SEC
FERC approves Google Energy -- Keep an eye on this one...
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2010-02-19 15:26
"U.S. energy regulators approved a request by Google Inc. to become an electricity marketer, allowing the Internet giant to buy and sell bulk power like a utility" per the WSJ.
My www.GoogleMonitor.com site will keep watch over Google on Google Energy's trading in energy derivatives because it is ripe for abuse, as I explained in my earlier post: "Google's Energy trading proposal sounds eerily like Enron's disastrous derivative scheme".
Per the WSJ: "A spokeswoman for the company has said Google has no plans to sell its energy management service or speculate in energy markets. But she acknowledged the company isn't completely sure how it will proceed."
GoogleMonitor.com Launches Today -- Will spotlight Google’s lack of transparency and accountability
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2010-01-27 10:17
January 27, 2010
For Immediate Release
Contact: Scott Cleland
703-217-2407
GoogleMonitor.com Launches Today
Takeaways from Google's 4Q09 earnings
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2010-01-22 09:53Google generated probably the strongest annual revenue growth, 17%, of any large U.S. company this past quarter.
- Given that Google is exceptionally non-transparent, the minimal guidance and insight that Google is required to provide as a public company always provides a rare glimpse into what is really going on at Google.
What are the big takeaways from the earnings call?
First, Googleopoly continues to gobble revenue market share at a voracious rate because we know Google's revenues are up 17%, and Google's only significant competitors, Yahoo and Microsoft are continuing to lose ground, (as Yahoo is expected to report a revenue decrease on Tuesday so its search revenues can be assumed to badly lag Google's 17%, and Microsoft Bing's modest search share gains are not keeping up with Google's torrid search growth in a weak economy.)
Systemic Uneconomics: Financial Crisis Root Causes: Part III
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2010-01-21 16:03To discern the real “root” causes of the financial crisis of 2008, one must probe beneath the surface and examine the health of the “root system” of our capital markets “forest.” The roots of the capital markets forest are sound economics; the natural market function of automatically equilibrating supply and demand and risk and reward, that is commonly appreciated as Adam’s Smith’s “invisible hand.” We generally assume that the natural market strength of the capital market forest’s root system ensures that all the trees are not in danger of being blown over in the crisis of a storm.
“Systemic Risk Laundering” -- Financial Crisis Root Causes -- Part II
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Tue, 2009-09-08 09:27
How could American taxpayers get stuck with a multi-trillion dollar tab that they weren’t even aware that they were running up? How could that huge tab still be allowed to run up unchecked today? For the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the sad answer is one of the biggest root causes of last fall’s devastating financial crisis and one of the biggest continuing systemic risks to the financial system and the economic recovery.
The Father of Indexing Calls My Indexing Thesis "Nuts!"
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2009-07-03 16:35When Investment News asked John Bogle, Vanguard's founder and the father of indexing, about my "Indexing into the Ditch" thesis (that indexing is one of the root causes of the financial crisis) he said: it “is nuts! Last time I looked, index funds accounted for about 0.4% of all stock trading ... Just perhaps the other 99.6% might bear a teeny-weeny bit of the responsibility.”
Let me first respond to Mr. Bogle's points in order.
The thesis "is nuts! "I must admit I smiled at the ad hominum implication that my thesis was "nuts" and not worth listening to; I remembered that Bernie Ebbers called me the "idiot Washington analyst" because my research was the first to charge that WorldCom's business simply did not add up.
Challenging Mr. Bogle's Claim Indexing is Investing
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2009-06-12 11:34With all due respect to Mr. John Bogle, legendary founder of Vanguard and de facto leader of the American index fund movement that now manages ~$1.5 trillion, I must respectfully challenge, on the merits, Mr. Bogle's, and others, ongoing mischaracterization of indexing as "investing."
Indexing into the Ditch -- Financial Crisis Root Causes -- Part I
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2009-06-11 16:43Despite the widely held view that indexing is the safest way to invest, indexing helped recklessly drive our financial system and economy into the ditch last fall.
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While there’s consensus the financial crisis warrants “new rules of the road” and better policing to protect against systemic risk, all the rules and oversight in the world can’t keep us out of the ditch in the future if index vehicles continue to drive the wrong way against oncoming traffic.
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And “stress testing” whether bank vehicles can survive head-on crashes, completely misses the point that indexers should not be driving the wrong way on the freeway.
Diagnosing the Financial Crisis' Root Causes
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2009-06-11 16:43This is an introduction and background for my new multi-part research series on diagnosing the root causes of the Financial Crisis.
Why a Lack of Openness Sullies the Integrity of Google's Ad Auctions
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2008-06-02 14:30Does Google warrant the current exceptional leap-of-faith in the integrity of its dominant ad auction model, given its near total lack of openness, transparency, independent auditability, or third party oversight? There is a growing body of evidence that Google does not.
- The New York Times article today by Miguel Helft: "The Human Hands behind the Google Money Machine" is a must read for anyone following Google or concerned about the openness and transparency of public markets. It is also a little treasure trove of fresh information on Google.
Why a lack of openness sullies the integrity of Google's ad auctions.
First, it is widely accepted that public markets operate best when open and transparent.
Google's ad auction model has become one of the world's most important public markets. Google is increasingly becoming the world's primary public information broker. Google brokers:
