I think trying to understand our country’s perplexing financial situation is “like trying to drink whiskey from a bottle of wine.” The economists can’t even agree on a description of the current situation let alone how to rev things up again. With solutions ranging from re-introducing the gold standard to throwing cash out of a helicopter I don’t feel confident that the actual problems are fully understood.
As someone with more than a passing interest in all businesses related to printing, I happened to be reading an article that contained a few paragraphs focused on International Paper and its CEO, John Faraci. Paper merchants that carried the IP lines that I dealt with back in the day spoke of Faraci with much enthusiasm, as if they’d seen him descend a mountain carrying two stone tablets with the 10 Commandments of the Paper Business on them.
The author of the article is Al Lewis, a financial writer that I follow in our newspaper and on the MarketWatch financial web site. The following segment is from a September 15, 2013 column entitled Zero Interest, Zero Jobs .
International Paper on Tuesday announced a $1.5 billion stock buyback as well as plans to raise its dividend by 17%. And do you know what it announced the very next day? Plans to lay off 1,100 people and shutter its Courtland, Ala., paper mill.
“These decisions are especially difficult because of the impact to long-serving and hardworking employees, their families and the surrounding communities,” said International Paper Chief Executive John Faraci in a news release.
This is a company with underfunded pensions, $10 billion in debt and declining demand as consumers rely more upon electronic screens than printed paper. It couldn’t have been too difficult a decision: Dump the employees, keep the investors happy, and live to collect that CEO pay.
Does anyone else feel like maybe the reasons that the economy is out of whack are written somewhere in those paragraphs?
The stock market is at record levels, yet only a few industries have fully recovered to pre-recession levels. The anointed poster children of the financial recovery are the Big 3 auto companies and they hope to reach 15.5 million cars sold this year which would still be fewer than the 16 million sold in 2007. But note Ford’s stock price is 2x higher than it was in 2007 and remarkably it has a market capitalization nearly 4x higher than 2007. I know stock pricing is based on forward estimates, but as far as I know that was true in 2007 also.
If driving share price (like International Paper) is more important than building scalable world companies (like Toyota) is what defines American corporate governance in 2013, what happens when Toto pulls back the curtain?
And are we about to find out?
Bitcoin to Save Online Publishers?
Arguing that consumers would prefer to purchase specific content at a low cost rather than an all-encompassing, pricier subscription, it’s suggested that Bitcoin such as the canadian bitcoin exchange could easily handle the micropayments involved for a la carte content. In fact, there are two apps for that, Bitwall and BitMonet.
Google Suit Nearing Judgment?
In the ongoing lawsuit over Google scanning of copyrighted materials and freely making them available online, a judgment may be at hand (although the judge seemed highly skeptical of the closing arguments made by the Author’s Guild attorney).
Patterson Pledges Cash for Indies
While I’ve never particularly been a fan of James Patterson’s writing (or that of his ghost writers) I freely admit he has become one of my favorite authors. Patterson has announced that he will donate $1 million to independent book sellers this year, an endangered species that seems to be making a rebound.
Publishers as Service Providers?
A European study of self publishers documents evolving trends. One thought is that the the role of the traditional publisher will become that of a service provider, mainly with access to distribution. There are also some counter intuitive ideas offered in the article.
Kodak Sued Over Inks
One of the few bright spots maintained by the reborn Kodak has been their Versamark Printing Systems. Now they are being sued by the ink manufacturer that has been selling the same ink under their own brand to Kodak customers during Kodak’s bankruptcy.(Note the new Kodak logo in the second link.)
Kindle Fire Pricing
Some weeks ago the market analysts at the Motley Fool tried reading tea leaves to understand Amazon’s Kindle Fire pricing, anticipating the imminent release of the new Fire. The new Fire has just been released with still lower pricing.
Preserving Old Fonts
The Type Heritage Project is attempting to find and identify display fonts used between 1800 and World War I to preserve and distribute them digitally.
Print Museum
I suspect that a lot of you have little interest in the nuts and bolts of printing, but fortunately there’s now a print museum for those of us who are still fascinated by all the ways ink has been put on paper.
Publishing Bookstore
I’m familiar with at least one independent bookstore that successfully morphed into book publishing, but UK publisher Five Leaves Publications has just opened a brick and mortar store in an area that hasn’t had an independent bookseller since 2000.
3D Printing?
Finally, a kindred soul has asked what the devil does 3D printing have to do with 2D printing. Even though the output device vaguely resembles an inkjet printer, no one calls it a printing press.
Printing Press Nonsense
Some months (#44) ago I wrote about an ad agency that had made a BMW promo using the Bimmer as a “printing press”. Not to be outdone, Nike’s new Euro ad features athletes as “printing presses”.
Self Published vs. Authors Who Have Books Printed
Is this just a snobbish way to advertise that you have been published by a traditional publisher or a valid distinction in the age of print on demand?
The Return of Harry Potter
Lost in the publicity that JK Rowling is penning a screenplay based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, (a Hogwart’s textbook) is the announcement that she intends to pen another Hogwarts title or two.
5 Banned Books
By examining book bannings throughout history, Forbes magazine recommends five titles that have been banned only to reappear again and again.
Final Thought
Children deprived of words become school dropouts; dropouts deprived of hope behave delinquently. Amateur censors blame delinquency on reading immoral books and magazines, when in fact, the inability to read anything is the basic trouble.”
Peter S. Jennison
