【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障15系列】【15-13】经管

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新来的亲们好，每周三晚上都是我给大家发周四的作业~~ 标题依旧设成了白色~ 为了提醒大家有标题，所以学了一下猴哥的方法，有标题的地方标上了Article~ 今天的越障不太难~~ 大家加油！

Time 1:

Article 1(Check the title latter)

 7 Tips to Attain Peace of Mind

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When you were child you had a pure mind; the mind which was free from worries and anxieties. As the time passed, you were influenced by several social, personal, familial and official crises such as financial complications, broken relationship, lack of trust, joblessness, failure in business, loss of respect and so on. When the mind is stressful, the associated germs of negativity, jealousy and pessimism add fuel to fire and hence your pure mind becomes impure. These impurities if taken out can bring back the mental purity hence real spirit of joy of childhood can be attained up to an adequate level. Of course you cannot fix all of your problem at once but you can train your mind to develop the skills which can help either bypass or overcome the depressed and tragic situations so as to give you a big time relaxation while you focus on the solution to your problems. Below are some techniques which can be used to combat the peace stealing triggers:

1. Mind your own business. Yes, please mind your own business. When you start being concerned about things which are not related to you, you lose your grip on your thought process which often results in negativity disturbing the mental peace. Basically, your mind starts wandering here and there. As you know that a non-focused mind is evil s workshop hence the germs of negativity and jealousy gain more strength. So next time an unnecessary thought comes to your mind, think whether this is really something you should be worrying for? If not, shun it right away and focus on something positive, practical and fruitful.

2. Surround yourself in positive people. Ignore negative comments and stay away from negative souls. When someone is negative, he spreads negativity and you get affected. Permanently staying with such people will have long term impact on your character so think about your company.

(316 words)

Time 2:

3. Don t think about others too much. Remember the great quote: small minds discuss people; Average minds discuss events; Higher minds discuss ideas and Great minds act in silence. Don t allow your brain to compare yourself to others as this is an insult to yourself. Don t be Jealous; it s a heart killing disease, get rid of it as soon as possible. When you are jealous you focus on finding faults in others even if they don't have. This poisons your soul and steals the mental peace.

4. You can' t keep everyone happy. Don t be over sensitive. Be natural and genuine in what you do. Be positive, constructive and ethical in your deeds and then don t really care too much about others. Be aware, don t apply this formula to too closed relations. Develop trust to establish powerful relationships.

5. Control your mood swings as it is an indication of unstable personality. Do it by not being over sensitive to others. Stop being reactive and implosive. Stay calm.

6. Ignore your thoughts about being unlucky. Bad luck happens to everyone. It’s not your fault at all. Time whether good or bad, passes quickly. Develop the power of not looking back into your past. Believe in the power of Now. Believe in your skills. Work hard and have faith in God; you will get what you have been entitled for. Be patient and see what God has planned for you. Patience and consistency in your deeds is the key to success.

7. Simplicity in your character and living style can overcome the stress and improve your happiness index. Don’t be socially sensitive and start following every single trend your social circle is following.

With these recommendations, I believe you can bring major changes in your life style hence attain back your mental peace. What are your recommendations in gaining mental peace?

(317 words)

Time 3:

Article 2:
Buffett, The Reinvented Warrior, Soldiers On

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If Warren Buffett has emancipated himself from stock picking, what is the residual Berkshire Hathaway all about and what is it worth? Bottom line, BRK is worth what it’s selling for, but there is no dream that Warren comes up with another Coca-Cola, American Express or even Wells Fargo, which I regard as an old maid’sbank stock.

These are legacy holdings bought decades ago with humongous unrealized gains that make their disposition literally unthinkable. There are no major initiatives of any consequence in the equity portfolio which approximates $86 billion, less than half of invested assets. Berkshire carries over $40 billion in liquid assets probably earmarked for acquisitions or deals like H.J. Heinz where its investment is largely in the form of a preferred stock with a 9 percent yield.

Buffett is the only investor in the world who can demand a 9 percent yielding preferred stock. This is the Pope of Investments blessing a deal which he participates in with practically no risk. In five years Berkshire recovers in preferred stock dividends its initial cash investment of $4 billion. Nuff said!

Meantime, corporations like Prudential Financial and General Electric issue preferreds with yields hardly more than 5 percent. My inventory of preferreds is diminishing, called away at par $25. Vornado Realty Trust is gone, Citigroup long gone and Bank of America stands to be snatched away as soon as the Federal Reserve gives its blessing. The days for passive investors obtaining yields of 7 ½percent are over. My original BAC preferred entry point was in single digits back in 2009. Now it hovers above its $25 call price.

(269 words)

Time 4:
Hurriedly, I printed out Berkshire’s latest 10K and reviewed all its preferred stock deals starting with Goldman Sachs and General Electric 10 percent paper in the dark days of 2008 and moving on to its debt with warrants transactions in Bank of America hardly more than a year ago, but probably the deal of the decade in terms of its risk-gain ratio.

