Econ Saturday

Sure, why not. Talk about stimulus: Yesterday at the 2009 AVN Adult Video Expo in Las Vegas, Larry Flynt of Hustler Magazine and Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild announced their request for a $5 billion government bailout of the porn (excuse me, “Adult Entertainment”) industry, along the lines of the bailout recently provided to auto manufacturers.
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So, last Saturday, a reader and I exchange praises of investing in India, and I recommend The India Fund. This morning, I read about an Enron-like scandal in India at a huge corporation known as “Satyam Computer Services.”

India has its pros and cons:

[The Asian Corporate Governance Association's] own 2007 ranking of corporate governance placed India third out of 11 Asian countries, behind Hong Kong and Singapore, but far ahead of China, in ninth place. India’s financial-reporting standards are high, its principal regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, is independent of the government, and its business press is enthusiastic. But enforcement is weak, loopholes large, and shareholder activism is lacklustre.

I think the blockbuster growth will come in Asia. People with Asian stocks will be wealthy people . . . at some point. But it could take 75 or more years. Who knows?

And in the meantime, I’ve learned that The India Fund holds $37,206,000.00 worth of Satyam. The mutual fund’s share price didn’t go down much, if at all, but it’s still a bit disconcerting.

I’ve come to view this investing/economy watching as a sort of hobby. When I saw the Satyam story, I anxiously went to the IFN page to see how much, if anything, I indirectly held in Satyam. I saw that I definitely took a small hit. The impact on my mental state: almost identical to seeing that U of M’s basketball team fell out of the Top 25 last week. Disappointing, but no big deal.
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Disclaimer: I assume all readers know I am an amateur when it comes to investing. My knowledge doesn’t even rise to the level of hobbyist, so take all investment opinions with a big nugget of salt.
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Another online business formation site to compete with. For my local readers: I beat their price, if you don’t want any advice. In other words, if you just want someone to crank out the paperwork on a new limited liability company, my price will normally match or beat the online services. Thing is, as soon as someone calls for my services, they ask good questions: What’s the difference between S corporation or C corporation? Do I need an EIN? Should I transfer my land into the company? Do I need to take a wage? What’s all this about tenancy by the entireties? That’s where the time starts cranking up. I’m happy to explore all those questions in as much detail as you want . . . for a fee. But if instead you want rote document preparation cheaply (and for some people, that’s all they really need), I can do that too.
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Iowa Hawk’s 2009 Year in Review . . . early. Pretty funny. PG-13. Excerpt:

FEBRUARY

Winless Detroit Lions score an upset victory in NFL Super Bowl thanks to secret clause in U.S. auto industry bailout plan; jubilant Detroit fans go on celebratory 5-day citywide arson rampage, resulting in almost $12 in property damage

Big surprise at the Oscars as Heath Ledger returns from grave to accept Oscar for “Joker” role in Dark Knight, orders clown-masked henchmen to open fire on Hollywood A-listers; “The ultimate method actor,” gushes mortally wounded Sean Penn

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