Mark Finance News

There are other special modes of insurance to

Filed under: General — December 29, 2008 @ 4:00 am

prevent loss or damage in cases of remote risk;
indeed almost any chance of loss through the
possibility of something improbable occurring
may be guarded against by insurance
There are other special modes of insurance to
prevent loss or damage in cases of remote risk;
indeed almost any chance of loss through the
possibility of something improbable occurring
may be guarded against by insurance. For
instance, a lady aged forty-five has been married
for twenty years and has had no children. If she
has a son her property will descend to him; if
she dies childless it passes to a nephew. The
chance of the lady having a son is extremely
remote but still there is a possibility, and it is
against loss by this possibility happening that
the nephew takes out a policy of insurance for
any reasonable amount, the premium charged
being surprisingly small and payable in one sum
down.

At the same time we may hope that as economic progress goes slowly ahead

Filed under: General — December 28, 2008 @ 10:00 pm

over the stepping stones of uncomfortable experience, borrowing
countries will see that it really pays them to pay their yearly bills
out of yearly taxes, and that they are only hurting themselves when they
mortgage their future revenue for loans, the spending of which is not
going to help them to produce more goods and so raise more revenue
without effort
At the same time we may hope that as economic progress goes slowly ahead
over the stepping stones of uncomfortable experience, borrowing
countries will see that it really pays them to pay their yearly bills
out of yearly taxes, and that they are only hurting themselves when they
mortgage their future revenue for loans, the spending of which is not
going to help them to produce more goods and so raise more revenue
without effort. War is the only possible excuse for asking foreign
nations to find money for other than reproductive purposes. In time of
war it can be justified, even as an individual can be justified for
drawing on his capital in order to pay for an operation that will save
his life. But in both cases it leaves both the nation and the individual
permanently poorer and with a continuous burden to meet in the shape of
interest and sinking fund, until the loan has been redeemed. Loans
raised at home have an essentially different effect. The interest on
them is raised from the taxpayers and paid back to the taxpayers, and
the nation, as a whole, is none the poorer. But when one nation borrows
from another it takes the loan in the form of goods or services, and
unless these goods and services are used in such a way as to enrich it
and help it to produce goods and services itself, it is bound to be a
loser by the bargain; because it has to pay interest on the loan in
goods and services and to redeem the loan by the same process, and if
the loan has not been used to increase its power of turning out goods
and services, it is inevitably in the same position as a spendthrift
individual who has pledged his income for an advance and spent it on
riotous living.

Insurances should never be made for a greater

Filed under: General — December 28, 2008 @ 4:00 pm

sum than the value of the property insured, as it
would be paying more premium for no purpose
Insurances should never be made for a greater
sum than the value of the property insured, as it
would be paying more premium for no purpose.
The offices take good care that they pay no more
than the actual value of the property destroyed,
which they have the means of ascertaining with
some degree of accuracy.

