Taking Stock

If you don't have stock yet you will likely one day own shares, and when you do that stock ownership gives you the right not just to see the corporate annual reports, but the right to attend the annual meeting.  It is not likely that you will, so you will have the right to vote by proxy.  Recently I've been getting a lot of phone calls at home (messages, actually, as I rarely answer the phone) to urge me to vote, which is something not commonly done in the past and is a bit annoying as I get all the materials both online and by snail mail.  But they need the quorum, I guess.

The proxy vote typically has four parts to it:  election of board officers, determination of accounting firm, board proposals, and stockholder proposals.    For me, I usually vote for the officers if the company is doing well, and am more deliberative for companies falling short of expectations.  I confess that I routinely vote against nominees that have law degrees, and often vote against those that chair, and sometimes are members, of compensation committees.  I'll typically abstain on the vote for the accounting firm, as I don't know the merits of one from the other, and as past events have shown, even those in the Big Four are not beyond reproach.  But it is the board proposal section that is my greatest complaint.  Most board proposals concern compensation, primarily theirs.  It is unconscionable how most boards seem to only have a single purpose, which is how to pay themselves more.  Unconscionable in that company officers are so grossly overpaid, especially considering how little their performance typically relates to the company's performance (there are some exceptions, of course), and unconscionable how little board members do to merit the meeting fees and stock awards/options.  Finally, there is the occasional stockholder proposal.  I've probably seen a couple of hundred stockholder proposals over the years, and I don't think I've ever seen one supported by the board.  Some of the  shareholder proposals are crackpot ideas or reflect a particular personal bias, some make sense, and none are supported by boards.

I just wish boards would think more about the business and less about the peanuts.  On the other hand, maybe it's better they do so little.

The Nth Degree

You've all read the stats about a huge increase in lifetime income and wealth that can be expected with the attainment of a college degree, though a college degree for this generation is what a high school diploma was in days past.  That is, while you sometimes hear success stories of those who have done extremely well with little education, those stories are typically from your parents' or grandparents' generation.  While still the land of opportunity, the line for the good jobs is longer, and the opportunities for entrepreneurship, the fancy word for starting your own business, slimmer.  

The business start-up obstacles are fairly obvious.  The market niches are fewer, the government impediments greater.  There are other difficult barriers to entry, not the least of which is start-up capital.  But some potential exists in cyberspace, for example. I suppose it's still possible to be successful by working hard, but the Puritan work ethic has been replaced by the desire for quality of life.  I see a lot of kids working hard to help pay their way through college, but "balance" still dominates their thinking.  I don't criticize them for that, and in fact seek balance between all the competing interests in my life as well.  But what it means is that there aren't a lot of young folks willing to work 80+ hours a week to operate and maintain a laundromat, for instance.  In fact, it's getting harder to have teenagers engage in what has traditionally been a right-of-passage, the awful, labor-intensive, low-paying jobs that we're all supposed to have at that age.  A lot of kids won't work for minimum wage, as it is "beneath them."  And why not; this is the most indulged generation ever, rarely ever having to do without, and getting allowances for doing next to nothing.  So skipping college and working 12+ hours a day at a job/business that is not fulfilling just isn't that popular anymore.

So most kids want to get in line for the good jobs, but that line has gotten a lot longer.  Yes, you might well be able to do the job, and it's not fair that just because someone has a degree that he/she should be in line ahead of those with experience, desire, ability, etc.  But it is typically a buyer's market, so assuming that there are also people with experience, desire, ability, etc., with degrees, why would an employer want to hire anyone without a degree when there are so many candidates with degrees?  Of course having the sheepskin doesn't mean you can do the job any better, but I'd rather have my hiring pool composed of kids who have shown that they're smart, ambitious, and have succeeded in the difficult task of earning a college degree.  The scary thing, though, is that for an increasing number of professions, the college degree is insufficient, and an advanced degree is necessary.  What are you going to do with just a B.S. in Psychology, for example?

It is a shame that degrees have become credentials and admissions tickets, as the purpose of college is to learn (or at least learn how to learn).  Despite the protests to the contrary and up-turned noses of us in academics, particularly the arts and sciences crowd, college has become a vocational institution.

Boys will be boys

Men are extremely simple creatures.  We are just boys in larger bodies.  Outside of work (and never forget that a man is his work- it's his identity), we only think of three things:  what's for dinner, am I going to "get lucky" tonight, and what game can I watch or play (only the toys change)?  For the first one, it's not that we're foodies so much as that this is a recurring problem that requires a solution.  For the second one, as I heard one of those redneck (their word) comedians insightfully opine, marital sex is a lot like ordering one of those Civil War chess sets:  every four to six weeks a piece will arrive, though you won't know what condition it's in.  Since the first thought matter is frequent but easily solved, and the second thought matter becomes but a memory and infrequent surprise, the third thought matter becomes the avocational raison d'etre.  That is why golf was invented (five hours of fun without your wife) and man caves exist (quality time with tools, tvs, computers, games, etc.).  Marriage is pretty much the same as being a kid. Somebody feeds you and cleans up after you, sex is irrelevant, and playing is what matters.  Just be in before the street lights are on.

Fantasy Sports

How stupid is this concept?  And yet I play, and I like it.  I think I'd still rather play for real, but don't have the time, the outlet (my friends are as old and decrepit as I am), and perhaps the medical coverage to do so.  In fact, doing almost anything active and fun is such an effort now.  Like I have time to join a league and go to practices and games.  Or get in a car and have special clothes and equipment to go exercise. Or not have to replace a knee.

When I was a kid (Whoa!  Things old people say!  Should I tell you about walking miles in the snow barefoot to school?  The funny thing is, I did walk 4 miles a day to go to school...)  it was just step outside or knock on a few doors and before you knew it, the street, yard, or driveway had enough kids for a game.  And we'd play all day until the streetlights came on (and then some other game like kick-the-can if it was OK with the moms).  I didn't know any fat kids (well, maybe one), and could throw a ball 150 feet easy by age 8.  Now I'm on a computer using the stats of others to compete.  That's just sad.

At least I can still strap on a pair of sneakers and pound the pavement for a few miles, but I'm getting increasingly good at finding reasons to not do that as much as I should.  There's nothing fun about running (and don't believe that "runner's high" stuff.  That's just grandma calling you to the light...).  The only satisfaction comes when you're done, because you're done and won't have to do it again for at least a couple of days (and frankly you feel good about having done it), or you're one of those running addicts (the male anorexia) who doesn't realize that running is their "dependence."

Gotta go- time to start preparing my draft.