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Presenting The Greatest ROI Opportunity Ever
The dream of virtually anyone who has ever traded even one share of stock has always been to generate above market returns, also known as alpha, preferably in a long-term horizon. Why? Because those who manage to return 30%, 20% even 10% above the S&P over the long run, become, all else equal (expert networks and collocated flow-frontrunning HFT boxes aside), legendary investors in the eyes of the general public, which brings the ancillary benefits of fame and fortune (usually in the form of 2 and 20). This is the ultimate goal of everyone who works on Wall Street. Yet, ironically, what most don't realize, is that these returns, or Returns On Investment (ROI), are absolutely meaningless when put side by side next to something few think about when considering investment returns.
Namely lobbying.
Because it is the ROIs for various forms of lobbying the put the compounded long-term returns of the market to absolute shame. As the following infographic demonstrates, ROIs on various lobbying efforts range from a whopping 5,900% (oil subsidies) to a gargantuan 77,500% (pharmaceuticals).
How are these mingboggling returns possible? Simple - because they appeal to the weakest link: the most corrupt, bribable, and infinitely greedy unit of modern society known as 'the politician'.
Yet who benefits from these tremendous arbitrage opportunities? Not you and I, that is for certain.
No - it is the faceless corporations - the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks - which are truly in the control nexus of modern society, and which, precisely courtesy of these lobbying "efforts", in which modest investments generate fantastic returns allowing the status quo to further entrench itself, take advantage of this biggest weakness of modern "developed" society to make the rich much richer (a/k/a that increasingly thinner sliver of society known as investors), who are the sole beneficiaries of this "Amazing ROI" - the stock market is merely one grand (and lately broken, and very much manipulated) distraction, to give everyone the impression the playing field is level.
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The US' Finest 535 at your service...NOT.
Sheesh.
They are are there to service anyone ...
... who has enough money to get their undivided attention.
Pretty much like any prostitute. Just A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE and NO WHERE NEAR AS LOYAL.
barliman
hey, b_man!
this came out, today and explains some of the bigPharma strategies involved, paying top shrinks and doctors bigBux to propagandize, such as [paste}:
This is the year the APA puts the finishing touches on DSM-5,... Furthering the appearance of self-dealing is the revelation that 57 percent of the DSM-5?s authors have Pharma links. {end]
MARTHA ROSENBERG
The Mind Druggers
don't be surprised.
government owns pretty much everything
lobbying just tells you we dont live in pure capitalism but mixed economy where government sets the rules.
So better tell your CEO to get off of his high horse of how he deserves millions of dollars a year, because there is no legitamacy in increasing revenue from government help.
i don't have a CE0
how long have you had this problem?
don't even think about trying to tell me what lobbying tells me, ok, toy-boy? i mean it., too
you talk about yourself ok?
i'll handle slewie; been doing it long before you arrived;
this link is from the article by marthaR Pharma links
why don't you see what it says, mr know-it-all-asswipe?
You are obviously a by-product of the lobbying lobby.
my specialty, CE!
lobbyTenders! and you choose your sauce!
fries?
hey, wouldn't it be fun to drive some of these strip mining monsters down Kstreet and just plant potatoes or some american indian puro tobaccy stock? or ?
we'd hafta get new ray-bans...
Da man would hate us, come after us with the latest vaporizing freeze gun. Ooops! Was supposed to deny that one existed....o well
There is only one question that matters in the lobbying game..
How much?
By that simple question, India as an example, and I'm sure large swaths of the rest of the "developing" world has been flooded with:
1) Drugs that are banned in all "developed" countries
2) Pesticides that need full HazMat gear to handle or are outright banned world over, are sprayed by farmers here with hand-kerchiefs around their noses
3) Dangerous, outdated vehicles with known defects in every aspect (disc brakes came to India perhaps 4-5 years ago, that too as an extra and ABS too, as two examples) flood the market
4) Parting the borders for every piece of Chinese crap that can make it. No testing, no consumer protection, no price controls, no anti-dumping stuff. Just flood.
5) For all legitimate work, adding at least 200% to the cost for various Indian "Lobbies"
On and on.
Sanctified bribery. Period. Scum.
ori
whither-india ???
Now you know why complete and total worldwide economic collapse is the only solution.
One thing is for sure Michael, this system is not going to go away peacefully, too entrenched and too easy for the lobby scum who steal to let it go.
So yes, big fight upcoming, for sure.
ori
You got that right ORI.
ORI, the politicians are having too much fun with all the lobbyist money floating around. Here is a link to a political party tracker so everyone can see what their favorite elected officials are up to.
http://politicalpartytime.org/
"Sunlight's Party Time is a project to track parties for members of Congress or congressional candidates that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond."
