Trade Secret Protection

The best way to protect trade secrets: Be sure your employees, customers or clients are not able to get at data that should not be made public.

This is never simple. It’s logical to use trade names and logos that are hard to duplicate. Example: A made-up name such as Kodak.

The best and cheapest way to protect your trademarks, aside from registering them, is to actively use them in commerce. The laws are friendly only to those who employ the names, marks or logos they want protected. Even registration is not an outright guarantee.

And stay out of courts if you possibly can, when you have disputes that concern trade secrets or trademarks. Those with the most money to litigate will win.

Unfortunately, patent and trademark litigation contests often are not examples of prevailing justice. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Proxy Change Attempts

Attempts have been underway for changes in the way proxy votes are permitted and counted.

Street name votes must now have consent of the share beneficiaries. There are now nonbinding shareholder votes on compensation-related issues. Governance changes and board of directors compensation committee changes were also enacted under Dodd-Frank.

Like other restrictions on business, they serve little purpose, other than a play to a voter block that feels the corporation’s primary care is not its product or service, jobs and profits that enable it to operate, but to seek secondary social goals, almost simultaneously.

This fine-tooth-comb meddling is actually unfair to most shareholders because many activist minority shareholders are not interested in genuine company matters. Their primary goals are societal concerns that ought to be rectified by federal, state and local government, not private corporations. And for union organizing.

For years, they have clamored for changes in corporate activity which the vast majority of shareholders would not want. Today, corporations are being nudged by government to actually submit much of the proposals into their proxies. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Bretton Woods and the Dollar Gold Link

From 1947 until 1967, when we had gold- dollar convertibility,

unemployment averaged only 4.7%, with economic growth about 4% annually. Plus, inflation remained relatively low.

In 1971, during the Nixon Administration, the Bretton Woods agreement set up a new system, including the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, part of the World Bank Group. The U.S. dollar became the world reserve currency for the member states. However, slower growth has followed from then; gold today appears to be the preferred reserve of many countries. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

The Dodd-Frank Cure’s Failure

Risk was never overcome by regulation:

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were risky semi-government agencies who were instrumental players in our sub-prime crisis. There was no lack of regulation. But that financial meltdown has resulted in even more regulation with the Dodd-Frank legislation.

Too-big-to-fail banks have since grown bigger than ever. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

The Rampant EPA

Congress has not been able to pass a Cap and Trade bill because the public realizes the proposed legislation is a device for powerful government taxation. The measure is more a means for imposing taxes on industry and consumers, than it is for environmental protection.

So what does the Obama Administration do, in its effort to help reduce emissions it claims the bill will reduce? Especially when global warming is not scientifically proven.

It imposes controls through unelected bureaucrats in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Only they can make CO2, which we exhale, and trees ingest, a poison. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Job Creation By Magic Wand

All jobs are not created equally. The government has its magic wand.

One: Theirs are often not permanent.

Two: Theirs are often part time.

If the work is for government, are they unionized with special pension programs? If the answers are that they are overwhelmingly government-oriented, you know they may be phony and costly. Particularly when so much of the Obama administration stimulus went to states which added government jobs.

Another important statistic: While economists may differ, spending for a government job is known to have an economic multiplier effect, at most, of 1.4 or 1.5, On the other hand, private jobs have an economic multiplier of close to 3.5.

So beware of job claims during a recession, especially when you get those politically-inspired varieties. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Unemployment Check Extension Gimmick

Studies show that most unemployed who are not desperate, put off looking for work until unemployment checks are ready to run out.

Thus, extended unemployment benefits have a negative impact on unemployment statistics. Extending benefits tends to make the unemployment rolls greater, as it’s generally a disincentive for seeking jobs.

But the media operates with just selective reportage. They find a small percentage who truly need more benefits and make it appear that all the unemployed require to be on a dole forever, or else they starve. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Realist Unemployment Numbers

The adjusted unemployment rate now is closer to 17%, not the close to 9% reported by the media and the government. The youngest job-seekers are suffering the most from the current recession.

Average unemployment numbers are what we get, covering all age groups. That average can consist of different classes, each of which is affected differently. Classifications contain teens up to age 25. Or all adults 25 and older Or high school graduates, or college graduates; skilled and unskilled. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

The Unemployment Figure Scam

Here is a scam that will never be fully revealed because the media will continue to hide it from the public.

