From afar reading or watching movies about con artists do their thing can be interesting as long as you have no money at stake and do not know anyone who is losing money. The history of money also includes people trying to do things to take the money away or cons have been in society for many generations and will continue to be. There have been multiple movies and books about the life of con artists including The Sting staring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. In the movies, the cons are more stealing from those who steal from others or people who have acknowledgement of the police in their lives.

In a summer reading book, The Con Queen of Hollywood written by Scott C Johnson published by HarperCollins, NY, 2023. The story is interesting because with the advances of technology, the bad side is we will see more of this type of con as the years go by.

The person doing the con was impersonating various high profile women in Hollywood and targeting those who do the work behind the scenes long before a movie is shot. The man was impersonating a woman’s voice and would have conversations in the background with a man’s voice and could bounce back between the two so the people being conned did not know they were talking to a man who was really a woman.

The people were self-employed or ran their businesses and being connected to a large budget movie would jump start their revenues. The con artist did their homework on the person because many small businesses have a presence on line, so it is possible to fill in the details. They would have to spend some money up front, go to another country and use specific services to access locations, but payment would be made in 30 days. The payment never arrived, but another request for service did. The people were slowly sucked in and if they stopped no payment, but if they continued when would they get paid? never. (if you have a small business ask for 60% down, that tends to distract people).

The story includes a corporate security firm called K2 Intelligence which handles identity theft among many options. While the con artist was caught and is in jail, the reality is the effort took 3 years, a lot of effort by the K2 staff. Similar to all con jobs, follow the money is the key. The lead investigator at K2 had multiple spread sheets.

Technology was the scam’s great enabler. It allowed the imposter to be multiple people at any given moment, anywhere in the world, often all once. It increased the ability to adapt to the needs and insecurities of victims in real time. The speed and frequency of communication – whether by email, text message, Instagram, What’s App, Skype or cell phone provided the one thing that will kill any scam: doubt.

When you first started investing, you likely started with a company which trades over the price of hamburger or in the teens or above, but you can only buy x amount of shares. If you trade in the stocks for less than a dollar or 5 dollars, you can buy more. Most of those companies trade at that level because they are worth that, but every once in a while a sector becomes hot and money flows into the small companies and they go up in value. Many times after the hot phase has left the market the company reinvents itself to capitalize on the new hot trend.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the good thing with these stocks is if you buy a profitable company that can pay a dividend, the stock price goes up and down, but as the dividend comes forth you follow the number lesson on Wall Street – try not to lose money. The longer you are investing the more you will see and likely have lost money on a scam, all long term investors have lost money on something that looked really good at the time. As an investor as try to remember lesson one – try not to lose money and saying no to a great opportunity is a wonderful way to start.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Generally, when a CEO is chosen by the Board of Directors the people in the room are the most important people the CEO has to pay attention to. The Board expects results generally growth in the organization, higher revenues translating into higher profits. If the company delivers on the CEO’s plans, the CEO can expect a higher benefit package, and the shareholders will generally be content with their investments. It is the normal course of events.

In an article by Isabella Kwai of the New York Times News Service, there is something new the CEO has to worry about, the President has opinions and likes to write them in his Truth Social posts. This means somewhere in the legal department, they have to be subscribers to Truth Social to see what the President is posting.

President Trump decided the CEO of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan needed to be fired or he should resign from the company. The President often offers his opinion, but rarely goes into the inner workings of the company.

President Trump believes that CEO Tan over the past few months has invested in Chinese companies dealing with AI and semiconductors. President Trump believes or has reason to beleive they are connected to the Chinese military.

