Norb Vonnegut: What Would Grove Do?
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Today, Acrimoney is pleased to introduce Grove O'Rourke from Sachs, Kidder, and Carnegie.
Grove manages about $2 billion in total assets for wealthy families. He's seen it all inside his investment bank. He'll be joining Acrimoney for a new guest series: What Would Grove Do? As a regular on our blog, Grove will discuss market events, trading lingo, and how to work with financial advisers.
On June 10, 2009, The New York Times reported that authorities are indicting seven executives for selling tax shelters. Acrimoney believes, however, the article contains broader implications for understanding investments. Even if you've never seen a tax shelter.
Acrimoney: Thanks for visiting, Grove.
Grove: Glad to join your team.
Acrimoney: Nobody's ever heard of Sachs, Kidder and Carnegie. Before we review the NYT article, can you tell us more about your firm?
Grove: You'll hear plenty this September.
Acrimoney: Oh?
Grove: That's when the novel, Top Producer, goes on sale.
Acrimoney: Hey, wait a minute. You're a work of fiction?
Grove: I prefer to think of myself as an amalgamation of the good guys in finance--advisers who put their clients' interests first.
Acrimoney: Then, you can give us an insider's view?
Grove: With no fear of Wall Street retribution. What's somebody going to do, delete me?
Acrimoney: Okay then. We know tax shelters were all the rage from 1994 to 2004. What did you tell your clients?
Grove: Shelters are more toxic than Chernobyl. You remember the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Ukraine?
Acrimoney: Do we ever...
Grove: According to the NYT, the tax shelters charged fees equal to a "percentage of the tax savings."
Acrimoney: What's the problem?
Grove: It violates Rule Number One--never bet against the IRS. The returns from tax shelters all come at the expense of Uncle Sam. It's like picking a fight with the umpire.
Acrimoney: You said these investments were more toxic than Chernobyl. What tipped you off?
Grove: Fees.
Acrimoney: Too high?
Grove: So high, in fact, they triggered Rule Number Two--investment fees over 2 percent are a red flag.
Acrimoney: Two percent fees are too high for any investment?
Grove: Every rule has an exception. But I'm a careful guy when it comes to my clients. And the truth is, I start scrutinizing fees well before they hit 2 percent.
Acrimoney: How much were the tax shelter fees?
Grove: 4.5 percent.
Acrimoney: You're kidding.
Grove: It gets worse. On COBRA, one of the shelters named in the NYT article, investors paid nonrefundable fees of $1.06 million and signed nondisclosure agreements before they could view documents.
Acrimoney: Hang on. They paid $1.06 million up front? Before they could "examine the merchandise?"
Grove: Danger Will Robinson. Or, "Buyer beware," for those who didn't watch much television in the 1970s.
Acrimoney: Wait a minute. Are you making up these details?
Grove: You can't make this stuff up--
Acrimoney: Hey, that's our line.
Grove: If you don't believe me, click here to see my source: Bitten by a COBRA?
Acrimoney: You have two rules. Are there any others?
Grove: Rule Number Three--watch out for Wall Street's kitschy acronyms. They sound smart. But they're usually shorthand for manufactured products with big fees and questionable value. The tax shelters in the NYT article, for example, included COBRA and SOS.
Acrimoney: COBRA is an acronym for a tax shelter?
Grove: Most people think of health insurance when they hear COBRA. According to the US Government, COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. That's a mouthful.
Acrimoney: But there's a different COBRA?
Grove: One tax shelter used COBRA as the acronym for Currency Options Bring Reward Alternatives.
Acrimoney: That's ridiculous.
Grove: SOS stands for "Short Options Strategy." But I prefer "Sack of..." Just kidding.
Acrimoney: Hey, can you Save Our Shekels?
Grove: You bet. Next week, let's talk about how to communicate with financial advisers.
Acrimoney: That's it for today. Grove, thanks for joining us on Acrimoney.
Grove: Wouldn't miss it for the world. I look forward to guest blogging.
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Norb Vonnegut: What Would Grove Do?
[Source: Good Times Society]
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posted by 71353 @ 6:17 AM,
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Exclusive: Army Wives Enlists Gilmore Gal and Grammy Winner
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Lifetime's Army Wives is recruiting some nifty guest-stars for its third season, which premieres Sunday, June 7.
For starters, Grammy-winning recording artist Shelby Lynne will appear in an August episode, playing ...
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Exclusive: Army Wives Enlists Gilmore Gal and Grammy Winner
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
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Exclusive: Army Wives Enlists Gilmore Gal and Grammy Winner
posted by 71353 @ 6:06 AM,
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Al Qaeda Shadow Army camps located in northern Helmand
 |
| Click map for full view. Taliban presence, by district, in Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Helmand provinces. Information on Taliban presence obtained from open source and derived by The Long War Journal based on the presence of Taliban shadow governments, levels of fighting, and statements from ISAF commanders. Map created by Bill Raymond for The Long War Journal. Last updated May 26, 2009. |
As Afghan and US forces complete an operation that targeted a Taliban stronghold in northern Helmand province, another area is identified as a Taliban safe haven that hosts al Qaeda training camps.
