Author: TCA

What can we learn from the FTX/Alameda Research Fiasco?

Posted on by TCA

There are lessons to be learned from the FTX/Alameda disaster.

First, to the extent you can, hold your own assets. The exchange was taking customer assets and lending them to the trading arm of the firm. Had customers held their own tokens, this wouldn’t have happened to the extent it did.

Second, value cannot be created out of thin air. Perhaps, these young kids were simply taking lessons from the Fed and the U.S. government (and the others around the world) who constantly print dollars thereby “creating value” out of thin air. As the holders of the FTT token found out, there is only value if someone wants to buy the thing you are selling. If all the sellers show up and there are no buyers, the value goes to zero pretty quickly. And “we all understand zero.“

Third, governance matters. A total lack of corporate governance was on display. As the former Enron liquidator found out. In most of these flameouts, you will find shoddy governance and controls.

Fourth, accountants play a crucial role for investors. Right now, there are too few people studying accounting the business schools. This is partially due to the extra hours students must obtain to enable them to take the CPA exam, and partially due to the rigor of the subject. Accounting is hard and the accountant schools often have the lowest GPAs on campus because of it.

Finally, don’t believe the bullshit when making investments. Approach every deal the same way and don’t ever fall in love with a deal. As the media has pointed out, there are some big names in the investing world that were scammed by SBF and his cronies. Had the basics been followed, these investors wouldn’t have been scammed, and the people who put money with these fund managers wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Perhaps, SBF’s ESG thoughts intrigued these investors given their push. Who knows, but I certainly hope the investors push back on these funds for failing to do proper diligence on a deal.

Nike suspends relationship with Kyrie Irving; Kyrie 8 launch off 

Posted on by TCA

ESPN has the headline. above Let’s see, NIKE, the company whose business supports slavery and child labor in China, has a problem with a guy who tweeted about a movie that has anti-Semitic overtones/content and failing to clarify whether he held anti-Semitic beliefs.

As a Jew, I couldn’t care less about what Kyrie believes. He’s allowed to have an opinion and has a right to free speech whether I like it or not.

The only thing I would tell Kyrie is: do your homework. Holding an opinion whose foundation is based upon ”facts” that can be proven false means you’re not an intelligent person. From watching interviews, reading prior articles about you, your position on the COVID vaccine., all suggest you’re a person of intelligence. So Kyrie, do some homework.

Regardless, I support Kyrie’s free speech and even his right to be wrong.

Question to Kyrie: Why Apologize?

Posted on by TCA

The NY Post has an article on the reaction to Kyrie Irving’s tweet of a link to an ant-Semitic movie. According to the Post’s article:

Speaking to reporters for the second time since his promotion of the film, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” Irving refused to say he was sorry, refused to say he doesn’t hold anti-Semitic beliefs, refused to say the Holocaust happened and cast himself as the victim in the entire saga.

As noted in the article, Kyrie refused to apologize at a press conference or disclaim any anti-Semitic views. He finally issued an apology after he was suspended indefinitely by the Nets. But my question is: why apologize?

As a Jew, I want all of those who hold anti-Semitic views to self-identify. I say the same about racists. I would rather you continue your rants and self-identify than issue an apology which no one knows is true or is simply a strategy to remove the focus from yourself and stop the negative financial impacts your statements are causing.

Living in the U.S. and being a free speech advocate, I realize that a lot of speech I won’t like, may cause pain and/or upset some. However, you have a right to it. You have a right to believe what you want to believe. When you continue believing things even when they are proven to be wrong, well, you’re just an idiot and no one cares what you say. Many will howl at that saying many will follow such idiots given they are cultural icons, and I say: ok. That is your right under our Constitution. Do I like it? No, but principles matter and limiting an idiot’s free speech is wrong.

Said differently, I am an actions speak loader than words and sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me guy. While I’m often reminded from my better half that words do hurt, my response is always: they do if you allow them to. To Kyrie, how you act matters much more than what you say, so I’ll watch the walk and make my determination about you and your character.

Can We Fix the Corrupt Federal Government?

Posted on by TCA

That’s a question I have been pondering for a long time. Yeah, we get to vote every couple of years, but regardless of who we vote for or which party controls the legislative and administrative branches, things seem to continue towards total federal control of every aspect of our lives.

The corruption runs deep in the federal government. Between the DoJ, FBI and DHS, the federal government can surveil you even if there is no crime. They simply open up a counter terrorism investigation on you. Now, they will track everything you do looking for a crime.

So, please vote Republican in November, because, as Dan Bongino would say, ”the republicans may not be the solution to all of your problems, but the democrats are definitely the cause.”