CEO Ban said no he is not resigning from Intel, and believes his work as a venture capital firm Walden International and when he was CEO of Cadence Design System a maker of the software for silicon chips continues to help him in the new role to turn around the fortunes of Intel.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, under President Trump CEOs have a new worry which is what President Trump thinks or listening to. President Trump believes his agenda will be doing good for the US, but realistically along the way there will be bumps in the road. Are tariffs good for every company? how are tariffs affecting the company? is the Big, Beautiful bill good for corporate America or will it have challenges? similar to most things on Wall Street the answer is in depends, but we will know looking backwards.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

A number of years ago, there was an article about a Hedge Fund tracking private planes travel just it case 2 CEOs were meeting in the same city, without any reason. CEOs were meeting in neutral territory about potential mergers and that piece of information combination with other streams of information may be the trigger to accumulate stocks in the companies. Recently there was an article in the Wall Street Journal about if you are not flying on a private jet then you have not made it.

In an article by Allison Lampert and Aatreyee Dasgupta of Reuters, one of the largest private jet makers is Bombardier the maker of the Global and Challenger business jets. Its fleeted is over 5,100 jets with half of them in the US.

The company announced it is opening to customer care centers in the US. At present it operates in Dallas, Tucson, Hartford, Wichita and Miami.

The after-market services generated over $1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in this example, more and more people want to fly in private planes which is good for the future. The expansion of usage means the planes have to be serviced and interiors updated which means increases in service fees. Those are good things to look for if you are interested owning shares in the company. What is a good price for entry is a different set of homework, but buying into a growth company can be a good thing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Most of us have seen the clips or maybe the movie of the beginnings of McDonald’s. Roy Kroc sold milkshake mixers from an office in the Chicago area and he had a large order from the McDonald’s Restaurant in California. He could not believe the order and went on a road trip to California. Mr. Kroc was overwhelmed with the efficiencies of the original McDonald’s restaurant and for 25 cents he could buy a burger, fries and a coke. The brothers who owned McDonald’s kept coming up with improvements to their one restaurant but were not interested in expanding. This is the classic case of every small business, do you want to stay small, or do you want to grow? There are advantages and disadvantages with both. The McDonald’s wanted to stay small, Mr. Kroc had a vision to grow the company across the country and around the world. If took a few years to determine how to grow profitablity but the rest is history and most of eaten at least once at McDonald’s. For a long time, parents knew the prices were very good and they have clean washrooms for the kids.

In an article by Julie Creswell of the New York Times News Service, McDonald’s is the top of the fast food market, but when is fast food too expensive? It is tough decision by McDonald’s executives because they have to concern what the government determines is a minimum wage and keep a hamburger, fries and coke close to a hour’s pay. If the price goes up, the number of times the person will come in falls. Who does the restaurant appeal to?

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told Wall Street analysts, when people drive up or come in the store and see the combo prices about $10 is the price too expensive?

McDonald’s introduced $5 meals and wraps at lower prices and that propelled McDonald’s sales upwards. The company reported global same store sales up 3.8%. Sales in the US were up 2.5%.

Breakfast sales were down, Mr. Kempczinski said breakfast was the most economically senstive time of a consumer’s day. People can decide to skip breakfast or eat at home.

Global sales for McDonald’s was $6.8 billion up 5% from a year earlier and profits rose 11% to $6.8 billion.

Most stores across the world are not corporate stores but owned by the franchisees or 93%. Under the franchise agreement prices are set by the individual store as well as the individual business owner has to incur the rising prices of labor, food and fees paid to McDonald’s to operate their businesses.

In the world of retail there is always something being tested such as variety of cold coffees, fruity refreshers, crafted sodas and energy drinks. McDonald’s is testing the drinks in 500 stores, and they could be more profitable than the food. If all goes well it will be ramped up to global franchises.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every company appeals to a certain target market and has to continually reinvent itself to ensure the target market stays repeat customers. It is one of the reasons why retail is interesting to watch and only if the company can be consistently profitable do you want to own the stock. If you do own a retail store, you need to be a customer and ensure when you go into a store the expectations you have as a customer are met and exceeded otherwise look for alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Anyone who has regular income is affected by interest rates and if you are a consumer and have to pay interest, you want low rates. If you to keep inflation to manageable levels, you may want interest rates to be higher. It is an age-old dilemma that every once in a while, makes the headlines because politicians like low rates. The dilemma has been partially solved by insuring the Federal Reserve or Fed board of directors who vote on the decision is reasonably independent of the political cycle. The Chair of the Fed is a fixed term, the President of the US cannot fire him, the term has to run out.

