Market Wisdom Archives - Market Mad House

Should America be Taxing Philanthropy?

November 17, 2018 daniel Big Philanthropy, Big Philanthropy is getting Bigger than ever, How to Tax Philanthropy, Is Philanthropy Bad for our Minds?, Limiting the Power and Influence of Philanthropy, Philanthropy, Philanthropy is not enough, Taxing philanthropy, Why Intellectuals are turning on Big Philanthropy, Why we should Tax Big Philanthropy

Why we should Tax Big Philanthropy

Taxes exist to finance necessary government services and functions. In a civilized society the common good must take precedence over the whims of the elite.

Not all philanthropy is beneficial or useful.

Philanthropists rarely donate more than a tiny portion of their wealth.

Philanthropy is rarely adequate to deal with the needs or problems of modern society. For example, Bezos’ $2 billion will do little to reduce homelessness.

Market Wisdom

Why is the TJX Companies Making Money?

November 2, 2018 daniel How much money is TJX Companies making?, How TJX Companies Makes Money, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), The TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX), The TJX Companies at a Glance, TJX, TJX Companies, TJX Companies is a Good Dividend Stock, TJX Companies is a Good Value Investment, TJX Companies vs Nordstrom, Why is the TJX Companies Making Money?, Why TJX Companies Makes Money

Impressively, Business Insider lists the TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) as the “number one clothing company” in the United States. Notably, TJX is thriving while mall brands like The Gap (NYSE: GAP) are struggling. Thus, one reason for TJX’s success is its’ refusal to follow competitors into the mall.

The TJX Companies is far larger than you think; it operates over 4,000 stores in nine countries. In addition, TJX operates three e-commerce sites.

TJX brands include T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Marmaxx, HomeGoods, Sierra Trading Post, Homsense, HomeGoods, and Winners. The strategy is paying off because TJX claims to have delivered 22 straight years of store sales increases.

To supply its stores TJX works with 20,000 vendors in 100 countries. Therefore, TJX has built an impressive ecosystem it can easily expand online.

An obvious opportunity for TJX is to add an existing online discounter; like eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), or Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), to its ecosystem. Importantly, TJX is offering to ship-to-store for items ordered through Sierra Trading Post.

Market Wisdom

Berkshire Hathaway Comes Roaring Back

August 17, 2018 daniel Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A), Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B), Berkshire Hathaway is making a Lot of Money again, Berkshire Hathaway Private Equity, BRK.B, Buffett Private Equity, How Much Cash is Berkshire Hathaway Generating?, The Buffett Empire, What Will Berkshire Hathaway Buy Next, Where will Berkshire Hathaway Invest, Why Berkshire Hathaway is Like a Hedge Fund, Why is Buffett Hoarding Cash?

My prediction is that Buffett will buy up lower priced stocks of cash-rich dividend paying companies. Since there are lots of those out there it is hard to predict what will catch his eye.
Berkshire will be confine major investments to private equity, which is booming right now. Likely, private equity targets for Berkshire Hathaway include Lyft, Instacart, and Airbnb.
Lyft and Airbnb which both have the potential to generate a lot of cash will attract Uncle Warren’s attention. Instacart, which has escaped attention by operating in an unsexy; but huge, market groceries might catch Buffett’s eye.

Market Wisdom

How Online Banks Work

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018 daniel ATMs, Customer Service, direct banks, Due Diligence, How to Open an Online Account, Lower Fees, Money Management, No Branches, No Safety Deposit Boxes or Currency Exchange Services, Online Banks, virtual banks

The best online banks, sometimes called “direct banks” or “virtual banks,” perform many of the same functions as old-style brick

Market Wisdom

Is the Canadian National Railway Making Money?