Something to Think About Over the Weekend

Posted on by TCA

Copied from LinkedIn and gives you something to think about over the weekend.

On the day I die a lot will happen.

A lot will change.

The world will be busy.

On the day I die, all the important appointments I made will be left unattended.

The many plans I had yet to complete will remain forever undone.

The calendar that ruled so many of my days will now be irrelevant to me.

All the material things I so chased and guarded and treasured will be left in the hands of others to care for or to discard.

The words of my critics which so burdened me will cease to sting or capture anymore. They will be unable to touch me.

The arguments I believed I’d won here will not serve me or bring me any satisfaction or solace.

All my noisy incoming notifications and texts and calls will go unanswered. Their great urgency will be quieted.

My many nagging regrets will all be resigned to the past, where they should have always been anyway.

Every superficial worry about my body that I ever labored over; about my waistline or hairline or frown lines, will fade away.

My carefully crafted image, the one I worked so hard to shape for others here, will be left to them to complete anyway.

The sterling reputation I once struggled so greatly to maintain will be of little concern for me anymore.

All the small and large anxieties that stole sleep from me each night will be rendered powerless.

The deep and towering mysteries about life and death that so consumed my mind will finally be clarified in a way that they could never be before while I lived.

These things will certainly all be true on the day that I die.

Yet for as much as will happen on that day, one more thing that will happen.

On the day I die, the few people who really know and truly love me will grieve deeply.

They will feel a void.

They will feel cheated.

They will not feel ready.

They will feel as though a part of them has died as well.

And on that day, more than anything in the world they will want more time with me.

I know this from those I love and grieve over.

And so knowing this, while I am still alive I’ll try to remember that my time with them is finite and fleeting and so very precious—and I’ll do my best not to waste a second of it.

I’ll try not to squander a priceless moment worrying about all the other things that will happen on the day I die, because many of those things are either not my concern or beyond my control.

Friends, those other things have an insidious way of keeping you from living even as you live; vying for your attention, competing for your affections.

They rob you of the joy of this unrepeatable, uncontainable, ever-evaporating Now with those who love you and want only to share it with you.

Don’t miss the chance to dance with them while you can.

It’s easy to waste so much daylight in the days before you die.

Don’t let your life be stolen every day, by all that you’ve been led to believe matters, because on the day you die—the fact is that much of it simply won’t.

Yes, you and I will die one day.

Time to End Qualified Immunity for Government Officials

Posted on by TCA

Chris Bray reports on another instance of local governments trampling on its citizen’s 1st Amendment Rights. Between instances like this and the DoJ and FBI’s recent activities in attempts to squelch their political enemies, our republic is truly in danger. There is only one way of dealing with this: end the qualified immunity governmental officials have. Only when individuals in government have to personally suffer the consequences of their illegal actions will some balance be restored.

The FBI; It’s Time for It to Go

Posted on by TCA

The FBI has proven itself to be a political organization over the last eight to ten years. Its decent into a political organization supporting the democrats seemed to begin during the Obama administration. Since 2016, we have really seen what the organization has become.

You can begin with the Trump pee pee tape and all of the related Russian collusion stories. The misrepresentations/lies on FISA applications, the Mike Flynn prosecution, etc. are all part of the grand scheme to turn the FBI into an intelligence organization rather than a crime fighting one.

Several whistleblowers have come forward. The American Greatness has an article outlining one whistleblower who was interviewed by Dan Bongino on his podcast The Dan Bongino Show. https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/23/fbi-whistleblower-nobody-i-know-signed-up-to-investigate-parents-who-vented-at-schoolboard-meetings/.

With the LA Times reporting of the FBI’s confiscation of 1400 safety deposit boxes, and The Philadelphia Inquirer’s reporting of the recent arrest of a prominent Catholic activist on charges he assaulted a Planned Parenthood volunteer outside a Philadelphia clinic really sparked interest in what the FBI is doing and how they are doing it. Are they going to be allowed to continue misleading judges in granting warrants to search for a crime? Are they going to continue pursuing conservatives with whom they have political disagreements while allowing criminals to terrorize the citizens?

The battle lines are clear: vote for a Democrat and you vote for this to continue.

This entire agency needs to be disbanded with those at the top and those federal agents that were ”just doing their jobs” while knowingly violating the Constitutional rights of citizens, should be fired and not receive any pension benefits. Further, those whose rights were abused, should be able to seek reimbursement for their legal representation costs from both the government as well as the agents personally. I know of no other way to make them pay which is the only way this will stop. They must suffer real financial loss similar to what their tactics are causing the citizens to suffer.