Experts say the best way to pick a stock is to observe what is deemed popular in the real world.
Apple and Google come to mind.
The price of Apple stock was $22 at its initial public offering in 1980. Little did we know that the company ultimately would offer consumers the best line of personal electronic computing products and make Sony Corp. – long the leader in the market – look like a has-been.
Today, Apples stock is at $447.
Google was an upstart Internet search engine that was started by a couple of Stanford University students. It was incorporated in 1998 and its IPO was in 2004. Price: $85. Today: $798.
How about the taxpayers business – the United States Postal Service? Would you invest in its stock if it had stock to offer?
Probably not.
The USPS traces its roots to Ben Franklin and has a long history of getting the job done but lately seems to have fallen on hard times because of that darn Internet, pension obligations and Congress. Well blame Congress because, well, because.
A few weeks ago the USPS announced that it was going to end Saturday service because it just couldnt afford it any longer. Reaction across America was, well, not so much. Apparently five days worth of mail is plenty for most of us.
In an effort to help shore up the old business and because I didnt want to get stuck in an eight-person-deep line at the counter, I decided to try ordering stamps online.
So, on Saturday, Feb. 16, I ordered a book of stamps from the USPS website, even agreeing to the buck or so handling charge, figuring that if it got the stamps to me in a couple of business days it would be worth it.
On the 10th day of waiting for my stamps, I went to the Dover post office, stood patiently in line and paid $9.20 for a book of forever stamps so I could pay a bill the old-fashioned way rather than on the Internet, which is what I normally do.
If I ever get the book of stamps I ordered online, I figure I should have plenty of them to last me at least several months, depending upon how many sympathy, get-well and/or thank-you notes I need to send.
Im not sure what the future holds for our postal service, but it doesnt look good. And thats sad.
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The New Philadelphia Board of Education made the right decision to withdraw its request on the May ballot for passage of an additional levy.
Gov. John Kasichs new school funding plan has thrown a lot of financial planning by school districts into flux because the Legislature still has to sign off on all the numbers. Nothing is carved in stone.
New Philadelphias decision also gives it an opportunity to reassess the extra amount added onto the levy request so it can hire four school resource officers.
Most New Philadelphians I talked to were not sold on funding security through a $500,000 levy add-on and believed it to be a ploy to encourage passage of the entire package worth $4 million annually. I dont know about that, but districts better show they are being pro-active on the security front or they will face the wrath of citizens, especially if something bad happens.
Its another example that schools have to worry about much more than just educating kids.
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Gov. Kasichs state of the state speech was rather tame compared with his past oratorical offerings. He didnt give a shout-out to his wife nor did he work without notes.
And a little more than two years into his term, I have to give him credit – hes shaking things up. This state needed a swift kick in the you-know-what.
For sure, he had a rough start, underestimating the power of teachers, cops and firefighters and their families. He should have tweaked, but instead he bulldozed the collective bargaining law.
Hes learning. Im interested in seeing whether his income tax rate reduction works in favor of the states economy. And Im not opposed to an increase in the tax on the oil and gas that ultimately will be sold elsewhere. Sales taxes on services? Well see about the pushback on that idea. The Legislature is not enamored with the Kasich budget as it stands. Well see.
Kasich doesnt make me warm and fuzzy. But hell at least get a hat tip from me if Ohio returns to some sort of prosperity by the end of his first term.
Read more from Dick Farrell at TuscBargainHunter.com
