Thursday, August 27, 2015

SOLYNDRA SCANDAL - ORIG. PUBLISHED 9/26/11

We first published our blog below about the Solyndra scandal on September 26, 2011.
There's an incredibly misleading editorial about the Solyndra scandal in a leading New York newspaper. A simple review of the company's prospectus immediately highlights the following:

1. Several executives had compensation approaching a million dollars.
2. There were at least 25 million stock options made available to various parties.
3. Large hedge funds were significant owners of the company's shares.

The editorial blames the bankruptcy on a "stunning collapse in the price of solar panels".

It is obvious that before an investment of $500 million occurred analytical reports should have been written forecasting the trend of solar panel prices (if the company did not have enough big commercial customers that should have been easily detectable to anyone that took the time to review the company's position in the marketplace).

To compare the financial crises with the solar panel market is patently absurd. Home prices have risen for many years whereas solar panel prices were really a commodity product.

The idea that risking is what its all about is a joke on its face. Its easy to take risks that are totally wrong, but success is determined by wise decisions. The outlook for solar panel pricing in the United States was obviously negative since the number of companies that have been started in just a few years indicates relatively simple ease of entry and requires no particular technological advantages.

Another disadvantage the solar companies faced is the fact that oil producing countries want to keep any alternative sources of energy out of the picture even though most oil is used for cars and trucks, not power generation. Coal is the only true competitive alternative to solar energy and reducing the demand during the next decade would cause serious additions to unemployment. Unfortunately most of the coal miners could probably not be working in the solar industry.

The relationship between the hedge funds, all sorts of people in government and whether there were unions involved in the Solyandra workforce is only the tip of what seems to be a huge potential scandal of political power with our money.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T GET ANYWHERE - "STILL" ORIG. PUBLISHED 9/27/11

Its not considered acceptable to tell the masses of the people that they are economically uneducated and their own worst enemy. The rule is one man, one vote. The Democratic party has figured out how to tell the economically ignorant a lie about how our system works. They get way with it because the average man struggles to make a living. Its easier to have a scape goat than to seek the truth.

The government did not bail out the banks. That is a total lie. The financial system of this country was falling apart. The impact on the "common man" (which is all of us), would have been so devastating that the resulting unemployment, loss of pension funds, etc. could have overwhelmed everyone. The government did not save the "rich banks"; it saved those of us who are the depositors of the banks, the receivers of their loans and dependent on them for millions of jobs. The Democratic party finds it expedient to outright lie to the people.

The second lie is that the rich, whomever that is, have benefited far in proportion to the rest of the population. I reiterate again why is the government so worried about any particular class of people rather than working together to solve our problems without promoting class warfare.

Lets get something clear between us. Lets say I have $1 million dollars. If I take that money and rip it up then $1 million dollars disappears from the economy. But if I take that money and spend it, give it to the plumber, the car manufacturer, to the restaurants and some to the government. then the $1 million dollars is circulated throughout the economy. What I don't spend I invest. Lets say I buy stock with my $1 million dollars. I get the stock but someone else gets the $1 million dollars and no matter who it is, they take that money, spend it, invest it and it keeps on circulating. But its still only $1 million dollars. The only question of any relevance is how to turn the $1 million into more money, plant, equipment and capital and have it circulating through the economy.

The only thing the Democratic party wants to do is keep you uneducated. The more of you who become more economically educated the less of you will agree with the Democrat's self-serving, power preserving, education diminishing, democratic policies.

Warren Buffett is looking out for his own A-S. He is more concerned with you buying his own product, like Geico, (which is the worst insurance company I have ever dealt with) than helping you become educated.

Just remember what Warren Buffett wrote on June 26, 2006, "The only condition to this committment is that the Foundation must continue to satisfy legal requirements qualifying my gift as charitable and not subject to gift or other taxes."

