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(Almost) Ten Piece Nuggets

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Welcome to the next day of your shelter in place life.  The canned soup blues got you down?  Worry not.  We’ve got some fresh nuggets, heavy on opinions, for you.

  1.  Do you think nearly eight years ago that Barrack Obama was vulnerable in his reelection bid?  He was.  Do you believe that Mitt Romney was a below-average candidate from the right to knock Obama off?  He was.
  2.  Do you believe that it took a candidate as weak as Hillary Rodham Clinton to lose to Donald J. Trump?  It did.  Even so, she carried the popular vote.  Trump was in the right place at the right time.  The middle of America was very tired of the same old, same old from an old and tired candidate.  And he smartly milked that for every vote that he got and she didn’t campaign hard enough for.
  3. Do you believe that Joe Biden looks like a very tired same old, same old candidate?  He does.  Is President Trump in the right place at the right time again?  He is in spite of his shaky Coronavirus leadership missteps. If it were Biden we would call them gaffes.
  4. Do you believe as bad as Biden is he still has a chance?  He does.  He does if he even gets to the general election, that is.  The #WhereIsJoe isn’t going away soon.
  5. It’s still 222 days till the general election.  What’s all of this sudden talk about Cuomo coming in on a white horse to steal the White House?  Crazy times make room for crazy twists and turns.  The DNC has shown great willingness over multiple election cycles to bend or break the rules to get to the candidate of their, not the people’s, choice.
  6. Cuomo bashed Trump for a lack of ventilators just this past week.  Where do a state’s responsibility end and the federal governments begin exactly?  CNN and MSNBC called his NY handling of the crisis very presidential like.  What do DNC, CNN, and MSNBC have in common?  Everything.
  7.  Mayor Latoya Cantrell of New Orleans bashed Trump for his poor handling of the spread of the Coronavirus as well.  He could use some help, no doubt.  To that end, we hope that the mayor and her husband will get around to paying the 90k they owe from several years of back federal income taxes soon.  It’ll help offset some of the $2 trillion that we are about to give to jumpstart our economic system.
  8. Would it have been a good idea to cancel Mardi Gras, Ms. Mayor?  For financial reasons probably not.  For political reasons probably not.  For medical reasons probably so.   Citizens from all over the world partied and stood toe to toe watching parades for 14 straight days through 2/25.  NOLA’s parish (county) is the sixth most infected one in America behind the five boroughs of NY on a percentage basis.
  9. Breaking news!  Nugget 10 was just traded for a four-pack roll of Charmin.  We’ll take a four-pack for one nugget any day.  The BBR Board of Directors will meet today.  A vote to approve the move is expected to pass unanimously.

Post digestion you should get on your Peloton bike for a bit.  Ride in place rhymes with shelter in place.

 

 

Madden Money Was Once Mad Money

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And you thought Tony Romo was getting paid well.  News broke yesterday that Peyton Manning met with ESPN officials this week.  What for you ask?

The “for” is ESPN’s attempt to take the one-year Booger McFarland Monday Night Football analyst experiment out behind the barn and put it down in a merciful way.

Tony Romo, after only his sophomore year in the analyst chair in the NFL on CBS booth next to Jim Nance, is set to earn $17 million per year according to sources close to the deal. Now ESPN, who has been shedding aged employees and bloated salaries for years, wants to up the game of who announces the game and how much they get paid to do it.

How much will it take to get Manning?  Will Manning be gotten at all?  He has thwarted several attempts to date to entice him to enter the broadcast industry.   Sources close to this yet to be agreed to deal place the value at $18-$20 million per season.  If true Manning would have Nationwide, ESPN, and a whole lot more cash by his side.

Booger in year one was as forgettable in the booth as Jason Witten’s one and done just one year prior.  One of McFarland’s best/worst quotes was “It’s a run/pass option meaning they have the option to run it or pass it.”  Got that?  Unfortunately, there were too many others.

ESPN needs an MNF spark in the worst way.   THE game has become one of the games available in a busy weekly NFL schedule.  Long, long gone are the must-see MNF TV days of Howard Cosell, John Madden, and even recently departed Jon Gruden.

