Monthly Archives: June 2018

06/7/18

Employment

Employment, Big Red Car – what about employment?

Dear reader, US employment and unemployment are both headed in the right direction, but there is a concern we need to discuss.

We need to discuss the Labor Force Participation Rate. Do you know what that means?

The LFPR is the percentage of folks aged 16-64 (the labor force) who are currently employed or seeking work.

Here is a picture of what that looks like today with our 3.8% unemployment rate. Notice, in particular, the comparison between our current LFPR/unemployment rate and the Jan-Apr 2000 all time high LFPR. Therein lies the story.

LFPR

Credit Doug Short over at Advisor Perspectives for this great chart. Read his stuff at dshort.com.

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06/7/18

Rebuilding a Reputation – Uber, Uber, Uber

Let’s talk reputation, shall we?

Big Red Car here on a dark and lonely Thursday morning. Hope you are well.

So, today, we talk about Uber’s latest attempts to rebuild its pathetic reputation.

Unless you have been summering over at the South Pole, you know that Uber has replaced its founder/CEO Travis Kalanick with Dara Khosrowshahi.

Uber’s board of directors hopes that Dara K can repair the reputation destruction wrought by Travis K. [Next in the chain of succession is Coach K?]

Read this:

Dara the K, new Uber CEO

That is a hard task. How do you rebuild a reputation which is in tatters? Tatters flavored by lawsuits? Class action lawsuits.

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06/6/18

Korea Summit

Korea summit, Big Red Car?

Big Red Car here on a lovely Texas day thinking about the impending summit between North Korea and the United States to be held next Tuesday in Singapore.

What is at stake and what are our reasonable expectations?

A mystery man who the CIA believes was educated in Switzerland through the 9th grade. He is NOT a Harvard or Wharton graduate. He is reported to have attended Kim Il-sung University for five years. He is thought to be thirty-five or thirty-six years old.

This is the guy, Kim Jong-un who is the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army. Like his father and grandfather before him, he is the dictator of North Korea.

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06/5/18

Buy the History, Sell the Future

Buy the history; sell the future, Big Red Car? Huh?

Big Red Car here on a lovely Austin By God Texas day with the sun shining and the world spinning.

So, I get into a chat with a couple of CEOs, experienced chaps, who are talking about buying and selling companies.

They ask me what I think and I say, “Buy the history; sell the future.”

“What does that mean, exactly, Big Red Car?” asks one of the CEOs. He was baiting me. I took the bait.

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