The Baghran district in northern Helmand hosts several camps run by al Qaeda's paramilitary Shadow Army, several military and civilian sources told The Long War Journal. Hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters have rotated through the Baghran camps. The Shadow Army, or the Lashkar al Zil, is al Qaeda?"s paramilitary force that closely operates with the Taliban and other jihadi groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army'].
The trained fighters are then sent to conduct operations against Afghan and Coalition forces in Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces. "Some relatively well-trained Talibs come out of these camps," an intelligence official said. "They are trained to operate in small units, and expertise on IED [improvised explosive devices or roadside bombs] and suicide attacks are passed on to some fighters."
Some of the complex attacks in Kandahar and Uruzgan are thought to have been carried out by fighters trained at the Baghran camps, including the Feb. 2 suicide attack inside a training center for police reservists in the town of Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province. Twenty-one Afghan police were killed and seven more were wounded in the suicide attack.
Baghran, the northernmost district in Helmand, is located in a remote and mountainous region, and serves as an ideal sanctuary for the Taliban and al Qaeda operating in southern Afghanistan. There are no Coalition forces present and the region is largely unpatrolled.
The district was the scene of a major US airstrike in August 2007 that targeted what the US military called a "sizable meeting of senior Taliban commanders." Hundreds of Taliban fighters and leaders were said to be gathering in a village in Baghran to conduct a public execution of two "spies."
Mullah Dadullah Mansour, at the time the military commander in the south, and Mullah Abdul Rahim, a senior commander in Helmand who operates from Pakistan, were both reportedly in attendance. Both leaders survived the strike. Locals claimed that more than 50 civilians were wounded but the US military maintained that only Taliban fighters were killed or wounded.
Nearby Nad Ali district also an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold
The district of Nad Ali in Helmand also serves as a safe haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda and hosts camps for the Shadow Army.
In that district, Afghan and Coalition forces recently completed a four-day operation in the village of Marja, which was described by the US military as a "key militant and criminal operations and narcotics hub in southern Afghanistan" and "a main command node." According to Quqnoos, an English-language Afghan news outlet, Marja has been under Taliban control for more than a year and a half [see LWJ report, Afghan and US forces battle Taliban in northern Helmand stronghold].
The military said more than 60 Taliban fighters were killed during the operation as the Taliban "mounted an ineffective and uncoordinated defense" of the village. No Afghan or US troops were reported killed during the fighting, and more than 223 tons of narcotics and 37 tons of materials used to make explosives were seized.
Afghan and Coalition forces cordoned the town's main bazaar, where Taliban command and control centers and narcotics and bomb factories were located, and then called in airstrikes to destroy the buildings.
US and Afghan military officers deemed the operation a major success. "The commandos thoroughly demolished a vital operational, logistical, and financial hub for the enemy and completed this mission victorious as the militants and criminals crawled away defeated and operationally-neutered," Ministry of Defense spokesperson Major General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said in a US military press release..
But Afghan and US forces did not remain in Marja to deny the Taliban and al Qaeda the opportunity to reestablish control of the region, according to a report in Quqnoos.
"The troops have left the area after the operation and the area is again under the control of the Taliban," said Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the governor of Helmand.
US Marines moving into Helmand in force
A US military officer said the raid in Marja is the best that can be done at this time because too few forces are available to secure all of the territory in southern Afghanistan.
"Until the additional troops are available, search and destroy operations like the one in Marja are the best we can do," the officer said. "The operation succeeded in its limited objective, and that command center needed to be taken out, but we won't make serious headway in the south until we can hold the ground in places like Marja."
This summer, the US will send an additional 17,000 troops to help stabilize the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. More than 8,000 Marines and 9,000 soldiers will be deployed to Afghanistan by this summer. The bulk of these troops will be deployed to the eastern and southern provinces where the Taliban control wide swaths of territory.
The fighting in Helmand is expected to intensify as the Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade are deploying in the province and will also be operating in neighboring Farah province. The Marines have established two bases, Camp Dwyer and Camp Leatherneck, to support operations in the south.
Camp Dwyer is a forward operating base that will host the majority of the Marine forces. Leatherneck will host a battalion of Marines and the brigade's air combat element, which has more than 60 Harrier and Hornet attack aircraft, 12 Cobra attack helicopters, and more than 90 transport helicopters.
Al Qaeda Shadow Army camps located in northern Helmand
[Source: Good Times Society]
Al Qaeda Shadow Army camps located in northern Helmand
[Source: State News]
Al Qaeda Shadow Army camps located in northern Helmand
[Source: News 4]
Al Qaeda Shadow Army camps located in northern Helmand
posted by 71353 @ 5:21 AM,
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Will GOP Look to Senate for 2012 Nominee?
