- Interest paid to an employee by an employer
under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan is not
considered net investment income.
- Any “one little i income” earned in the
“ordinary course of a trade or business” is not included in net
investment income. This is an
important exclusion that warrants further examination.
Assume you own an interest in an S corporation,
partnership, or sole proprietorship. Assume further that interest and
dividends are earned in the activity and are either allocated to you on a
Schedule K-1 (in the case of an S corporation or partnership) or reported by
you on Schedule C (in the case of a sole proprietorship).
Naturally, you might assume that the interest and
dividends are to be included in net investment income as “one little i
income,” and nine times out of ten, you’d be correct. However, under the
“ordinary course of trade or business exception” the interest and dividends,
despite generally meeting the definition of net investment income under “one
little i,” can be excluded from the computation of net investment income if
four tests are met:
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Investors who do not get hit with this tax every year may bet blind sided in a
year when they (or their estates) dispose of some property such as rental
property or a farm investment.
Bob
Jensen's universal health care messaging ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
"Two Spanish men chopped off their own
HANDS in £2million insurance scams - but get found out because they did it too
well," by Matt Blake, Daily Mail, April 26, 2013 ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315346/Two-Spanish-men-chopped-HANDS-2million-insurance-scams--did-well.html
Jensen Comment
Surely these guys will each get a Darwin award. This is almost as bad as the USA
couple who swallowed razor blades for a product lawsuit scam.
Bob Jensen's fraud updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
"Innovative Performance Metric or Marketing
Spin?" by Anthony H. Catanach Jr., Grumpy Old Accountants Blog, April
263, 2013 ---
http://grumpyoldaccountants.com/blog/2013/4/26/innovative-performance-metric-or-marketing-spin
Recently, two
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) articles caught my attention with
their reports of innovations in performance measurement.
Given the significant role that accounting and financial
reporting plays in evaluating performance, I just couldn’t
resist digging deeper into these claims. The result:
disappointment! There’s not even any creative accounting to
excite me. There is little new here for those of us versed
in traditional financial analysis…just some blatant
marketing spin.
The first
piece titled “Have
Investors Finally Cracked the Stock Picking Code?”
suggests that the “holy grail” for stock-picking may have
been found. What is it? Well, it’s simply a twist on two
very familiar ratios: gross profit percentage and return on
assets. The new measure is called “gross profitability” and
is touted as a measure of “quality.” The metric is nothing
more than a Company’s reported gross profit divided by total
assets. What does it do? Well, when used in conjunction
with other more traditional metrics (i.e., price to book),
it purportedly identifies companies with high future growth
potential. And here is what the researcher who came up with
this innovative metric concludes:
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
I think Warren Buffett has shown us time and time again that picking winners is
not so simple as this ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett
"Duke U.'s Undergraduate Faculty Derails Plan for Online Courses for
Credit," by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed, April 30, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Duke-Us-Undergraduate/138895/
Jensen Comment
Be that as it may, there's no indication that Duke is abandoning it's cash cow
Executive MBA programs "loaded with" distance education ---
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/extaff/news/embanews/1202/embanws1202_courses.html
Also see
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/duke_mba/global-executive/program-format/distance-learning/
It's not likely that the School of Nursing at Duke will be forced to drop
it's popular distance education graduate degrees ---
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/extaff/news/embanews/1202/embanws1202_courses.html
$53,300: The Average Starting Salary for New Accounting Grads ---
http://www.naceweb.com/salary-survey-data/?referal=research&menuID=71&nodetype=4
Jensen Comment
I think such starting salary surveys are highly misleading unless they also show
cost of living adjustments. A starting salary of $53,300 will go a lot further
in San Antonio than in San Francisco, NYC, Los Angeles, and Honolulu where
people earning $53,300 should probably get food stamps and subsidized housing.
I would go to work for $20,000 if the starting job had world class training
and exposures to clients thirsting to hire away CPAs from top accounting firms.
It's all about windows of opportunity that trump starting salaries in nearly
every instance.
I would not opt for an MBA program were graduates have average starting
salaries of $143,800 (and a high standard deviation and kurtosis) relative to a
Masters of Accounting Program where average starting salaries are $53,300 with a
small standard deviation and negligible kurtosis. By kurtosis I mean that a few
superstar graduates (such as those with whiz-kid computer science undergraduate
degrees from elite universities) with starting salaries over $250,000 are
skewing the average.
There are also misleading "expected" compensations contingent upon such
things as sales. For example, a marketing or finance job may look great when
told that last year's hires earned an average of $143,800 with commissions and
bonuses thrown in. But what about those that came in below average because they
just had a harder time selling products and services?
Please warn students that the most important thing about a new job is not the
anticipated salary. It's the anticipated opportunity with a few other factors
thrown in such as tension, long hours, geographic location, and constant travel.
For example, a CPA firm may pay double for going to Moscow, but do you really
want to start your career in Moscow where it's really dangerous on the streets
and housing is rather Spartan?
"Ten career tips for young CPAs," by Mark Ursick, cpa2biz,
February 25, 2013 ---
http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2013/CPA/Feb/BuildCareers.jsp
Jensen Comment
I especially agree with: "Don’t limit your challenges;
challenge your limits."
The most gung ho student I ever had studying the accounting for
derivative financial instruments and hedging strategies never limited
his challenges even though he was less gifted than some of my students.
He just worked and worked and worked as a student.
His first job was with a Big Four firm in Houston and within three
years he was the technical guy who virtually was in charge on an audit
of a company that had over $1 billion in derivatives. He's since moved
on to become a leading executive at Microsoft.
In contrast I had more brilliant students who got buy in my
accounting theory course but would run like somebody yelled "Fire" if
they had an opportunity to audit derivative financial instruments
contracts. They never became executives in any companies.
The downloadable Robert Half salary guide ---.
http://www.roberthalf.com/SalaryGuide
Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers
"Making Board Games in the Classroom," by Anastasia Salter,
Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/making-board-games-in-the-classroom/48983?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
I just got home from
THATCamp Games II
at Case Western Reserve University, where we
played and made a lot of games. In the past I’ve talked about
making games for the classroom using lots of
technologies (Inform
7,
inklewriter,
Twine,
Scratch), but games don’t require any computing
power to be great. Physical board and card games can be powerful systems of
representation and more immediately accessible for exploring something in a
classroom. This might bring back made memories for some of us of classroom
jeopardy–but when the mechanics of the game fit the content, it can be much
more powerful than that.
During THATCamp Games II I taught a crash course
workshop in making educational board games. Here’s
the full Prezi from
the workshop. The same basic process can be used for designing a game for a
lesson or in asking students to make a game, which itself can provoke a
different way of thinking about an idea. Here’s an overview of the process
we used:
Phase One: Imagine
- Brainstorm an educational objective
- Choose a central mechanic
- Clarify your theme
and concept
Most of us learned through board games at some
point–even if it was the foundations of capitalism in Monopoly, a reductive
version of the American dream in the Game of Life, or just color recognition
from Candyland. But board games can address much more complex topics:
Pandemic models cooperative disaster response to
the spreading of infectious diseases;
Eco
Fluxx poses questions of environmentalism
through a changing rules system; and there’s even an
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose board game.
A straightforward goal–a purpose behind the
game–works best when it can clearly be connected with the game. One of the
teams during the workshop chose creative thinking and connected it with
competitive challenges, as seen in the prototype above for “Think. Build.
Tell.” These mechanics can then be interwoven with a theme, ideally in a way
that strengthens both. For instance, a rebranded version of Monopoly may
have a new “theme”, but it doesn’t really change gameplay–while moving a
strategy game to a different era often rewrites all the rules.
Phase Two: Make
- Imagine your game space metaphor
- Design your system and pieces
- Prototype your
playable design
There are lots of ways to think of game boards, but
all of them have to represent something complex in a simple way. Most of
them do that through using a visual metaphor–Monopoly simplifies the city to
a single block, Sorry uses complete abstraction, The Game of Life conflates
movement through space with movement through stages of life. One way to
jumpstart game design thinking is to take all the pieces of a game box and
throw away the rules, then imagine a new ruleset that makes all those pieces
work together. This helps us explore how all the pieces of a physical game
combine to form a system–it’s a lot more transparent than most video games.
Continued in article
Gamification ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification
"Why Gamification is Really Powerful," by Karen Lee, Stanford Graduate
School of Business, September 2012
http://stanfordbusiness.tumblr.com/post/32317645424/why-gamification-is-really-powerful
Karen Lee is the Social Web Strategist at the Stanford GSB
"How Deloitte Made Learning a Game," by Jeanne C. Meister, Harvard
Business Review Blog, January 2, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/how_deloitte_made_learning_a_g.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date
"Games in the Classroom (part 4)," by Anastasia Salter, Chronicle
of Higher Education, October 6, 2011 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/games-in-the-classroom-part-4/36294?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on Edutainment ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
"Here's Why So Many Wealthy Athletes Wind Up Broke," by Claes Bell,
Business Insider, April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/4-money-lessons-from-broke-athletes-2013-4
. . .
Whether you're making $50,000 a year or $5 million,
poor tax planning, overspending and other common errors can trash your
finances, Dawson says. Here are four common money mistakes that typically
land athletes in trouble, and how you can avoid them.
Before wasting money for investment advice, take advantage of free services
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers
And don't end up an prison like Wesley Snipes who gambled with the IRS and lost.
Also carefully study the following:
Frontline broadcast on "The Retirement Gamble,"April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/
For details see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/the-retirement-gamble-facing-us
Big Blue is Blue
From the CFO.com Morning Ledger on April 25, 2013
IBM chief delivers rebuke to employees. IBM CEO Virginia Rometty delivered
a companywide reprimand via an internal video, saying the company needed to
move faster and respond more quickly to customers, reports the WSJ’s
Spencer E. Ante. “Where we haven’t
transformed rapidly enough, we struggled,” Ms. Rometty said in the video.
“We have to step up with that and deal with that, and that is on all
levels.” In another sign of fallout from the last week’s poor earnings, IBM
reassigned one of its most senior executives—the head of the company’s
computer hardware business—following a sharp drop in first-quarter sales at
the unit.
So when did the USA lawmakers ever want to impose their own laws (like
minimum wage) and professional ethics and insider trading restrictions on
themselves and their employees?
"Lawmakers, aides may get Obamacare exemption," by John Bresnahan and
Jake Sherman, Poliico, April 24, 2013 ---
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/obamacare-exemption-lawmakers-aides-90610.html#.UXiYUajBcrc.twitter
Jensen Comment
What's that old saying ---
"Do as I say, not as I do."
Bob
Jensen's universal health care messaging ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
"Nate Silver: What Big Data can't predict," by Kurt Wagner, Fortune,
April 26, 2013 ---
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/26/nate-silver-what-big-data-cant-predict/?iid=SF_F_River
Statistician Nate Silver isn't famous because he's
a mathematical genius. (Although, he is.) Silver's well-known because he
knows how to apply his craft to the real world. The country's most popular
data cruncher is known for his spot-on election predictions -- he accurately
called the winner in all 50 states of November's presidential election; in
2008, he went 49 for 50 -- but Silver's big data analytics have also
translated to the worlds of sports (March Madness, Major League Baseball),
gambling (Silver will play in his third World series of Poker event this
summer), and even dating. Silver once wrote for the baseball website
Baseball Prospectus but has since expanded his offerings; he is now a
published author, a political pundit, and the creator of his very own New
York Times blog,
FiveThirtyEight.
Silver was in San Francisco Thursday to talk
analytics as the keynote speaker at Lithium Technologies' annual LiNC
Conference. Fortune sat down with him to talk about big data's
limitations, its role in the stock market, how it applies to dating, and
even his predictions for the 2016 presidential election. A lightly edited
transcript follows.
Fortune: I'm sure you get people
coming up to you all the time to discuss how you helped them win their NCAA
March Madness pool.
Nate Silver: I went against my bracket in my
own pool because I thought other people would be using it. I would have
gotten second place if I had taken my own advice.
Maybe take a small royalty fee next year?
Absolutely. Or we need to put out a fake bracket
[first], and then put out a real one [later]. Oops, there was a coding
error! [Laughs]
You started out using stats to better
understand and predict success in baseball -- why did you move towards
politics?