Madden, the godfather of NFL broadcasts, made $8.5 million a year in his best year.  Adjusted for inflation that equates to $13 million in 2020 money.  This latest round has really upped the ante.

Somewhere Troy Aikman is smiling.  FOX will need to keep up with the Romo’s and Manning’s won’t they?  Or, will they?  The seats are getting full and the opportunities are few.

Are you ready for a Monday Night party?  Peyton Manning will bring the quips and the party favors.  He’ll be able to afford them.

 

How J Lo Can Bets Go?

Posted on by boom booms room staff

It’s just three days till Super Bowl LIV.   Will Kansas City, favored by 1 and 1/2 points, score enough to defeat San Francisco and it’s Gold Rush defense?  You can bet either side of that of course.  But, did you know that you can bet on a few, well, um, interesting novelty propositions before and during the game as well?

Sports gambling has entered a new era with the legalization federally of sportsbooks by state if the state so chooses.   And, speaking of a new era, check out these opportunities to get rich quick below.

  1.  The National Anthem Bet–  Will two time Grammy Award winner Demi Lovato sing the national anthem in under/over 2 minutes and 4 and 1/2 seconds? All of Lovato’s six previous national anthem performances lasted under two minutes, with the exception of her rendition at the Mayweather-McGregor bout, which rang in at 2:11.   We’ll take the under and hope that Demi doesn’t inhale too deeply prior to “home of the brave.”
  2.  The Gatorade Bet- If Gatorade is dumped on the winning head coach will it be red/clear for +$150, or any other color for -$200? We’ll take any other color.  Red would match either coach’s garb in all likelihood, so it should be considered.  Though Andy Reid looks to BBR as no slave to fashion.
  3. The TD Toss Bet- Will any player who scores a TD throw the ball into the stands?  It’s +$150 that one does, and -$200 that he keeps the keepsake all for himself.  We’ll take the toss into the stands.  We’re counting on a decked out fan begging for the ball, or a nearby mom, or a multiple TD game from a participant.
  4. The Total Weight of Player’s Scoring TD’s Bet-  Will 1399 and 1/2 pounds of combined humans score touchdowns or less?  It’s an expensive -$120 to take either side of the poundage.  Careful, if one player scores more than once his weight is only counted once.  We’ll take under the weight total and hope like heck that no lineman scoop and score.  Someone in Vegas actually decided that 1399 and 1/2 was the proper total.  This ensures a loser and a winner, thereby making the $20 vig a nice winner for them and a loser for John Q. Public.
  5. The J Lo Butt Cleavage Bet-  We aren’t making this up.  It’s +$190 that she does and -$280 that she doesn’t.  The prop bet recognizes plumber crack or the reverse butt cleavage as a YES.  We still aren’t making this up.  We’ll go no butt cleavage betting that the Janet Jackson “accident” has been reviewed with Ms. J Lo and approved by Alex Rodriguez.  We’re also hoping, really hoping, that Andy Reid remembers his belt.  But, we digress.

Your predictions are welcome in the comments.  Your butt cleavage is not.

 

Lefty and Shorty-Trials, Tribulations, and Turtles

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Way way back in 1966, or 1967 Lefty and Shorty were the amiable service station attendants.  Well, that’s what they were called back then as every pump was full serve.   Boom Boom interacted with them as they checked the oil, washed the windshield, pumped the gas, and took the money.

Lefty sat to the left of Shorty.  Imagine that.  Shorty sat on the shorter of the two “halves” of the 55 gallon drum. Imagine that.  Each were cut down to size and retrofitted with a soft cushion top.

They were funny. They always had a back and forth to their banter.  If they were alive last night might have gone like this.

Lefty- It’s nearly midnight and it’s cold. Nobody’s buying gas at this hour.  Why are we sitting here?  Shorty- So we can flip back and forth between the impeachment trial and the Kansas St. versus Kansas basketball game.   Lefty- The Senate Trial is still going on at this late hour?  Shorty- Speaking of this late hour I’ve got this last car that pulled in.  They are good tippers. Lefty- Fine.

Five minutes later.