July 26, 2018 daniel Bill Gates’ favorite railroad, Canadian National (NYSE: CN), How safe is the Canadian National?, intermodal terminals, Is the Canadian National Railway Making Money?, Pluses for the Canadian National, Yes Canadian National is Still a Value Investment

In plain English, that means CN is hauling more freight but making less money from it. Such figures call the Microsoft founder’s faith in CN into serious question.
The infrastructure and the relatively low price; $90.17 on July 26, 2018, make CN a partial value investment.
Adding to the value was a dividend of 35.1¢ paid on June 29, 2018. That was down slightly from 35.2¢ paid on March 29, 2018, but still very respectable. The dividend has also grown significantly in the past year, it was just 30.6¢ on April 25, 2017.

Market Wisdom

Basic Income for Christians

June 30, 2018June 30, 2018 daniel alternative communities of faith, American Needs More Social Innovation, Basic Income for Christians, Ben Op communities, Benedict Option communities, Can Basic Income Save Family Life?, How Christians Ignore Economic reality, modern capitalism’s systematic destruction of traditional culture and society, Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option, social stagnation, the Benedict Option

Christians and other conservatives need to rethink their mindless adherence to the jobs culture and start exploring alternative ideas like basic income. If they do not, the people of faith will see the market destroy everything they value.

A basic income might allow many people to remain in or move to traditional small towns or rural areas. People with a basic income might be able to take time off from work to volunteer at church. A basic income might also allow more families to home school.

Market Wisdom

Why Bigger is better for Value Investors

May 28, 2018 daniel Dinosaurs were Successful, How Elephants Explain the Success of Giant Corporations, Kroger (NYSE: KR), Kroger an Undervalued Giant, Lessons in Bigness for Investors, Ocado Group PLC (LON: OCDO), Why nobody likes Big, Why Size Matters for Corporations

Learning the importance of bigness and understanding its role in success is vital for investors. Investors that understand why “bigger is better” can put themselves in a position to make more money.

Market Wisdom

Meet the 25 Best Auto Insurance Companies in the USA

April 17, 2018 daniel 25 best auto insurance companies in America., Amica Mutual, Auto-Owners Insurance, Best Auto Insurance Companies, Erie Insurance, Erie Insurance Exchange, GEICO, Government Employees Insurance Company, InsurancePanda, Meet the 25 Best Auto Insurance Companies in the USA, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, NJM Insurance, NJM Insurance Company, six best auto-insurance providers in the United States today, United States Army Automobile Association, USAA, What you need to know about GEICO

Amica Mutual. America’s first auto insurer; founded in 1907, is still one of the highest-rated. Amica was to found to provide the best overall customer service of the companies surveyed.

Market Wisdom

Goldman Sachs rides the Tiger

April 10, 2018April 24, 2018 daniel Charles Elkan, Cryptocurrency Trading, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Goldman Sachs Cryptocurrency Trading, Goldman Sachs Gambles Big in AI, Goldman Sachs rides the Tiger, How Much Money is Goldman Sachs Making?, Is Goldman Sachs Getting into Cryptocurrency Trading?, Is Goldman Sachs Really Worth $256 a share?, The Goldman Sachs cryptocurrency team, What is Goldman Sachs’ Marquee?

Goldman Sachs is experimenting with cryptocurrency trading. The bank was laying the groundwork for a cryptocurrency trading desk in December 2017, Bloomberg Markets revealed.
The desk is supposed to be up and running by the end of June, Bloomberg Markets speculated. Note: Bloomberg’s reporting is unreliable because the sources of the information were identified only as “people.” That means the article was based largely on hearsay.

Market Wisdom Opportunities

A Powerful New Idea for Financing Healthcare Research and Curing Cancer

March 18, 2018 daniel A Better System for Financing Biomedical Research that can lower drug prices, A Powerful New Idea for Financing Healthcare Research and Curing Cancer, Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, bond market, bonds, bonds to finance the construction of low-income housing, CancerCures bonds, Curing Cancer, Getting Big Pharma out of Science, How to Fund Healthcare Research without raising taxes, National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Professor Andrew W. Lo

Fortunately, Lo may have figured out how to finance healthcare research and the war on cancer without raising taxes.

His suggestion is for Uncle Sam to issue CancerCures bonds similar to the war bonds the US government issued to finance World War II. The bonds would finance biomedical research into a cancer cure.

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