Of course it's easy to say in retrospect why you
did certain things instead of what rational motivations were pushing you in
that direction in real time, but I think part was that I was involved
working for Baseball Prospectus for about five years -- 2003 to 2008 -- and
you saw a great amount of progress in the baseball industry during that
time. The start of that era was the era described in [the book-turned movie]
Moneyball where you really had a lot of tension between stat-heads
and traditionalists. People were terrified that nerds would come over and
take their jobs. And really now that's been totally reversed, where it's not
just that you have some stat-head that you've hired and have locked into a
closet somewhere, but that every team -- almost every team, there are some
exceptions -- understands analytics at different levels of the organization.
But seeing how quickly that progressed in a span of
just a few years, and how behind politics coverage seemed to be where it's
all about the narrative -- there's a lot of bullshit basically both in the
news coverage of politics and from politicians themselves -- so it seemed
like it was ripe to apply some very basic analytics tools to the coverage of
elections.
Is it hard to keep your own political
beliefs separate from your work predicting elections?
It's always hard for us to be objective in any walk
of life. None of us has a monopoly on reality, we all have rather jaded
points of view. I do think the sports training helps though, where I can be
a Detroit Tigers fan as I am [and was] growing up, I still thought Mike
Trout [Los Angeles Angels] should have won the MVP award last year. What I
think differentiates politics a bit is that you have an industry full of
people who not only have views but are [also] used to manipulating public
opinion. They're used to thinking they can create their own reality. That's
why I think you have such trouble on the uptake there. People think that,
well, if I can spin a fact a certain way or spin polls a certain way, [the
problem] goes away. When you have a political press where some people are
very good, but some other people are very compliant and happy to pass along
spin from the campaigns, I think that's the issue. People aren't used to
getting a reality check in politics as much as in sports.
So how are you able to sift through that
information then to pick out the BS?
The idea is to ignore what the politicians say and
stick with publically available data. The record shows that in general, most
political observers tend to overrate the importance of a gaffe or a debate
-- there are always exceptions -- but in general the polls provide a pretty
reliable benchmark. And the public, who have real lives and are not
constantly consuming political news, are [sometimes] weighing things in a
very sophisticated way where they're looking at things like the economy or
are we involved in any stupid wars or major scandals from the
administration. Those are the things that explain a lot about who wins the
elections and not so much the petty stuff that the political pundits can
focus on.
There is more data now than ever before.
How are you able to determine which information to pull in order to properly
answer your question?
Part of it is that you do need -- as Vegas might
say -- you do need a system instead of an ad hoc way of doing it. So we have
a model that we designed in 2008 that was updated for 2012 that was designed
to account for every single poll. Some polls, if they're from a pollster
that has a better track record, get more weight in the system. It doesn't
mean that others are ignored. So it's not like we're just looking at a poll
and sticking our fingers up in the air and saying, "Oh that poll is
important, and that poll's not." Basically all the hard work and all the
decision-making process comes from designing this model before the fact.
Based on theory and practice and past experience, what are a good set of
rules for processing this information? And then sticking to that. We don't
make any alterations to the model once we launch it in June every year,
unless there's a bug, which fortunately there hasn't been. But the
principles are always the same, and then you have a disciplined way to
analyze data in that context.
Are there any questions out there that
can't be answered using data and analytics?
So I think it all exists along a spectrum. It's
important to know, too, that there's a difference between how good we are
relative to our potential and how intrinsically predictable something might
be. So for example if you look at baseball where analytics have come an
awful long way, well it's still the case that the best baseball teams only
win two-thirds of their games. The best hitters only get on base about 40%
of the time. So it's still intrinsically unpredictable in a sense, but we
have a good way of measuring and knowing what we know and what we don't
know.
But there are a lot of fields where analytics have
not come very far. I discuss earthquake forecasting in my book [The
Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail -- but Some Don't]
for instance, where people have been trying for
centuries. We know something -- there are more earthquakes here in
California than in New Jersey -- but the ability to anticipate a particular
earthquake with any precision at a particular moment in time has not gone
very well at all. Even economics -- when we try to do long-term economic
forecasting, it has been pretty poor for the most part.
Are there any industries out there that are
overlooking the possible impact of big data analytics?
It's sometimes industries that aren't very sexy
necessarily, so
big retail businesses for example have tons of
records on every consumer transaction they have [completed]. They have a ton
of data on supply chain management, so things like that in terms of optimal
inventory strategies or optimal pricing strategies or robust strategies for
disruption in the supply chain. Not super-sexy stuff, but those people have
really good data sets, often high quality data, and can make better
decisions as a result. I'm sure that some are doing it already, and there
are some efficiencies there that you weren't seeing before.
There are also cases like if you look at how people
consume television, for example. I think the advertising industry is
something that's gotten more sophisticated in terms of targeting customers.
The irony is that efficiency has become harmful in some ways for media
companies, because what was the old adage? "Half your advertising budget is
well spent, but you don't know which half." Now people might know which
half, so they're only spending half as much.
Can people use data or analytics to
accurately predict the stock market in any way?
The problem is the stock market is this whole
contest where you're competing against other creators. So the question is:
Are there some traders that are better than others? I think the answer is
probably, Yes. I'm not a pure markets guy, I played poker long enough which
I think has parallel skills to trading in many respects where you know that
some people are better over the long-term and better at accounting for
uncertainty and so forth. But there's a lot of volatility and a lot of luck
where a market cycle can last for months or years. There are a lot of
perverse incentives that get in the way. So while I think there are some
good traders, in the near term, even over a period of five or 10 years, it
will mostly be dictated by luck, so it's tricky.
Have you ever applied your model to dating?
Continued in article
"How Non-Scientific Granulation Can Improve Scientific Accountics"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsGranulationCurrentDraft.pdf
More conservative hires at the University of Colorado? How can they corrupt
the Academy in such a way?
"Colorado Regent Will Push for Hiring of Conservative Profs,"
Inside Higher Ed, April 29, 2013 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/29/colorado-regent-will-push-hiring-conservative-profs
The good news is that Boulder just hired a conservative professor. Two is
just too many in any university!
Left-sided balance in the Academy ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LiberalBias
"Are You a Sucker For Math? New research reveals a "nonsense math effect,"
by Tania Lombrozo, Psychology Today, December 29, 2012 ---
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/explananda/201212/are-you-sucker-math
Thank you Scott Bonacker for the heads up.
Jensen Comment
There are countless instances where journals, including mathematics journals,
have been embarrassed by publication of mathematical frauds and unsuspecting
errors. Some of it is computer generated nonsense ---
http://boingboing.net/2012/10/19/math-journal-accepts-computer.html
Purportedly Einstein was prone to making mathematical errors ---
http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Communications-Miscellaneous/Download/1861
Maybe his poor grades in school were indicative of carelessness.
14th Best: Being a University Professor
"Jobs Rated 2013: Ranking 200 Jobs From Best To Worst," CareerCast,
April 2013 ---
http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/best-worst-jobs-2013
Jensen Comment
I certainly would not live my life over again by willingly choosing any of the
higher-ranked professions above "university professor," especially those like
audiologist, dental hygienist, and occupational therapist where a 40-year career
every day is pretty much the same thing day-in and day-out.
The category "University Professor" is just too broad in terms of being a
career category. Firstly, there are huge differences in time to becoming a
university professor. Some doctoral degrees are relatively quick and easy
whereas others require professional certifications before entering such doctoral
programs. For example, accountants, engineers, medical professors, architects,
etc. have a pretty difficult time becoming university professors without
professional work experience in addition to doctoral studies.
And the "hiring outlook" criterion varies greatly by disciplines in
humanities, science, and the professions like business, engineering, law, and
medicine. I would not like to be a newly-minted journalism Ph.D. seeking a job
in academe or on the mean streets.
The study ignores the "job retention" factor differences which are huge in
the publish or perish environment of a university professor. And there is tenure
protection that's not available in most careers.
The study ignores the value of independence on the job. University professors
typically have wide latitude regarding choice of research topics and
methodologies. It's not like having supervisors assigning how each day will be
spent on the job. And there are those typical four or five month equivalents of
not even having to show up on the campus ---assuming that teaching schedules can
be arranged to be off campus two or even three days a week plus all those breaks
between terms and during terms. And there are sabbatical leaves and other types
of leaves available to most college professors Of course such break times should
not be wasted by ignoring responsibilities for research and maintenance of
scholarship.
The bottom line is that I think ranking of 200 careers is more misleading
than helpful for students making career choices.
"The 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2013," MIT's Technology Review,
April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/513981/introduction-to-the-10-breakthrough-technologies-of-2013/
"Chevy's New Spark EV Highlights The Biggest Problem With Electric Cars,"
by Alex Davies, Business Insider, April 24, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/chevy-spark-highlights-ev-range-problem-2013-4
Jensen Comment
1. Why is it that these articles never factor in the cost of recharging the
batteries plus the amortized cost of battery replacement?
2. The article says you can stop every 80 miles and get a 20-minute battery
charge. But that quick-stop battery charge is not good for a full 80 miles on
the next leg of your trip.
3. After your first 80 miles you are not likely to find a charging station
out in the middle of nowhere. Hence, you may have to get your first quick-stop
charge much sooner, say after the first 50 miles. In other words you cannot
simply conclude that you can drive 320 miles with only three quick-stops (20
minutes) along the way. It may be more like 200 miles beginning with a full
charge plus three quick stops.
4. I think it would be better to lease than buy these Spark EV cars. After
three years they may well be obsolete since battery technology is subject to new
discoveries. If GM won't offer a reasonable lease deal that's a good indicator
that you should ignore resale value if you buy a new Spark EV.
"Before MOOCs, ‘Colleges of the Air’," by Susan Matt and Luke
Fernandez, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/04/23/before-moocs-colleges-of-the-air/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
In 1937, as she lay ill in bed, Annie Oakes
Huntington, a writer living in Maine, thought of ways to spend her
time. She confided in a letter: “The radio has been a source of unfailing
diversion this winter. I expect to enter all the courses at Harvard to be
broadcasted.” Huntington was joining in an educational experiment sweeping
the country in the 1920s and 30s: massive open on-air courses.
As educators contemplate the MOOCs of our
day—massive open online courses—they would do well to consider how
earlier generations dealt with technology-enhanced education.
We are not the first generation to believe that
technology can transcend distance and erode ignorance. Nearly a century ago,
educators were convinced that radio held that same potential. The number of
radios in the United States increased from six or seven thousand to 10
million between 1921 and 1928. Many universities explored the possibility of
broadcasting courses across the country and allowing anyone to enroll. Some
onlookers believed those courses would transform higher education and
eliminate lecture halls and seminar rooms. One observer noted, “The nation
has become the new campus,” while another celebrated the “‘University of the
Air,’ whose campus is the ether of the earth, whose audience waits for
learning, learning, learning.”
By 1922, New York University had established a
radio station, through which “virtually all the subjects of the university
[would] be sent out.” Eventually a multitude of universities, including
Columbia, Harvard, Kansas State, Ohio State, NYU, Purdue, Tufts, and the
Universities of Akron, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa,
Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Utah, offered radio courses.
Subjects ranged from Browning’s poems to engineering, agriculture to
fashion.
While each institution ran its courses differently,
there were commonalities. Often, students registered by mail and received a
syllabus by return mail. Some then mailed in assignments to the faculty.
Several universities offered credit.
Hopes ran high that these courses might spread
knowledge more democratically—that they would, in the words of one
commentator, make the “’backwoods,’ and all that the word connotes … dwindle
if … not entirely disappear as an element in our civilization.” By offering
education to people from all walks of life, radio would reduce rural
populations’ isolation and mitigate class differences.
Yet gradually problems emerged, and doubts spread
that on-air courses would ever fully replace traditional colleges. First was
the issue of attrition. Like most modern-day courses taught at a distance,
completion rates were disappointing. Of those enrolled in one course, only
half took exams. There were reports that listeners’ interest in erudition
often competed with the temptations of entertainment. Listeners might tune
into a lecture occasionally, but not with the regularity or dedication
ardent advocates predicted.
Some also complained that the learning was
passive. In 1924, the journalist Bruce Bliven skeptically asked: “Is radio
to become a chief arm of education? Will the classroom be abolished, and
the child of the future be stuffed with facts as he sits at home or even as
he walks about the streets with his portable receiving-set in his pocket?”