Maybe that is why you have to belong to a party?
I wuz in a party and then I just kept on partying. Cool link.
Douchebags abound in teh corridors of power worldwide.
ori
Yup, ORI. Never was more disapointed from a woman than I was from a political party (or two)
Now you know why complete and total worldwide economic collapse is the only solution.
Yes it would be a solution, but it won't happen.
What will happen is increasing totalitarian control over the people (who will let it happen because they're sheep).
They'll be increasingly looted with all manner of taxes, fees for every government service, property assessments, along with currency debasement and banker/government scams where their wealth is directly stolen, like MF Global, and soon coming confiscation of retirement accounts.
The goverment/banker class wants to steal everything they can from the people, reducing them to poverty in a feudalistic society of government/banker lords and everyone else peasants.
Gosh, we're half way there already.
Better teach your kids and grandkids to say "yes m' lord" with proper respect. It's coming.
What will happen is increasing totalitarian control over the people (who will let it happen because they're sheep).
Shhhh! Dick Cheney is up my ass to keep you guys quiet this morning!! Tow the frackin' line!from the world of the bagavad ghita, and the mahabarata, to modern day India, it's just sad.
Indeed dela, it's a fractal collapse and it's been a long time coming.
ori
Bhagavat gita and maharbharat are fraud texts copied from Greek mythology , just like today's bollywood copies its scripts from Hollywood and Asian flicks and presents them as innovative concepts
No,India is not a land of riches,Hindu Lunatics have created this myth since 1940 and started Brainwashing their population about their Bullshit theory
There are many accounts written byBritish viceroy's that Indians burned Babies Along the shore of ganges in thinking that LORD shiva will rise from ashes and kill all British people
That baby Burning Ritual was practised for 20 days and its Written in Biritsh manuscripts that over 100000 Babies were burnt by indians after they lost the battle with colonial British
Not just that Hindu indians were bed partners with Mughal ISLAMIC emperors and backstabbed them repeatedly
Indians are Backstabbers and cunning Traitors, most digusting specimen ever lived on earth
These people are none other than Ancient people who lived in SODOM and GOMORRAH, indian festivals,Sex temples and Painitings of Sexual fornication on temples resemble a strangle correlation to ancient people of SODOM and GOMORRAH
Who are know for their degeneracy across the babylon
Indians are direct descendants from Ancient SODOM and GOMORRAH people
I have strong feeling that INDIANS will DEStroy Entire Humanity with their parasitism and Corrupt Practises
The only problem that this world is going through is INDIAN invasion into other lands through immigration
globalization has given wings to these parasitic species and now they are showing their true colors
Until world wakes up from slumber and Start another nuclear holocaust on indians , nothing will change in this world
2) Pesticides that need full HazMat gear to handle or are outright banned world over, are sprayed by farmers here with hand-kerchiefs around their noses
Hmmm..... reminds me of BP spraying tankcar loads of Corexit all over the Gulf (plus at the wellhead).
EPA said stop and BP just flat ignored 'em.
And they wouldn't let any cleanup people use respirators.
And yes I believe the blowout was planned.
Well, i have formulated a theory which explains why indians are most filthiest species amongst human race
Most biologists have forgotten about one thing- i.e parasitism amongst human beings
Just like parasitism exists among animal and plant species even amongst human race parasites exist
and most of these parasites have some lineage to India,India is a land where most degenerate among humans were born, indians are genetically corrupt and most degenerate race
Ever wondered why USA has been Going down since Indian Invasion into USA with Fraud H1B visas started
Silicon valley today became a Whore house with Indian Wifes doing testing job and Indian husbands floating their Corrupt Immigration Lobby in corporate america
It seems that USA is marching towards dead end One indians stepped in, They are like a disease who entered into healthy body, but American body didnot show any Reaction initially
But lately India started its parasitism, Once Indian vermin infiltrated Upper echelons of corporated America they started Feeding on American Talent
For a Better world we need another Adolf who will burn these parasites in chambers
Every time i encountered an indian he seemed to me like a devil who is hiding something, Ask him about his degenerate religion of Hinduism and Fraud babas
Or ask him why his society sucks and why Millions of Indians are ready to escape that filthy land, he becomes enraged as if he wants hide something or as if he knows that truth that He belongs most degenerate humans ever lived on earth
Every one is sleeping , nobody understands the truth that This world economy is raped by indian parasites and Its collapsing because of their parasitism
I pray for a day when world wakes up and starts another Holocaust against indian parasitic race which is breeding in mass numbers as it has found new host USA,UK,Gulf and EU
These parasites have wrecked entire world economy and destroying every productive thing that human being has ever created
Indian parasites know deep inside that they are useless uncreative vermin living a miserable parasitic life feeding on other nations
I pray for the day when it ends
The only Solution for this crisis is final solution-Complete destruction of Indian parasitc race on earth will solve human problems
i'll reply2yer 00:57 out here, C_E
the thing that totally frosts my ass about the APA (shrinks) is that torture platform they stand upon while driving their gitMobiles
wtf ever happened to: "First, do no harm"? is that too much to ask from the medical and healing professions?