In an article from the Associated Press, the term of the Fed Reserve Chair is coming to an end in May of 2026 and the President has the ability to appoint a new Chair. Normally, those in the financial industry are more entuned to the decision, however President Trump decided long time ago he wanted low interest rates and has made the Fed Reserve decision a public policy interest. At the moment there are many with an opinion.

The President teased out that he is looking at 4 names including Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council (you may have seen him doing interviews on the Sunday News programs), Kevin Warsh, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and 2 others.

In the economy what is good for individuals is not necessarily good for the overall economy. As an individual, it is wonderful to live within your means and have little or no debt. However, in the economy in general, 60% plus is based on people spending money and having access to credit, hopefully at reasonable rates, to maintain a functioning economy. The Fed tries to determine the balance to fight inflation. The other example is if your wages go up, that is a good thing, but if everyone goes up, prices will have to go up to pay for the increases which leads to inflation.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all economies depend on government workers trying to be reasonably independent to offset what politicians want. If the politicians get what they want, they tend to want to spend money particularly a year before they are going to the polls so they can say because of me these funds have been allocated to this area. Recently we have seen politicians vote against a bill which passed but ultimately benefits their district and take credit for the allocation of resources. Independence is important to a functioning economy or eventually there will be money lost by the average consumer.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In every large company, there will be a number of divisions with thousands of employees and each of them contributes to the company’s results. Sometimes there will be a disruption in one division or another, but it is always important to determine how much does that division contribute to the profits of the company or perspective is needed?

In an article by Cathy Bussewitz of the Associated Press, 3,200 workers at 3 Midwest manufacturing plants where Boeing makes military aircraft and weapons went on strike. The 3 facilities are in St. Louis, St. Charles, Mississippi and Mascoutah, Illinois. The members are part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers or IAM.

Boeing had anticipated the strike, and the plants will remain open as the non-striking workforce can continue to support Boeing’s customers.

Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security business accounts for about 1/3 of Boeing’s revenues. Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg, noted the impact will be less than the walkout of 33,000 workers who built the Max planes.

Revenue for the second quarter had improved and the company only $611 million compared to $1.44 the quarter before.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, with large companies when something happens negative happens you need to know does it affect their main profit center or other divisions? How does the company handle the disruption? who has it handled it in the past? If you have good answers for these and other questions, then you may continue to hold the stock and wait till the disruption is over and the stock bounces back.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Having skin in the game, you will hear the phrase and from an investors point of view, senior management of a company should own shares in the company they manage. Ideally, enough to give them incentive for the long-term continuation of the company, but not enough to worry about the stock price every day. It is often why at the AGM, senior management compensation is voted on and it usually tries to give more shares over a 5-year vestment and the price of the shares is somewhat less than the market. In this fashion, senior management owns more shares, the shares are in the money and if the company continues to do well, there will be more shares next year.

In an article by Michelle Chapman of the Associated Press, the question of how much is enough, was put to Tesla shareholders and they voted to give more shares to Mr. Musk. Tesla is awarding 96 million shares to restricted stock valued at $29 billion. The exercise price will be $23.34 a share, which is equal to the exercise price per share of the 2018 pay package that was awarded to the CEO. It was held up by a court filing, because the process of awarding the shares was not transparent. The independent directors were not really independent.

Since 2018, the shares of Tesla has grown, which the present Board argued that Mr. Musk deserves compensation because he has delivered transformative and unprecedented growth that translated into immense value generated for Tesla and all shareholders.

Dan Inves, an analyst from Wedbush (you may have seen him on MSBC wearing colorful jackets) said we believe the grant will now keep Musk as CEO at least until 2030 and remove an overhang on the stock. Musk remains Tesla’s biggest asset, and the comp issue was a constant concern since the lawsuit began.