Answering his own question, Bliven wrote, “A good mind … must be built, not
stuffed. … Radio, of course, faces squarely against this whole tide.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge was that radio did
not offer opportunities for social interaction in the way that traditional
courses did. A sociologist noted in 1927, “There are certain fundamental
things in man’s nature that tend to show us that broadcasting cannot …
supersede the theater, the concert, … or the lecture hall.” He continued,
“Broadcasting has hardly any gregarious or association appeals.”
Finally, even when students endured the isolation
and passivity of this new mode of learning, conquered the temptations of
popular radio programs, and finished a course, it wasn’t clear what that
meant. Students in Kansas State’s radio classes received certificates
verifying they had participated in “the college of the air,” but these were
not the same as real diplomas. Other colleges tried to make the classes
count for university credit: Between 1923 and 1940, 13 institutions offered
courses for credit, and nearly 10,000 students enrolled. But a mere 17
percent actually received credit, and by the 1940-41 academic year, there
was only one radio course in the United States for which a student could
earn credit—and nobody enrolled in it.
Decades later, as we contemplate MOOCs, much of
this sounds familiar. In discussions of radio courses in the 1920s and 30s,
and in the euphoria over online courses today, university administrators,
along with journalists, gush about the potential of technology to extend the
geographic reach of the university, even while acknowledging MOOCs’
experimental nature, the lack of a way to monetize them, and the need to
build in greater interaction between lecturer and audience.
Admittedly, the past is not the present, and the
“college of the air” is not a MOOC. MOOCs offer more possibilities for
interaction than radio did. Yet while participants in MOOCs report a good
deal of interaction among students, they report little to no communication
with their professors—unsurprising, given the student-faculty ratio. And
like radio, MOOCs still can’t offer the level of sociability or one-on-one
interactions that brick-and-mortar classes do. (Even regular online courses
don’t do that very well: Our cash-strapped, time-pressed students confide
that while online classes are convenient, they still prefer to take courses
in a classroom, with a professor, on our campus.)
The problem of what MOOCs add up remains. While
some universities have promised to accept them for credit, in the long term,
we may find, as proponents of radio did, that the courses play at best a
minor role in helping students earn degrees.
Finally, MOOCs, like radio courses of the 20s, face
competition from temptations less present in the traditional classroom. Many
radio listeners resolved to “attend” courses, only to have those resolutions
undermined by the distractions of easy listening. When there is no
instructor physically present, attrition and inattention abound.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Arguably, visual learning is the most efficient way of learning --- all those
important charts, tables, pictures, cartoons, animations, and videos. Radio
leaves out this important dimension of MOOCs and the differences between modern
MOOCs and radio learning can be dramatic. Sight impaired learners in general
have to work much harder to learn.
Radio is good for background and filling dead learning space. People can
drive buggies and cars while listening to the radio. Audio books are important
for some types of learners. But ultimately, radio cannot compare with multimedia
for learning efficiency.
Of course radio learning and visual learning need not be mutually exclusive.
Radio courses could have textbooks 100 years ago. Today radio courses can have
multimedia computer supplements for times when the learner is not preoccupied
with such things as driving a vehicle and child care and surgeries.
My wife, a former surgical nurse, tells me surgical teams often listen to the
radio during surgeries. More common than not, my dentists have radio or even
television sets running while they work on my teeth.
Bob Jensen's threads on MOOCs, EdX, and MITx ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
"FBI Alleges Massive Collusion Between (Baltimore) Prison Guards And A
Gangster Who Seduced Them," by Erin Fuchs, Business Insider,
April 24, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/black-guerrilla-family-indictment-2013-4
Where Prisoners Would Rather Be on the Inside
"In Venezuela’s prisons, inmates are the wardens," Global Post, May 14,
2012 ---
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/venezuela/120511/inside-violent-venezuelan-prison-la-planta
FBI Updates on May 2, 2013
5.01.13
Boston:
Three men arrested in connection with marathon bombing investigation.
05.01.13 San
Antonio:
Two charged with taking woman hostage, demanding ransom for her release.
05.01.13
Denver:
Man sentenced to prison in fraud schemes that led to bank’s failure.
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
"DEAL REACHED: Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling Could Get Out Of Prison 10
Years Early," by Erin Fuchs, Business Insider, May 8, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-skilling-plea-deal-2013-5
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling has reached a deal
with federal prosecutors to get out of prison a decade before his 24-year
prison sentence is up.
Under the deal Skilling — who was convicted of
fraud for his role in the collapse of Enron — would get out of prison in
2017, the Justice Department announced. Skilling has agreed to forfeit more
than $40 million and give up the right to appeal his conviction.
A Justice Department spokesman said the deal
ensures Skilling is "appropriately punished" and that Enron victims get
restitution. A judge will have to sign off on the deal.
Skilling has served six years of his sentence so
far. In October 2006, Skilling got the 24-year sentence for his role in the
massive accounting fraud that caused Enron's downfall.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on Enron's frauds, including a timeline of the major
events ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm
Walt Mossberg Shreds The New Samsung Phone That's Supposed To Compete
Against Apple
"MOSSBERG: The Samsung Galaxy S4 Has 'Especially Weak,' 'Gimmicky' Software,"
by Jay Yarow, Business Insider, April 24, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-review-by-mossberg-2013-4
From CFO.com Morning Ledger on April 24, 2013
Apple is sending a flood of cash back to shareholders. After
reporting its first profit drop in a decade, the company said it was
increasing its share repurchase plan by sixfold to $60 billion from
$10 billion by the end of 2015. And it’s raising its dividend by 15% to
$3.05 a share,
DealBook notes.
Apple’s announcement on cash, which CEO Tim Cook said
earlier this year the company had been examining, answers some questions
about the company’s plans for its $145 billion stockpile,
the WSJ says.
But notably, Apple plans to finance its capital return
program partly by borrowing from the debt markets. CFO Peter Oppenheimer
said on the earnings call that Apple, which currently carries no debt, wants
to avoid paying repatriation taxes on its overseas cash, so it will borrow
domestically. The introduction of debt into the company’s capital structure
will lower the company’s overall cost of capital, he said, and allow the
company to efficiently leverage its balance sheet and borrow at cheap rates.
S&P has already given the company an AA+ rating and Moody’s gave it an Aa1
rating and both say that their outlooks for the company are stable,
Business Insider notes. (Read
the conference call transcript here.)
"Two Reasons Microsoft Registers Double-Digit Growth As Its Peers Decline,"
by Matt Asay, ReadWriteWeb, April 25, 2013 ---
http://readwrite.com/2013/04/25/two-reasons-microsoft-registers-double-digit-growth-as-its-peers-decline
Legacy enterprise IT vendors may be
scrambling to spread the blame in the wake of earnings misses,
but one mega-vendor is not, and it's the one
open-source advocates have argued for years was doomed to imminent oblivion:
Microsoft. For all its stumbles in mobile and online, Microsoft continues to
soar in core enterprise infrastructure sales.
The reason? Microsoft pressures the Oracles and HPs
of the world in much the same ways that open source and cloud do.
Low Cost, High Value
By most measures, Microsoft's
Server and Tools business is booming:
- Product revenue up 11% (Multi-year licensing
revenue up 20%)
- Enterprise Services revenue up 11%
- System Center revenue grew 22%
- SQL Server revenue grew 16%, outpacing the
market
And while growth has slowed a bit in fiscal year
2013
compared to fiscal year 2012, it's still
impressive growth, especially in light of the struggles other enterprise IT
vendors have had recently.
Why is Microsoft different? Most obviously, because
Microsoft tends to make complex infrastructure affordable and easy to use,
while appealing to developers. This has long been Microsoft's recipe for
success: lowering the bar to use complex software while also lowering costs.
In other words, Microsoft keeps chugging along in
the enterprise because makes life easier for enterprise IT, similar to what
cloud and open source do. Or as Apprenda vice president
Rakesh Malhotra puts it, "it's less about
licensing and more about the complexity/cost/value."
And while Microsoft persists with its proprietary
license model, a model out-of-favor in a market trending toward open source
and cloud, it still tends to be much cheaper than alternatives like Oracle
in the database market. As BMO Capital Markets analyst Karl
Keirstead recently opined in a client note,
"Countless customers have told us that the cost advantage of SQL Server is
so compelling that their deployment of Microsoft SQL Server databases is
ramping."
In short, Microsoft improves enterprise value and
lower costs, relative to the other legacy IT vendors.
But What About Mobile?
Ironically, Microsoft has thus far failed in mobile
precisely because it has taken the opposite strategy: while Apple and Google
(Android) have essentially lowered the cost of mobile operating system
licenses to $0.00, Microsoft has continued to try to impose license fees.
When that hasn't worked, it has
sued Android licensees to try to raise costs to
match Microsoft's.
It hasn't worked.
Microsoft has a lot of work to do to catch up in
mobile. But in core enterprise infrastructure? Microsoft may be the vendor
to beat.
Not Shrinking From The Cloud Fight
Not that Microsoft rests easily. After all, with
trends shifting IT spending to mobile and cloud, Microsoft's traditional
Server and Tools division stands to take a beating. According to a
new Baird Equity Research Technology study,
Amazon, in particular, is siphoning off dollars from the legacy IT pie:
We estimate that for every dollar spent on
[Amazon Web Services], there is at least $3 to $4 not spent on
traditional IT, and this ratio will likely expand further. In other
words, AWS reaching $10 billion in revenues by 2016 translates into at
least $30 to $40 billion lost from the traditional IT market.
In this, however, Microsoft is playing a solid
offense, and stands a
good chance of succeeding. Among both enterprise
developers and CIOs, Microsoft remains their go-to vendor, according to both
Piper Jaffray and
Evans Data
surveys. More pertinently to Amazon, these same
enterprises plan to expand their Microsoft Azure adoption significantly,
according to Forrester:
Continued in article
Bloomberg Terminal ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_Terminal
"BLOOMBERG CEO: It Was A Mistake To Let Our Journalists Have Access To
Clients' Bloomberg Terminal Data." by Julia La Roche, Business Insider,
May 10, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/bloomberg-statement-on-terminal-story-2013-5
Wall Street has been buzzing about a bombshell
New York Post story revealing that some
Bloomberg News
reporters were using private client information from Bloomberg Terminals to
spy on
Goldman Sachs employees.
This was discovered after an unidentified Bloomberg
reporter pointed out that a Goldman partner had not logged into his terminal
and asked if he was still employed by the firm, the report said.
After Goldman complained, Bloomberg suspended
access to this terminal customer data to its reporters.
Business Insider also learned that Bloomberg News
reporters used private information from JPMorgan Bloomberg Terminal users
for some of their coverage of the JPMorgan "London Whale" trade, according
to sources.
Bloomberg LP's CEO and president Daniel Doctoroff
has recognized this was a mistake. He also tapped Steve Ross to the new
post of Client Data Compliance Officer.
He sent the following email to employees:
Since our founding more
than 30 years ago, the proper safeguarding of customer data has been a
central tenet of Bloomberg’s culture.
A Bloomberg client recently raised a concern that Bloomberg News reporters
had access to limited customer relationship management data through their
use of the Bloomberg terminal. Although we have long made limited customer
relationship data available to our journalists, we realize this was a
mistake.
Having recognized this mistake, we took immediate action. Last month we
changed our policy so that all reporters only have access to the same
customer relationship data available to our clients. Additionally, we
decided to further centralize our data security efforts by appointing Steve
Ross, one of our most senior executives, to the new position of Client Data
Compliance Officer. Steve is responsible for reviewing and, if necessary,
enhancing protocols which among other things will continue to ensure that
our news operations never have access to confidential customer data.
To be clear, the limited customer relationship data previously available to
our reporters never included access to our trading, portfolio, monitor,
blotter or other related systems or our clients' messages. Moreover,
reporters could not see news stories that clients read, or the securities
they viewed. Bloomberg has very strict data security policies in place, in
addition to significant and rigorous training, processes and protocols. Upon
hiring, all Bloomberg employees enter into confidentiality provisions,
including Bloomberg News.
Client trust is our highest priority and the cornerstone of our business,
and we are deeply committed to ensuring the complete integrity and
confidentiality of our clients' data in all situations and at all times.