i do prefer the HippocraticOath to the hypocritical oafs
NW0? where?
slewie,
Followed the first link through to the following:
Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome Updated April-27-2012
This condition is being recommended for further study in Section III, which is the section of the DSM-5 text in which conditions that require further research will be included.
A. At least one of the following symptoms are present in attenuated form with relatively intact reality testing, but of sufficient severity and/or frequency to warrant clinical attention:
1. delusions/delusional ideas
2. hallucinations/perceptional abnormalities
3. disorganized speech/communication
Hmmmmmmm ... that will take care of the next Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and half of their colleagues, friends & known associates ... the only problem is I have never met a medical type who new jack shit about the internet, coding or anything technology related ...
So how exactly do they plan on making those delusional ideas into the 'next big thing' ?
barliman
are you sure you want to know?
Great article! Thanks for sharing
535+1+9, would be more like it!!
you are indeed correct.
A great investment for folks who are already quite comfortable...if you have the money to lobby and a business that can be advantaged by it chances are you aren't reading this website because you are pro business and pro economy
We seem to forget,
They ALL "lobbyed" us before they got to that position.
What is at stake is a representative form of government for the people.
Fascism is representation only for the wealthy and the corporations, and that is exactly what we have here in the US.
It is time for revolution. IT IS TIME FOR REVOLUTION.
I pray, literally, that the military, at the grunt soldier level, understands their true duty. If they fail this greatest of tests it is my firm belief that not only our country but a goodly portion of the world will burn.
Kind of reminds me of how the Spanish Civil War started. Be careful what you wish for.
i've tried. i don't recommend it. from what i've been heard "it's been tried at the Staff officer level" as well..."and they don't recommend it either."
Hey Tyler, some of the ROI calculations are off by a factor of 30 or 40 or even 100 (depending on inflation). The calculation of ROI is based on returns every year (OK for a one time subsidy but not multiple year savings). It should be based on all returns in the future (integrate all gains to present value). The Pharma lobby spent money just once and the gains are there every year ($90 billion a year forever has a present value of $2 to $3 trillion??)
The return on investment formula: ROI = (Gain from Investment - Cost of Investment)/(Cost of Investment)
The article would be a lot more impressive with the correct formula for ROI. Some numbers would be at least 30 times larger.
If you wanna be rich, you gotta be a [corrupt] bitch.
Im so fuckin high but that shit is off the hook!
Towelie 'Oh Man, I'm so high right now' a 100 TIMES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO7U3kgoeBM
I live for Southpark after a long day of trading! That was a great episode. Thanks.
if I ever change my screen name it will be , Col. Kleenk...
wtf, it's friday, and you guys are high and drunk and posting on zerohedge?
My God we're so ahead of the fucking curve it looks now like we're behind it. We're losers now... but after the collapse.
Dont worry, it was saturday morning where i was.
It's now Saturday morning for me, and I'm high & posting on ZeroHedge...
:D
Stop electing invertebrates. Problem solved.
Oh...I forgot, the system is fixed. Looks like Plan B is in - stack gold, ammo and consumables and outlast the bastards on the reset.
Because we all know that none of the politcal class own large farms, guns and gold. No, they definitly all just live in Washington DC and spend all their money there.
How many of you here have made an appointment with your congressperson? Problem solved. Lobbyists have strategy they make appointment they talk to them. If all they hear is one story, then they go for the story. Remember SOPA? They heard from us.
You forgot your /sarc tag.
barliman
I remember TARP.
They heard from us, and ignored us all the same.
As for SOPA, you realize that CISPA is much much worse, right? But this time, since the CIA-spawn Wikipedia isn't running a blackout scheme to oppose it, CISPA has already passed the House, and is just waiting to get passed in the Senate.
A lot of ex-congresspeople remember TARP, too. There isn't mass opposition against CISPA, that's my point. If we stop wasting energy complaining. Instead we work, organize to stop these things, then we can.
Probably one of the few things that unites ows and tea party
Tea partiers aren't against tax breaks, and don't subscribe to the phrase "tax breaks for corporations."