PrintEmailPDF Interesting point from First Read: "We've wondered what Obama's election would do to other senators. For years, senators were told they'd never get to the White House, and the stats proved it. Now, with governors in general less popular now than before, having a well-rounded issue experience that a senator gets may mean more to voters than so-called executive experience."
Will GOP Look to Senate for 2012 Nominee?
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Will GOP Look to Senate for 2012 Nominee?
[Source: Spanish News]
Will GOP Look to Senate for 2012 Nominee?
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Will GOP Look to Senate for 2012 Nominee?
posted by 71353 @ 4:37 AM,
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Obama On LGBT Pride Month
PrintEmailPDF A presidential proclamation marking Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
Available in full after the jump.
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: News]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: Cbs News]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: News Station]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
[Source: News Headlines]
Obama On LGBT Pride Month
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Obama On LGBT Pride Month
posted by 71353 @ 3:29 AM,
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Emma Soames on fashion and style for the older generation
PrintEmailPDF My cup of sartorial joy brims over with the discovery of Ari Cohen's blog, Advanced Style, which chronicles the style of the chicest, wackiest and best dressed of America's older generation. Here you will find inspiration from vintage style mavens, ranging from 93-year-old model Mimi Weddell, to a dude from Seattle whose fine legs are displayed in stockings and who is topped off with a blazer and cap. Then there's fabric designer Elizabeth Sweetheart, who dresses entirely in green - a different outfit every day. She was recently profiled in New York magazine where she explained the genesis of her eccentric but bizarrely successful look. "I began wearing green nail varnish and it just spread all over me."
Cohen, 27, started the blog last summer. He works in the bookstore at the New Museum but originally came from Seattle where his best friend was his grandmother. "I adored my grandparents. Older people's style has evolved and they don't mind what other people think so much. They just aren't so self-conscious." He says that when he moved to New York last May he noticed immediately how vibrant and stylish older people in the city were, and wanted to start a project to bring that into focus.
The site is gathering momentum along with a mood of greater acceptance and respect for the older practitioners of style consciousness. "People have started to notice older people more," explains Cohen. "You can learn so much from the way an old person wears a coat that they have had for ever with maybe a hat, for instance - these are the last people around who know how to dress formally and they have a confidence about them that younger people just don't have."
Recent trends spotted on the site include bright red lipstick and huge dark glasses - neither of which are age specific but do look fabulous on the denizens of Advanced Style. There's no doubt that when the fat lady finally starts singing, she will do so in Balenciaga, with a slash of red lipstick and possibly some kid gloves taken out of a closet and smelling of the lavender in which they were for decades preserved.
? Emma Soames is editor-at-large of Saga magazine.
guardian.co.uk ? Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Emma Soames on fashion and style for the older generation
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Emma Soames on fashion and style for the older generation
[Source: Mexico News]
Emma Soames on fashion and style for the older generation
[Source: Boston News]
Emma Soames on fashion and style for the older generation
[Source: World News]
Emma Soames on fashion and style for the older generation
[Source: Channels News]
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[Source: Nbc News]
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posted by 71353 @ 2:10 AM,
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FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
PrintEmailPDF On Friday's Special Report with Bret Baier, FNC host Baier informed viewers that the Justice Department had dropped charges against New Black Panther members who engaged in blatant voter intimidation in Philadelphia last November. As previously documented by Newsbuster Noel Sheppard, last November Fox News ran a report by Rick Leventhal detailing the activity which was ignored by the mainstream media. On Friday's Special Report, Baier quoted a former 1960s civil rights lawyer: "The most blatant form of voter intimidation. They were positioned in a location that forced every voter to pass in close proximity to them. The weapon was openly displayed and brandished in plain sight of voters."
Below is a transcript of the report from the Friday, May 29, Special Report with Bret Baier on FNC, which aired during the show's "Political Grapevine" segment:
BRET BAIER: A lawsuit brought by the Bush administrationNew Black Panther Party has been dropped by the Obama Justice Department. The move comes despite an eye witness account of a You Tube video of the men seemingly attempting to scare away would-be voters on Election Day, an apparent violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The civil complaint accused the men of coercion, making threats, intimidation, and hurling racial slurs while at a Philadelphia polling station on November 4. Prosecutors say one of the men brandished a night stick, which they called a deadly weapon.
A former 1960's civil rights lawyer said in an affidavit that it was, quote, "The most blatant form of voter intimidation. They were positioned in a location that forced every voter to pass in close proximity to them. The weapon was openly displayed and brandished in plain sight of voters." A Justice Department spokesman said officials obtained "an injunction that prohibits the defendant, who brandished the weapon, from doing so again. Claims were dismissed from the other defendants based on a careful assessment of the facts and the law."
FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
[Source: Home News]
FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
[Source: News Argus]
FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
[Source: News Herald]
FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
[Source: News Article]
FNC: Justice Dept Drops Voter Intimidation Charges Vs. Black Panthers
posted by 71353 @ 12:50 AM,
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