Dan
Jensen Comment
Among other things this real-time database of market transactions allows users
(e.g., CPA firms) to derive the yield curves needed for valuation of derivative
financial instruments ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/speakers/133swapvalue.htm
Many university libraries, including the campus library at Trinity
University, have Bloomberg terminals for students and faculty.
"LET'S ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT TEACHING," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, April 30,
2013 ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox
"WHAT MAKES GREAT TEACHERS GREAT?" by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, April
16, 2013 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-makes-great-teachers-great.html
Jensen Comment
In each of the above posts Joe does not, in my viewpoint, adequately distinguish
teaching from education.
I don't know quite how to define a great role model for teachers because
there are so many different types of great role models. Great role models all
seem to have a passion for teaching and sufficient expertise for the levels of
their courses.
What needs to be expanded by Joe is the fact that the "great teachers" are
not always a very popular teachers. Conversely, the "most popular" teachers are
not necessarily great teachers. Some teachers appear to be popular just because
they are almost certain to raise a student's grade point average. Sometimes
they've popular because they cover so little material and skip over the hard
stuff. Students love being entertained by humor, learning games such as Monopoly
or Jeopardy, etc.
Students like to be spoon fed and often give teachers high ratings simply
because these teachers make the textbook seem easy. A great teacher may instead
make the textbook seem superficial or lacking in modules that great teachers
think are vital to the course. Or a great teacher may critically evaluate a
textbook module to provide students with illustrations of critical thinking.
Somewhat neglected here is education versus teaching.
It is possible to be a great educator without necessarily being a great teacher.
These days I like to think of myself as an educator even though I no longer
teach. There are various ways of being a great educator. One way is by making
very current learning materials available and making them easy to find --- such
as on a Website. I would like to give more credit to professors have tremendous
open access Websites. I don't find many terrific Websites among accounting
educators and researchers.
Some educators are great because they provide the world with outstanding
textbooks, including those great end-of-chapter materials. In many instances
textbook writers are highly rewarded financially, but certainly not in all cases
--- especially in small market specialties.
Some great educators lead great teachers and help to bring the resources that
make programs great.
Some great educators challenge great teachers, great researchers, and other
educators. For example, some bloggers do a terrific job challenging recent
research journal articles and published teaching cases.
I think sometimes great educators inspire critical thinking
even though they themselves may not be considered great teachers under the
criteria listed by Joe in the above article.
Such educators are seldom happy with materials great teachers
think are tremendous.
Teacher to Teacher: Critical Thinking in the College Classroom ---
http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ctl/criticalthinking/accessible.php?section=1
Why Critical Thinking is so Hard to Teach ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#CriticalThinking
April 16, 2013 reply from Joe Hoyle
Hi Bob --
I have no idea why the blog won't accept your comments. And, I'm
disappointed because I'd love to have your thoughts. They would add to the
site. I'm actually not very blog savvy and on these free sites there are no
live human beings to ask questions of. I seem to remember when I first
started that I had to have a Google account in order to register comments. I
had a gmail email address and so that password worked but that is only a
vague recollection. I'm a person who very much operates on a "need to know"
basis.
I enjoyed your comments below. I think we need more
opinions out there on education. I'm also troubled that it is so difficult
to identify who "great teachers" really are. I can't remember if I have ever
written this on the blog but I often say it when I give live presentations:
student evaluations are one of the worst things to ever happen to college
education. And that is because, as you say, "great teacher" and favorite
teacher have become "intertwined concepts."
How do you determine greatness in teachers? Any way
that i can come up with another person could easily take apart. I have one
pet method. I don't know if you ever look at Rate My Professor.com. Okay,
for the most part it is a bunch of baloney. However, my theory is that the
best teachers are the ones who have the largest spread between "quality" and
"easiness." A 5 and a 5 is an extremely easy teacher who is popular and
funny and a 1 and a 1 is a tough teacher who isn't very clear. But a 5 and a
1 is doing something right - high quality and extreme toughness. Now, I will
warn you that I probably like that one measure because I do well on it.
Soooo, are we just drawn to evaluation techniques that put us in the best
possible light? That might be the one thing that is really true.
I suspect that the best way to evaluate great
teaching is to give students some type of course evaluation 3 years after
they graduate. They have a better perspective. But again, I'm sure someone
else can tell me why that is complete nonsense.
Thanks for congratulations on the innovation award.
You know the best part of that. They give me a 75 minute slot to talk to
people. Of course, as you might guess, it is on Wednesday at 2:00 when most
people have left or headed to Disney Land but that will still give me a
chance to meet some new people and make some new teaching friends. The only
real way to get better as a teacher is to have some thoughtful conversations
and I can always use more friends to talk with.
Keep up the good work. We need more folks like you.
Hope to see you in August -- grab me and we'll have a drink together and
figure out what great teaching really means.
Joe
April 17, 2013 reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Joe,
I probably go to RateMyProfessor.com more than any other accounting
professor --- mostly out of curiosity but sometimes with purpose. I'm often
seeking evidence about teachers who try to indoctrinate more than they
educate:
"Noam Chomsky Spells Out the Purpose of Education," by Josh Jones, Open
Culture, November 2012 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/noam_chomsky_spells_out_the_purpose_of_education.html
I never even look at the numerical scores on RMP because the sample
respondents are self selecting.
I find the subjective comments sometimes revealing about such things as
easiness, course requirements, mood swings, and bias.
I have great difficulty distinguishing between popularity versus teaching
greatness. Sometimes students praise things that do not make great teaching
in my opinion. Sometimes they criticize things that do not detract from
teaching greatness in my opinion.
When I was a department chair I had an intermediate teacher who was not
at all great in the classroom. But she spent 6-8 hours each day helping
students in her office. In this she excelled. So I consider her a great
teacher having passion, dedication, and respect from her students concerning
what they learned.
But 6-8 hours in the office does not make all teachers great. In some
cases students may grow angry over having to spend so much time outside the
classroom when great teachers would make better use of class time.
I'm actually a great fan of the BAM pedagogy that most students hate.
Students probably learn the most while hating their teachers the most ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm
I think the BAM teachers who can pull this off are probably the greatest
teachers and the most hated teachers in higher education --- keeping in mind
that students probably only have time for one BAM course per term.
There's no magic formula for teaching greatness and no single role model.
In any case keep up the good work Joe.
My one wish from you is that you would become more active on the AECM.
There is so much you could add to our debates.
Respectfully,
Bob Jensen
Vantage Score (new) Version 3.0 Credit Scoring Model ---
http://www.vantagescore.com/
Jensen Comment
Perhaps it would be useful for students to cover both credit scoring models and
bankruptcy prediction models such as the Altman Z-Score ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altman_Z-score
The Vantage Score model is useful in making decisions regarding extending
credit.
The Altman Z-Score is useful in assessing whether too much credit has been
extended.
After all the years in which he wrote about California's high taxes of all
sorts, the TaxProf, Paul Caron, is moving from Ohio to California. This just
shows that if the total compensation package plus other factors are in place,
taxes alone do not trump those other factors ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/
From the TaxProf Blog on April 24m 2013
Paul Caron Leaves Cincinnati for Pepperdine
After 23 years at the
University of
Cincinnati College of Law and the past four Spring semesters at
Pepperdine University
School of Law, I have accepted an offer to join
Pepperdine's tenured faculty beginning in the Fall 2013 semester.
My wife and I loved
our time in Cincinnati, as we launched our careers, raised our children, and
found our faith
there. We will be forever grateful that the University of Cincinnati College
of Law and the United States District Court for the Southern District of
Ohio took a chance on us 23 years ago.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Among other things, the campus of Pepperdine University is one of the most
beautiful settings in the world.
"Improve your Course Evaluations by having your Class Write Letters to
Future Students," by Brian Croxall, Chronicle of Higher Education,
April 23, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/improve-your-course-evaluations-by-having-your-class-write-letters-to-future-students/48659?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
A common problem with teaching evaluations is that students tend to be in a rush
when filling them out. It might help to ask students to write the course
advisory letters (see article above) in advance. Appeal to them to take these
letters seriously.
Student Evaluations and Learning Styles ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#LearningStyles
"Bernanke And Friends Are Setting The Stage For An Avalanche," John
Mauldin, Business Insider, May 4, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/mauldin-the-qe-sandpile-2013-5
. . .
The Critical State
Something only a math nerd could love? Scientists
refer to this as a critical state. The term critical state can mean the
point at which water would go to ice or steam, or the moment that critical
mass induces a nuclear reaction, etc. It is the point at which something
triggers a change in the basic nature or character of the object or group.
Thus, (and very casually for all you physicists) we refer to something being
in a critical state (or use the term critical mass) when there is the
opportunity for significant change.
"But to physicists, [the critical state] has always
been seen as a kind of theoretical freak and sideshow, a devilishly unstable
and unusual condition that arises only under the most exceptional
circumstances [in highly controlled experiments]… In the sandpile game,
however, a critical state seemed to arise naturally through the mindless
sprinkling of grains."
Thus, they asked themselves, could this phenomenon
show up elsewhere? In the earth's crust triggering earthquakes, or as
wholesale changes in an ecosystem – or as a stock market crash? "Could the
special organization of the critical state explain why the world at large
seems so susceptible to unpredictable upheavals?" Could it help us
understand not just earthquakes, but why cartoons in a third rate paper in
Denmark could cause world-wide riots?
Buchanan concludes in his opening chapter: "There
are many subtleties and twists in the story … but the basic message, roughly
speaking, is simple: The peculiar and exceptionally unstable organization
of the critical state does indeed seem to be ubiquitous in our world.
Researchers in the past few years have found its mathematical fingerprints
in the workings of all the upheavals I've mentioned so far [earthquakes,
eco-disasters, market crashes], as well as in the spreading of epidemics,
the flaring of traffic jams, the patterns by which instructions trickle down
from managers to workers in the office, and in many other things. At the
heart of our story, then, lies the discovery that networks of things of all
kinds – atoms, molecules, species, people, and even ideas – have a marked
tendency to organize themselves along similar lines. On the basis of this
insight, scientists are finally beginning to fathom what lies behind
tumultuous events of all sorts, and to see patterns at work where they have
never seen them before."
Now, let's think about this for a moment. Going
back to the sandpile game, you find that as you double the number of grains
of sand involved in an avalanche, the probability of an avalanche becomes
2.14 times more likely. We find something similar in earthquakes. In terms
of energy, the data indicate that earthquakes become four times less likely
each time you double the energy they release. Mathematicians refer to this
as a "power law," a special mathematical pattern that stands out in contrast
to the overall complexity of the earthquake process.
Fingers of Instability
So what happens in our game? "…after the pile
evolves into a critical state, many grains rest just on the verge of
tumbling, and these grains link up into 'fingers of instability' of all
possible lengths. While many are short, others slice through the pile from
one end to the other. So the chain reaction triggered by a single grain
might lead to an avalanche of any size whatsoever, depending on whether that
grain fell on a short, intermediate or long finger of instability."
Now, we come to a critical point in our discussion
of the critical state. Again, read this with the markets in mind (again,
emphasis mine):
"In this simplified setting of the sandpile, the
power law also points to something else: the surprising conclusion that even
the greatest of events have no special or exceptional causes. After
all, every avalanche large or small starts out the same way, when a single
grain falls and makes the pile just slightly too steep at one point.
What makes one avalanche much larger than another has nothing to do with its
original cause, and nothing to do with some special situation in the pile
just before it starts. Rather, it has to do with the perpetually
unstable organization of the critical state, which makes it always possible
for the next grain to trigger an avalanche of any size."
Now, let's couple this idea with a few other
concepts. First, Hyman Minsky (who should have been a Nobel laureate) points
out that stability leads to instability. The more comfortable we get with a
given condition or trend, the longer it will persist and then when the trend
fails, the more dramatic the correction. The problem with long term
macroeconomic stability is that it tends to produce unstable financial
arrangements. If we believe that tomorrow and next year will be the same as
last week and last year, we are more willing to add debt or postpone savings
in favor of current consumption. Thus, says Minsky, the longer the period of
stability, the higher the potential risk for even greater instability when
market participants must change their behavior.
