Basically, Facebook bombed out of the gate. Will it rebound? Who knows.

Free Exchange: Hope Springs a Trap

Bottom line: in order for people to move out of poverty, they must have hope. Sounds “new-agey” but it makes a lot of sense.

And, in my opinion, being on the government dole has the opposite effect of creating hope. Being told by politicians that you NEED what they have to offer, forces you to become dependent.

“This is so-and-so with the so-and-so company trying to reach so-and-so. If you are not that person, please delete this message because the following information is not for you.”

Then there is a pause and the rest of message continues.

First off, if you call my house and leave a message, I can listen to the whole message if I want. It’s not my fault you have the wrong information.

Second, if you desire better information, it might be wise to include a number at the beginning of the message that people can use to report wrong numbers.

Third: SPEAK CLEARLY and SLOWLY when you’re giving out numbers! I had to listen to the message several times in order to get the phone number.

Just a thought.

With earnings of $1.37 per share (not sure if those are past or expected earnings) and a current price per share of $221.39, Amazon (AMZN) has an earnings yield of .62% (a P/E of 161.6…LOL!). One of three things is going to happen: earnings will catch up or the stock will come back down to earth. Or…people will continue to be wildly optimistic and keep Amazon in the stratosphere.

Think about that for a minute…

If Amazon traded at a much more reasonable P/E of 50, it would be priced at $68.50 (based on earnings of $1.37 per share) or it would need earnings of $4.43 per share to justify its $221 current price.

I don’t own any Amazon stock.

What Makes A Nightmare Sports Parent—And What Makes A Great One

This paragraph illustrates the issue:

Carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, have long chafed at having to spend billions of dollars to build and maintain networks only to watch Internet companies like Google Inc. and device makers like Apple Inc. collect most of the profits for using them. The pressure on carriers has grown more acute with the rise in use of smartphones like the iPhone, essentially mini computers that make mobile Internet use easy and put a heavy toll on networks.

I can understand that.

The change won’t affect me and my family. What about you? The article mentioned people switching to Sprint because they still have unlimited data plans. But, I have heard they are MUCH slower than AT&T and Verizon. Besides, it’s just a matter of time before Sprint changes their policy too.

In case you were wondering why “stock” was in all caps, it’s an acronym that stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge.

The District of Columbia notched the greatest increase over the 2007-2010 period, with an 8.1% jump in income, in large part because of federal-government employment.

It’s nice to be the government, I guess. I don’t know what else to say to that.

The rest of the country didn’t fare so well…

From 2007 to 2010, median annual household income fell across the country by 3.5% to $51,287. That’s according to an analysis of Census data released Wednesday by former Census Bureau officials Gordon Green and John Coder.

I’m thankful we live in Texas, which has held steady (median household income grew .8% 2007-2010).

Here is a state-by-state look at change in median income for 2007-2010.