The Timidity Trap: Policy makers have good ideas in principle for tackling terrible economic conditions, yet they consistently go for half-measures in practice and kill all hope

The Timidity Trap
MARCH 20, 2014
Paul Krugman
There don’t seem to be any major economic crises underway right this moment, and policy makers in many places are patting themselves on the back. In Europe, for example, they’re crowing about Spain’s recovery: the country seems set to grow at least twice as fast this year as previously forecast. Read more of this post

The UK is transforming from a nation of shopkeepers into a country full of kitchen table entrepreneurs. Technology enables wave of British kitchen table start-ups

March 21, 2014 2:59 pm
Technology enables wave of British kitchen table start-ups
By Jonathan Moules, Enterprise Correspondent
The UK is transforming from a nation of shopkeepers into a country full of kitchen table entrepreneurs.
Research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has calculated that 2.9m businesses operate from homes around the country, equivalent to one in every 10 households. Read more of this post

Thailand in limbo after election annulled; economy suffering

Thailand in limbo after election annulled; economy suffering
8:42am EDT
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Friday annulled last month’s general election, leaving the country in political limbo without a full government and further undermining a prime minister faced with impeachment over a failed rice subsidy scheme. Read more of this post

New Owner Gives Wings to Pilgrim’s Pride Turnaround; Brazil’s JBS Plucks Record Profit Just Four Years After Bankruptcy

New Owner Gives Wings to Pilgrim’s Pride Turnaround
Brazil’s JBS Plucks Record Profit Just Four Years After Bankruptcy
DAVID KESMODEL
March 20, 2014 5:34 p.m. ET

ATHENS, Ga.—A system of rotating metal blades slicing into chicken legs at Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.’s sprawling plant here helps illustrate why the company is carving out record profits four years after emerging from bankruptcy. Read more of this post

Latest Insider-Trading Case Highlights Law Firms’ Risks

Latest Insider-Trading Case Highlights Law Firms’ Risks
JENNIFER SMITH
March 20, 2014 8:23 p.m. ET
Clients rely on big law firms to safeguard all manner of secrets, from intellectual property to confidential information about big-ticket mergers. Read more of this post

Paul Lountzis 2013 Letter To Investors: The Future Of Berkshire Hathaway Without Warren E. Buffett

Paul Lountzis 2013 Letter To Investors
by VW StaffMarch 19, 2014, 4:19 pm
Excerpted from a great value investor. Below is commentary from Paul Lountzis 2013 Letter To Investors (dated February 15, 2014)
The stock market had one of the strongest years in its history in 2013 continuing its strong performance since the equity markets hit bottom in March 2009. Read more of this post

Lease Accounting Standard Inches Forward; Despite disagreements about how to report leases, standard setters held firm on putting all of them on the balance sheet.

March 20, 2014
CFO.com | US
Lease Accounting Standard Inches Forward
Despite disagreements about how to report leases, standard setters held firm Wednesday on putting all of them on the balance sheet.
David M. Katz
Rather than going back to the future, the Financial Accounting Standards Boardapparently moved closer to the completion of a final new standard governing lease accounting by stepping forward to the past. Read more of this post

olding CEO and CFO Roles Is a Tightrope Act; Why you shouldn’t hold both roles at once – and what to do if you have to (on an interim basis)

March 20, 2014
CFO.com | US
Holding CEO and CFO Roles Is a Tightrope Act
Why you shouldn’t hold both roles at once — and what to do if you have to (on an interim basis).
Marielle Segarra
Last month, publicly held California newspaper publisher Daily Journal Corp. announced that it needed more time to finish its audit and submit its 10-Q statement for last quarter. The firm is two quarters late on its financial reports. It also received a notice (its second one in the last year) that it is not in compliance with NASDAQ filing rules. Read more of this post

Avoid Those Rose-Colored Dividends; Don’t let investor communication objectives stand in the way of making sound dividend policy decisions during a downturn

March 20, 2014
CFO.com | US
Avoid Those Rose-Colored Dividends
Don’t let investor communication objectives stand in the way of making sound dividend policy decisions during a downturn.
Gregory V. Milano
Although there are numerous dividend-related metrics, including dividend yield and dividend-payout ratio, any thorough discussion of dividend policy should focus heavily on the signaling effects of dividends. Dividend proponents seek a steady stream of regularly increasing dividends per share to reveal a healthy company to the markets. Indeed, many investors use such signals as one of their criteria for deciding where to invest. Read more of this post

In the past six years, Compustershare founder Chris Morris has sold $155 million worth of scrip, equivalent to 27% of his holding, and ploughed the proceeds into a dizzying array of hospitality-related ventures

Brewery an insurance against headaches for Computershare’s Chris Morris
March 21, 2014
Adele Ferguson

Computershare founder Chris Morris. Photo: Eddie Jim
Pubs, clubs, a farm, a brewery and an island – these things cost money, as Computershare founder and chairman Chris Morris has discovered. In the past six years Morris has sold $155 million worth of Computershare scrip, equivalent to 27 per cent of his holding, and ploughed the proceeds into a dizzying array of hospitality-related ventures. Read more of this post

China yuan band widening a sign of caution, not reform zeal

China yuan band widening a sign of caution, not reform zeal
5:03pm EDT
By Kevin Yao
BEIJING (Reuters) – Paradoxical as it may sound, China’s move to give the yuan more wiggle room is a sign of caution and deepening concern about the slowing economy rather than a promise of Beijing’s vigorous pursuit of market reforms, government economists say. Read more of this post

Hong Kong-listed Kerry Logistics Network is open to the idea of mounting a secondary listing here, despite turning down this option last year

Logistics firm not ruling out secondary listings here

Friday, Mar 21, 2014
Jonathan Kwok
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – Hong Kong-listed Kerry Logistics Network is open to the idea of mounting a secondary listing here, despite turning down this option last year.

Kerry Logistics floated its stock in Hong Kong last December, and in the lead-up, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) had asked the company to consider a secondary listing here, said chairman George Yeo, a former Cabinet minister, on Tuesday. Read more of this post