Relating this to our sandpile, the longer that a
critical state builds up in an economy, or in other words, the more "fingers
of instability" that are allowed to develop a connection to other fingers of
instability, the greater the potential for a serious "avalanche."
We Are Managing Uncertainty
Or, maybe a series of smaller shocks lessens the
long reach of the fingers of instability, giving a paradoxical rise to even
more apparent stability. As the late Hunt Taylor wrote:
"Let us start with what we know. First, these
markets look nothing like anything I've ever encountered before. Their
stunning complexity, the staggering number of tradable instruments and their
interconnectedness, the light-speed at which information moves, the degree
to which the movement of one instrument triggers nonlinear reactions along
chains of related derivatives, and the requisite level of mathematics
necessary to price them speak to the reality that we are now sailing in
uncharted waters….
"I've had 30-plus years of learning experiences in
markets, all of which tell me that technology and telecommunications will
not do away with human greed and ignorance. I think we will drive the car
faster and faster until something bad happens. And I think it will come,
like a comet, from that part of the night sky where we least expect it. This
is something old.
"I think shocks will come, but they will be
shallower, shorter. They will be harder to predict, because we are not
really managing risk anymore. We are managing uncertainty –
too many new variables, plus leverage on a scale we have never encountered
(something borrowed). And, when the inevitable occurs, the buying
opportunities that result will be won by the technologically enabled swift."
Another way to think about it is the way Didier
Sornette, a French geophysicist, has described financial crashes in his
wonderful book Why Stock Markets Crash (the math, though, was far
beyond me!). He wrote, "[T]he specific manner by which prices collapsed is
not the most important problem: a crash occurs because the market has
entered an unstable phase and any small disturbance or process may have
triggered the instability. Think of a ruler held up vertically on your
finger: this very unstable position will lead eventually to its collapse, as
a result of a small (or an absence of adequate) motion of your hand or due
to any tiny whiff of air. The collapse is fundamentally due to the unstable
position; the instantaneous cause of the collapse is secondary."
When things are unstable, it isn't the last grain
of sand that causes the pile to collapse or the slight breeze that causes
the ruler on your fingertip to fall. Those are the "proximate" causes.
They're the closest reasons at hand for the collapse. The real reason,
though, is the "remote" cause, the farthest reason. The farthest reason is
the underlying instability of the system itself.
A fundamentally unstable system is exactly what we
saw in the recent credit crisis. Consumers all through the world's largest
economies borrowed money for all sorts of things, because times were good.
Home prices would always go up and the stock market was back to its old
trick of making 15% a year. And borrowing money was relatively cheap. You
could get 2% short-term loans on homes, which seemingly rose in value 15% a
year, so why not buy now and sell a few years down the road?
Greed took over. Those risky loans were sold to
investors by the tens and hundreds of billions of dollars, all over the
world. And as with all debt sandpiles, the fault lines started to appear.
Maybe it was that one loan in Las Vegas that was the critical piece
of sand; we don't know, but the avalanche was triggered.
You may not remember this, but I was writing about
the problems with subprime debt way back in 2005 and 2006. But as the
problem actually emerged, respected people like Ben Bernanke (the chairman
of the Fed) said that the problem was not all that big and that the fallout
would be "contained." (I bet he wishes he could have that statement back!)
But it wasn't contained. It caused banks to realize
that what they thought was AAA credit was actually a total loss. And as
banks looked at what was on their books, they wondered about their fellow
banks. How bad were they? Who knew? Since no one did, they stopped lending
to each other. Credit simply froze. They stopped taking each other's letters
of credit, and that hurt world trade. Because banks were losing money, they
stopped lending to smaller businesses. Commercial paper dried up. All those
"safe" off-balance-sheet funds that banks created were now folding (what my
friend Paul McCulley first labeled as the Shadow Banking System). Everyone
sold what they could, not what they wanted to, to cover their debts. It was
a true panic. Businesses started laying off people, who in turn stopped
spending as much.
As I read through this again, I think I have an
insight. It is one of the reasons we get "fat tails." In theory, returns on
investment should look like a smooth bell curve, with the ends tapering off
into nothing. According to the theoretical distribution, events that deviate
from the mean by five or more standard deviations ("5-sigma events") are
extremely rare, with 10 or more sigma being practically impossible – at
least in theory. However, under certain circumstances, such events are more
common than expected; 15-sigma or even rarer events have happened in the
world of investments. Examples of such unlikely events include Long Term
Capital in the late '90s and any of a dozen bubbles in history. Because the
real-world commonality of high-sigma events is much greater than in theory,
the distribution is "fatter" at the extremes ("tails") than a truly normal
one.
Thus, the build-up of critical states, those
fingers of instability, is perpetuated even as, and precisely because, we
hedge risks. We try to "stabilize" the risks we see, shoring them up with
derivatives, emergency plans, insurance, and all manner of risk-control
procedures. And by doing so, the economic system can absorb body blows that
would have been severe only a few decades ago. We distribute the risks and
the effects of the risk throughout the system.
Yet as we reduce the known risks, we sow the seeds
for the next 10-sigma event. It is the improbable risks that we do not yet
see that will create the next real crisis. It is not that the fingers of
instability have been removed from the equation, it is that they are in
different places and are not yet visible.
A second related concept is from game theory. The
Nash equilibrium (named after John Nash, he of The
Beautiful Mind) is a kind of optimal strategy for games involving two
or more players, whereby the players reach an outcome to mutual advantage.
If there is a set of strategies for a game with the property that no player
can benefit by changing his strategy while (if) the other players keep their
strategies unchanged, then that set of strategies and the corresponding
payoffs constitute a Nash equilibrium.
A Stable Disequilibrium
So we end up in a critical state of what Paul
McCulley calls a "stable disequilibrium." We have "players" of this game
from all over the world tied inextricably together in a vast dance through
investment, debt, derivatives, trade, globalization, international business,
and finance. Each player works hard to maximize their own personal outcome
and to reduce their exposure to "fingers of instability."
But the longer we go on, asserts Minsky, the more
likely and violent an "avalanche" is. The more the fingers of instability
can build. The more that state of stable disequilibrium can go critical on
us.
Go back to 1997. Thailand began to experience
trouble. The debt explosion in Asia began to unravel. Russia was defaulting
on its bonds. (Astounding. Was it less than ten years ago? Now Russian is
awash in capital. Who could anticipate such a dramatic turn of events?)
Things on the periphery, small fingers of instability, began to impinge on
fault lines in the major world economies. Something that had not been seen
before happened: the historically sound and logical relationship between 29-
and 30-year bonds broke down. Then country after country suddenly and
inexplicably saw that relationship in their bonds begin to correlate, an
unheard-of event. A diversified pool of debt was suddenly no longer
diversified.
The fingers of instability reached into Long Term
Capital Management and nearly brought the financial world to its knees.
If it were not for the fact that we are coming to
the closing innings of the Debt Supercycle, we would already be in a robust
recovery. But we are not. And sadly, we have a long way to go with this
deleveraging process. It will take years.
You can't borrow your way out of a debt crisis,
whether you are a family or a nation. And, as too many families are finding
out today, if you lose your job you can lose your home. People who were once
very creditworthy are now filing for bankruptcy and walking away from homes.
All those subprime loans going bad put huges numbers of homes back onto the
market, which caused prices to fall on all homes, which caused an entire
home-construction industry to collapse, which hurt all sorts of ancillary
businesses, which caused more people to lose their jobs and give up their
homes, and on and on. The connections in the housing part of the sandpile
were long and deep.
It's all connected. We built a very unstable sand
pile and it came crashing down, and now we have to dig out from the problem.
And the problem was too much debt. It will take years, as banks write off
home loans and commercial real estate and more, and we get down to a more
reasonable level of debt as a country and as a world.
And, bringing this tale of instability up to date,
we find that Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues worldwide have
taken much of the burden of sovereign debt upon their mighty shoulders. But
as they push their Sisyphean, quantitative easing boulders up the
ever-steepening sandpile of the global economy, which side of the pile will
collapse first? Will it be the European side, already dangerously unstable?
Or the Japanese side, where the QE boulder is about to grow into a real
whopper? Or could it happen over on the China slope, which is riddled with
fiscal and financial crevasses?
And lest we be complacent here in the US, we only
need
Niall Ferguson to remind us, as he did here at the
conference this morning, that the US may be in the grip of a profound
structural malaise that neither easing nor austerity can relieve. I'll have
much more to say about Niall's presentation and those of our other speakers
in coming weeks. We were treated to some world-class thinking and
synthesizing of views here today, with much more to come tomorrow! And I'll
keep on asking everyone who comes to the stage, "But what about Japan?"
Our 10th Annual Strategic Investment
Conference is definitely shaping up as our best ever. And with intellects
like Niall Ferguson, Lacy Hunt, and Nouriel Roubini, as well as premier
investment managers that include the entire partner team from GaveKal (Louis
and Charles Gave and Anatole Kaletsky), Jeffrey Gundlach,
Kyle Bass, and Mohamed El-Erian, how could it not
be the best? In his afternoon presentation, Mohamed did a beautiful job of
tying together the themes we focused on today – and he was introduced by his
best friend (and early-morning walking and debating partner), the
irrepressible and incorrigible Paul McCulley, who was also our keynote
speaker last night.
The conference is turning out to be everything that
my co-host, Altegris, and I hoped and expected it would be. We are already
working hard to get the conference videos ready, in order to send them to
the attendees and all Mauldin Circle members over the coming weeks. In the
meantime, here is a great montage from last year's conference for you to
enjoy. If you are not yet a Mauldin Circle member, let
this clip remind you of the unique benefits
offered to those who join my inner circle.
"PBS Frontline Nails It On How Wall Street Screws Main Street," by
Andrew Haigney, Business Insider, May 5, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-retirement-gamble-pbs-frontline-exposes-how-wall-street-screws-main-street-2013-5
"6 Retirement Accounts You Should Know
About (Part2)," by Laura Adams, Money Girl, April 23, 2013, Episode
311 ---
http://moneygirl.quickanddirtytips.com/retirement-plan-types-pt2.aspx
Frontline broadcast on "The Retirement
Gamble," April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/
For details see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/the-retirement-gamble-facing-us-all/
If you’ve been watching any commercial television
lately, you are well aware that the financial services industry is very busy
running expensive ads imploring us to worry about our retirement futures.
Open a new account today, they say.
They are not wrong that we should be doing
something: America is facing a retirement crisis. One in three Americans has
no retirement savings at all. One in two reports that they can’t save
enough. On top of that, we are living longer, and health care costs, as we
all know, are increasing.
But, as I found when investigating the retirement
planning and mutual funds industries in The Retirement Gamble, which airs
tonight on FRONTLINE, those advertisements are imploring us to start saving
for one simple reason. Retirement is big business — and very profitable. It
doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the more we save into the
industry’s financial products, the more money they make in fees and
commissions trading our hard-earned cash. And as long as they don’t run away
with our money or invest it in a Ponzi scheme, they have little in the way
of accountability to us when something goes wrong. And even then it can be
hard to fight back.
Big banks, brokerages, insurance companies and
other financial service providers operate under something called a
suitability standard — which says they don’t have to give you the best
advice, just advice that isn’t too egregiously terrible.
Let’s say you sit down with an adviser at your
brokerage or bank and ask for some advice on how you should allocate your
retirement savings, or which funds you might want to choose for your IRA.
You’ll get lots of advice, but chances are it won’t
be worth much. Eighty five percent of all financial advisers and financial
planners are really just brokers or salesman. Their incentive is to sell you
a product that makes them a higher commission, not necessarily a product
that maximizes your chances of saving more. Only 15 percent of advisers are
“fiduciaries” — advisers who by law must operate with your best interests in
mind.
Last year, the Obama administration proposed a rule
to mandate that all financial advisers, financial planners and other
assorted financial wizards would have to adopt a fiduciary standard when it
came to employee retirement accounts such as your 401(k) or IRA account. The
financial services industry, which today manages something upwards of $10
trillion of our retirement nest eggs, thought this was a bad idea and pushed
back hard. Scores of their protest letters poured into the U.S. Labor
Department, the branch of our government responsible for regulating employee
retirement accounts.
Congress, too, was hit with a furious lobbying
campaign. This would be way too expensive, the industry said; if we have to
provide such a standard of service, we will either have to pack up and find
another business line, or have to pass the increased costs on to our
customers. The Obama administration pulled their proposal last fall.
