Monday, May 30, 2016

Data Group Dilutes Shareholders...Again

Shareholders of Data Group should not be surprised that they are getting poor treatment from the company's insiders, because this is consistent with the company's recent behaviour. Just a few months ago, the company essentially bankrupted its equity holders by converting debt to equity, rather than shore up the company's capital situation with a rights offering that CEO Michael Sifton originally agreed to backstop and then backed out of.

The History of Money

We take money for granted. Need to pay for something? We just whip out some piece of paper or some plastic card or some electronic device and see it done. Ledgers are debited and credited in the background without a second thought. But for most of human history, this medium of transfer that makes the exchange of goods so easy didn't exist. In The History of Money, Jack Weatherford takes us through money's evolution, from the first coins in ancient Greece, to the current electronic forms of money that are all Greek to me.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Follow The Money Managers

There are several thousand of you now getting company updates from conferencecalltranscripts.org. I'm pleased to announce that you can now follow money managers on the same site.

Monday, May 23, 2016

The Stopwatch Gang

Bank robbers aren't normally the smartest bunch. They are looking to feed some habit, and don't think far enough ahead to do the kinds of things that would prevent them from getting caught. The Stopwatch Gang of the 1970s was different. They set records for their well-planned heists, and stayed out of or escaped from jail better than anyone else. Greg Weston goes the extra mile to tell us the story of The Stopwatch Gang.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Ender's Game

This New York Times Best Seller is recommended by the US Marine Corp to its recruits. Ender's Game is a novel about human nature, war, ethics and other topics.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Money, Blood and Revolution

I loved Money, Blood and Revolution by George Cooper. Cooper examines a few fields (e.g. biology, geology, astronomy) that were off-track before a change in perception (thanks to some bright minds, often from the outside) led to knowledge revolutions. Cooper then makes the argument that economics is currently stuck in that "off-track" mode, and suggests the changes in perception needed to get it back on track.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

The Jaguar's Children

The Jaguar's Children is a novel that depicts the hardships faced by the poor in Mexico who try to illegally immigrate to the United States. A would-be migrant is trapped in a water tank in a failed border crossing attempt, and is desperately trying to seek help through a phone with little reception.