Lefty- You missed it!  Shorty- What?  Lefty-  They tried to hit the man with the chair.  Shorty- They tried to hit Chairman “Pencil Neck” Adam Schiff?  Lefty-  No. No. It was in the game.  Shorty- Oh.  Why did he do that?  Lefty- I guess he was tired of watching his opponent try to drain threes.  Shorty- I thought maybe they were tired of watching Schiff and Nadler obstruct Trump trying to drain the swamp.  Lefty- Jeez.

Shorty- What’s Trump on trial for again?  Lefty- It’s for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.  Shorty-  Obstructing this Congress seems like a good idea.  Lefty- What?  Shorty- Doesn’t Mitch McConnell look like a bug eyed swamp fly that we clean off of windshields all day long?  Lefty- Please.  The irreverence.  Shorty- And Nadler, he looks like a snapping turtle.  I wouldn’t get between him and a late lunch.

Silence filled the air again.  Lefty, after some deep breathing and reflection, and against his better judgment, gave it one more go.

Lefty- What do you think the final outcome will be?  Shorty- It was 81-60 Kansas, remember.  Lefty- NO!  The outcome of the trial.  Shorty- I’m not sure.  The right is screaming “four more years” and they control the Senate.  Lefty- And?  Shorty- And the left is screaming “lock him up” but don’t have the votes.  It seems bogged down like a swamp.  And, America is running out of patience.    Lefty-  I know the feeling.  Maybe the chair will be useful after all.  Shorty- Schiff?  Lefty-  I’ll lock up.

Boom Boom’s Life Lessons #17

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One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment always resonated.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.

When my senior year in high school was drawing to a close I visited our guidance councilor for, well, guidance.  “What should I study in college?” I queried.  “Your testing and your grades show that science and math are your interests and long suits,” came the immediate reply.   “You would make a great engineer.”  “Sounds good,” I simply said.

At dinner that evening I proudly announced to my parents that I was going to be an engineer (though I had no idea what that meant).  Boom Boom barely slowed his fork down and said “just find one thing that you enjoy and be great at it.”  Hmm.

Off to college I went and two semesters later I came home and proudly announced that I was switching to the business college, major TBD.  Boom Boom barely raised an eyebrow and said, “just find one thing that you enjoy and be great at it.”  Hmm.

By my senior year in college I was also working part time at a bank’s headquarters splitting time between market analysis and marketing. It was interesting.  “I’m majoring in marketing,” I said.  “You’re getting closer,” he said.  Hmm.

An interview fell into my lap with a major consumer products company.  The position was described as “account executive.”  It sure sounded like selling to me.  Three interview steps later I accepted.  I proudly announced that I was going to work right after graduation.  Sales training, suit, tie, briefcase, Mont Blanc pen, and a company car awaited me.  Boom Boom said, “it sounds like you found that one thing.”   “Go be great at it.”  Hmm.

No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

With a Cherry on Top

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Well it happened again.  Capitalism got in the way.  Freedom of speech is good, even in Canada, of course.  Of course, it’s only good in Canada until it’s deemed divisive.  Or, stated differently, it’s only good if it doesn’t divide our fan base and potentially drain our coiffures.

We’ll keep it short this AM as we are working on a fun article for tomorrow AM.  Take three minutes to read this link from our friends at ESPN, the worldwide leader in diversity, and let us know what you think.  Hockey legend and commentator Don Cherry, embraced for his outspoken takes, was taken out after calling out those that in his opinion didn’t properly honor the heroes he honors.

Of all of the politically correct buttocks covering that went on after his rant, the mayor of his town took the prize.   Quoting directly from the article, “Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie called Cherry’s remarks “despicable” on Twitter. “We’re proud of diverse cultural heritage and we’ll always stand up for it. New immigrants enrich our country for the better. We’re all Canadians and wear our poppies proudly,” she said.”

Her last sentence is exactly what he was calling out and she is agreeing.  Wasn’t it?  Double talk.

But it didn’t stop there.  His long time co-host gave him an on air thumbs up and 24 hours later called the remarks hurtful.  It was a remarkable turnaround from approval to disdain.  His buttocks were covered too, but his arse was really exposed.

As stated in the article, both the National Hockey League and Hockey Canada distanced themselves from the comments in separate public statements. It’s their right.   Kudos to the young 85 year old Cherry for double and tripling down on his statement.  It’s his right.

