Professor Elam

Downtown Mania Exists in Odessa as well

Monday June 30 2014

This weekend I wrote a spoof on the efforts of those now in downtown San Antonio to get the rest of us to move there.

The same thing was happening in Odessa, TX when  a new mayor was elected there in the 1990s. Same story, City Hall and the news paper, both downtown, wanted more people downtown. The result was a Federal Grant that planted trees in the middle of Main Street, but I don't think anyone ever moved downtown. Years earlier attempts ot put a new coliseum downtown failed.

Now here the City Council goes again, buying land to attract a hotel. Here is an excerpt from a radio show In a Monday radio interview with conservative talk show host Jason Moore, Odessa Mayor David Turner defended the city’s decision to bring the project to the area. Turner represents the City adn Moore is the conservative radio talk show dubious about the use of city money for land with no vote by the citizens.

“To get anything downtown, we're going to need an anchor,” Turner said during the interview.

During a Thursday interview, Turner echoed his sentiments about the project.

“Well, if the town expands like it’s has … then there’s going to be quite a bit of land that is sitting vacant downtown,” he said. “It (the project) will help bring in people and drive up the taxable value of an area that is slowly having people moving out.”

During the interview, Moore expressed displeasure with the city spending taxpayer money on the land, and was concerned city officials could spend more without taking the construction issue to local voters.

Turner has previously said that he is against taking the issue to the voters because that would mean the city would have to use more taxpayer money. Instead, Turner and multiple council members have said they want to use the land as incentives to have a hotel chain take on the project themselves.

Long said he is still hoping to have the project located in the downtown area.

“You don’t have to navigate town or deal with traffic or even know the town, you’re right there,” he said.on the topic of hte City trying for a downtown hotel.

 

A Student Owned Business Idea

Monday June 30 2014

We are studying managerial accounting in ACCT 3314. This includes the idea of cutting costs. Nothing cuts cost quite like a zero inventory cost, hello consignment shop.

While this is not a new idea, I am thinking of a couple of new twists. 

Here is the tage line for Concierge Sales

Discrete Sales of Previously Pampered Luxury Goods

I am thinking, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, etc. all luxury brand names. I is probably a no no to mention the name in other than an actual ad. 

With the internet one might list goods for sale rather than having to man a shop. 

Or like Tuesday Morning perhaps you could be open one day a week. But then where to have it...

I am not sure just what combination would work but 

put in coach hand bags on e bay and you will see what I mean

I think between San Antonio and Austin there is plenty of potential supply, it is just a matter of how to best market it using internet or an actual shop where one could see the merchandise. 

When I visited the Bentley dealer in Houston a few years back, every Continental GT on his floor was used, new ones were all back ordered. The sales man said he would call the regular customers and tell what he had used, Porsche, Maserati whatever, and they would come by, often with a pickup and trailer and haul the thing home. They would try it out for a few months and then look for another toy. 

I think that would work well with handbags, which might be the best item to begin with. It would be a good idea to get a job at a dealer actually selling such items to really learn the customers, how they think, shop, etc and all about mark up.

Understanding what they will bring used is absolutely essential. And that is what separates the successful used item dealer from everyone else that thinks he or she can do this, wehther youare dealing in used oilfield equipment or high end clothing

 

Any ideas out there?

 

Another College Debt Solution that Won't Work

Monday June 30 2014

Here is another banana bunch of ideas on student loan debt. The only really good one is apprentice ship programs where the employer helps pay the tuition. 

As long as programs loan more money to ever increasing tuition, the problem won't go away. 

I am planning a series of books, the Udnerground Guide to Colleg Success, and one will address this problem, with a real solution.

Dear Pat and Don

Sunday June 29, 2014

Pat DeGiovanni, CEO Centra San Antonio

Don Frost, President Frost Bank

Dear Pat and Don,

I read your Big Dreams Still Attainable piece in the Opinion section of the Express-News Sunday. I see you are still beating the drum for the ‘community vision for downtown.’  Well frankly guys, if you define community as those of you who are already downtown, it is true. But not so much for the Rest of Us ROU.

One of the delights of San Antonio, as opposed to say downtown Houston or Dallas, is that downtown is, well somewhere else. The real downtown for San  Antonio is spread along north 410 from 281 to I 10. It is no accident that Nustar is building north of the RIM. 