Raw government-announced unemployment figures are misleading. They must be carefully interpreted. They never fully are by the media, often for politically-slanted purposes.

Examples: Unemployment numbers don’t tell you how long the unemployed have been out of work. Or how many are not working full days or have permanent jobs. Nor how many have given up looking for work. Those out of work a long time may not even be looking for employment, and are not being counted as unemployed,

Moreover, the time of year reported is a factor. And weather conditions may have much to do with short-term implications of job statistics.

If the true number of those unemployed were counted today, the unemployed figure would be closer to 17% than the reported figure under 9%. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

CEO Techniques

Look at the management techniques used by CEOs, They are all the same. The same acronyms to describe managerial approaches. Those that worked in the past may not be working now. The ones that did not work in the past may be working today.

A lot of luck is involved and lots of persistence. You do need an earnest game plan Also an eye on protective management technique that actively avoids serious problems. That, for example, keep away from damaging lawsuits, especially employee harassment and EEOC complaints. Management has to consciously stick to employee manuals.

An executive must operate with the hand being dealt. If the business environment or the economy is poor, an excellent manager may do extremely well by just minimizing losses. But there are no real standards to go by. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

The CEO Factor for Business Success

The financial media loves to trumpet a misconception that poor financial community analysts never fully have understood. That the role of the CEO is not what they believe it is.

Studies have looked at the effect of top management changes and have found they account for only about 10% of added profitability.

Often it is other circumstances that result in a company’s doing better or worse. The economy and business or general industrial conditions may have much to do with any company’s near-term fortune.

There are business cycles. Moreover, the bigger the company, the harder it is for a CEO to turn operations around on his or her own, The CEO is certainly important, but never to the extent the public, analysts, or the media, may believe. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Oratorical Education in School

There are lots of practical education courses our schools don’t teach.

Example: President Obama has much to do with the state of our business and financial climate because of his constant formal speeches. He appears to be vying with the status of ancient Roman senators who stood around in togas making speeches.

Interestingly, they did so without the use of teleprompters. He does it differently with his ever-ready teleprompter, even when addressing children.

I would think that schools today ought to include courses on orating and debating, in addition to their regular curricula. The ability to think on your feet without having something to read from in front of you, other than note outlines, would be a benefit to all. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Preventing as Well as Solving Bubble Crises

A long-term solution to a bubble-bust event often usually takes care of problems better than does a short-term panacea or band-aid.

Apart from those called in to do the short-term, patchwork remedies, If there has to be basic blame for recent bubbles in the U. S. it can be placed on the heads of the governors of the Federal Reserve. They are the guilty, who have made money too cheap. That is always the fuel for a bubble.

Bubbles can be dampened when the availability of currency is tightened. However, the opposite monetary policy has been the story in U. S. bubble experience. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Another MBA Marketing Ploy

There is sufficient evidence that the entire scientific effort behind global warming is suspect.

Environmental studies programs depend to a great extent on the premise of global warming. Cap and trade legislation is actually a ruse to create taxation, based on dubious global warming science.

So why start a career with a new MBA degree in this specialty? It’s either a marketing ruse to get a job that defies science or your own credibility; any degree has become tainted by scientific doubt.

Just another marketing scam our institutions of higher learning have developed. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Dodd-Frank Regulation and Prospective Bubbles

Politicians try to stop future financial bubbles with Dodd-Frank types of regulation which never work. But they keep trying because the effort makes good theater.

Bubbles are man-made, enforced by government policy and regulation. They breed on human psychological extremes. And they feed on panic.

The onus and guilt may be thrust on private parties for political purposes, but bubbles exist only if government agencies permit them to do so.

Actually, it’s far better that government does nothing as its cheaper and never causes Greece-like meltdowns we’re now witnessing. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Do Occupy Protesters Pay Income Tax?

America produces a daily harvest of polls. Pick any subject out of a hat and you have a poll to match.

In fact, the polls are produced by the media to generate and create news. Think of it; is there any day you haven’t seen the results of any survey?

So with the media’s attention on the Occupy Wall Street crowd, I would suggest a poll I haven’t as yet seen: “Do protesters pay income tax and what is their opinion of such imposts?”

With all their complaints I’m sure very few pay into the system they appear to detest. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Crony Capitalism

Liberals argue that super financial regulation, such as Dodd-Frank, is the answer to stopping bubbles and financial risk. More regulation, they say, will reduce financial meltdowns. That same financial risk that past regulation failed to catch.

