Ballmer paid a P/E ratio of 133 for his #Clippers purchase based on last year’s estimate of operating income: http://t.co/TpX8pxjZib — Charles Sizemore (@CharlesSizemore) May 30, 2014 If Steve Ballmer were still running Microsoft (MSFT) I would dump the stock, questioning his judgment and sanity. Ballmer just agreed to pay a record $2 billion to...Read More

Remember, remember the Fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent To blow up the King and Parli’ment. Three-score barrels of powder below To prove old England’s overthrow; By God’s mercy he was catch’d With...Read More

Europe has been calm of late.  Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing house arrest, and it barely makes the news.  A year ago, this would have caused a run on the euro and roiled the world’s capital markets. And Greece, the country that first comes to mind when the words “Europe” and “crisis”...Read More

“Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be shot in the arm for struggling Japan.” —NBC News “The successful 2020 Olympic bid signals new hope for Japan.” —Time Magazine So, that’s all it took.  Twenty years of economic stagnation and all Japan needed to get back on its feet was that the summer Olympics be hosted in its...Read More

I’ll give the European Union credit: at least they are creative at finding new ways to upset the world’s capital markets. Instead of demanding just the usual austerity measures of higher taxes and lower spending—and a potential haircut on speculative creditors such as hedge funds—the EU bailout negotiators insisted over the weekend on extracting a...Read More