Buffett accepted BAC’s preferred stock yielding 6 percent, but attached were 700 million warrants good until 2021 and exercisable at seven bucks and change. Foolishly, Bank of America’s headman sought the Buffett imprint of acceptability but gave away 7 percent of his bank to get it. At current market, Berkshire’s unrealized gain already pushes $3 billion.

Finally, I understand why Warren burnished his image for decades with the media, Wall Street’s analysts and shareholder gatherings like the annual Omaha festivities, analogous to a prairie prayer meeting and barbecue, Buffett the main preacher.

It’s the premium, stupid! I said to myself. Buffett is worth his weight in 10-carat diamonds. I totted up profits from all private investments these past five years. Aside from way above average investment income, corporate sellers had to redeem their paper at a 10 percent premium. Then, consider profits, realized and unrealized, in equity kickers. The number approximates $5 billion. This is equivalent to a 6 percent gain on Berkshire’s portfolio of $87 billion.

All other operating properties acquired over decades go in different directions depending on the economic cycle. The market doesn’t overpay for conglomerate operators. Most came to bad ends in the 70’s and 80’s. Whatever happened to Jimmy Ling? At least, Buffett doesn’t believe in leveraging his capital structure for deals.

(279 words)

Time 5:

What do investors need Buffett for? Well, he’s got great common sense, refuses to take inordinate risks, even at the bottom of the market cycle early in 2009. Instead, he negotiated nearly riskless deals in preferred stocks with equity kickers. This is an episodic business. You gotta wait for operators under pressure to come to you hat in hand. Then you start haggling over terms.

Berkshire holds too much cash, some $40 billion that needs to be put to work. Buffett knows this and will get it done. And, then, he can choose early retirement because his work is done. No successor is needed to oversee properties like the Burlington Northern. They go on like “Ole Man River”with custodial managers in charge.

Berkshire’s premium over net asset value, about 25 percent, is more likely to work lower than higher over time. Investors need to deal with this issue sooner or later as time’s winged chariot draws near for Buffett.

The luscious terms of the Heinz transaction led me to dust off Berkshire Hathaway, but I haven’t changed my mind. The best I can come up with is a comfortable hold. The evolving Buffett is a shrewd and feisty macro player, easily merchant banker of last resort.

All this is reflected in the premium over book value before adjusting for goodwill on the balance sheet. Wells Fargo, a major holding, has underperformed JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup these past 18 months. Buffett remains captive to old winners in stock picking. Past couple of years, equity initiatives were minimal, not exactly a wow.

Let’s wish Warren salud y pesetas.

(266 words)

注：salud y pesetas 是西班牙语，意为“健康和金钱”。

[Obstacle]

Article 3:
Why Many Americans Feel Like They’re Getting Poorer

Data released by the Commerce Department last week showed that personal income fell 3.6% in January, the biggest decline in 20 years. The drop was even bigger when taxes and inflation are taken into account. Real personal disposable income fell by 4%, the biggest monthly drop in half a century.

In part, this is a statistical blip. Companies accelerated certain payments – giving year-end bonuses in December rather than January, for example – so that employees could avoid higher taxes going into effect for 2013. But even if that blip is smoothed out, real aftertax income is lower than it was six months ago.

What this means is that the U.S. economy is not merely recovering from the recession more slowly than one might like, but is actually getting worse for many Americans. Despite three-and-a-half years of uninterrupted growth in real GDP and a decline of more than two percentage points in the unemployment rate since 2009, the standard of living is falling for as much as half the population, particularly if you look beyond monthly numbers to longer-term trends.

Commentators assessing a recovery in progress naturally tend to focus on changes from one month or quarter to another. But what really matters is not how the economy compares with where it was in earlier time periods, but how it compares with where it would now be if it were fully utilizing all of its resources. Economists call this level “full capacity,” and it rises over time as the population grows, technology improves and facilities are upgraded.

When a recession occurs, the economy’s actual output drops significantly below the full capacity level, creating what’s known as an “output gap.” Once the recession ends and a recovery begins, there’s normally a period of well-above average growth so that actual output regains the ground lost during the recession and comes back close to full capacity. But since the most recent recession ended, growth has never been fast enough to close the output gap – indeed, the gap has hardly narrowed at all.

One unfortunate consequence is that worker productivity has stalled. Productivity typically soars after a recession because many businesses have unused capacity and can handle somewhat higher sales before they have to start hiring or investing in new facilities. A travel agency, for example, could book a few more vacations before they have to hire another travel agent or move to larger offices. Following the most recent recession, productivity growth did soar, briefly reaching an annual rate of 8%. But because the output gap hasn’t closed since then, productivity has barely improved since 2011.

The lack of robust productivity gains has allowed wages to remain stagnant. There is enough growth for companies to enjoy rising profits, but not enough to make it worthwhile for them to hire more and pay more. In a normal recovery, sales gains are normally split between profits and labor compensation. But in the current recovery, profit growth has outpaced sales, while labor compensation has actually lost ground.