When I hear about lobbying and campaign ads winning political positions, I don't curse democracy. I don't blame the idiot masses, or the flouride, or the illuminati. I get myself a snuggie, a liter of absynth and peote, some CHALLAH and olive oil, and pop this on the tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k67_imEHTPE
& to anyone who doesn't like this... www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Kq6qiuFTY#t=1m05s
Not a bad plan really, but still you are a criminal because interested parties do not believe in freedom even unto your own body and mind. Your body is not your own. Your mind is not your own. Your land is not your own. Your fruits of labor and endeavor are not your own. We are slaves....
The video is 1:30 long.. Cows lose attention after 10 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/user/stefbot/featured
Thanks for the second link. I am downloading the seasons as I type. I usually dislike anime.
+1 for propgating Stef
I enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing.
+1 for squeezing Boondocks and Stefan Molyneaux into one post.
Who says you can't time the market! Now "just deposit another cool million in the President's checking account at Chasing Morgan" and see what comes out at the other end!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ci9jA_4O3GI
Used to think gasoline at $400 a gallon in Afghanistan was a good ROI. The Pharma mafia has that beat easily. No wonder USA spends more on phramaceuticals than the rest of the world combined. And the prescription drug unfunded liability of Medicare today is $20.7 trillion ($182,000 per taxpayer) and growing at $1.47 trillion a year, about the same as the national debt.
Could the system get any more corrupt? No wonder the neo-cons are so anxious to spread American democracy and freedom across the world.
What percent of pharmaceutical company's offerings to the market are necessities? In other words, how much of their business is a function of true life-sustaining need v. the I-need-to-pop-a-pill-for-this-or-that culture?
Tax subsidies don't drive demand.
Who is footing the bill for big Pharma? USA, our input per capita dwarfs the rest of the countries on the planet. We are footing the bill, big Pharma is happy, the rest of the world likes this (free stuff is great)! Time to cut off world corporate Pharma welfare. Extend the timelines, drop the cost, reduce the scope. Only options we have. But we don’t have to take it, bear the brunt of it. I we stand up and negotiate with the corporations we can and will get a better contract than we have now.
Bow down before the one you serve.
My argument, come up with a better one as you see fit.
No problem.
The funny thing is if things were either as corrupt or as easily corruptible as is portrayed legions of companies would be entering these businesses but they are not, in some instances like drugs it is because they have made it prohibitively expensive-
$1billion to get a drug to market largely created by the pharma companies to inhibit competition.
You know the rich and powerful creating government under the guise they are protecting the people when the reality is to reduce competition.
Your solution not only doesn't address the problem it will make it worse.
Leaving even fewer companies to corrupt same governance.
It is a little odd that the carmakers are not on there, higher education, the fannie/freddie ongoing abortions et al.
They should def end all the oil and farm subsidies too.
Afterall everyone can afford to pay more for food, gas and drugs for that matter.
and the vernacular is more important than the bottomline.
aka subsidies to the some of the most highly taxed and regulated industries in the world,
why not call them rebates?
Have anything to do with portraying corporate America that employs a sizable portion of the population, besides the obvious double taxation also pays a littany plus one of excise, federal, state, local, payroll, property, licensing, permits and too many count taxes and is responsible for employing armies of regulators and smaller armies to deal with the regulators as somehow welfare recipients and not significant contributors to the bottomline?
Bollocks! We pay in funny money that we get showered with for pretending to work or for running the financial shenenigans -- the rest of the world has to "earn" it.
I shower every morning with money then do laps in my money pool. Then I fill up a duffel bag and off I go to my pretend job.
Have you ever heard of “Pay to Delay”?
If you have than you will understand how utterly sick it is that the courts now are owned by big Pharmacy.
FTC Loses Appeal in Androgel ‘Pay-for-Delay’ Patent Case
A U.S. appeals court handed the Federal Trade Commission a defeat in its campaign to block so-called pay-for-delay arrangements between brand-name and generic drug makers, ruling a settlement involving a patent on Androgel didn’t violate antitrust laws.
The appeals judges in Atlanta upheld a lower court ruling in favor of Brussels-based Solvay SA (SOLB), which sold Androgel, a treatment for low testosterone in men, and three other companies including Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. A settlement among the four delaying generic versions until 2015 prompted the FTC’s lawsuit.
The decision is a setback for FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who estimates such deals cost consumers about $3.5 billion a year in higher prescription drug prices. The agency has failed to successfully challenge such agreements in court or to persuade Congress to outlaw them.
“We continue to believe this conduct violates the antitrust laws,” Leibowitz said in a statement, calling the situation a “lose-lose” for consumers. He said the FTC “will consider all our options going forward.”