How would a new fiduciary rule change things?
Chances are you would be sold less expensive products, not only in your IRA
accounts but inside your company 401(k) as well. It’s all about fees. While
reporting on retirement plans for FRONTLINE, nothing has been more
surprising to me than the corrosive effect of fees on our retirement
savings.
It’s this simple: Fund fees can erode as much as
half or more of your prospective gains.
For the sake of dramatizing the point, John Bogle,
founder of Vanguard, the world’s largest mutual fund company and pioneer of
low-cost index funds, gave me a startling example while we were filming.
Assume you are invested in a mutual fund, he says, with a gross return of 7
percent, but that the mutual fund charges you an annual fee of 2 percent.
Over a 50-year investing lifetime, that little 2
percent fee will erode 63 percent of what you would have had. As Bogle puts
it, “the tyranny of compounding costs” is overwhelming.
In short, fees matter. So what can you do? You
aren’t going to find a fund that invests your money for free, but experts
say you can come close by buying index funds. Their fees can be a tenth of
what the average mutual funds charges. And over time, in bull and bear
markets, on average, index funds perform better than their more expensive
actively managed fund cousins. This is no secret to anyone who is paying
attention.
So why aren’t our trusted financial advisers and
those ads telling us to buy index funds? Why do some 401(k) plans not even
offer them on their menus?
It’s because even though an index fund might be a
better option for you and me, a broker operating under a suitability
standard has no incentive to sell it to us. He or she will make higher
commissions from options that have higher fees.
Sadly, a recent AARP study reported that 70 percent
of mutual fund savers were not even aware that they were paying any fees at
all.
Continued in article
Dan Stone's summary of the above Frontline
show:
Enjoyed it though didn't
find much new here. Basic messages:
1. index funds are cheaper and, in the long run, preferred (Jack Bogle)
2. managed funds are a scam to generate fees for the mutual fund industry
(which some would certainly debate)
3. most Americans don't have enough for retirement
4. mutual funds make it hard to determine their fees
5. the financial services industry, through massive donations, prevents any
attempts to increase transparency in the financial services industry.
I've bought Pound Foolish, after hearing an interview with its author, but
haven't
started reading it yet
(http://www.amazon.com/Pound-Foolish-Exposing-
Personal-Industry/dp/1591844894)
Dan Stone
Bob Jensen's personal finance helpers
(but not his advice which is free and not worth the money) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers
Remember that my financial advice is free and probably not
worth the money. After selling the family farm in Iowa and my home in San
Antonio, most of my liquid savings are invested in an enormous Vanguard
Long-Term "Guaranteed" Tax Exempt Fund.
"Apocalypse, Not Now, for Municipal Bonds," by Randall W. Forsyth, Barron's,
April 23, 2013 ---
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748703889404578438641361922074.html?mod=BOL_da_udwsd#articleTabs_article%3D0
$573.2 million in Munis defaulted in 2013 (0.6% of the $3.7 trillion
outstanding) .
My investment returns were very satisfactory and stable throughout the economic
crisis that sent stocks soaring.
At my age I care more about steady annual tax-exempt cash flows rather than
valuation ups and downs and hyper inflation risk.
When I need cash for something big like a new tractor I simply write a Vanguard
check. I love the liquidity of this fund.
Fortunately, however, my TIAA lifetime annuities cover virtually all of our
living expenses, including payments on a large mortgage.
I could write a Vanguard check to pay off the mortgage, but there are tax
advantages of not doing so unless unlikely tax reform clobbers tax exempt
interest income.
"Here's Why So Many Wealthy Athletes Wind Up Broke," by Claes Bell,
Business Insider, April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/4-money-lessons-from-broke-athletes-2013-4
. . .
Whether you're making $50,000 a year or $5 million,
poor tax planning, overspending and other common errors can trash your
finances, Dawson says. Here are four common money mistakes that typically
land athletes in trouble, and how you can avoid them.
Continued in article (Slide Show)
Before wasting money for investment advice, take advantage of free services
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers
And don't end up an prison like Wesley Snipes who gambled with the IRS and lost.
Also carefully study the following:
Frontline broadcast on "The Retirement Gamble," April 23, 2013 ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/
For details see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/the-retirement-gamble-facing-us
April 23, 2013 message from David Albrecht
"Worst practices for misconduct authors," April 22, 2013
- There are several ideas going around in my head regarding the
reasons for the growing plagiarism in academic publications and that
someone is willing to get into this game for money:
- There is great
pressure to publish.
- Capitalism is pervading everything.
- In general, professors are not well paid.
- Some publishing activities are not
remunerated, as academic editor or
peer review.
- And trying to clarify this issue in blogs and
online discussions, I have been able to make a list of the types of
plagiarism that currently exist, that could be seen as the worst
practices for pirate-authors:
- Plagiarism: kidnapping or appropriation of
others thoughts and ideas without acknowledging its source.
- Self-plagiarism or
recycling fraud: reuse of your own texts
without attributing previous publication.
- Ghost writing: write books, articles or other
texts that are credited to another person, generally for money.
- Honorary authorship: include authors in a
publication without adding value or contributing, inflating its
credentials.
- Duplicate publication: use your own
publications more than once, changing the title and abstract.
-
Salami slicing: creating several short
publications out of material that could have, perhaps more validly, been
published as a single article in a journal or review.
- Remix or mosaic plagiarism: mixing several
publications to obtain more publishable units.
- Image and data manipulation: modify data and
results to obtain another document for publication.
Continued in article.
I always feel the pressure to complete another article and send it off.
The buzz from an acceptance lasts about three hours. Then the
realization sets in that it is now part of the historical archive, and
the clock is ticking until it gets replaced with a more current
publication.
David Albrecht
Bob Jensen's threads on professors and teachers who cheated---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#ProfessorsWhoPlagiarize
"Wheelchair-bound woman, son accused of massive retail theft scheme,"
by Marie Saavedra, azfamily, April 22, 2013 ---
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Wheelchair-bound-woman-son-accused-of-massive-retail-theft-scheme-204205781.html
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Credit Default Swaps (CDS) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap
"Global Financial Stability Report: Old Risks, New Challenges"
International Monetary Fund
April 2013
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/154106200/IMF Report
The Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR)
assesses key risks facing the global financial system. In normal times, the
report seeks to play a role in preventing crises by highlighting policies
that may mitigate systemic risks, thereby contributing to global financial
stability and the sustained economic growth of the IMF’s member countries.
Risks to financial stability have declined since the October 2012 GFSR,
providing support to the economy and prompting a rally in risk assets. These
favorable conditions reflect a combination of deeper policy commitments,
renewed monetary stimulus, and continued liquidity support. The current
report analyzes the key challenges facing financial and nonfinancial firms
as they continue to repair their balance sheets and unwind debt overhangs.
The report also takes a closer look at the sovereign credit default swaps
market to determine its usefulness and its susceptibility to speculative
excesses. Lastly, the report examines the issue of unconventional monetary
policy (“MP-plus”) and its potential side effects, and suggests the use of
macroprudential policies, as needed, to lessen vulnerabilities, allowing
country authorities to continue using MP-plus to support growth while
protecting financial stability.
The analysis in this report has been coordinated by
the Monetary and Capital Markets (MCM) Department under the general
direction of José Viñals, Financial Counsellor and Director. The project has
been directed by Jan Brockmeijer and Robert Sheehy, both Deputy Directors;
Peter Dattels and Laura Kodres, Assistant Directors; and Matthew Jones,
Advisor. It has benefited from comments and suggestions from the senior
staff in the MCM department.
Individual contributors to the report are: Ali Al-Eyd,
Sergei Antoshin, Serkan Arslanalp, Craig Botham, Jorge A. Chan-Lau, Yingyuan
Chen, Ken Chikada, Julian Chow, Nehad Chowdhury, Sean Craig, Reinout De
Bock, Jennifer Elliott, Michaela Erbenova, Jeanne Gobat, Brenda González-Hermosillo,
Dale Gray, Sanjay Hazarika, Heiko Hesse, Changchun Hua, Anna Ilyina, Tommaso
Mancini-Griffoli, S. Erik Oppers, Bradley Jones, Marcel Kasumovich, William
Kerry, John Kiff, Frederic Lambert, Rebecca McCaughrin, Peter Lindner, André
Meier, Paul Mills, Nada Oulidi, Hiroko Oura, Evan Papageorgiou, Vladimir
Pillonca, Jaume Puig, Jochen Schmittmann, Miguel Segoviano, Jongsoon Shin,
Stephen Smith, Nobuyasu Sugimoto, Narayan Suryakumar, Takahiro Tsuda,
Kenichi Ueda, Nico Valckx, and Chris Walker. Martin Edmonds, Mustafa Jamal,
Oksana Khadarina, and Yoon Sook Kim provided analytical support. Gerald
Gloria, Nirmaleen Jayawardane, Juan Rigat, Adriana Rota, and Ramanjeet Singh
were responsible for word processing. Eugenio Cerutti, Ali Sharifkhani, and
Hui Tong provided database and programming support. Joanne Johnson and Gregg
Forte of the External Relations Department edited the manuscript and the
External Relations Department coordinated production of the publication.
This particular issue draws, in part, on a series
of discussions with banks, clearing organizations, securities firms, asset
management companies, hedge funds, standards setters, financial consultants,
pension funds, central banks, national treasuries, and academic researchers.
The report reflects information available up to April 2, 2013.
The report benefited from comments and suggestions
from staff in other IMF departments, as well as from Executive Directors
following their discussion of the Global Financial Stability Report on April
1, 2013. However, the analysis and policy considerations are those of the
contributing staff and should not be attributed to the Executive Directors,
their national authorities, or the IMF.
Jensen Comment
Note that much of this report deals with the state of Credit Default Swaps.
Bob Jensen’s threads on the CDO and CDS scandals ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm#Sleaze
Back in July,
2012 the Danish central bank,
Nationalbanken,
lowered the deposit rate to -0.2
per cent. Back then we wrote
that it was going to be costly
for the banks, and that money
market rates were going deeper
into negative territory. With
Draghi’s
comments last week, how did
that whole negative deposit rate
action turn out for Denmark?
Nordea had a
note out last week on that
very subject. Now, before we
move, let’s remember that Danish
monetary policy is tailored
around the
FX peg. The deposit rate was
there to assure outflow because
of mounting pressure on the EUR/DKK
pair. Read
more (for a fee)
Read the comments at
https://twitter.com/edwardnh/statuses/331729766426218496
How to Lie With Statistics
White Paper ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitepaper
A Dishonest White Paper from Dell ---
http://lepinski.net/2013/04/hey-look-a-dishonest-whitepaper/
Link to the Suspicious White Paper ---
http://partnerdirect.dell.com/sites/channel/Documents/Tablets-in-Large-Enterprises-Latitude-10-vs-Apple-iPad-White-Paper.pdf
How to Lie With Statistics: This one Cost Billions of Taxpayer Dollars
"New York Times: : Breitbart was right about Pigford," by Ed
Morrissey, HotAir, April 26, 2013 ---
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/26/nyt-breitbart-was-right-about-pigford/
It’s rare to get this kind of vindication, so let’s
enjoy it in memory of Andrew Breitbart for as long as possible. For
more than two years, Andrew and
Lee Stranahan have
investigated the Pigford settlement and the fraudulent claims that not only
have cost taxpayers billions, but have left the original black farmers who
sued the USDA over discrimination in the lurch. Today
the New York Times reports what Andrew and Lee
have been saying all along — that the Pigford settlement was a political
hack job by Tom Vilsack’s Department of Agriculture, and that it’s a magnet
for fraud (via
Twitchy):
The compensation effort
sprang from a desire to redress what the government and a federal judge
agreed was a painful legacy of bias against African-Americans by the
Agriculture Department. But an examination by The New York Times shows
that it became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from
influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more
than $130 million in fees. In the past five years, it has grown to
encompass a second group of African-Americans as well as Hispanic,
female and Native American farmers. In all, more than 90,000 people have
filed claims. The total cost could top $4.4 billion.
