The book The Soldier’s Trade – British Military Developments 1660-1914 by Frederick Myatt, McDonald & Jane’s, London, 1974 outlines military happenings through the years and the tactics for war changed. The goal of defense of the country never changes but how to battle the opposition does. In the early days, there was few people in armor so essentially the armies beat each other with swords and axes on the appointed day and whoever was left standing won the battle. In the evening both sides collected the dead and dying and then determined if the battle was to continue the next day or go home.

Henry 1 introduced archers into the mix. When the average person lived in the country archery was very useful to know. Long bow archery takes more skill and many fathers taught their sons how to be archers. When peace came, the boys begin to want to do something else. Archers just allowed arrows to be shot first, to injure or kill the front lines so the troops would come down and battle each other. The archer role was limited with the use of gun powder.

In the book, the author believes the best general, the British army has ever produced is the Duke of Marlborough. His campaigns during the War of the Spanish Succession were brilliantly conceived and carried out. He achieved this through the brilliant appreciation of the landscape, planning, careful deception and cover plans, good administration and freedom of manoeuvre afforded by the remarkable marching power of his armies when well-trained and adequately supplied with food, clothing, footwear and other necessities.

Marlborough made the platoon, or the half company the fire unit. Under his new system each platoon fired in turn (all three ranks together) so that the fire ran down and down the line again in a continuous thunder-like roll. The horsemen used shock action only against enemy horsemen and they were to rely on the weight and speed of a disciplined charge to overthrow any opposition.  For ranges outside the musket, the cannon was used

An interesting commentary about the American War of Independence  is the British lost because of the guerilla tactics of the Americans as well as the unintelligent leadership. The British could not adapt.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to looking at the British army over the years, it was not blessed with great leaders all the time. Only a few of them were great, thus if you only buy on the basis of management, you have to very selective. If you buy on the inherent moat around the company which allows it to be profitable on a year to year basis, your dividend is safe and as when management is great it is a nice bonus, the stock will rise in value.

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

In dealing with the great change of the economy, it is occasionally good to look back to other great changes through the years. Many areas had changes and they have consequences both good and not so good. The book The Soldier’s Trade – British Military Developments 1660-1914 by Frederick Myatt, McDonald & Jane’s, London, 1974 describes developments wonderfully. For example, a great invention was when rifles were rifles were introduced, however consistency was not to be found. In the movies, the front lines, shoots their rifles but after a few rounds shot they were out of ammo, the troops charged and used the rifle butt or the bayonet as a weapon. The reason – the rifles did not have many bullets, the rifles were inconsistent so there was no choice but to use the ends of the rifle to help.  There is an old saying, do not shoot until you see the whites off their eyes. The reason is it took many years before the rifle was accurate to what you expected and needed. The shorter the distance the more the accuracy. It took years to figure out the correct engineering specifics and needed materials.

As years go by, inventions make the rifle more dependable and it truly changed the manner in which wars are fought. The writer made an interesting point, when comparing weapons in history, check out the advances in sportsman rifles first. The military were often slow adaptors to changes in weapons.

The writer also discusses cannons, infantry and cavalry which all went through changes as times went on. For example when cannons were introduced – they were hard to move around, because of their weight. Once in place they were very effective, but they had to get to the point where they were in place. As materials and wheels changed the cannon becomes a more effective tool.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, we all look at what is and think what is now must have been the expected, that is rarely the case. From a great idea to a full functionary aspect in the military or companies operations often takes time. If you buy shares in a company that already makes a profit and pays a dividend as the new inventions come, the old company can be even more profitable and entrenched in the areas they serve.

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

In all countries, the people who ruled them and where their bones are important. Some countries have specific graves for their leaders, others are buried in hometown cemeteries. When the country has a history of monarchy or Kings and Queens, usually there are very defined traditions where the bones go. In England, a former monarch who lost the battle and his life, bones went missing. In part, the new King did not want them to be known, for he had to consolidate his power and send out nasty press releases of how evil the former King was. The book The King’s Grave is the discovery of Richard III’s lost burial place and the clues it hold by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones, John Murray Publishers, London, 2013. The reason why you may know Richard III is from the Shakespeare play Richard III. In the play, Richard III is depicited as a hunchback or not a pleasant Monarch who killed his relatives to become King or the evil King who need grabbed power for power sake. Some of the stories about him are true, so not so much, but read or see the play anyways.

