Bits and Pieces

Olympic Embarrassment

What more can be said? Lochte and pals acted like teenager delinquents and tried to cover it up. They got caught and are now embarrassed. For Lochte his swimming career is over, and his sponsor contracts are in huge doubt. I suspect he just traded his future for a childish prank. Too bad he dragged some innocents along for the bad ride. And our national reputation along with it!

Sorry, Rio. This is not how Americans behave for the most part. And we usually provide our hosts with a better experience.

Gun Control and Celebs

Funny thing happens when gun rights mentality and celebrities combine. They usually speak the popular and political script for more fan support. But when one of their own family members experiences gun violence they change their minds in a hurry. Better late than never, I suppose. But it would have been much more valuable to the rest of us if they had supported commonsense gun regulations to contain gun violence early on. Nothing teaches us better than the actual living of life!

Political Claims vs Facts

So does she or doesn’t she? Have a brain tumor, dementia or other disease of the aging? Well, no, she doesn’t. That doesn’t stop political hacks from making claims to the contrary for their own gain. It provides confusion and distraction from the real facts. Until, of course, the real medical facts are shared and the original accusations and claims are reduced to dust. Trouble is more misdirection has already occurred and the press is tied up with that.

The Trump campaign continues to mislead, misstate and plod through its campaign regardless of truth, facts, policy or program ideas. Just misdirection and dishonesty.  Shameful!

Sears & K-Mart Folly

When K-Mart was purchased by the young investor brat, it was not for the retail operations at all. No, urban/suburban real estate prices had soared and K-Mart was worth more for its land and building holdings than for its retail operations. The thought at the time was to sell off the properties one at a time and make a killing. The funds so garnered would be used in other investments.

And if this strategy was pure gold, then buying another large land-based retailer might yield even better results. That’s when Sears was purchased by the same young investor brat. I call him a brat because he only trades in surface values on paper, not real value where people live, work and create value. He comes in with enough money to buy that created value, subverts it and then sells it off. Everyone else be damned. The workers in K-Mart are without upward mobility. Their retail operations are in shambles and the only reason they remain in business is so the brat investor can make marginal revenues to pay the overhead on the remaining business sites until he can sell them.

Same with Sears, once a mighty and proud retailer to the entire nation, even those in rural areas where the Sears Catalog held retail pre-eminence for decades. Working at Sears, however, was more rewarding but only because their history was larger and career opportunities remained for awhile. Now they don’t.

And here’s why the investor brat’s strategy didn’t work. The real estate bubble became visible (it was there all along but the blind could not see it until it was too late) and property values plummeted. That is still the case for retail properties. And the reason for that is twofold. First, in the time investor brat did his dirty work, retail operations nationwide changed into a different model. So now the sites for Sears and K-Mart were no longer needed for other real estate developers. The age of Amazon had arrived and retail big box stores are shrinking and disappearing. Small stores are also disappearing. A revolution in retail operations has occurred and it is yet unfinished.

Meanwhile, investor brat sits upon his throne of diminished value. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

The second reason his portfolio value has shrunk is the American economic model is changing in fundamental ways no one saw coming. The result is a delay in how real estate property will be used in the future. I think the malls of yesterday and today will become communities in which people live on premises (high rise condos and apartments), hotels, office employment nearby in similar high-rise developments, mall shops for services and merchandise, and plentiful entertainment and hospitality venues. Small cities contained within the mall’s embrace. This will re-value the property significantly but it will also take major new investment to transform the malls to the new model.

I doubt investor brat can hold on that long. Best he sell quickly and reinvest in something that might actually create value. What a concept!

August 22, 2016