From the start, the
claims process prompted allegations of widespread fraud and criticism
that its very design encouraged people to lie: because relatively few
records remained to verify accusations, claimants were not required to
present documentary evidence that they had been unfairly treated or had
even tried to farm. Agriculture Department reviewers found reams of
suspicious claims, from nursery-school-age children and pockets of urban
dwellers, sometimes in the same handwriting with nearly identical
accounts of discrimination.
Yet those concerns were
played down as the compensation effort grew. Though the government has
started requiring more evidence to support some claims, even now people
who say they were unfairly denied loans can collect up to $50,000 with
little documentation.
As a senator, Barack
Obama supported expanding compensation for
black farmers, and then as president he pressed for $1.15 billion to pay
those new claims. Other groups quickly escalated their demands for
similar treatment. In a letter to the White House in September 2009,
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a leading Hispanic Democrat,
threatened to mount a campaign “outside the Beltway” if Hispanic farmers
were not compensated.
Career litigators, who had
successfully defended the Agriculture Department all the way to the Supreme
Court, were aghast:
The payouts pitted Mr.
Vilsack and other political appointees against career lawyers and agency
officials, who argued that the legal risks did not justify the costs.
Beyond that, they said
it was legally questionable to sidestep Congress and compensate the
Hispanic and female farmers out of a special Treasury Department
account, known as the Judgment Fund. The fund is restricted to payments
of court-approved judgments and settlements, as well as to out-of-court
settlements in cases where the government faces imminent litigation that
it could lose. Some officials argued that tapping the fund for the
farmers set a bad precedent, since most had arguably never contemplated
suing and might not have won if they had.
Be sure to read it all, but
it’s difficult to argue with Byron York’s assessment of the story:
https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/327724337232760832
Perhaps now that the New
York Times has exposed this, a few lawmakers might get shamed into doing
something about it. That would really put a smile on Andrew’s face.
Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
The New Rosy Intangibles GDP Index
When reading and math scores were showing how NYC schools were failing, the
NYC teachers reacted by increasing the number of A and B grades to 97% until bad
publicity forced them to retreat just a little. When California students were
performing worse on achievement tests, the State elected to make the tests
easier.
When economic tracking statistic performances are bad, the government
paints a brighter picture by changing the definition of indices like inflation
and GDP to paint a brighter, albeit deceptive, picture of itself.
In the case of inflation, the government took out price changes in things
like fuel and food to make inflation not appear to be so bad.
Here's what's happening with a similar change in the GDP index.
"Changing the Conversation," by Peter Schiff, Townhall, April 27, 2013
---
Click Here
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/peterschiff/2013/04/27/changing-the-conversation-n1580292?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
Jensen Comment
Peter Schiff is about the only analyst in 2006 to warn that the real estate
bubble was going to burst. Virtually all the other analysts thought he was nuts
until the housing market crashed under the weight of tens of millions of
fraudulent mortgages.
From the Scout Report on April 26, 2013
PC Image Editor 5.2 ---
http://www.program4pc.com/image_editor.html#page=page-1
This image editor is one of the better ones
available, and it is designed to be used by everyone from amateur
shutterbugs to seasoned professionals. This editor supports eleven image
formats, image alignment, color adjust, image dimension manipulation, and
more. This particular version is compatible with computers running Windows
XP and newer.
SoundCloudNav ---
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/soundcloudnav/nopkchcbhjjeaacnipimcelfchiifaip/
For people who like to use SoundCloud to control
their musical selections while working, this helpful plug-in will be a
welcome find. SoundCloudNav will allow users to explore different tracks and
manipulate them as they see fit. This version is compatible with all
computers utilizing Google Chrome.
Old recordings allow researchers and public to hear the voices of the
past
We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/We-Had-No-Idea-What-Alexander-Graham-Bell-Sounded-Like-Until-Now-204137471.html
Playing the Unplayable Records
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Playing-the-Unplayable-Records.html
Curators discover first recordings of Christmas Day
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20772246
Listen as Albert Einstein Reads 'The Common Language of Science' (1941)
http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/listen_as_albert_einstein_reads_the_common_language_of_science_1941.html
Extracting Audio from Pictures
http://mediapreservation.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/extracting-audio-from-pictures/
The Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Center Online
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/onlinecollections.html
From the Scout Report on May 3, 2013
Sharable ---
http://sharable.in/
At some time or another, we all need to share
files, images, documents, and more. You can access all of these files easily
with Sharable. This application uses existing Wi-Fi networks to transfer
files in a way that's a bit less involved than using an Internet-based
service or a cable. The site includes detailed information on how to use the
application with any number of devices. This version is compatible with all
operating systems.
Desktop iCalendar Lite ---
http://www.desksware.com/desktop-icalendar-lite.htm
There are many calendars that can be used for any
number of purposes, such as organizing family outings or important work
functions. Desktop iCalendar Lite is one such program of note, allowing
visitors to sync it up with Google Calendar. This free version allows users
to create a customizable skin, a detailed to-do list, and also set an array
of reminders. It is compatible with Windows operating systems
20 years ago, the World Wide Web opened for business
WWW opened to all 20 years ago today; world's first website restored
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-web-20th-anniversary-20130430,0,2025840.story
Team rebuilding world's first website
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/tech/web/first-website-cern/
Hands up if you prefer the world's first website to what's come since
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/hands-up-if-you-prefer-the-worlds-first-website-to-whats-come-since-8597877.html
History of the Web: World Wide Web Foundation
http://www.webfoundation.org/vision/history-of-the-web/
Hypertext: Behind the Hype
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9212/hype.htm
Five Best Early Internet Ads
http://www.geek.com/news/youtube-five-best-early-internet-ads-1360967/
Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance,
economics, and statistics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Education Tutorials
Video: Why Google in Investing in Deep Learning ---
Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/video/513931/why-google-is-investing-in-deep-learning/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20130424
American Lives ---
http://amlives.artsci.wustl.edu/index.php
Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch
"4 Tips for Teachers Working with Visually Impaired Students Online,"
by Bridget McCrea, T.H.E. Journal, April 29, 2013 ---
http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/04/29/4-tips-for-teachers-working-with-visually-impaired-students-online.aspx?=THE21
Bob Jensen's Tools and Tricks of the Trade when teaching handicapped
students ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
Science: Video Portal ---
http://video.sciencemag.org/
Science Matters ---
http://epa.gov/research/sciencematters/
Bioinformatics Activity Bank ---
http://teachingbioinformatics.fandm.edu/
Understanding Life (physiology) ---
http://www.understanding-life.org/
Reproductive Physiology Animations ---
http://drc.libraries.uc.edu/handle/2374.UC/6
Impact: Earth! ---
http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth
Google Reveals the Evolution of Our Planet in Timelapse Motion ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/google_reveals_the_evolution_of_our_planet_in_timelapse_motion.html
EarthViewer (History of the Earth Created for the iPad) ---
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/earthviewer/index.html
National Science Foundation: Publications
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/
Scitable (free library of science) ---
http://www.nature.com/scitable
The Concord Consortium: Projects (science education) ---
http://concord.org/projects
The Science of Fire ---
http://everydayeinstein.quickanddirtytips.com/science-of-fire.aspx
Penn State University Case Studies in Engineering Science ---
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ethics/casestudies.asp
Cornell University Cooperative Extension ---
http://www.cce.cornell.edu/Pages/Default.aspx
"Comfortable Camps?" Archaeology of the Confederate Guard Camp at the
Florence Stockade ---
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/142Florence/142FlorenceStockade.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on free online science,
engineering, and medicine tutorials are at ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science
Social Science and Economics Tutorials
An Introduction to Great Economists — Adam Smith, the Physiocrats & More —
Presented in New MOOC ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/an_introduction_to_great_economists_--_adam_smith_the_physiocrats_more_--_presented_in_new_mooc.html
Open Knowledge Repository (World Bank Site on Poverty) ---
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/
Engineers Against Poverty ---
http://www.engineersagainstpoverty.org/
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
--- http://naehcy.org/
Urban Institute: CHA Families and the Plan for Transformation (Chicago
Housing ---
http://www.urban.org/housing/Transforming-Public-Housing-in-Chicago.cfm
Cornell University Cooperative Extension ---
http://www.cce.cornell.edu/Pages/Default.aspx
American Lives ---
http://amlives.artsci.wustl.edu/index.php
UrbanLand --- http://urbanland.uli.org/
Sea Power and American Interests in the Western Pacific ---
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR151.html
OECD Working Papers Series ---
http://www.oecd.org/about/publishing/oecdworkingpapersseries.htm
Virtually Members: The Facebook and Twitter Followers of UK Political Parties
---
http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/virtually-members
Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and
Philosophy tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social
Law and Legal Studies
Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Law
Math Tutorials
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
History Tutorials
Open Knowledge Repository (World Bank Site on Poverty) ---
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/
Existentialism ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
The Philosophy of Kierkegaard, the First Existentialist Philosopher, Revisited
in 1984 Documentary ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_philosophy_of_kierkegaard.html
The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/the_history_of_coffee_and_how_it_transformed_our_world.html
Includes the concept of inequality
Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
---
http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/
Arkansas Heritage ---
http://www.arkansasheritage.com/
Shared History: Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas ---
http://scipio.uark.edu/cdm4/index_HappyHollow.php?CISOROOT=/HappyHollow
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture ---
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/
Digital Arts ---
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/
Dartmouth Digital Collections: Films ---
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/dartmouthfilms/
Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Portraits ---
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/caption/captionliljenquist.html
Matthew Brady's Portraits of Union Generals ---
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/uniongenerals/
"Comfortable Camps?" Archaeology of the Confederate Guard Camp at the
Florence Stockade ---
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/142Florence/142FlorenceStockade.htm
Cold War International History Project ---
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/cold-war-international-history-project
Sea Power and American Interests in the Western Pacific ---
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR151.html
American Lives ---
http://amlives.artsci.wustl.edu/index.php
OECD Working Papers Series ---
http://www.oecd.org/about/publishing/oecdworkingpapersseries.htm
British Columbia Historical Newspapers ---
http://historicalnewspapers.library.ubc.ca/
British Columbia's History of
Education Web site http://www.mala.bc.ca/homeroom/
In Their Words: The Story of British
Columbia Fish Packers ---
http://www.intheirwords.ca/
Andrew McCormick Maps and Prints
(Canada) ---
http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/landingpage/collection/mccor
Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport ---
http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/home.shtm
Parks Canada ---
http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/pr-sp/index_e.asp
The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project ---
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php
Natural Resources Canada: Earth
Sciences ---
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/home
The Association of Jewish Libraries ---
http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/
Center for Jewish History: Digital Collections ---
http://access.cjh.org/
Yiddish Sheet Music ---
http://library.brown.edu/cds/sheetmusic/yiddish/
Words Like Sapphires: 100 Years of Hebraica at the Library of
Congress (Hebrew and Yiddish) ---
http://myloc.gov/exhibitions/words-like-sapphires/Pages/default.aspx
American Jewess Project ---
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/amjewess/
Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive (includes comedy and music) ---
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~djsa/
American Jewess Project ---
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/amjewess/
Women Who Rock Oral History Archive ---
http://content.lib.washington.edu/wwrweb/
The History of Typography Told in Five Animated Minutes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/the_history_of_typography.html
Sicily: Art and Invention ---
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/sicily/index.html
From the Scout Report on May 3, 2013
20 years ago, the World Wide Web opened for business
WWW opened to all 20 years ago today; world's first website restored
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-web-20th-anniversary-20130430,0,2025840.story
Team rebuilding world's first website
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/tech/web/first-website-cern/
Hands up if you prefer the world's first website to what's come since
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/hands-up-if-you-prefer-the-worlds-first-website-to-whats-come-since-8597877.html
History of the Web: World Wide Web Foundation
http://www.webfoundation.org/vision/history-of-the-web/
Hypertext: Behind the Hype
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9212/hype.htm
Five Best Early Internet Ads
http://www.geek.com/news/youtube-five-best-early-internet-ads-1360967/
From the Scout Report on April 26, 2013
Old recordings allow researchers and public to hear the voices of the
past
We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/We-Had-No-Idea-What-Alexander-Graham-Bell-Sounded-Like-Until-Now-204137471.html
Playing the Unplayable Records
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Playing-the-Unplayable-Records.html
Curators discover first recordings of Christmas Day
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20772246
Listen as Albert Einstein Reads 'The Common Language of Science' (1941)
http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/listen_as_albert_einstein_reads_the_common_language_of_science_1941.html
Extracting Audio from Pictures
http://mediapreservation.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/extracting-audio-from-pictures/
The Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Center Online
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/onlinecollections.html
Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History
Also see
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Language Tutorials
Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Languages
Music Tutorials
Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection ---
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/reed/
Bob Jensen's threads on free music tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Music
Bob Jensen's threads on music performances ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Writing Tutorials
When to use a comma in front of or behind the
word "because" --- Click Here
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/can-you-start-a-sentence-with-because.aspx?utm_source=GG20130430&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=grammargirl
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
Updates from WebMD ---
http://www.webmd.com/
April 23, 2013
April 24, 2013
April 25, 2013
April 26, 2013
April 27, 2013
April 29, 2013
April 30, 2013
May 1, 2013
May 2, 2013
May 3, 2013
May 4, 2013
May 6, 2013
May 7, 2013
May 8, 2013
May 9, 2013
May 10, 2013
"The Cause of High Blood Pressure Revealed By Computer Modelling,"
MIT's Technology Review, May 7, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514611/the-cause-of-high-blood-pressure-revealed-by-computer-modelling/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20130508
Antibiotics May Relieve Back Pain Symptoms, Harvard's WebMD ---
http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/20130510/antibiotics_back_pain
Will half the spine surgeons go on food stamps? Yeah right!
