Category: All Posts (Page 2 of 19)

Definitions:

• WordPress: A free, open source, web application designed for blogging. It is very popular – about 25% of the websites are based on WP.
• Post: A document – sort of like an email. For example, every speaker, event, and activity is a separate post.
• Category: Posts are assigned one or more Categories to keep them organized. Sort of like a label in email.
• Page: A document similar to a Post, but they are not assigned Categories. They are typically assigned to menu trees.  For example, the Speakers page is at the top of the menu and the Speaker Posts are under it.  The Activities Page is also at the top of the menu but underneath are other Pages such as Book Club, Hiking, etc.
• Theme: the template that determines the general look and feel of the WordPress website. There are many, we use Hemingway.
• Plug-In: WordPress has basic functionality. A Plug-in is a small piece of code that does some specific task.  For example, we use UltimatePostList to create the Table of Contents for speakers, TablePress allows data in tables – used to show Officers & Directors, A-Z Listing is used to show the Member Directory.  Most have their own admin dashboard.
• Media: Images and PDF’s are stored in the Media Library. From there they are inserted into Pages and Posts.
• BlueHost: the company that hosts our website.

wp tutorial

On Monday, May 2, commencing at 10 am, Jim Phillips will host a virtual meeting of the Investment Discussion Group when members will discuss the macroeconomic outlook, investment in uranium and new energy sources for the next decade and the best stocks to buy now.

With the large sell-off in  the markets, there is much to discuss. The S&P is now off 13% from recent highs, the DOW is off 10% and the NASDAQ composite is off 23%. Some tech names are off 50%-70%! The retail investor is running for the hills with the most bearish views in over a year with recession mentioned in the news daily.

The Greed/Fear index is closing in on extreme fear and the .VIX is approaching 35 … usually a time to consider buying high quality stocks. Jim urges that you bring to the meeting your best stock ideas to consider.

On Monday, April 4, 2022, Jim Phillips will host a virtual meeting of the Investment Discussion Group commencing at 10:00 am to discuss, among other things, the current macroeconomic environment, investments in the semiconductor space and conviction buys under current market conditions.

Your host: Jim Phillips

Investment Discussion Group Meeting, Monday, January 3, 2022, 10:00 a.m.

On Monday, January 3, 2022, commencing at 10 am, Jim Phillips will host a virtual meeting of the Investment Discussion Group. After a review of the macro-outlook, the group plans to cover the latest developments with respect to streaming/entertainment companies, with input from Dennis Leibowitz, and the increased interest in alternative investment managers, with remarks by Jim Phillips. As usual, members should feel free to present companies they view as “conviction buys” or long-term holds following a correction.

The Presidency of Martin Van Buren  is the subject of a talk by DMA member Mark Nunan. Van Buren, our eighth president from 1837 to 1841, is not well known, but arguably he transformed US politics, uniting factions into workable two-party system.  Amazingly, having along with Andrew Jackson been instrumental in founding the Democratic Party, late in life he was influential in the launching of the Republican Party. As a boy growing up modestly at the close of the Revolutionary era, Van Buren knew personally Alexander Hamilton and other prominent leaders of the new country. America and its institutions were still young and as Van Buren reached political prominence he was a keen analyst of the factional, cultural and regional interests of his time. He became critical of  Federalist dominance, including Hamilton’s success in establishing the Bank of the United States. It cost him dearly when as president he was blamed for the “Panic of 1837” and he was not re-elected. Van Buren continued to press for financial and labor reforms through three presidential runs at a time of changing politics in the country and the run-up to the Civil War.  His career contains lessons about how to mitigate the potential for factional feuds and political violence through the unifying power of a strong and successful party system.

Mark Nunan, who has previously spoken to the DMA about the lives of Robert Moses and Fiorello LaGuardia, was born in Cork, Ireland. At an early age his family moved to Alabama. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1976 and continued his education at Stanford University where he was awarded a master’s degree in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1983. During that same period, he was a Fellow at L’ENS normale superieure at the University of Paris-Sorbonne as part of his Ph.D. program. In 1984, he joined COS, Inc., a firm that assists companies and governments in researching and implementing new business opportunities, retiring as a senior vice president in 2018. He splits his time between Darien and Slovenia where he has family connections.

Video Presentation 

Your host: Jim Phillips

Host: Jim Phillips

Host: Jim Phillips

Biden Infrastructure Plan

Biden scheduled to give a speech in Pittsburgh at 4:20 PM (nod to cannabis enthusiasts) today for part one of his infrastructure proposal.
Second package to be released in April that will cost more than $1T to focus on social measures, including expanding health care and paid-leave access and extending the child tax credit –offset by tax increases on wealthy individuals.
WH released a Fact Sheet on Biden’s American Jobs Plan.
$2.25T over 8 years paired with tax increases to pay for it in 15 years.
$621B in transportation infrastructure.
$20B for roads.
$85B for public transit.
$80B for Amtrak and rail.
$174B in electric vehicles.
$25B for airports.
$17B for waterways.
$20B for racial equity investments.
$25B for “shovel ready” projects.
$100B in digital infrastructure investment.
$100B to electric grid.
Ten-year extension and phase down of an expanded direct-pay investment tax credit and production tax credit for clean energy generation and storage.
100% carbon-pollution free power by 2035.
$16B in jobs retraining program for fossil fuel workers.
$5B in the remediation and redevelopment of these Brownfield and Superfund sites.
Lifts $3M cap on EDA public works programs.
Reforms and expands the Section 45Q tax credit, making it direct pay and easier to use for hard-to-decarbonize industrial applications, direct air capture, and retrofits of existing power plants.
$10B towards conservation jobs.
$213B to retrofit buildings and homes.
$20B worth of NHIA tax credits over the next five years will result in approximately 500,000 homes built or rehabilitated.
$40B for public housing infrastructure.
$27B Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator to mobilize private investment into distributed energy resources; retrofits of residential, commercial and municipal buildings; and clean transportation.
$100B to upgrade and build new public schools, through $50B in direct grants and an additional $50B leveraged through bonds.
$12B for community colleges.
$25B for childcare.
Expanded tax credit to encourage businesses to build childcare facilities at places of work. Employers will receive 50 %of the first $1Mof construction costs per facility so that employees can enjoy the peace of mind and convenience that comes with on-site childcare.
$10B for VA hospitals.
$400B toward expanding access to quality, affordable home- or community-based care for aging relatives and people with disabilities.