What Will Apple Do With Its $100 Billion Cash Stash?

Pressures mount to do something. Could a dividend be far away?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577241483831347356.html

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LinkedIn Quarterly Results Beat Earlier Estimates

Very much in the shadow of social media giant Facebook, LinkedIn, I think, represents a great growth opportunity. In particular,  the ability to monetize all their data and dis-intermediate traditional search firms has only just begun, IMHO.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/us-linkedin-results-idUSTRE8182FU20120209

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Arizona Whacks Amazon with Large Sales Tax Bill

Arizona hit Amazon.com with a $53 million bill for uncollected sales taxes, the latest attempt from a state to get revenue from the online retailer, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

In a filing with the SEC, Amazon disclosed the bill from Arizona — which the company received in November — saying the state “is alleging that we should have collected a transaction tax that is similar to a sales tax on applicable transactions” for the period March 2006 to December 2010. Amazon said the assessment is without merit and plans to defend itself.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/02/03/arizona-to-amazon-about-that-sales-tax/

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California Government to Run out of Cash By March if Action Not Taken

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/01/controller-state-to-run-out-of-cash-in-march-without-action.html

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Want to know How the U.S. Stock Market will perform in 2012? Watch the Super Bowl

Wins by original National Football League teams (like the Giants) overwhelmingly are in years where there are rallies in the market;  by contrast wins by original American Football League teams (like this year’s opposing New England Patriots) are generally in years where there are sell-offs in the market. 


http://blogs.wsj.com/overheard/2012/01/25/super-bowls-giant-risk-for-investors/

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Who Would Have Thought? Serial Exporter and Mercantilist Nation, Japan, in 2011, has first trade deficit in 31 Years

Part of this attributable to the devastating tsunami to be sure, but it also reflects the impact of the hollowing out of manufacturing in Japan and many years of "Endaka Jidai" (the "High Yen Period").

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5htzR7H904D8JUUU-ln6jei4aTJyA?docId=CNG.fcb732571ce9aa6586c37fb34c79e6eb.131

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Is the U.S. already far along the painful deleveraging process?

Data from McKinsey Global Institute (concerning at least to largely to private debt) suggests that the answer might be "yes", especially relative to most countries

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/01/u-s-deleveraging-unlike-some.php

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Research In Motion Co-CEO Steps Down

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion's co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, announced Sunday they would step down as co-CEOs of the once-iconic company that has struggled to compete in recent years.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-22/Blackberry-RIM/52748290/1

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The Future of America is Bright, But Government Leadership and Vision Needs to "Step Up", Joel Kotkin

The always interesting Joel Kotkin, brilliantly nails it here yet again. Most would agree that we have a dearth of leadership in both parties. A lot fewer would agree that America's future is bright, but Kotkin presents some very compelling arguments for that very view. Some highlights:  1) The U.S has its difficulties, but among the industrialized countries no country or region -- the EU, Japan, even China --- matches the U.S. either in terms of innovation but also too in robust population growth; and 2) as previously reported in this blog, the tectonic shift in the global balance of power in the sphere of energy to North America again significantly brightens the near and medium-term outlooks of the U.S.   Will the President and our Congress have the vision and courage to seize these opportunities? Alas, this is Kotkin's question.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2012/01/19/this-is-americas-moment-if-washington-doesnt-blow-it/

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Apple and the Future of the Textbook Business

Interesting overview. The challenge remains for the legacy publishers is how will they sell e-products at 10% to 20% of the cost of traditional books and still make money?

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/20/apple-textbook-domination-not-so-fast/

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Credit Card Debt Declines by 11% Year Over Year

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/pf/credit_card_debt/index.htm?source=cnn_bin

Consumers reduced credit card debt by 11% last year, and average debt loads dropped in every state.

The average credit card balance for 2011 was $6,576, down from $7,404 the previous year, according to a report from credit tracking and financial education website CreditKarma.com, based on data from more than 300,000 of its users.

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Hold the Pickles, Hold the Lettuce

Burger King tests home delivery. Interesting concept; if it has any legs we will see other fast food outlets making similar efforts.


http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120118/BUSINESS/301180016/Burger-King-tests-home-delivery

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Southern California Home Sales Lag in December 2011, Still Heavy, Bottom-Feeding Speculative Activity

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-home-sales-20120118,0,3817221.story

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Coming to a Street Corner Near You: $5 a Gallon Gas?

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/16/markets/gas_prices/index.htm?source=cnn_bin

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Walter Russell Mead on California's High-Speed Rail Debacle

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/01/15/california-rail-fail-captain-brown-and-the-great-white-train/

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John Edwards Has Heart Condition, Seeks Delay in Criminal Corruption Trial

Funny, I didn't know Edwards had a heart.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/13/us/john-edwards-heart-condition/index.html?hpt=hp_bn3

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Pursuing A Credit Score Above 800 is A Fool's Errand

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-13/credit-score-zealots-pursue-fool-s-errand-for-numbers-over-800.html

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From the Volokh Conspiracy: More on the Consolidation of the Department of Commerce, USTR, etc.

http://volokh.com/2012/01/13/the-presidents-agency-consolidation-proposal/

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U.S. Slips in Economic Freedom Ranking, Behind Chile, Ireland and Maruitius

Yes, Mauritius.  Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are ranked 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The U.S. is ranked 10th overall.

http://heritage.org/index/Ranking

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White House Seeks to Merge/Consolidate Department of Commerce, USTR, Ex-Im Bank and several other agencies

This could be a good basis to "rationalize" and "consolidate" and "streamline". I fear, however, given the Federal government's track record, this will only create an unwieldy, multi-headed monster much like, say, DHS.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204542404577158361834894658.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

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