And it’s not like this idea has not been tried before. The Tower Life Building and the Majestic Theater both opened right at the top of the 1929 stock market boom. HemisFair ’68 along with the Convention Center opened just after the peak in the markets in 1966.  Today both are being updated in what is surely another Skyscraper Theory Anniversary. The Skyscraper Theory states that ‘never before attempted structures’ are conceived of in good times. By the time the building is completed, the good times are usually over and the developers struggle with what has become a White Elephant. The Empire State Building, conceived of during the Roaring Twenties, opened to the worst real estate market in history in the early 1930s The Burj Tower in Dubai, replicated the same series of emotion and has yet to rent up.  And sure enough, Greg Jefferson reports both a new skyscraper and a fruit basket turnover move for CPS and the City is underway.

Decades ago I actually worked in Downtown Houston. Then as now I wondered why all the ROUs at Houston Lighting and Power had  to be Downtown. CPS employees today face the same traffic jam   The answer of course, is that the ROU do not need to be downtown. The ones that really want to be there are the CEOs, the bankers, and the newspaper. That was the case both then and now in Houston and in San Antonio.

And by the way, you assert that if the AT& T center and the Baseball Park had been downtown we would be ‘light years ahead.’  The Spurs played in the Alamodome for ten years and begged for an alternate venue. What we would be ahead in is a massive traffic jam at every game.

But this is not a message of complaint, no sir, not at all. In fact I am proposing a forward thinking solution to ALL these problems.   Demonstrating the kind of ‘light years ahead thinking’ that I know you admire, here goes.

• The New Skyscraper should be named, CEO Center. It will be considerably more upscale than whatever is planned now. The reason is that it will not contain a single Dilbert Cubicle. No sir, lavish mesquite paneling, ankle deep carpet, and multiple bars, luncheon, and supper clubs will be featured throughout. How’s that for creating Class A Office Space?  Let the rents start at $35 sf per year, well on the second floor. And as for folks living downtown, let it contain several floor of condos, assuring that the CEOs will never be late to work, during the week they can live right there.  
• Mayor Castro signs an Executive Order, in homage to his new boss Barack Obama. Effective immediately cars are barred from a forty block area in downtown. Frankly the most entertaining thing bout downtown is not the Riverwalk but watching a VIA bus attempt to turn the corner on a  street corner laid out 300 years ago for burro drawn carts. (Don’t doubt me, the streets around the Tobin Center look like spaghetti on a plate).
• This accomplishes multiple goals in one fell swoop. With cars banned from the area, the Streetcar proposal vaults to a necessity from a mere desire (streetcars being named desire after all, see Tennessee Williams).  And in the best Castro/Obama fashion, this means going green. We don’t just cut down on carbon fuel cars downtown, we banish them.  This also makes it considerably safer to walk around downtown.
•  And finally, this eliminates one big  reason the ROU simply don’t go downtown, yep, we’re lost. Exiting the parking garage at ‘stodgy Frost Tower’ none of the ROU have  any idea which way I 37 or I 35 or the Alamodome or anything else is located.  Like the Everly Brothers song about the streetcar circling Boston whose passengers never returned. The better bet is to head back to the Plaza Club and reconnoiter.

So there you have it. The ROU get to stay in our preferred habitats with easy parking and in and out access all over San Antonio from North 410 to Southeast Military, where by the way more and more are moving. Those who love downtown can really live it up in a swanky new office building knowing that they are all going green with every streetcar ride.

And as for the notion that the Mayor does not have Executive Order Authority, just have Julian look into the tv camera and say,

I won’t apologize for taking action when no one else will.

Sure solving problems in one fell swoop is a big job but that’s what college professors are for. 

Breaking Rich

Friday June 27, 2014

Hillary Clinton claims the famous couple was broke when they left the White House. Well

that is not the case now.

Harry Truman, a former President admired by both parties, never made a dime off being President. He retired to Missouri, never taking money for a speech as the former President, ie, never  banking on the job.

The Clinton fortune now runs to the hundreds of millions, good work if you can get it. 

Having a Founndation to spend %$50 M a year on your travel helps.

Is there a line that is being crossed here?  When a politician retires from public life, they get to keep their campaign funds. So even if Hillary does not run, she keeps all the money raised, and is doing pretty well in the speaking department herself. 

Should politicians be able to keep the money they raised to run whe they don't, run that is, We report, you decide. 

US to Export Oil, What Could Go Wrong?