While Tesla was once the world leader in Electric vehicles, the reason people believe in the stock is the autonomous driving and use of robots that is the potential future of driving.

In the most recent quarter, Tesla profits fell from $1.409 billion to $409 million.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all companies including voting for senior compensation at the AGMs and as shareholders you need to balance is this the right team to lead the stocks higher, keep profits and pay dividends. If the answer is yes, then it is rare for the compensation not to pass; if no the compensation will likely pass but you need to find alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In the world of management, there are different managers and the issue is how will the organization run through both good and not so good times. Every industry goes through cycles and it is much easier when times are good, but markets have a way of keeping people on their toes, because similar to the story in Aesop Fables of the ant and grasshopper, if you do not have supplies in reserve, when the harvest is long gone, what will you do?

In an article by Ben Casselman of the New York Times News Service, one of President Trump’s management style is he does not like bad news.

When President Trump didn’t like the weak jobs numbers, he fired the person responsible for producing them. Never mind the numbers reported on is what the financial industry relies on, never mind the person who gave the numbers is at the top of a large number of people who have input into the numbers, never mind it would almost be impossible to manipulate the data and never mind if the numbers are what President Trump called fake numbers, it leads to many questions and none of them are good.

In countries such as Greece, Argentina and China, numbers were reported that faked deficit for years. One hopes with a great many economists going through the data, if the data does not mean expectations of private sector data, it would be very hard for the US government to report fake data.

The Bureau of Statistics is officially part of the Labor Department whose Secretary is in the Cabinet. The agency operates independently. producing detailed, non-partisan data on employment, prices, wages and other topics.

Official statistics, government statistics are a mirror that society holes up to itself. If that mirror is distorted or broken, then the accountability that is central to the democratic system cannot work. If society cannot see itself clearly, then it cannot identify its problems. If it cannot identify its problem than it cannot find the right solutions.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as investors company report their earning every 3 months, if you believe they are fake, and it has happened in the past, the result is the company’s stock goes to zero. Good data matched to analyst expectations allow you to keep your money in the stock market.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

For every government raising money is a necessary aspect to keep functioning. In the US, income tax came into 1913, partly to pay for WW I as military expenditures are both necessary and expensive, which has not changed in this century. Everyone wants the other person to pay their full share, but less for them. Raising income tax levels for both individuals and corporations is going to lead to many questions and fewer votes. Governments then look for other methods to raise money, and President Trump has seized upon tariffs.

Tariffs are paid by the importer, which means an extra cost which means higher costs for the end user. Essentially tariffs are taxes, but if a company cannot add the entire tariff to the price then the company has to pay the tariff from its margins or makes less money.

In an article by Andrew Duehren of the New York Times News Service, custom duties including tariffs have generated $152 billion in July, roughly twice as much when compared to a year ago in July of $78 billion.

President Trump has commented on Truth Social Media that tariffs are bringing in billions of dollars to the US and it was a good thing.

Joao Gomes, an economist at the U of Penn’s Wharton School believes the money could be addictive. It will be very hard to turn away when the debt and deficit are what they are.

President Trump has long fantasized about replacing taxes on income with tariffs. The tax cuts in the latest Republican bill moves the US away from taxing earnings and toward taxing goods.

The issue is who benefits the most and it tends to the rich the most. The reason is lower-income Americans spend more of their earnings on those more expensive goods or the ones with tariffs. meaning the tariffs amount to a larger tax increase for them compared to richer Americans.

Tariffs have begun to bleed into consumer prices both because of the tariffs and for domestic companies matching the higher imported prices to raise their margins. Clearly prices are not going down.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, clearly any company which was importing goods has to pay more for the goods and the need then goes to passing on higher prices to the end user. While there are significant advantages in using imported goods, the issue is how high must the tariff be before it is less expensive to do the work in the US. A 15% tariff or less is likely manageable, but we will see in the coming months because most imported goods have a time delay for the logistics to work their way into the system.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.