The Chris Jones Group Testifies Before State Legislature

Attached is the press release from my testimony this morning before the State Tax Reform Task Force. I grew up in Washington D.C. and politics is in the water, so to speak. It was gratifying to be asked to speak along with Mike Ostermiller, the Association Executives Committee Chair of the Utah Association of Realtors, John Butler, legal representative for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), and Laura Polochuk (sp?) of the AARP.

Since this state is absolutely technically avant garde, you can listen to my testimony here (you need RealPlayer). I am second in line, after David Spackman, and I start at about 5 minutes in. Following me (at 21 minutes) is Mr. Ostermiller, and I invite you to please listen to his remarks as well, especially the grilling he gets afterward from the committee, which in my opinion he thoroughly deserved. I'll have much, much more to say about this tomorrow. His testimony goes for roughly 35 minutes, and then at 55 minutes Mr. Butler speaks for the Church. His comments last about 12 minutes. He is followed at 1:08 by Laura. Other testimony follows. I can specifically recommend Mike Jerman’s testimony at 2:41 (these are NOT short meetings, folks). Mike is the Vice President of the Utah Taxpayers Association and one of the best financial minds in the state.

Na. I promised that I’d talk about the markets, Robin Hood, and a doctor on the Gulf Coast. Life has, of course, developed other things to talk about, so let’s get to it.

Markets

The markets are confused. Unemployment, which is one of the top two or three things that impacts bond rates, was up gigantically, but that was already priced into the market because of Katrina. The producer price index was also up .5%, which is a big move and indicative of inflation, but if you take out energy prices, there was no inflation at all. Quoting from CNBC:
Morning price gains made on grim jobless data were erased by a sharp increase in prices in the New York Fed's Empire State index, to 53.41 in September from 29.0 in August.
But the Philadelphia Fed survey set off a wave of selling in longer-dated debt, with the 30-year down more than a point in the afternoon, after it also showed a sharp rise in prices paid to 52.7 from 25.9.
The combined effect of the reports reaffirmed fears that spiking energy prices have filtered through to factories, offsetting the fact that actual factory activity in both regions stalled in early September.
Yeah. This is how these fellas write. Personally, I find the prose almost impenetrable. What it means is that fuel costs more so everything costs more. Why this is bad for bonds is a mystery, except that the Fed will no doubt interpret this as inflationary and raise its rate again. More evidence of the Fed driving markets instead of reacting to them. Not their job, I didn’t think, but as you already know, I have no love for the Fed.

Bottom line: prices are up on rates, and we’ve lost 1/8 on the 30-year since last week this time. We’re sitting at about 5.875%, give or take.

Robin Hood (1937)

Make no mistake: this is NOT the Kevin Costner bomb of 1991 or the sometimes-hilarious Robin Hood: Men in Tights of 1993. Both of those have underrated performances (the immortal Alan Rickman in 1991 and the immortal Man in Black himself, Cary Elwes, in Men in Tights), but little else to recommend them.

Not so the 1937 4-star classic. Starring the immortal Errol Flynn, featuring Olivia DeHavilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains (aka Captain Renault, Senator Joseph Harrison Payne, and the Phantom of the Opera), this is a tale with sharp writing, classic dialogue (“One of us? He looks like 3 of us!”) and great stunts. Ignore the swordplay (though some of it is pretty decent), and the rest of it is terrific. Absolutely terrific. It’s going to be available at any good video store, and you definitely ought to rent it and watch it with the kids or the significant other.

Note: I am partial to older films. They get much more slack than the new stuff. Just my personal bias.

Doctor Goodheart

Stan Tillinghast is a retired cardiologist who, when Hurricane Katrina hit, cashed in some miles for a plane ticket to Jackson, Mississippi, rented a car, and started driving until he came to people who needed his help. He started a blog, Dr. Goodheart (he means your heart, not his) to record his experiences. PowerLine has a great post on him, and his blog is at the link above. Many, many of my clients have expressed their wish that they could do something like this, and we’ve tried to design plans to help them get to the point where they can. It could happen to you. Let us help.