With a Cherry on top, Cherry went out on top.

 

 

Boom Boom’s Life Lessons #17

Posted on by boom booms room staff

One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment resonated in my young, eager eardrums.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.  No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

Today U.S. Government Series EE Savings Bonds as an investment are about as popular as Donald J. Trump is in Portland, Oregon as a president.  But way back in the 1960’s and 1970’s they were backed (and still are) by the full faith and credit of the United States and paid about eight percent interest per year.

And way back in the 1960’s and 1970’s Boom Boom brought one home every other week in his briefcase.   I just didn’t know it.  I didn’t know it, that is, until one evening after supper.

In Lesson #4 we shared that on a couple of weeknights each week he finished dinner and headed to our spare bedroom that housed his desk, his adding machine, my mother’s exercise bike, and most of all an undersized pool table.  Yes, it was crowded.  He needed to do some “book work” he always said.  He struck the adding machine keys so quickly that it was not possible to follow.

His one and only son loved playing pool (competition and geometry combined is a tasty combo) and asked for him to”crack em” almost every night that his own homework didn’t get in the way and after his father’s “book work” was completed.

But this particular evening was different.  Boom Boom asked that I help him with his book work.  At the tender age of eight or nine I had no idea what that meant.  I had no idea until he took the bond out of his briefcase and pulled a short stack of them with a rubber band around them out of his top drawer.

“Son, these bonds are going to pay for your college.”  “College?” I stammered.  You see the dollar amount in the corner of each?”  “Yes.”  That will be how much each is worth when they mature.  And almost all mature seven years after you buy them.”  “Mature?” I asked.  “Yes.  I buy them for half of what their face value is.”  “Face value?”  “It’s the dollar amount in the corner.”

“Where do you get them?”  “Don’t worry about that.”  “Let’s add them up together to see how we are doing.”  “Ok, Dad.”

From then on every two weeks we would add another fifty or sometimes even a hundred dollar one to the growing stack and cross out the total to write down the new total.

“Save your money, Son.”  I heard that refrain every two weeks as the rubber band went “whack” around the stack.  “When you need it for something down the road you will be able to afford it without borrowing.  Save your money, Son.“

As Good As Gold

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Until Richard Nixon unhinged gold as the backing for the nation’s money supply people would (safely) assume that their paper currency was “as good as gold.”  But, nowadays you might wonder, ‘how good is gold?’

The answer isn’t easy.  The price of gold has closed lower in about four of every 10 years while rising six of every 10 since the decoupling 48 years ago.  This makes makes it more volatile than stocks and bonds.  In the short term you often have gotten burned.   Yet it’s annualized return over the last 30 years actually outstrips the performance of broad indices of stocks and bonds.  To further confuse things, gold’s total return in the last 15 years is the exact same as the last 30.  It tends to be a flight to safety often rising as a hedge when stocks and or bonds are retreating.  This behavior was acutely present right after 9/11 and before, during, and after the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

But, is all gold safe?  After all there are gold mining stocks, pure gold bars (bullion), and gold coins.  Each have their plusses and some have some negatives.  And, a part of one is downright rotten.  Which one?  Gold coins that are a dime a dozen in availability and worth only a nickel a dozen after you purchase them.

Henny Youngman said, “take my wife, please!”  Take Rosland Capital, please.

Rosland Capital primarily offers gold coins, silver coins, and gold IRA’s.  Their pitch on gold coins by their TV pitchman and former Hollywood actor William Davane pleads to the elderly’s biggest fears.  Their biggest fears are their physical safety and their financial stability in retirement.   Rosland, time and time again, says that you need gold as a safety net.  In one commercial they use a naval vessel to show the defense department protecting you physically and equate it to gold taking care of you financially.  They have a debt counter (22 trillion and counting) on the homepage of their website to stoke your fear.   They show Davane coming out of the rain and into the sunshine as he says that when he has extra money he buys more gold.

All the while the split screen shows these beautiful, one of a kind, limited edition gold coins.  Call now!