Often times in a story similar to this, the clues have been available to the public for a long time, it is just there was a lack of money or technology to actually do anything. For example, King Richard has a society and people have looked for the clues for generations. However, it is still very difficult to actually dig up a town which is functioning. Sonar type of equipment is needed to see if there is something under the earth which would make digging worth while. Also where do you dig? similar to most towns and cities, they change after 500 years of people living there. Maps change, buildings expand or contract, roads are moved, things are not what they seem to be. The society kept at it and they got lucky. All the clues pointed to the the best place where to dig was a asphalt car parking lot. No buildings were built on the land, if true than maybe, just maybe.

It turned out to be true and the bones were found and some of the myths are true, King Richard III did have a problem with his spine or one shoulder was higher than other, but he was not a hunchback. One of the things you can do with a skull is facial reconstruction – he did not look like the devil, but a regular person. History is always written by the victors, and the victors always put themselves in the best light and the enemy in the worst link, after they are the enemy. They must have been something wrong with them – ideas, personality, G-d was not with them, something. It generally turns out, they are not necessarily different than the victors. The bones of Richard III now have a proper burial tomb and slowly the myths about him with be changed.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, whether you are researching clues of a 500 year mystery or researching clues to the best stock to buy, you will be dealing with myths. which you need to change to reality. While the stock market in general goes up (the index drops the laggards twice a year, and brings in winners – it should go up) not all stocks perform the same. To achieve growth with less risk, investing in profitable stocks which pay a dividend is a great way to start. Which stock you pick is the tough part, but if the company is profitable, you have a better success rate.

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

The Art of War – War and Military Thought, by Martin Van Creveld, Cassell & Co, London, UK, 2000 is a good introduction to strategies of war. One of the strengths of the Rome in times of the Emperor was the famed Roman Legion. The legion was divided into 3 lines according to age and experience. The youngest formed the front lines, the more mature men the second and the veterans were in the rear. Each line was divided into 10 groups of 120 men and grouping was staggered so they covered the intervals This allowed the reserves to be fed into the fighting line to reinforce an attack. It also allowed the forward groups to fall back to retreat and/or rest.

Over the years there has been many debates whether Jomini’s idea about geometry in a two-dimensional space making use of communication of every sort and manoeuvring among all kinds of natural and article obstacles or Clauswitz’s unrelenting emphasis on the need for a single, climactic, annihilating battle is the best method.

Each new technology changes the tactics of the battle line – long bow arrows, to cannons to rifles to machine guns to tanks and planes. Each new technology also brings in new strategies, Basil Liddell Hart believed direct attacks against the enemy’s front had to be avoided at all costs since they inevitably ended in failure. The better method to restore power to the offense and save casualties is the indirect approach. Rather than attacking the enemy head on, the enemy had to be weakened first by having his limbs cut off, his organization disrupted, and his mind of his commander unbalanced. This could be achieved by combining rapidity of movement with secrecy and surprise. If the offensive comes from unexpected directions including following the route least expectation given the terrain. In this fashion, blue has at least two branches that are flexible enough to draw back if necessary.

With the use of the nuclear war, for many the idea for the military had been to win wars has been changed to the chief purpose of the military is to prevent war.

Guerilla warfare influenced developed as a strategy, for smaller units are harder for a large institutional military to deal with. No one really knows what strategy is best, but everyone knows the number of years there has not been a war are very few indeed.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, during wars people die – first the people who took the most of the battle were soldiers or those in the battlefield. Now days the battle includes citizens who may or not be supporting one side or the other. Wars involving the stock exchange and stocks just involve money. One side wishes the other side to either pay more or one company wanting to stay independent, so the next company can pay more. Getting paid more is a good thing, for having been paid there are more options to invest in other dividend paying stocks and everyone goes home at the end of the day.

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

The Art of War – War and Military Thought, by Martin Van Creveld, Cassell & Co, London, UK, 2000 is a good introduction to strategies of war. One of the greatest of all western writers on war is Karl von Clausewitz whose book is called On War. He was a general in the Prussian army stationed in Berlin and focused his writings on two questions: what was war and what purpose did in serve? He would find an answer and the research against military history and his own experiences or his approach was both deductive and inductive. He did not go into detail about every formation but to provide commanders with a basis of though and make in unnecessary to reinvent the wheel every time. To answer the first question what is war – Clausewitz defined it as an element act of violence in which all ordinary social restraints were cast off. Since force would naturally invite the use of greater force, war also possessed an inherent tendency towards escalation which made it essentially uncontrollable and unpredictable ‘ a great passionate drama’  The key was a question of possessing the qualities needed to counter and master these inherent characteristics.