David Balto, a Washington-based attorney who represents consumer groups on the issue, said Congress may have to find a solution. (don't count on it!)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/ftc-loses-appeal-in-androgel-pay-for-delay-patent-case-1-.html
it amazes me how ernerstly the Medics encourage drug scrips for the most trivial issues. Knowledge of the body's Detox pathways is sobering.
Just say no. And understand that your Doc is a victim of the system, as are you.
Funny in other countries "lobbying" is considered bribery.
See how effective re-branding is.
American Exceptionalism FTW.
HAHAHAHHAHAH -very funny!
Yea like war, inflation, torture and so many more.
America invented political corruption!!!!!!
The rich and powerful the world over really didn't create titanic sized global governance for the purpose of enriching themselves the last few centuries-only America did.
Great material.
i think she said "we invented re-branding." i wonder where we would get the idea for "wordsmithing" from? hmmmmmm.....
From the legends of the internet who see a "we" in that post.
You should really read for comprehension before you comment.
I didn't say America invented anything.
The exceptional part is that America TOOK bribery and re-branded it "lobbying". And that is what makes America exceptional.
Well that and the fact that Yanks judge other countries for allowing "bribery" in their governments, but yanks pretend that lobbying isn't legalized bribery.
See how important semantics are in this case. Also form over substance, something else yanks are exceptional at.
Now, i said a lot in this comment, before you go "quick draw" on the response, read it twice.....for substance NOT form.
See no "we" anywhere.
save the pedantic lunacy.
no one's first day here.
Bribery becomes Lobbying, Stealing becomes Rehypothecation, Extortion becomes Tax, Fraud becomes Modern Banking, Ass-Fucked becomes Insured, and so on. It's all in the latest edition of Newspeak.
biggest joke is the TBTF's, they make money up out of thin air and buy the Beltway whores. I know ZeroHedge had this chart, just look at the magitude of the made up money and just a very small part buys all Fed officials and agencies
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/derivatives/bank_exposure.html
On that note its time for me to take my xanax!
there's an old hand behind this, the ruler of this world
+1
The man of lawlessness.
so if every person that turned out to vote in the 2008 election dropped 10 bucks in a hat we'd almost double what all 3 of these lobbies in the graphic paid.. but it would buy 10x as much by packing a massive punch.
It's precisely this corporatist ROI that has convinced me to give generously to Ron Paul's campaign. I'm hoping to get my guy in there to work for me this time.
That (2) in (20) remark was classic Tyler! What is that old rate of doubling figure? ( rule 72), and that is optimistic!
We have a world full of wandering Chiefs, and subsidized Indians!
2 in 10; net 30
or, they cut ya off!
you might be able to run a hedgieFunHouse, Y/C
i would make waaay too much money! L0L!!!
Between lobbyists, mostly scumbag politicians in both parties, and Wall St America is FUBAR
The Tragedy of Facebook: How Wall Street Robbed Main Street America (FB) http://bit.ly/KAnMuX
Here is a novel thought, for the likes of / Foodmaker &Yum Foods. Team up with the [NYSE/Nasdaq] and form a fast Food/Equity Trade platform.
You can call it Star-ZIRP! If you don't produce "ALGO profits, 10% in 2 hours", you become " Soylent Green".
2% rule.
Whatever the amount, 2% goes back to campaign contributions.
Cheaper than a shithead rep
This makes it sound like one can buy politicians votes cheap, but remember they get to front run stock of companies that will stand to benefit from their legislation.
Figures can lie and liars can figure. The determining factors of any ROI calculation is all about you. Not a bitch slave perspective of “Oh what did they sell me”? but rather for a better ROI of “What did I buy into”? I judge people based on how they answer the question. I don’t have the answers, I don’t even know what the questions are. I do know my judgment leaves me with more people who ask the second question “What did I buy into”?
Consequently I have to put up with less bull shit, as my friends do, we call it out quickly, the mask is not needed. There is a load of ROI in truth and a lot of ROI in truth.
The rest is fairy glamour, which in time I will share my way to dispel passed down to me from my ancestors who got caught up in a load of crap ending in me which I am thankful is a rather decent being.
ROI. Remember.
Another nice graphic that should be preserved in a time capsule, so that some future life form will have no doubt what destroyed us.
They will say with confidence: "they destroyed themselves."
Here's to the terminally Self-Absorbed... you are surely winning your personal battle, and your path of destruction is quite impressive.
So our politicians sell out for chump, which leads me to believe we are just in the infant stage of corruption, or the good old days of honest gooberment.
DC hacks not knowing their prices? Figures. Political price discovery.
Maybe we need a counterpart to the Havard JFK trade school of gooberment. The Boss Tweed School.
so I guess Wal-Marts' "lobbying" in Mexico was just small peanuts in comparison...yet look at the media hype it generated. Ahhhh, yes the MSM at it's manipulated best.
