Oddly Relevant Nov-11-2012

How to end Greece’s agony: (1) Agreement on a plan to reduce debt if certain targets are met, (2) cut the debt in stages over the next decade where the stock was manageable (ex: 120% of GDP by 2020). The reduction could come through cutting interest and pushing out maturities to as much as 50 years. What we need now is action and confidence. [Note: The state screwed up, and now the people are paying. Tragedy indeed.]…Source: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21565954-greece-will-remain-disaster-until-it-gets-treatment-given-heavily-indebted-poor/comments?page=1#sort-comments

Cable is still Disney’s crown jewel, especially ESPN: ESPN, Disney Channel, and other channels are responsible for 57% of Disney’s total operating income. Thanks to the ad revenue and affiliate fees, ESPN boasts close to a $40 bn valuation according to a research report from Wunderlich with 10x EBITDA. [Note: where goes sports, goes the entire TV industry]…Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/11/09/why-espn-is-the-worlds-most-valuable-media-property-and-worth-40-billion/

Opinion: Obama must conduct deep-seated structural change: With tax revenue only at 32% of GDP and worshipping the cyclical Keynesian apparatus for secular challenges, the U.S. government needs change and Obama must conduct it—with low-cost online universities, radically lower healthcare costs, smart grids, smart cities, and smart low-carbon energy systems. He should wipe out tax havens and impose modest wealth tax on mega-rich, and tax carbon emissions and financial transactions. [Note: Too idealistic, most of these are not government’s duties; plus, how can he do it even?]…Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/146b2002-2a64-11e2-a137-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2BxqmeoT8

High yield debt issuance in 2012 hits all-time record: With $306 billion coming to the market by end of October, 2012’s volume is not only ahead of 2007, but its yield also reached the lowest since 2001. Thanks to the chipped-away 2013-2014 maturity and investors’ search for yield, the lending standard is loosening and one should be cautious moving forward. [Note: potential short in the HY space?]…Source: http://soberlook.com/2012/11/2012-high-yield-debt-issuance-hits-all.htmlhttp://soberlook.com/2012/11/2012-high-yield-debt-issuance-hits-all.html

The Peter Principle: Why things always go wrong: The Peter Principle, the eponymous law Dr. Laurence J. Peter coined, explains that everyone in a hierarchy—from the office intern to the CEO, from the low-level civil servant to a nation’s president—will inevitably rise to his or her level of incompetence. Dr. Peter explains why incompetence is at the root of everything we endeavor to do—why schools bestow ignorance, why governments condone anarchy, why courts dispense injustice, why prosperity causes unhappiness, and why utopian plans never generate utopias. [Note: One does not achieve happiness but only reaches new states of misery—unless he knows when to stop.]…Source: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062092065/farnamstreet-20

Speech Recognition Breakthrough for the Spoken, Translated Word, in real-time: [Note: jump to 7:30, it’s AWESOME.] http://readwrite.com/2012/11/09/microsoft-demos-a-star-trek-style-universal-translator-video