Given the high degree of uncertainty and friction involved, Clausewitz suggested the best strategy is always to be very strong, first in general and then at the decisive point, War was a physical and moral struggle by means of the former. Since the enemies strength was concentrated in his armed forces, the first objective of strategy ought always to be smash them; this achieved, his capital could be captured and his country occupied.

Consider how Clausewitz looks at the relationship between attack and defence. The outstanding quality of attack is the delivery of the blow. The outstanding quality of the defence was the need to wait for that blow and parry it. All things being equal it is easier to defend than to attack. There would be a culminating point where the attack would turn into a defence, and the defence into an attack, that is, unless the enemy had been smashed and decisive victory had been won first.

Why war – war was not simply a phenomenon in its own right. A product of social intercourse, it was, or at any rate ought to be, a deliberate political act. ‘ a continuation of policy by other means’. The logic was to be provide from the outside or a policy otherwise in would be a senseless thing, without an object.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, with profitable companies they occasionally buy other companies to diversify their income streams. Many times money is lost because management does not get the business right, this is when shareholders must ask what is the objective? why? and if you do get a good answer, move on to other dividend stocks. The other aspect to learn is similar to war, if a company is involved in a takeover bid, the price of the shares in announced and if it is not good enough the bid will take a life of its own, which management may not control.

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

The Art of War – War and Military Thought, by Martin Van Creveld, Cassell & Co, London, UK, 2000 is a good introduction to strategies of war. When the author looked at the European experience – there were many books written about the tactics of war – the use of arms, marching, combat, deployment; however very few about strategy. The key element is the map. Today very few people would drive off without a map or access to one on their smartphone, but maps for a long time were not that accurate. By the end of the 1700’s maps were accurate and could be used to do strategy behind the scenes or not in the General’s head. The earliest person credited for using the new technology is a Prussian officer and writer Adam Heinrich Dietrich von Buelow. He talked about lines of operations – the army moved and operations flowed, often these lines would be stretched how much is the key. He suggested if the lines stretching from the flanks should meet at the objective in such a way they form a right angle. Proceed further from this and you risk being cut off by a side stroke.

The next addition to strategy was by Antoine Henri Jomini who added other concepts such as Theatre of Operations and Zones of Operations. After this more complexity developed along with the lines being called blue for friendly, red for hostile. Are the divisions separate and operate semi independently? If you wanted to deliver a swift blow if a blue army was between two red ones, so before the red lines could unite the blue lines would fight the red ones.  Whatever the precise manoeuvre selected it was a question of bringing superior force against the decisive point.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in war strategy a map and a plan are needed to find the weakest link to attack to divide and conquer. When you are buying a hundred shares of a large company, there will not be a great impact, but what you are doing is not buying others. If you begin with a dividend, you narrow the field to those that are profitable and the management returns profits to shareholders. As long as the company remains profitable it will be desired by others who will help push the share price up.

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

If you own shares in a company, invariably it will be involved with a takeover or sales campaign to tackle the competition. Ideally they are friendly, but some will turn unfriendly or there will be a war. Thankfully with trading in company stocks, bullets do not fly just money and if you put enough money on the table many people will take the money. For the unfriendly takeovers, there will be many strategies offered, and some will look and sound like war strategies. The files will be coded, the meeting places will be in places where hopefully few if any will recognize your face and you will be subject to takeover laws. In terms of studying war – there are a great many books written about military strategy and why some people won and others lost with what lessons are to be learned. For an introduction to the topic The Art of War – War and Military Thought, by Martin Van Creveld, Cassell & Co, London, UK, 2000 is a good book.

One of the oldest civilizations is the Chinese and they have may texts about warfare and one of the most popular was written by Sun Tzu. The Chinese used war as a last resort and would try other ways first. The best way to solve is use diplomacy or talk it out and come to an agreement. The second best is use of dirty tricks – kill the enemy commander or bribe his officers. The Chinese believed force was to use in limited conditions, when you are strong, pretend to be weak so as to tempt the enemy; when are you are weak, pretend to be strong so as to deter him. Use speed and secrecy to make out that are concentrating at one place, then attack at another place. If weaker than the enemy, avoid him, harass him and draw him into terrain that is unfavourable for him; if equal to him, wait patiently until he commits an error, as in chess. Confuse him and keep him ignorant of your designs by offering bit, mounting feints and/or spreading disinformation as appropriate. Finally when you have the enemy where you want him – or just when the enemy feels secure – fall on him like a thunderbolt.