CaligBama or RomeNero. Take your pick.
"Give them games and bread and they will never revolt." Saying during the Roman empire
And, they say people want a United States of Europe. You gotta be kidding me.
You win ever more revolutionary points. Thank you ZH.
And I do mean Revolution.
"There is nothing new under the sun."
you'd be surprised actually...
Just in case anyone here thinks campaign finance reform or restrictions on lobbying would solve the problem, I submit that the actual problem is government meddling in affairs it has no business in. Lobbyists wouldn't pay a dime to any government agent who couldn't do anything to influence taxes, regulations, or laws in favor of the lobbyist's interests, or against its competitors. That should be every last soul in the entire government, but it isn't. Instead, government has decided to micromanage nearly every aspect of economic and even personal life - wherein lies the incentives granted at the behest of lobbyists. E.g. regulatory capture, targeted tax breaks, etc.
Burn K Street to the ground.
I like this thread. Differing ideas, yet a "cease fire" for the W/E. Nice job "Fellas'.
I've been saying this for years. For mere peanuts, a few hundred thousand buck of chump change, you can get literally billions of dollars in pork delivered to your door.
According to a recent article, the going rate for Congress these days is about $200k-$250k.
America: a land where bribing politicians has actually been legalized.
Government controls gambling, drugs, alcohol, pork barreling, the protection rackert and in time will control prostitution. Except for the fact government people wear ties and have university degrees, what makes them different from the Costa Nostra?
The two main differences between government and the mafia are: First, the mafia only wants 10%, and second, if you buy protection from the mafia, you actually get protected.
You didn't think that the reason Nancy Pelosi's personal portfolio was kicking Warren Buffett's ass was because she was the better investor, did you?
Incompetence and high overhead.
Diamonds are forever. Now THAT is some serious long-term ROI.
Imagine pharma selling diamonds - 5 second ad followed by 25 seconds of disclaimers :)
I miss Marla and her weekend technopop podcast slow jams...
Buy her a big diamond already, Ty.
Easy there .007/ Don't forget the 4C's <>
Yes, only the finest Corporate Corruption and Conceit by possibly the greatest Cartel of all time...
Take this pebble (oh, sparkly diamond pebble) from my hand :) Go ahead, take it - I have hordes :)
dude! you registered almost 3 years ago but show no posts prior to this week; 2 years, 45 weeks, zero posts!
now you're talking about marla and being chatty w. tyler, while talking about diamonds' ROI on a lobbying string?
why did you not post for almost 3 years? parents wouldn't let you?
http://www.zerohedge.com/users/capitalkid
2 years 1 week 7 comments all after 5/22/12. Odd week.
it's probably just sacII scrubbing people's records to worry us or trolling to make the site seem interesting to twits...
0dd indeed! tyler lit up jpMorgue pretty good last week, here, imo; then china at the FED'sHead; then the crimex = TBTF
these bank runs aren't bullshit, either, are they? that is the Q for angela: as tD has suggested, the actual, individual, paper coupons which may be "withdrawn" don't exist in the volume needed if the run continues; so, what will angela do? continue to ship the paper to the banks? or say: no mas?
now the banks aren't strong as we know from the bullshit phony stress tests where the 'strongest' have died and the 'weak' have survived; everything is phony and all the real intel is coming to me in waves of creative writing! Hahaha!
but that is NOT the problem in the EU. at least not yet. the weak banks, i mean. and that story about the ID chips didn't help! wtf is up with that? of COURSE people went ape-shit and withdrew cash, fuu!
but people want the freaking money b4 it gets changed into something else
fungibility we can live with, but those deposits MAY not be redeemable in euros, shortly
plus, i've been putting out there that germany can just kill fiat bankstering in europe if the just say FU and leave! but i have a pirate party in theEU! 1%! and we have seats! Haha!
then i get into angela's mammaries and how she might dress for all the boob luvers who would like to enjoy her cleavage while she bends over for the banksters. again
still, i haven't had this much fun since i borrowed $40 earlier and went shopping!
and RT returns too? are you shitiing me? L0L!!!
Enter the Missionary Church of Kopimism. http://kopimistsamfundet.se/english/
The Animals live We Gotta Get Out of This Place
We're good on the $40.
Not that you'll ever see this -
I was fairly active when I first joined. Someone in the forums even helped me out - as I asked for advice on how to get my Mom out of her IRA and was told to put it in half cash / half gold. She didn't follow the advice, otherwise she'd be very wealthy.
I know nothing about finance. I enjoy ZH's commentary on the train wreck, so came back to check out the truth about the FB fiasco.
