Election campaigns are in high gear right now and everyone has an opinion on just about everything when it comes to which candidate would be better for who and what. I lost faith in the common sense of the average voter, not just in the United States but pretty much across the world. What I am finding very curious, is the possibility that many people haven't realized that that the party platforms aren't the same as they were 20 years ago. Little...more
If an economic sink hole brought on by creative financing and lax regulatory controls weren't enough, there's nothing like straight forward criminal actions to really paralyze investors. As a fund manager of an extremely transparent fund, there is nothing that brings out more fury in me than a few bad apples scaring people to a point of not even wanting to put their hand in the barrel. Sure Madoff is the poster child, but there are a host of...more
Though there seems to be an endless supply of other shoes to drop into the current economic chasm, there seems to be a general consensus that commercial real estate is going to take a significant hit. The shoe that could end up kicking commercial real estate down further and is relatively unknown or just not thought about is technology. Developed countries around the world, save a few, have never gone through such a potentially devastating economic cycle with the amount of technology we have at our disposal. What that technology allows for will greatly affect the length of the commercial real estate recession and its effects on the overall economy.With our daily dose of eye popping layoffs, the top question on every company's agenda is how to cut costs. When looking to cut costs the typical first question is how many people can be cut and how much of a cut in productivity can be tolerated. But with all of this technology, there is now the possibility to cut costs and keep the same amount of productivity. This wasn't a viable option in previous recessions, but this time around companies can start sending people home to work, which is all made possible by the giant leaps in...more
Recently I spoke with my co-managing partner Michael Facchini, of Regent Global Funds, an alternative investment fund, at an Institutional Investor conference on Distressed Real Estate in New York City. The folks at Institutional Investor did a fantastic job putting it together and assembled a group of very knowledgeable and informed speakers from...more
It's time to address one of the most incredible misconceptions in the current environment around real estate lending, which is the idea that all real estate lending is high risk. I hear this often and I understand where it's coming from since it seems to be the media's favorite topic, but this generalization needs qualification. Anytime you are...more
With economies in complete disarray on a global basis, one of the few bright spots has been the massive correction in oil. It was widely speculated that oil was in a bubble and that speculation turned into a stark reality with oil dropping below 50% off its July 11th high of $147.27. The downward pressure came from the demand side of the equation as receding global economies are using less oil and the short-term forecast continues to point to lower demand. The past 12 months never saw such a bright light on the stranglehold that oil producing nations have had on the world's leading nations. This brought much needed discussions on the future of energy and what needs to be put in place to have alternative energy replace fossil fuels long-term. This helped fuel investment into a struggling alternative energy sector and took this alternative investment into the mainstream. OPEC has always been viewed as the villain, but with record gas prices they became a single source of pain for much of the western world's angst. With an almost unlimited source of money, you would think that OPEC would hire a public relations firm to help them with their image. I am sure that they don't deem this...more
Everyone needs to consider their investments in corporations that have been using job cuts as an alternative to growth, and in essence keeping their bottom line in shape. With the economy in a recession, it's that time again for large corporations to...more
With the absolute implosion of global financial markets, the investment world is learning that alternative investments need to be private. I don't think there has ever been a better illustration of a "pull down" effect within the last 70 years. It...more
Author: John DashfieldWhen you think about it, every single product and service begins its life as somebody's problem. We all have things in life that we'd rather pay somebody else to do, either because we simply don't want to do it or don't have the...more
This investment perspective comes straight from the rooms in banks that are filled with the proverbial bean counters known as underwriters that are making the lives of hard money lenders very easy and very profitable. It's clear that the banks are...more
Howard Brodsky set out to conquer the carpet world. Dan Bleier just wanted to save his family-owned business. But both cherished their independent status in a retail chain, "big box" business world. Now, each realizes success through a purchasing...more
Most IT jobs consist of doing work in a constantly reoccurring cycle: define, design, create, test, deploy, repeat. When we get our first IT job or when we jump onto a new program, this can all seem so very new and exciting. However, once we reach...more