Thus the strongest, most successful action is at the same time the most economic one. To achieve this ideal, two things are needed. The first is flexibility to take advantage of fleeting opportunities: said Sun Tzu ‘an army is like water which adapts itself to the configuration of the ground’. The second element is intelligence Sun Tzu distinguished between 5 types of spies – local spies, internal spies, turned spies, dead spies and living spies. Local are people who know the terrain, resources of the enemy. Internal are people who hold position inside the enemy’s focus. Turned spies are double agents. Dead spies sent out disinformation. Living are ones who go to the enemies side and comes back and delivers a report. It requires the wisdom of a sage when it comes to perceiving the truth. All the spies are grouped under the heading know them and know yourself.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if you go into battle it is foolish to pick up your arms and rush out of the door. It is better to know your enemy or do homework or research them. Gain intelligence before you begin your move. With investing it is the same, doing nothing or sitting on cash can be a good strategy, before you do something. One method to protect yourself is buy stocks which pay a dividend or with give you income  while waiting and because the company is making money with have upside growth.

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

We all start with investing in our own country or region because we know the companies and want to gain a benefit from them or it is easier to watch them. How are they doing? who the people are? are they on the correct track to continually making a profit to pay the dividend? As we accumulate wealth, we look to companies in other countries, some will be very similar to each other for example G8 countries have similar rules and regulations. For countries that are blessed with mineral deposits but not a stable government or a government in flux, there is money to made with healthy profits. In countries such as those, security plays a role and as investors we do not often have to think about it. However there is an interesting book about the subject called Fortune’s Warriors by James R Davis, Douglas and McIntyre, Vancouver, 2000. The book is about Private Armies or Soldiers of Fortune or Military Advisors or Mercenaries and is a very good introduction to the field. Every country in the world has an military and with luck many will not have to use their weapons. However, there are countries where bullets fly on a consistent basis and those that retire – consult or continue in a private army using their skills at a higher pay and focusing on private property for example mines or tank farms. There are very good reasons to use private security in order to protect the assets of the company, other people with a different agenda often want to control the production of the mine to pay for other uses.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, one hopes the companies that consistently makes a profit uses the better of the companies involved. It is worth asking which type of security company, your company uses for some are publicly traded. The companies vary in what they do or what they do not do. It is one thing to do analysis to provide advice, set up the conditions to minimize security threats and another thing to kill people. Private security is a broad field with many different types of firms and characters involved, hopefully your company is using solid reputable firms and the cost remains a small one.

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

A couple of weeks ago, the book Fire on the Horizon, John Konrad and Tom Shroder, HarperCollins ,NY, 2011 was read and there was a connection to current events. Last week in the  Wall Street Journal, it was announced BP could be fined up to $ 18 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The book Fire on the Horizon is written with the people who did the drilling on the rig in mind. Their lives away from drilling, their training and how they ended up on the rig. Similar to all industries, because of the nature of them, the community tends to be close net. For example in the case of the rigs, most people tend to live within a day’s drive of Houston, because the company was not flying them anywhere in the US. The companies head office tends to be around Houston – that is where the companies which manage rigs are located. The book relays the people tried to do a good job, in the back of their minds delays cost millions of dollars, but success can mean billions for the company. There is always a balance between extreme safety, they are dealing with a very flammable material and  art of drilling which is backed by realms of data and experience.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the Deep Water Horizon costs billions to clean up, but would have made BP even more billions of dollars had the well not exploded and the oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. At the time of drilling, BP was not expecting to send the oil to the mainland for the immediate future, but at the time of the blowout the company said it would pay for the clean up. Companies have a lag time between going to court and payment if found guilty. The President of BP has sold off divisions in order to place the money in a reserve fund until when the courts ruled their final verdict. As expected, as the dollar amount rises, all levels of appeal are used to extend the time between payment and guilty plea. It is also a risk management exercise in determining what the company feels is fair and what the courts rule. Companies unlike most individuals get sued on a regular basis, one expects lawsuits with every disaster, as long as the amount of the money does not cripple the company, it pays the fine and continues – hopefully with no disasters in the future.

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