I was also literally mugged about 2 years ago, almost died, and lost my short-term memory for almost a year.
Sorry for being obnoxious. Just goofy banter - no actual offense intended.
Take care.
who is this guy, Y/C?
In all honesty Slewie. I have no clue! Nor do I care!
I care about people I trust and value comments from, such as yourself! I quit, renting out space in my mind years ago!
Slewie you have a brillant mind and great family! Don't waste your time!
that is very kind of you
and you don't hafta care! i don't care!
but, wasting my time as i please? brilliant!
How about the ROI on the Presidency? For all the screaming and gnashing of teeth over campaign finance, politicians are pretty damn cheap.
Cheap like this? John Edwards / A former Presidential Candidate?
Double post apologies.
(Deleting more idiotic banter)
Yet Diamonds continue to reign forever. Lovely baubles :)
What ROI did George Soros get for putting Obama in the Presidency? I'll bet he only got a single dollar. I'll bet he wagered with Warren Buffet that he could puta complete blithering fool in the Whitehouse.
Remember Mortimer and Randolph Duke.
A man playing with nearly infinite monopoly money can invest in any short-term "cause", only to be welcomed with open arms by the opposition at a later date.
As Ty has covered, pols are cheap. The establishment remains in control, doling out whatever is required to maintain their "quo".
How would you spend " Infinite amounts of Fiat" Crash -x? You realize your counterpart docked with ISS yesterday? Falcon-9 and all? The Pay-Pal rocket builder?
tax on the ass dont make for infinite amounts cash .
? I'm confused. A private rocket builder send a re-supply capsule to the International Space Station this last week.
Am I missing something?
sorry .. that was a reply to to another post ... kinda snfu
spacex has a billion dollar contract, to supply iss
Always Enjoy your posts [stuck on zero] That Mortimer/Buffet idea is classic! Warren has been visited by the " Grimm Reaper"!
"precisely courtesy of these lobbying "efforts", in which modest investments generate fantastic returns"
the new RIO : Rig Our Investment
Big picture on this state of affairs is an unbroken trend toward more centralized and integrated power that transcends national borders. And that means nothing big will ever be allowed to fail again.
Lobbying doesn't seem like an industry centered around corruption. Not at all. Now ZH is getting at some of the fucking weirdos that really call the shots in America. Grover Norquist is but one of many. Politics, Industry, Finance, Military it's really all one and the same.
Politicians steal your money through taxation, fines, etc. Industry compels you to work (just to stay afloat in this Hades of a society) so your output belongs to them which they in turn flip at an exponential profit. Finance borrows what little you have and levers it on idiotic bets based on the analysis not even on the level of a less evolved primate (just watch someone on CNBC talk about "multiple expansion"-your analysis is multiplication of a column or two you dumb motherfuckers). The military and criminal justuce system protect the interests of the aforementioned with martial savagery whenever needed (they get a cut the same way a hitman does) and ensure that this fuckery collective is unfettered by any concept of real justice, opportunity, or merit.
As far as I can tell the only people that I like are scientists, farmers, degenerates, honest people, and multi-orgasmic skinny girls with big asses.
When betting against these fucks the calculus should involve whatever number crunching and analysis you cling to but also whether or not you think stupid people can keep making egregious mistakes and not having them backfire wil e coyote style. If your reasoning is complex then you should apply it to physics or chemistry, these jerkoffs are primitive.
I lobby for lobbyists. I make the biggest ROI of them all (mine's bigger 'n yours). Nobody in Washington whispers one word in anybody's ear unless they clear it with me first. If you have at least 9 digits disposable, I'll make your problem go away and you'll have access to the money spigot. See you in the lobby.
Yes Maria our year end target for the S&P is 1460. We think the global pictuere isnt that bad and also there is this central bank that loans us and our friends money when we blow it on blow and hookers. We like to fly private. Yeah the S&P is trading at only 12 times future earnings which we think is too low. The muppet should be risking more of their money and paying us more for advice just to give the money to Bernie Madoff. We like to give billions to people without knowing how they invest. Maria, even though are getting a little older I would love to see you get tag-teamed by 5 or 6 football players with Mandy in a bondage outfit.
Steve Liesman feels the economy is rebounding and real estate is turning around.
Liesman received a bachelor's degree in English from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Probably knows a shit ton about the economy. I can see him poring over data. Cleaning the data, writing a for loop to input the data, some exploratory data analysis, followed by some graduate level statistics. Psych homeboy has no idea what the fuck he is talking about just loves conversationally fillating CEOs and fund managers. Clown ass network.
