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On the edge of the abyss


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Amazon to buy back up to $2 bln in shares

 

I dunno.

 

Maybe it's just me.

Or, maybe I don't understand the nuances of corporate capital optimization.

 

But....

 

I'm not really convinced that the track record is really encouraging of technology company management well-timing repurchases of their shares.

 

And....

 

Doesn't this sort of suggest that there aren't a lot of profitable opportunities for investment of that cash in the bidniz itself?

 

Lastly....

 

Amid the on-going difficult economic period, isn't there the possibility of, I dunno, picking up some smaller distress assets from struggling tech startups to improve the underlying competitive position of the bidniz?

 

Just sayin'......

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There have been numerous articles in the papers over the last three days about California school districts coming up short in their budget numbers. For example, the San Francisco school district is $133 million in the red.

 

More layoffs ahead, class sizes going up, parents howling, school districts begging for more money.

 

Then there is this article out today. The california teacher's pension fund needs $42 billion to make up for losses:

 

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The California State Teachers Retirement System, the second biggest U.S. public pension, will need to ask taxpayers for more money after investment losses left it underfunded by $42.6 billion.

 

The pension’s unfunded liability, the difference between assets and anticipated future costs, almost doubled from $22.5 billion in June 2008, according to a report Chief Executive Officer Jack Ehnes will deliver to the board Feb. 5. The fund will ask lawmakers next year for an increase of as much as 14 percent to what the state and school districts already pay toward employee retirement benefits, said the report, which was posted on the fund’s Web site today.

 

Calstrs, as the $156 billion pension fund is known, lost 25 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, led by a 43 percent decline in its real estate portfolio and 27.6 percent drop in private equity.

 

full article

 

The only problem is that the state doesn't have $42 billion to hand over.

 

:wacko:

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