A retired physician friend is dubious of the article below.
"Back Pain Breakthrough Could Eliminate Need For Nearly Half Of Spinal
Surgeries," by Ian Sample (The Guardian), Business Insider, May 7, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/back-pain-breakthrough-could-eliminate-need-for-nearly-half-of-spinal-surgeries-2013-5
Up to 40% of patients with chronic back pain could
be cured with a course of antibiotics rather than surgery, in a medical
breakthrough that one spinal surgeon says is worthy of a Nobel prize.
Surgeons in the UK and elsewhere are reviewing how
they treat patients with chronic back pain after scientists discovered that
many of the worst cases were due to bacterial infections.
The shock finding means that scores of patients
with unrelenting lower back pain will no longer face major operations but
can instead be cured with courses of antibiotics costing around £114.
One of the UK's most eminent spinal surgeons said
the discovery was the greatest he had witnessed in his professional life,
and that its impact on medicine was worthy of a Nobel prize.
"This is vast. We are talking about probably half
of all spinal surgery for back pain being replaced by taking antibiotics,"
said Peter Hamlyn, a consultant neurological and spinal surgeon at
University College London hospital.
Hamlyn recently operated on rugby player Tom Croft,
who was called up for the British and Irish Lions summer tour last month
after missing most of the season with a broken neck.
Specialists who deal with back pain have long known
that infections are sometimes to blame, but these cases were thought to be
exceptional. That thinking has been overturned by scientists at the
University of Southern Denmark who found that 20% to 40% of chronic lower
back pain was caused by bacterial infections.
In Britain today, around 4 million people can
expect to suffer from chronic lower back pain at some point in their lives.
The latest work suggests that more than half a million of them would benefit
from antibiotics.
"This will not help people with normal back pain,
those with acute, or sub-acute pain – only those with chronic lower back
pain," Dr Hanne Albert, of the Danish research team, told the Guardian.
"These are people who live a life on the edge because they are so
handicapped with pain. We are returning them to a form of normality they
would never have expected."
Claus Manniche, a senior researcher in the group,
said the discovery was the culmination of 10 years of hard work. "It's been
tough. There have been ups and downs. This is one those questions that a lot
of our colleagues did not understand at the beginning. To find bacteria
really confronts all we have thought up to this date as back pain
researchers," he said.
The Danish team describe their work in two papers
published in the European Spine Journal. In the first report, they explain
how bacterial infections inside slipped discs can cause painful inflammation
and tiny fractures in the surrounding vertebrae.
Working with doctors in Birmingham, the Danish team
examined tissue removed from patients for signs of infection. Nearly half
tested positive, and of these, more than 80% carried bugs called
Propionibacterium acnes.
Read more from WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/20130510/antibiotics_back_pain
"Memory Implants: A maverick neuroscientist believes he has
deciphered the code by which the brain forms long-term memories," by John
Cohen, MIT's Technology Review, April 23, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/513681/memory-implants/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20130430
Jensen Comment
It will be useful to get this implanted before going to a class reunion. Sadly,
I would then remember old classmates that can no longer remember me.
A Bit of Humor
Evian Commercial ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxB5ut-KTs
Woman calls cops to report that kittens are having sex in her yard ---
http://now.msn.com/wisconsin-woman-calls-police-to-report-kittens-having-sex#scpshrtu
Ten Pills and You're Fine ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4U1ShwjleSE
The Diving Giraffes (Yeah Right!) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=uFxnBrO9n7o&sns=em
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting humor ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm#Humor
Forwarded by Paula
A priest dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him is a
guy who's dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.
Saint Peter addresses this cool guy, 'Who are you, so that I may know whether
or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven ? '
The guy replies, 'I'm Jack, retired airline pilot from Houston.'
Saint Peter consults his list. He smiles and says to the pilot, 'Take this
silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom.' The pilot goes into Heaven
with his robe and staff.
Next, it's the priest's turn. He stands erect and booms out, 'I am Father
Bob, pastor of Saint Mary's for the last 43 years.'
Saint Peter consults his list. He says to the priest, 'Take this cotton robe
and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom.
'Just a minute,' says the good father. 'That man was a pilot and he gets a
silken robe and golden staff and I get only cotton and wood. How can this be?
'Up here - we go by results,' says Saint Peter. 'When you preached - people
slept. When he flew, people prayed.'
Tidbits Archives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter ---
Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron"
enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and
other universities is at
http://www.searchedu.com/
Online Distance Education Training and Education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm
For-Profit Universities Operating in the Gray
Zone of Fraud (College, Inc.) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#ForProfitFraud
Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
-
With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review
(TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
- With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors
Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
- With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of
Accountancy Ignores TAR
- With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research
into Undergraduate Accounting Courses
The Cult of Statistical Significance:
How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm
How Accountics Scientists Should Change:
"Frankly, Scarlett, after I get a hit for my resume in The Accounting Review
I just don't give a damn"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
One more mission in what's left of my life will be to try to change this
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral
Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm
Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and
Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So
Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the
vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews
World Clock ---
http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
Facts about the earth in real time --- http://www.worldometers.info/
Interesting Online Clock
and Calendar
---
http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
Time by Time Zones ---
http://timeticker.com/
Projected Population Growth (it's out of control) ---
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm
Also see
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html
Facts about population growth (video) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Projected U.S. Population Growth ---
http://www.carryingcapacity.org/projections75.html
Real time meter of the U.S. cost of the war in Iraq ---
http://www.costofwar.com/
Enter you zip code to get Census Bureau comparisons ---
http://zipskinny.com/
Sure wish there'd be a little good news today.
Free (updated) Basic Accounting Textbook --- search for Hoyle at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
CPA Examination ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination
Free CPA Examination Review Course Courtesy of Joe Hoyle ---
http://cpareviewforfree.com/
Rick Lillie's education, learning, and technology blog is at
http://iaed.wordpress.com/
Accounting News, Blogs, Listservs, and Social
Networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm
Bob Jensen's Threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New
Bookmarks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called
Tidbits ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud
Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Online Books, Poems, References,
and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available
free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Some of Bob Jensen's Tutorials
Accounting program news items for colleges are posted at
http://www.accountingweb.com/news/college_news.html
Sometimes the news items provide links to teaching resources for accounting
educators.
Any college may post a news item.
Accounting and Taxation News Sites ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm
For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for
free) go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
AECM
(Educators)
http://listserv.aaahq.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?HOME
AECM is an email Listserv list which
provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software
which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the
college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and
peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets,
multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base
programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc.
Over the years the AECM has become the worldwide forum for
accounting educators on all issues of accountancy and accounting
education, including debates on accounting standards, managerial
accounting, careers, fraud, forensic accounting, auditing,
doctoral programs, and critical debates on academic (accountics)
research, publication, replication, and validity testing.
|
CPAS-L
(Practitioners)
http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/ (Closed
Down)
CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of
all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an
unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments,
ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed.
Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L
or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for
a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional
accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or
education. Others will be denied access. |
Yahoo (Practitioners)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk
This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA.
This can be anything from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ
initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA. |
AccountantsWorld
http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1
This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as
accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed
assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and
taxation. |
Business Valuation Group
BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com
This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag
[RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM] |
FEI's Financial Reporting Blog
Smart Stops on the Web, Journal of Accountancy, March 2008 ---
http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/mar2008/smart_stops.htm
FINANCIAL REPORTING PORTAL
www.financialexecutives.org/blog
Find news highlights from the SEC, FASB
and the International Accounting
Standards Board on this financial
reporting blog from Financial Executives
International. The site, updated daily,
compiles regulatory news, rulings and
statements, comment letters on
standards, and hot topics from the Web’s
largest business and accounting
publications and organizations. Look for
continuing coverage of SOX requirements,
fair value reporting and the Alternative
Minimum Tax, plus emerging issues such
as the subprime mortgage crisis,
international convergence, and rules for
tax return preparers. |
|
|
The CAlCPA Tax Listserv September 4, 2008 message from Scott Bonacker
[lister@bonackers.com]
Scott has been a long-time contributor to the AECM listserv (he's a techie as
well as a practicing CPA)
I found another listserve
that is exceptional -
CalCPA maintains
http://groups.yahoo.com/taxtalk/
and they let almost anyone join it.
Jim Counts, CPA is moderator.
There are several highly
capable people that make frequent answers to tax questions posted there, and
the answers are often in depth.
Scott
Scott forwarded the following message from Jim
Counts
Yes you may mention info on
your listserve about TaxTalk. As part of what you say please say [... any
CPA or attorney or a member of the Calif Society of CPAs may join. It is
possible to join without having a free Yahoo account but then they will not
have access to the files and other items posted.
Once signed in on their Yahoo account go to
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxTalk/ and I believe in
top right corner is Join Group. Click on it and answer the few questions and
in the comment box say you are a CPA or attorney, whichever you are and I
will get the request to join.
Be aware that we run on the average 30 or move emails per day. I encourage
people to set up a folder for just the emails from this listserve and then
via a rule or filter send them to that folder instead of having them be in
your inbox. Thus you can read them when you want and it will not fill up the
inbox when you are looking for client emails etc.
We currently have about 830 CPAs and attorneys nationwide but mainly in
California.... ]
Please encourage your members
to join our listserve.
If any questions let me know.
Jim Counts CPA.CITP CTFA
Hemet, CA
Moderator TaxTalk
|
Many useful accounting sites (scroll down) ---
http://www.iasplus.com/links/links.htm
Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New
Bookmarks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called
Tidbits ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud
Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Some
Accounting History Sites
Bob Jensen's
Accounting History in a Nutshell and Links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#AccountingHistory
Accounting
History Libraries at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) ---
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/libraries.html
The above libraries include international accounting history.
The above libraries include film and video historical collections.
MAAW Knowledge Portal for Management and Accounting ---
http://maaw.info/
Academy of Accounting Historians and the Accounting Historians Journal ---
http://www.accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aah/
Sage Accounting History ---
http://ach.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/11/3/269
A nice timeline on the development of U.S. standards and the evolution of
thinking about the income statement versus the balance sheet is provided at:
"The Evolution of U.S. GAAP: The Political Forces Behind Professional
Standards (1930-1973)," by Stephen A. Zeff, CPA Journal, January 2005
---
http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/105/infocus/p18.htm
Part II covering years 1974-2003 published in February 2005 ---
http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/205/index.htm
A nice
timeline of accounting history ---
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2187711/A-HISTORY-OF-ACCOUNTING
From Texas
A&M University
Accounting History Outline ---
http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/history.html
Bob
Jensen's timeline of derivative financial instruments and hedge accounting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds
History of
Fraud in America ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/415wp/AmericanHistoryOfFraud.htm
Also see
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud.htm
Bob Jensen's
Threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and
Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
All
my online pictures ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/PictureHistory/
Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone: 603-823-8482
Email:
rjensen@trinity.edu