Thursday June 26, 2014

For the first time since the 1970s the US will be exporting oil. This is a result of increased production in the  Shale areas of ND and South Texas as well as the Permian Basin. 

What could go wrong?  Glad you asked.

Valero

VLO dropped 8.3% on over 4x normal volume. Why?  The thinking is that the refiners have had their pick of what oil to refine. With more output than ever and no exports, there has been a bit of surplus of oil to refine. Now the lighter  grades or condensate will be exported. US Refiners have geared up for the heavier grades of oil. But as the saying goes, there is always a fundamental event to verify the technical result. And here VLO has nearly doubled from its October low at 32.5 to 57. A correction was probably inevitable. The news apparently triggered a wave of stop sell orders placed under the current price. The result was a wave of computer generated selling. 

Is this a long term deal or  just a short term knee jerk reaction, we shall see. NOthing boring about oil trading. 

Today's Wall Street Journal

Wednesday June 25, 2014

Whoops, this was meant for the professorelam blog but it does give you an idea fo what we are recommending for our students.

Here are some examples just today of how reading the WSJ will improve your contextual understanding of what we discuss in class.

Page A 13 SEIU is attempting an union organizaing ruse by actions to boost the minimum wage. This would allow organizing mom and pop franchises like Subway. 

A 14 The WSJ calls it IRS E mail Jeopardy as the service continues to fabricate stories justifying its losss or desctruction of e mails. Try telling the IRS such a whopper during your next audit. 

A 15 Business continues to flee the 39%  US corporate tax rate. ON page B5 even staid Walgreens is considering leaving the US. 

C1  REITs dizzying rise suggests over valuation, Question, what is an REIT and why are they over valued?

A1  The US is set to export oil for the first time since the 1970s, how does this impact our blance of trade, how does this affect Texas, what kind of oil is being exported and why, what you mean there are different kinds of oil, you bet there are, quite a bit different. 

Corporate Profitability

Wed June 25, 2014

Mark Hulbert comments on corporate profitability.

We are studying equity in ACCT 3310. Notice how Mark projects corofits which he then translates into stock market performance. Is this valid?  Do stocks always reflect corporate performance?

Ten Best Careers for College Grads

Monday June 23, 2014

Here we go again with a list of top careers for college grads. This one comes from UC San Diego and there is a link to the actual report. I don't agree with 10 thru six, here goes.

10 - INsurance Sales Agent  Well no doubt property casualty large line companies are requiring a degree, I realy don't know why. You are an order taker and they will send you to order taking school for a week and then intern you with another agent to learn how. I can't abelieve there is a shortage..

9 - Public Relations Specialist. Well ifyou can get hired by a government this pays pretty well, no really, it is a tough game however in the private sector. At Texas State they actually had a week long program titled what to do with your mass communication degree

8 - Management Analyst, Unique Expertise, hmm, at what, I mean really, I can see HR or Supply Chain but just claiming youare a management analyst is likely to land you a job at the Outlet Mall where you can analyze retail sales, yours

7 - Computer Systems Analyst - Hmm how about computer systems programmer?  If so I would give this a heads up, Better yet pair this with an accounting degree

6 - Elementary School Teacher  My eyes rolled at this one, every woman in the College of Ed or near every one of them, wants to teach little kids, they are not physically threatening to the teacher and they still like school, hence there are a jillion applicants, try 8th grade science or math instead, I understand there is a lack of coaches as well, if you are willing to bet your carrer on what a bunch of teenagers do on Thursday or Friday night

The top five are either some sort of computer application, accountant, or here we go with marketing analyst again. Trust me, most marketingjobs, as in 97% are sales not analyst jobs. 

Incredibly I did not see Petroleum Engineer on the list, and once again for this brief window of time that is in demand again, big demand. My suggestion as an alternate to the general management idea is supply chain, coupled with GPS and Pert Charts. 

Hmm, and I never met an electrical engineer out of a job either. 

Increasingly accounting needs more computer information which we are providing with SAP training. 

 

Rackspace Struggles to Recover

Monday June 23, 2014

Rackspace RAX is hte start up success sory of San Antonio. BUt success atracts competition. And that is coming from big boys with deep pockets like Google and possibly Amazon. And so the stock price has dropped from its all time high of 80 to the low 30. RAX has hired J P Morgan to help with well strategic issues. 

Here is another company with lots of issues to illustrate what we will discuss in discussing equity in ACCT 3310.