If your insecurity about your security consumes you, maybe you do call.  And with “expert gold advisors” standing by to help here is what you get if you buy.  You get overpriced, commission heavy, hard to sell, mass produced gold coins.  The coins melt value (it’s what it sounds like) is worth less than the price they sell them to you by either a lot or a lot lot.  They are tied to the price of gold, you just start in a hole.

Stated differently, gold would have to go up by a lot, or a lot lot, for you to break even when you need to convert the gold to cash.  How ironic!  The very thing that gold did (back paper cash) now doesn’t convert gold into the cash you would expect.

And, all of that assumes that you find a buyer.  These are readily available coins.  These aren’t rare, and won’t be.  Think baseball cards.  Mickey Mantle is worth a lot.  Mike Trout isn’t worth much.  Why?  Few Mantle cards exist.  They’re more Trout cards than trout fish in the sea.

Maybe gold should be a part of your financial portfolio.  Maybe not.  Maybe gold coins should be a part of your portfolio.  Maybe not.

Maybe William Davane should be ashamed of himself.  We wonder if he is compensated by Rosland in gold coins.  Maybe not.   Greenbacks?  Probably so.

 

publisher’s note: The above is only meant as commentary and opinion by the boomboomsroom.com staff.  It is in no way an attempt to offer any financial advice or solicit or direct any reader in any way.  

Cashing In on Cashing Out

Posted on by boom booms room staff

After taking two flights, and driving through four states, and staying eight days in three different hotels, our summer vacation ended all too soon.  Good times were had by all on food, golf, gifts, hikes, bikes, a baseball game, and the like.  So, it goes without saying that it was smart to get $300, just to be safe, out of the ATM before the journey and all of the festivities started.  Or, was it?

Eight days later just shy of $275 remained in my pocket.  Cash is king, you know.  Or, at least cash was once king.

So, it got our staff wondering last evening.  Will we see a cashless society in the future?  We think the answer is yes.  It’s when, not if.

And, why not?  Every merchant in brick and mortar and any merchant in the virtual world of any kind takes some or all of Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, PayPal, Venmo, Chase Quick pay, etc.  And, everyone has two or more of these forms of payment in their pocket, purse, or mobile device.

Cards give you rewards or cash back.  Cash gives you pesky change back.  What do you do with your loose nickels and dimes?  Ours are in the console of the truck, or in the luggage that we carried.  Sometimes the dreaded pennies make it into the pocket and all of the way into the house.  Then what?  Then they go into the large jar on the top shelf.  We hope the shelf doesn’t crash down one day from the weight of the copper and silver.

It took America two or three generations to nearly stop smoking altogether.  It’ll took Uber and Lyft about a decade to obliterate the dreadful taxi industry.  How long before cash is all but gone?

About the only need for it is when you directly interact with another citizen in the moment.  A tip for for this, or a ticket scalped outside of a venue come to mind.  Little else does.

So when you cash out, who cashes in?  Visa, MasterCard and PayPal come to mind.   Their build out for electronic processing allows hundreds of thousands of transactions a minute placing them far ahead of rivals mentioned above.  A very recent Barron’s article quoted some industry experts that feel like the electronic processing will continue its percentage growth in the high teens yearly for the next five years and perhaps beyond.

Remember when Apple Pay was going to change the world?  Guess who Apple partnered with to facilitate what they could not?  It’s Visa and MasterCard.  It seems like they are everywhere you want them to be.

Business to business is next.  Cutting checks to pay vendors and such is getting cut by the day.  Who’s there to help?  Yep.  It’s the next big growth vehicle for them.

Banks charge merchants and businesses two or three percent for the privilege of accepting these forms of payment and get paid well to do so.   Consumers win (or at least feel like they do) with one or more percent cash and/or points earned coming back to them.

But the real winners?  Yep.  They collect what seems like a very slim 0.15% of each transaction.  Mere pennies on the dollar you say?  Their shelf is very sturdy.  It has to be.  They collect millions and millions of dollars of pennies every day.

Cash was king.   Visa and MasterCard sit on the highest thrones now.

Vacation Time

Posted on by boom booms room staff

The entire BBR staff took this week off.  They are enjoying sumptuous meals and great fun in an undisclosed location.  It rhymes with HiltonHead Island if you need a clue.  We’ll be back with more award winning journalistic excellence next week.

 

Till then, hit em straight.