Taxes also affect the amount that people take home. With GDP in the past quarter barely keeping up with inflation and productivity gains averaging around 1% a year, you’d expect middle-class incomes to show less than 2% real annual growth. So the expiration of the payroll tax cut – which effectively raised taxes by two percentage points on incomes up to $113,700 a year – is by itself enough to depress real disposable incomes for many American households. And other taxes and social charges have risen as well.

What’s clear in all this is that a true recovery requires closing the output gap and restoring income growth for middle-class households. That can’t be done with short-term budget cuts that cause layoffs and reduce GDP growth further. And it can’t be done with tax increases, which also discourage growth and can hit less-affluent households hard even if they are aimed at the rich.

It’s true that the U.S. is accumulating a disturbingly large amount of debt. But the cause is mostly the soaring cost of Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlements. And it will be some years before that debt load becomes truly dangerous. The conventional wisdom is that the economy will suffer seriously when publicly held U.S. debt (not including the Social Security Trust Fund) reaches 90% of annual GDP. The Congressional Budget Office projects that debt will not reach that level for more than a decade.

Government policy seems backwards, in fact, whichever party’s views end up prevailing. What’s needed instead is a pro-growth agenda that will close the output gap. It’s certainly reasonable to trim discretionary spending where it is wasteful and to make tax law fairer. But what’s far more important over the long term is to slow entitlement growth without reducing current benefits. In addition, broad tax reform that closes loopholes so that marginal tax rates can be reduced would be helpful. And regulation needs to be streamlined where it creates unnecessary burdens for investment and job creation.

There’s little point in policies that will keep the U.S. economy mired in its current stagnation. And it would be nice to address the long-term problems before a crisis forces drastic action.

(860 words)

spencerX

谢谢分享~~第一篇速度和越障都已经读过了~~

0:01:28
0:01:42
0:01:21

448406078

1-316-1'55''
When we are childeren our head are pure, but when we grow up our head consused with kinds of things. some strategies for us to change: mind our own business, together with positive people.

2-317-1'43''
Other skills

3-269-2'02''
Buffet's talent is the only one in the world, and talent help gether money.

4-279-1'55''
The author tend to understand B's action and link it with the market trend.

5-266-1'40''
The benefits B can bring to investers.

860-6'24''
American economy stagnation.

铁板神猴

abjure

1 2:49
2. 3:01
3.2.18
4. 2:30
5  2:10

越障好啊
US citizen actually deposit down.
（1）the recession period, the actually salary will be lower that XXXX
(2) Recover peiord, the profit gain not shared by company and employee, and don't recover fast enough. Then middle class actually have lower income
(3) Productive issue.
(4) Tax code expire.  The middle class actual gain will lower than 2 percents.  and tax code expire will make middle class pay more
(5)Debt issue,  The health care and public affair make US goverment have heavy finance load,  FBC estimated over 90% GDP, will make debt danagerous and expect that it will reach the level in ten years.

铁板神猴

1'45''
1'39''
1'34''
1'50''
1'41''

5'25''

studio22

obstacle 860  9:23

Main idea: American individual's income is in the lowest level in 20 years. After recession, the output gap is not closed, the productivity is get back, tax cut is not work, the debt of America is in a large amount and even worse in the following years.

Apolloemma

没想到呀，这个Easy reading 也这样难。种种经济术语，种种不懂。

having6

1-2'03"
When the mind is stressful, our mind becomes impure. Minding your own business and surrounding yourself in positive people can be used to combat the peace stealing triggers.
2-1'48"
Don't think about others too much. You can't keep everyone happy. Control your mood swings. Ignore your thought about being unhappy. Simplicity in your character and living style can help.
3-2'10"
Buffett is a great investor.
4-2'19"
How B obtains such high interest.
5-2'16"
The author expects BRK a good investment.
obstacle-6'21"
A true recovery requirs closing the output gap and restoring income growth for middle-class households. Both can't be done with short-term budget cuts. It would be nice to address the long-term problems.

blairwashere

1 01.18.6 along with the growth of a man, the pureness is lossing everyday. but don't worry, if you doing good in these aspect the things not going too bad. 1.fouce on your own business, dont let others things border you. 2 stay with the positive people.


2 1.45.4 third point dont worry others. 4. be yourself. 5 believe your are good luck 6.god will bless your. 7 keep explicit character of your life.


3 01.37.9 the main idea is about buffet investment, buffet is the only one in world can provide 9 percent of interest.


4 01.24.7 why buffet do all these things because of the premium. the prorate premium volume will make him get more profit.


5 01.24.9 why all the investors want to work with buffet. because he has great common sense on economi activity and it is hard to find a other person like him.


obstacle05.02.2
I read this article before,  
Data fell 3.6%. biggest drop ~
Companies accelerated certain payments
employees could avoid higher taxes 中间都是在唱衰US
economy getting worse.standard is falling.productivity has stalled. labor compensation lost ground