An English major talking about his "feelings?" I thought Jews were supposed to be smart. Bring me one of those Goldbergs or Grossmans or Silversteins that have graduate degrees in economics from some school I've heard of. If I'm gonna choke on Jewish lies I, for one, at least want them to have some phony credibility via association with an elite school god damn it!
Brief history of lobbying:
50 BC: First lobbyist Caius Tulius Marcus lobbies Roman Senators to make war in Gaul. Sends group of young boys to turn tricks in the lobby of the Senate bath house. Hence the term "lobby"
887: First Eurozone ends in calamitous breakup as Charlemagne's sons hire lobbyists to obtain the most desirable slice of the empire. Germany and France are separated. Louis The Blind gets smallest share.
1212: Lobbyist Boniface Spinelli meets with Pope Innocent III about the embarrasing issue of young boys in the lobby of the Vatican. Boys sent on the children's crusade.
Money greases the wheels of fascism. After all, someone has to be there to write and vote on legislation. And those someone's gotta get paid motha fucka!
But corruption is only part of the fascist American syste. All nations are corrupt to one degree or another, and our corruption is not the root of American fascism by any means. You're missing the big picture if you leave your investigation there.
Fascism is a two way street. The corporations benefit, but so do the politicians. American industry is respected world wide, jobs for the peasants, and tax revenues are all just part of the many benefits American corporations provide to the American government in their symbiotic (fascist) relationship. It didn't take much lobbying to convince the government to bail out General Motors. The banks took a lot of lobbying, because while the pols know they may need GM to build tanks some day, they aren't so clear on what the banks do for America.
What I see in my observations is a government all too happy to assist big corporations in any way possible. They are falling all over themselves to eliminate taxes (how much tax does GE pay?), provide assistance, provide bailouts, etc. Ironically, this desire to placate and accomodate big American corporations by the government is actually more in line with what many of you purport to believe than not (although you'll say you're all hardcore anarchists and want government to disappear, you really don't, you just want them to bestow benefits upon you).
Now, if you're a small business, "fuck off and die" is about all you're gonna get out of Washington.
Exactly. $1 million to a few politicians in exchange for a $billion tax break for your steel multinational. It's just so much easier to make money if you bribe politicians to rig the game for you. It's the root of it all and why european politicians want their version of the federal government far away from their electors where they can make money out of public view.
too bad you posted an ultraleftarded propaganda piece instead of a real critique of corporate fascism
Oh the wheels of Corpocracy, they churn and churn since Crassus, as victor of the civil 'social' war, took out Spartacus; and ROme had five real estate crises that would make the sub primes look weak and shallow. We never invented anything new that hasn't been done under the sun. THe triumvirate then was kingpin and all ROme came and bowed to them to get their privileges and display their gladiators in return in the grand arena of Oligarchy thrills; like the MSM today.
Play on Oligarchs the road leads to the Rubicon.
Marcus Licinius Crassus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julius Caesar: The First Triumvirate — Infoplease.com
Wonder how much Obama is charging.
Meanwhile JPM has tons of problems. Aww...
Teri Buhl is very attractive and intelligent. Before Max gets to her segment, though, there's this thing about the four-year-old being given crowns while at school? Rogue dentists and banksters collaborating? Ugh.
According to Buhl, JPM is on the hook for over 100 billion involved in legal fees related to Bear Stearns. Look out below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tNxZPhEJxSA#!
Is this a sign of 'peak politics'?
How about making lobbying by corporations illegal and just letting voters lobby??? And term limits for these bums?
Don't Re-Elect Anybody. = Term Limits.
Legal bribes, baby!
Owning people used to be legal, too.
Oops, except slavery is still legal in Federal prisons according to the 13th amendment.
Tyler - keep stiking at this root.
There is no longer any correlation between ROI and the one percenters remuneration and what most of us consider as "reality"
This is an insane world we live in with a few pockets of sanity.
Nothing we do can or will change these things. Even if we had a revolution, it would digress eventually to what we have today if not worse.
Lobbyists write legislation, legislators vote as they are told. Pretty simple.
Nothing is going to change until elections, at every level, are funded 100% by constituants. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
George Orwell's Animal Farm could not have said it better.
Another stellar article by Zerohedge.
Thanks for your post, which I found very interesting. There is no doubt that our problemsstem from the government. But we must recognize that we have not done much to preventthe government has a bad behavior in recent years. America has always been a countryin which the individual and private initiative has been the engine of the economy. We must regain the helm of the economy.
Aren't we a nation of clever entrepreneurs? Why hasn't someone started a company called "Lobby People, Inc." This company would lobby Congress for special benefits and would simply pass them on to the investors. If one of you would kindly start thisCorporation I would happily buy into an IPO.