To take a practical example, let us suppose that the King of Ruritania

Filed under: General — December 27, 2008 @ 10:00 pm

is informed by his Minister of Marine that a battleship must at once be
added to its fleet because his next door neighbour is thought to be
thinking of making himself stronger on the water, while his Minister of
Finance protests that it is impossible, without the risk of serious
trouble, to add anything further to the burdens of the taxpayers
To take a practical example, let us suppose that the King of Ruritania
is informed by his Minister of Marine that a battleship must at once be
added to its fleet because his next door neighbour is thought to be
thinking of making himself stronger on the water, while his Minister of
Finance protests that it is impossible, without the risk of serious
trouble, to add anything further to the burdens of the taxpayers. A loan
is the easy and obvious way out. London and Paris between them will find
two or three millions with pleasure. That will be enough for a
battleship and something over in the way of new artillery for the army
which can be ordered in France so as to secure the consent of the French
Government, which was wont to insist that a certain proportion of any
loan raised in Paris must be spent in the country. (It need hardly be
said that all these events are supposed to be happening in the years
before the war.) Negotiations are entered into with a group of French
banks and an English issuing house. The French banks take over their
share, and sell it to their customers who are, or were, in the habit of
following the lead of their bankers in investment with a blind
confidence, that gave the French banks enormous power in the
international money market. The English issuing house sends round a
stockbroker to underwrite the loan. If the issuing house is one that is
usually successful in its issues, the privilege of underwriting anything
that it brings out is eagerly sought for. Banks, financial firms,
insurance companies, trust companies and stockbrokers with big
investment connections will take as much underwriting as they are
offered, in many cases without making very searching inquiry into the
terms of the security offered. The name of the issuing house and the
amount of the underwriting commission –which we will suppose in this
case to be 2 per cent.–is enough for them. They know that if they
refuse any chance of underwriting that is offered, they are not likely
to get a chance when the next loan comes out, and since underwriting is
a profitable business for those who can afford to run its risks, many
firms put their names down for anything that is put before them, as long
as they have confidence in the firm that is handling the loan. This
power in the hands of the big issuing houses, to get any loan that they
choose to father underwritten in a few hours by a crowd of eager
followers, gives them, of course, enormous strength and lays a heavy
responsibility on them. They only preserve it by being careful in the
use of it, and exercising great discrimination in the class of
securities that they handle.

In order to sell stock the holder may attend

Filed under: General — December 27, 2008 @ 8:00 pm

at the Bank of England himself accompanied
by his broker, and then and there have the
transfer made and the money paid
In order to sell stock the holder may attend
at the Bank of England himself accompanied
by his broker, and then and there have the
transfer made and the money paid. But this
would be unusual and held to imply mistrust,
without perhaps occasion for it. The safest plan
is for the holder to instruct his bankers to carry
out the transaction, and give them a Power of
Attorney to enable them to do so. A special
form of power is provided by the Bank of Eng-
land, the cost of which is 11s. 6d. The Inscribed
or Registered Stocks of most of the Colonial
Governments are dealt with in the same way, as
well as Indian stocks and the stocks of many of
our larger towns. The account of an investor
may be added to or diminished at any time with-
out difficulty or delay.

An interesting book has lately appeared in America, called ‘Income,’ in

Filed under: General — December 27, 2008 @ 4:00 pm

which the writer, Dr
An interesting book has lately appeared in America, called ‘Income,’ in
which the writer, Dr. Scott Nearing, of the University of Pennsylvania,
draws a very sharp distinction between service income and property
income, implying, if I read him aright, that property income is an
unjust extortion. This is how he states his case:–[1]

Filed under: General — December 27, 2008 @ 4:00 am

The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
by: Mark Sanborn
publisher: Currency
, released: 20 April, 2004

price: $10.17 (new), $5.12 (used)

Filed under: General — December 26, 2008 @ 8:00 pm

Jim Cramer’s Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich.

Jim Cramer’s Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich
by: James J. Cramer
, Cliff Mason

publisher: Simon & Schuster
, released: 05 December, 2006

price: $16.50 (new), $12.29 (used)

This business of acceptance is done not only by the great banks, but

Filed under: General — December 25, 2008 @ 10:00 am

also by a number of private firms with connections in foreign countries,
and at home, through which they place their names and credit at the
disposal of people less eminent for wealth and position, who pay them a
commission for the use of them
This business of acceptance is done not only by the great banks, but
also by a number of private firms with connections in foreign countries,
and at home, through which they place their names and credit at the
disposal of people less eminent for wealth and position, who pay them a
commission for the use of them.

If a man has plenty of money, he ought to invest something in everything

Filed under: General — December 25, 2008 @ 2:00 am

that appears to promise success, and that will probably benefit mankind;
but let the sums thus invested be moderate in amount, and never let a
man foolishly jeopardize a fortune that he has earned in a legitimate
way, by investing it in things in which he has had no experience
If a man has plenty of money, he ought to invest something in everything
that appears to promise success, and that will probably benefit mankind;
but let the sums thus invested be moderate in amount, and never let a
man foolishly jeopardize a fortune that he has earned in a legitimate
way, by investing it in things in which he has had no experience.