Bueller? Bueller?, Jerry Powell, Who was Dr. Warnock, and it's Labor Day
First things first… Bueller? Bueller?
Last week’s trivia test involved naming which movie a 1961 Ferrari GTO was driven through the back wall of a garage into a creek.
My Report went out at 7:29 a.m. and the first two replies were from CPAs at 7:36 with a CFO right behind at 7:41.
That tells you something about the work ethic of the finance and accounting folks. Or the convenience of smart phones and a long stop light.
Regardless, here are the shout-out’s I promised. One is from Israel and the rest are from southern California.
Matt Wilson
Alexis Hundley
Tim Myers
B.J. Patterson
Carol Marzouk
Cher Ofstedahl
Scott Lundberg
Frank Fabela
James Tapper
John Cummings
Joel Rubenstein
Gwen Bedics
Patrick McKenney
Randy Moore
Nora Mead
Also in my last report, I talked about mortgage rates. One of my readers commented that in 1982, their first home loan was at 14%, so when rates went to 16%, they felt pretty good. It’s all perspective.
Oh, and their tax deduction for the interest expense was commensurate.
So, back to the economy and Jerome Powell
Speaking of 1982…
Just like EF Hutton, when Jerry Powell talks, people listen. The odd part is that there are different interpretations of what he said.
Generally speaking, while the fed will continue to raise rates if the economy continues to run hot, they will be putting the brakes on for a little while to see what happens.
And things are starting to slow down.
People are starting to notice the higher rates, too.
The manufacturers PMI – Purchasing Manager Index – is below 50 (bad) and falling.
The folks that buy stuff for manufacturers a re buying, producing, delivering less stuff.
And yes, this is also based on a survey of 400 major companies across 19 industries.
And assuming they answer the survey.
Durable goods orders – large appliances, A/C units and so on – is down 5.2%.
Consumer sentiment dipped, but it’s still pretty strong. A continuing decrease in Inflation keeps attitudes up.
And yes, residential mortgage rates hit another 20 year high at 7.23%.
Who was John Edward Warnock?
He was awarded the 2008 National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama, the Computer Entrepreneur Award, the American Electronics Association Medal of Achievement, and the Marconi Prize for contributions to information science and communications.
Like many successful computer engineers, he got his start at Xerox’s PARC – the Palo Alto Research Center - back when Xerox was on the cutting edge of technology.
In high school, he struggled academically, failing ninth-grade algebra, and when he told his counselor he wanted to be an engineer, she suggested another career.
But then a math teacher took an interest in him and showed him how math can be interesting. His words:
“I had an amazing teacher in high school who, essentially, completely turned me around; he was really good at getting you to love mathematics, and that’s when I got into it.”
He went on to receive both a bachelor's (1961) and a master's degree (1964) in mathematics and a doctorate in electrical engineering in 1969.
He and a co-worker presented an idea to Xerox about being able to print what was on the computer screen exactly how it looked.
Xerox didn’t think that was very exciting, so they both left the company.
They started a company named after a creek behind their homes in Los Altos; Adobe Creek.
The company they started was Adobe, and among the many innovations they created, one was PostScript, the precursor to portable document format.
We all know that as a PDF.
John Warnock, Ph.D., passed away on August 19 at the age of 82.
So the next time you read or print to a PDF, remember that your ability to do that is because a teacher inspired a 15-year-old to do better.
And then go thank a teacher.
And as summer wraps up…
Some facts about Labor Day:
It became a federal holiday in 1894. That’s a while back.
It was promoted, not surprisingly, by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor.
Oregon was the first state to make it an official public holiday.
It marks the unofficial end of summer. It doesn’t mean it gets cooler, it just means everyone is back at school.
I think of Labor Day as kind of a memorial day for the folks that built this country using their bare hands and designing it with a slide rule way before the creation of the $395 HP35 calculator in 1972. I think of my parents and their parents, who put in 40 years with the same company or raised their children to become responsible adults, or both. The occupation doesn’t matter: truck driver, soldier, engineer, government worker, office clerk, factory worker, attorney, steel mill worker, cook, server, manager, housekeeper and yes, banker. What does matter is that they worked every day at a job (or two or three) that they were good at, with little fanfare and not much recognition. They did it to support their families and put food on the table, and they left the world a better place because of it.
On this Labor Day, I ask that you honor the folks that through their labor, put you where you are today. Whether they are your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, a mentor or whoever, it was their effort that created a base that helped get you where you are today. Now that’s worth a Labor Day toast and a cold one on a three-day weekend.
