Filed under: Rumors, Management, Rants and raves, Scandals, Headline news

Each time I see a “grown up” going through what Roger Clemens is going through with his own personal doping scandal and the incrimination of the Mitchell report, I cannot help but think of the first rule of holes: if you’re in one, stop digging. Yesterday Hillary was crying, and Roger has been crying for a week. Neither one will be superior off for it.

Roger Clemens is getting a lot of bad advice. Or maybe this is just a part of the Major League persona that does not allow one to back down. I’ve no idea who did what when, but the more I hear Clemens and his attorneys posturing, the more I think his credibility is shot and the likelihood that he’s not being forthright with the facts is a higher probability.

If Pete Rose would have come clean quickly and admitted his failings he would already be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is much superior to “man up,” take the hit, and move on than to “keep digging”. His Yankee team mate Andy Pettitte fessed up, stated “my bad” and is moving on for superior of worse.

Which do you hate more, liars or cheaters? Clemens is going to find out that the thing people hate more than anything else is being lied too. They will forgive almost anything else.

Investing in stocks isn’t too different. Sometimes you are superior off cutting your losses and moving on. You just can’t hold out hope that some stocks are going to return to their days of glory, better to cut your losses and move on. Is there anything worse than lying to yourself? Sometimes we do this with our investments.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research n architecture & planning firm.

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Filed under: Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Scandals, Media World, Politics, Presidential elections, Headline news

Some of you might view presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s getting all choked up about her passion for the fate of the nation as making her more human, more real, and less like a stiff politician. I, on the other hand think, she gave it all away. She may have lost ground to Barack Obama in the Iowa Caucuses, and she will likely lose still more ground today in the New Hampshire primary, but I think that bit of humanity that she displayed will do her in. The presidential race will get harder, not easier.

Clinton has enough campaign money and personal fortitude to go the distance, but that video of her breaking down into a tender emotional “softy” isn’t what’s going to get the first potential woman president elected. If Clinton were to be the Democratic Nominee for president, that moment will be front and center in the Republican campaign. Look for campaigning to begin emphasizing personal strength more and more.

Think of Dukakis in the tank. Hillary’s watery eyes are that scene and she has tanked her campaign. I can’t help but think of the old story about how for the want of a horseshoe nail, the horseshoe was lost; for the want of a horseshoe, the horse was lost; for the want of the horse, the general was lost; for the want of the general, the war was lost … all for the want of a horsehoe nail.

For a woman to be elected president she has to project as much personal strength as any man, and until yesterday Hillary Clinton had done just that and more. I personally do not believe this moment is indicative of her ability to lead. However, elections are about more than that. Winning elections are about getting undecided and independent voters to give you their support. That is the support she may have now forfeited.

Those who think Hillary Clinton wouldn’t, or won’t, bring change to a new administration are mistaken. And those who think that this post isn’t suited to an investment blog are also mistaken. Hillary Clinton’s views would affect capital gains and dividend tax rates, health care stocks, military spending, foreign relations, interest rates and much more. The decision about the president is as much an economic decision as it is about anything else.

Do you think this Hillary moment isn’t the end, and if so, why not? Will she now have to modify her campaign to counter the image of an old softy? Jimmy Carter displayed his more sensitive side on occasion, but that is another memory the Democrats will not want to project.

What will be different if Hillary’s voice is diminished or lost?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research n architecture & planning firm.

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Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Fraud

A British television star tried to prove that identity theft was no big deal by having his bank account number printed in a newspaper. And then he was ripped off.

Jeremy Clarkson of the British show Top Gear stated that the loss of millions of records containing personal information was a “storm in a teacup.” He said identity theft was a sham, and he’d a newspaper print his bank account details to prove it, along with information on himself, his address, and his vehicle.

And then someone stole

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