And if large companies “too big to fail” look ready to do so, the U. S. ought to be the employer of last resort, to bail such companies out. While government, in effect, operates them. In the past, the bankruptcy laws remedied the problem without political input.

Well, that is corporate statism, pure and simple. And it leads to political favors and crony capitalism.

Not just with banks, but automobiles, energy companies, and so on. That has now become a permanent fixture of our government.

There were alternatives.. Actions that would have been better solutions and less destructive to our long-term economy. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

College is Shorting Student’s Tuition Value

According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, the percentage of college graduates’ ability in literacy had declined from 40% to 31% in the past decade. About 20% of college seniors did not have the ability to estimate whether their car had enough fuel to get to a gas station.

But too many kids and parents can show only fancy diplomas to friends and relatives for all the cost invested in diploma pursuit.

There is a disconnect somewhere. More kids going to college are getting into debt. More of their parents are going broke financing their education. Results are poor. And the jobs are few. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Useless Degrees

A prejudice we must overcome. Some people look down on vocational schools. A degree from a four-year college is considered first class in social circles. A vocational-school degree isn’t.

Those who have employable skills will earn top dollar at jobs that employers want, even in deep recessions. Others, with their fancy-school diplomas sit around for the lack of opportunity, despite all their effort toward those impressive but impractical and useless degrees. It’s rough spending a fortune to get through college, to earn a degree that doesn’t enable you to find a decent job.

It is worse when that a career puts you in extreme debt. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Good Earning Without College Degrees

That going-to-college myth is slowly shrinking with our recession.

You don't need a four-year college degree to be successful. Vocational education does pay off for many who have lost jobs or are seeking entry-level positions in trades.

Even lower-level electricians today make on average $48,000 a year. Plumbers make $47,000. That's much more than the average American earns. And those jobs may be more plentiful.

According to a Wall Street Journal survey, accountants and engineers thought that the schools played an important role in employer consideration but the numbers were not that overwhelming. For business and marketing majors, the survey appeared to show that the schools were not that important, especially when cost was considered. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Future Events Markets?

Some businesses have created a futures market on subjects of importance to their companies. They feel that certain points of view, though a gamble, can be anticipated or predicted, if the gamblers or speculators have no inherent bias in their choices.

Future projections on business concerns always are difficult to estimate. If any can be predicted with more independent accuracy, they would be immensely practical.

However, for such markets to have value, they must have lots of independent input. Sampling should be efficient and unbiased.

I find that is almost impractical in most business projections. However, futures markets may have their place in foretelling political outcomes and general marketing concepts. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Italy’s Poor Economic Outlook

Whenever highly restrictive business restraints are imposed in this country, our liberal politicians are forced under pressure to “go easy” because such action eventually destroys business growth and jobs.

As a result, the left only grudgingly may exempt business with fewer employees or sales volume from the onerous restrictions.

Liberal politicians are very fond in their thinking of this European Model of regulation. Or they use other fine-sounding euphemisms such as Social Democracy to define their worthy intentions.

The result is, they come up with failures. Italy is but one of several perfect examples. It has little growth prospects. Companies are intentionally kept small so the legal straitjackets are not enforced on them.

The country will never grow to meet its debts when bemired in such a regulatory, high tax system. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Occupy Wall Street and Joseph Schumpeter

Members of the Occupy Movements in the American cities ought to learn about the economist Joseph Schumpeter and many like him, before expounding their unfounded theories they have unearthed from their dubious past endeavors.

Those who know the least about capitalism rant the most about its negatives and never appreciate its overwhelming positives. To those I would suggest a review of the life and work of Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian-German-American economist. He died in 1950 and has been since overlooked in academic circles and the media.

His view of “creative destruction,” how the demise of established companies led to a growing economy has been the foundation of the American dream for so many.

Personal incomes have doubled every fifty or sixty years in America, when entrepreneurial zeal is permitted to operate.

Yet, left-leaning observers and anarchists will never guess there is any economic opportunity without government being the instrument of largess. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Teaching at College Reality

This comment is worth repeating: College has become a huge growth industry. However, the industry has changed and mutated negatively, with far too little oversight of quality.

Consider the dismal teaching quality of colleges. Over 4,000 colleges and universities now enroll over 17 million students. But colleges appear to be primarily in the business of acquiring students, differing to a degree only in their approach to marketing.

