Category Archives: America

09/19/19

Amazon Hiring

Big Red Car here on a rainy day along the Houston coast. They are saying Houston might get TWO FEET of rain. Wow!

So, Amazon has been holding a hiring extravaganza. They held a multi-city job fair on 17 September 2019 in Arlington, Boston, Nashville, Dallas, Chicago, and Seattle. This is where the job fair is being held, but the jobs are all over the country.

Young lady pointed out to me that the “a” and the “z” on the logo are connected by the arrow ’cause Amazon will sell you whatever the heck you want from A >>>> Z. OK?

You will note that they did not hold a job fair in Long Island City because the local Dem politicians ran Amazon and its proposed HQ2 off. That ended up with places like Austin By God Texas and the places noted above getting more of the hiring tasking.

You may credit the savant Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for that move. Well played, AOC. Who needs those stinking jobs, eh?

Yeah, I did that. Ran off those 25,000 Long Island City Amazon jobs. Me. Green New Deal rules! (Notice I have my “smart girl” glasses on.)

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09/13/19

Reading History With A Critical Eye

I believe that the United States of America has produced two superlative leaders in its entire history: George Washington and George C Marshall.

I have been a student of history (said the guy with degrees in civil engineering, economics, math [the economics and math degrees come from the electives I took for civil engineering wherein I had 28 more credit hours than I needed to graduate], and finance, but no history) for as long as I have known how to read.

In the last 40 years, I have been enthralled about learning about leadership by reading history — primarily biographies about Presidents and military leaders — to see what lessons I can glean from them that are applicable to my own little sphere of influence as a CEO and a CEO coach. I was a CEO for 33 years, an Army officer for 5 before that, and a CEO advisor/coach for 7 years.

The case for Washington’s greatness as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the first President of the United States, and an entrepreneur is easy to find. He is sufficiently removed in time that his life is well documented by progressively better and better research and books about his life and the lives of those around him.

My favorite “starter kit” on Washington is Ron Chernow’s biography, Washington, A Life. [Chernow’s books on Hamilton and Grant are also excellent.]

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09/6/19

Apple Bonds — Making Applesauce

Beautiful day in the lovely city of Atlanta enroute back to Savannah from whence I fled Dorian the Hurricane Monster. It was a pleasant diversion with one of the highlights being the Georgia Aquarium, a recommendation from a pal/reader. Great recommendation.

So, Apple has just sold some corporate bonds. Corporate bond yields are trending down with the general flight from equities into bonds. But, Apple doesn’t pay general corporate bond yield prices — about 6% for others.

No, sir.

Apple placed $7B of 3 to 30 year maturities at very tight spreads above Treasuries. They had intended to place $3-4B, but the book grew so quickly (more than $25B in offers to buy Apple bonds), they went with the bigger number.

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09/3/19

Fleeing From Hurricane Dorian

Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, your Big Red Car agreed to do some light babysitting for My Perfect Daughter who is vacationing for the next two months — OK, just ten days, but it seems like a couple of months — with Her Perfect Husband, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and her saintly and gracious mother-in-law.

I had signed up for some timely deliveries of the Perfect Granddaughter to her school, long walks in Forsyth Park, some pool/beach time, early wake ups, early bed time by 6:30 PM, and an orderly, peaceful regimen, but fate intervened.

This Hurricane Dorian — female name or male name? — crashed the party causing the Big Red Car to have to relocate the good times to Atlanta from Savannah.

The good times include My Perfect Granddaughter, Bella the Labrador (winner of the “best traveler” award), Mimi, and mois. Short, little babies require a huge amount of personal infrastructure, have picky eating habits, and demand specialized entertainment (who is this guy Elmo?) that must be carted along.

There was, of course, that “mandatory” evacuation order for everybody east of Interstate Highway 95, but that’s just a technicality.

So, ten or so hours later, here we are encamped in Hot ‘Lanta enjoying the sunshine and the change of scenery.

Atlanta is the New South, hip AF and moving at speed. The people are nice. It may be the New South, but it is still the genteel, pleasant, friendly South. You notice it right away. Texas is the west, but Atlanta is the South. I love the South.

I hate you, Hurricane Dorian. Would you please just blow yourself out, turn north and ravage the Atlantic? Go away.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.

 

08/23/19

Trump’s Folly — Greenland

Don’t let the title fool you, I am in favor of the United States buying Greenland and its 844,000 square miles of ice. I don’t really care that it was President Trump’s idea meaning I could like something even when it is disqualified by being an idea from “that” guy. [Tongue, meet cheek.]

Of course, it is not President Trump’s idea.

That distinction belongs to Senator Owen Brewster of Maine who spun the idea up in 1945. That idea was first proposed to the Danes by President Truman’s Secretary of State in 1946 and the US’s opening bid was $100,000,000. Classified archives burst open in 1991 revealing this nugget.

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08/20/19

Failing v Quitting

Yesterday, somebody sent me a link to the formal ritual whereby the freshmen/women (called “Rats”) of the Virginia Military Institute are pried loose from their parents’ loving arms and deposited with a third class corporal to be whipped into hard men and women during four demanding years at the nation’s oldest state military school.

At a school founded in 1839 which has provided warriors to fight our wars since then, ritual is an important element in the process — the unique process that turns an unshapen lump of clay into a hardened vessel in four years.

Sixty-one percent of the Rats will study math, science, or engineering and they are from 34 states and 4 foreign countries. They have an average GPA of 3.7.

It is a touching ritual. If you are bored today, watch it. Do you know of any other school that takes its students in in such a fashion?

The man speaking, the Superintendent of VMI, General JH Binford Peay III, VMI ’62, was the commander of the 101st Abn Div in the First Gulf War which conducted the longest airmobile movement in combat of any division in the history of warfare, setting up shop behind the Iraqi invaders of Kuwait. He was also the Centcom Commander as a 4-star General. [He has whipped VMI into the best shape it has ever been in since 1839. Personal view. He is also an inspiring leader and a good guy.]

One of the speakers, the Commandant, a warrior with almost three decades of military service made the distinction between failing and quitting. It is an important distinction.

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08/19/19

White Privilege = Original Sin

Going philosophical on you. Original Sin and White Privilege.

If you are a Christian, you likely know about the concept of Original Sin.

When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden — hey, have you ever imagined a world in which Adam and Eve had chocolate chip cookies with ice cold milk and didn’t bite into that apple (honeycrisp, likely)? — mankind was tagged with an ancestral sin that was fairly shared amongst all of us as collective guilt.

Here’s Michelangelo catching Adan & Eve in the act in the Garden of Eden.

[Note: The Snake, the perpetrator, seems to have womanly characteristics. No? Is that terribly unwoke to mention? If so, I apologize. Also, please take notice of the fact that everyone in the painting is white. This will turn out to be important.]

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08/18/19

Exclusive Interview — Kim Kielsen, Premier Of Greenland

Greenland was granted home rule independence by Denmark in 1979. The majority party in the Parliament of Greenland supplies the Premier — the Leader of the Government. The King of Denmark appoints the Premier subject to majority support from the controlling party in the Inatsisartut (Parliament).

Since 30 September 2014, the Premier has been Kim Kielsen, a member of the Siumut party.

Today, he joins us to talk about Greenland and the recent interest by the Trump administration to buy Greenland.

121031 Nordiska rådets session i Helsingfors 2012. Foto: Magnus Fröderberg/Norden.org

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