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

TRUMP, CLINTON, RUBIO, BUSH - AMERICA...GET THE RIGHT CONDUCTOR...(ORIG. PUBLISHED 1/24/12)

There could be 100 instruments in a symphony orchestra. Be as it may, classical music is not mainstream. Many orchestras have gone out of business for lack of public support.

Now think of these 100 instruments with 100 players and hundreds if not thousands of note combinations that are played at any particular symphony. In the front stands the music conductor, generally knowledgeable about all the pieces in the orchestra and having the job of bringing them together into symphonic harmony so that an audience may enjoy the outpouring of the music. Thousands of notes, just a hundred people and a conductor pulling it all together. It's no wonder so many conductors never make it big time. Think of the genius of Beethoven, Bach or Mozart writing the music for each and every piece. Complex, yes and generally unappreciated by society.

We are all managers of something, whether its our family, a job, our business, from a small corporation or a gigantic one, from an island, to a city, to a state and on upwards.

Whether the most powerful force in our government or not, the President stands as the conductor of an awful large orchestra. One of the major questions we are faced with in an election year is which future President will "conduct" the pieces of this ultra large orchestral phenomenon called the United States as to bring out the great music that our founding fathers would have hoped for without over blowing majority rule or undermining minority rights.

We must ask the question of whether a republic democracy can ever play harmonious music when the various players can't agree on the notes to be played. As long as the dissension of voter views stays so wide spread we may feel we are this great democracy. That might even be true if the standard of living hadn't stop increasing 20 years ago. Politicians in general don't want to conduct, they want to build power bases.

TRUMP VS. CLINTON - THE SAME AS OBAMA VS. ROMNEY (ORIG. PUBLISHED 9/28/12)

Everyone expects President Obama to win the first debate.  If Candidate Romney has the wisdom to present the facts clearly and strongly, he should win the debate easily.


  1. The socialistic policies of Europe have resulted in an 20% plus unemployment rate in Spain and Greece. Italy and Portugal are heading in the same direction.
  2. Japan has become a no growth economy for over a decade because it too followed the wrong policies.
  3. The chaos in the Middle East is as bad as it's ever been, if not worse.
  4. The domestic coal industry has collapsed.
  5. The price of natural gas is so low that no one will make much money producing it.
  6. Only 25% of the people in Afghanistan can read after all this time.
  7. There is no sound reason the Ambassador in Libya should have not been protected.
  8. The economy has been buoyed by only Federal Reserve policies of "zero" percent interest rates.  
  9. The head of the Federal Reserve was originally appointed by President Bush and only reappointed by President Obama because he had little choice at the time.
  10. The democratic political rhetoric about the plight about the middle class is bogus because all the places the middle class work can only provide them with more income if the economy has stable, steady, faster growth.
  11. The use of labels like "middle-class' and "ultra-wealthy" can be turned on the President by pointing out economic truths.
  12. The Democratic solar and wind power initiatives are failing and even have included malfeasance and misfeasance - "Solyndra".
  13. The economy is at a standstill  - real unemployment is well above the reported unemployment figures.
  14. Democrat Pelosi's son worked for the largest purveyor of subprime mortgages.
  15. Barney Frank drove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into bankruptcy with his political agenda.
  16. Although well hidden, President Clinton was a major perpetrator of the housing fiasco.
  17. Obama's head of the SEC, Shapiro, was involved with Bernie Madoff.
  18. The President's agenda called for the demise of "Don't ask, Don't tell" when everybody's sexuality should be their own business.
  19. Under Obama, killing babies is not even questioned as long as the pro-abortion position gets votes.  
  20. The constant attack on the top one percent never points out that they pay most of the taxes anyhow and that President Obama never hesitates to take large political donations from them. 
  21. The Democrats never have the courage to claim that federal income taxes should be paid by everyone as a citizen of this country.
  22. The President never points out that low tax rates are usually from charitable deductions and tax free municipal bonds which are both perfectly legal government tax policies.
The argument is not about who care about the middle class because both candidates do.  It's about whose policies will give the middle class and all class policies more.  


 

Shepard Osherow. All Rights Reserved