Some do so as research centers. They may boast professors with science awards and Nobel Prizes. These are very appealing marketing devices. Such esteemed faculty also attract grants and endowments, as well as students.

But even that’s a façade and not an institution to attend. Nobelists teach few classes. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Inept Colleges

Many colleges market their wares by appealing to the baser instincts of prospective students.

The idea is to make it easier to attend. As a result, graduates, if they get that far, are unable to find real, practical jobs.

It also explains why we have so many with easy-to-get law degrees, while few are doctors and scientists.

Affirmative action is practiced, not just for conventional minorities. It is there for any group that is not equally represented on attendance roles.

The truth is, few undergraduate students have the vaunted, celebrity professors. They often are taught, instead, by graduate students.

In fact, Colleges and universities engage in "bait and switch;" confer what are actually deficient degrees, and engage in other practices that would bring legal sanctions if done in any other business.

Parents and taxpayers pay billions of dollars to colleges and universities. Schools make money no matter what students learn, whether students graduate, and whether students are able to get good jobs after leaving school. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Be Careful of Mark-to-Market Bank Accounting

You keep hearing about banks having to beef up capital to ward off problems in the world economy. Looming in the background is always this question of a potential lack of bank stability.

Banks are being forced to add capital. However, the more they do, the less they have with which to do business; the idea is to make loans so that industry can thrive, not primarily that banks can remain alive and do nothing else.

What is never really addressed is the decision to determine bank values in an emergency. If that is done on a daily fictitious basis as in the U.S. in 2008/2009, the banking problem will persist. You cannot determine asset values if many of the assets have limited markets and their values are not easy to determine.

Such mark-to-market evaluations of subprime assets were a major cause of much of the banking meltdown at that time. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

College Debt

Avoid heavy student loans. Tuition, room and board charges that total $100,000 and more in many instances can be an enormous impediment for any student or for parents. For those with several children to put through school, it can be the major obstacle for a comfortable retirement.

Defaulting on college-induced debt can be a dilemma. You will have to get a grip on the type of debt, whether federal or private, and its terms. Contact the National Student Loan Data System, at www.nslds.ed.gov

There may be some forgiveness programs for government workers and teachers, along with AmeriCorp volunteers and similar programs. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Business Management Styles

The public is not generally conversant with the difference in business management styles.

There are two different types of styles:

One, centralized, where the CEO is in complete control of the company’s daily operations. Many executives prefer this approach.

Two, decentralized, where more local control is allowed. It’s usually in different companies within varying industries on a decentralized basis.

I prefer centralized, hands-on oversight, which I believe is better from the operational standpoint. On the other hand, if your goals are primarily that of an investor, you never have the time, the ability, or inclination, to cope with daily administrative duties. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Female Pay Discrimination

There is no doubt women had been discriminated against in the past with regard to earnings they receive.

The question is whether they still are, when anti-discrimination laws have been on the books for years and penalties are severe. Yet, women still tend to earn less.

But there can be valid reasons. Because many women leave jobs in mid-career for maternity reasons. That distorts statistical averages. Others prefer to spend more time with family.

Still, there are more variations in certain professions than others, which makes household concerns not the sole explanation for income variation. Hostile environment may often be possible. The discrepancy varies by profession.

Women’s needs may vary within those jobs, especially where measures of hostility may actually exist. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

Don’t Believe Everything About College Value

Are you really college material and worth the sacrifice of cost and effort? Does this question apply to any of your children?

Be realistic about yourself or any of your children going to college. It’s a major budget-busting factor that has been tossed about for years.

College ought to be for scholars, not for those ready to waste four years of their youth.

Remember, you’re receiving lots of misinformation from the media. The facts about education, especially college, are about as corrupted as those that surround investing.

They also impact the family's net worth, and deserve full family thought, discussion and proper planning. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

French Ideas of GDP

GDP or Gross Domestic Product is a measure of a country’s economic output, and the value of all its goods and services produced. It represents the country’s standard of living.

The French GDP is falling. The French can do something about it; they can try free markets instead of their brand of European social society.

So they want to substitute their vacation time and other assumed “joie de vivre.” It can be embarrassing for the French to compare their left-oriented economy to those more attuned to capitalism.

They have suggested arbitrary adjustments that assumes their way of living is superior to others. That would take care of the month of August for holidays; about the lack of services during August. And those constant, paralyzing public union strikes. ( See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)