Author: Tom Silva

Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
07.08.2009

Sears Profit Soaring

In another sign that recessions are good for low-cost leaders, Sears posted a $26 million profit – or 21 cents per share — in the first quarter of 2009.  Based on that news, shares rose $5.21, or 10.38 percent, to close at $55.40 on the Friday before Memorial Day.  These numbers represent a significant improvement […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
07.01.2009

Michael Jackson’s Finances Illustrate Investor Over-exuberance

The tragic death of the “King of Pop” provides an interesting insight into how hedge funds and private equity groups buy loans  in anticipation of future earnings. Michael Jackson made real money during his 40 years as an entertainer; unfortunately, he also lost a lot of money, especially over the last 10 years. Reports are […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.29.2009

Larry Armstrong: Architecture During a Recession

The best way to survive a recession is to have a strategic plan firmly in place when the inevitable downturn happens.  That’s the opinion of Larry Armstrong, President of Ware Malcomb, an Irvine, CA-based international architectural firm with ongoing projects in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Europe. In a recent interview for the […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.25.2009

Investment Banking in an Economic Meltdown

Investment banks are hunkering down to preserve capital, primarily because there are grave concerns about current property valuations, says Charles Krawitz, Senior Loan Sales Asset Manager, Fifth Third Bank, in an interview for The Alter Group podcasts on real estate.  Banks are reluctant to lend $10 million to a property that might be worth only […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.23.2009

Social Media Shines a Bright Light on Iranian Revolution

Generally, political events, unless they affect our industry, are beyond the purview of the AlterNow blog.  However, the news from the Middle East gives us pause because our country has become, quite remarkably, an actor in one of the most stirring displays of courage and political defiance in recent memory.  We may not fully realize […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.19.2009

Hooray for Hollywood

Hollywood’s Blockbuster Year “Hooray for Hollywood”, said the 1937 lyric by Johnny Mercer, sung during the depths of the Great Depression.  It appears the one industry that’s recession proof has done it again.  While the world’s economy has gone into free fall, Hollywood is in a state of euphoria right now, buoyed by a box-office […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.12.2009

An Apple a Day

Apple may be the Great American Company — the heir to the spirit of Henry Ford who revolutionized corporations worldwide by modernizing the assembly line to facilitate production of his legendary Model T car.  Similarly, Apple under Steve Jobs’ leadership expresses everything that Americans naturally do well — innovation, high quality, smart growth, and nimbleness. […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.05.2009

Calatrava’s Quadracci Pavilion a Sculptural Addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum

The opening of the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago spurred me to finally trek out to the other great piece of museum architecture in the Midwest, Santiago Calatrava’s Quadracci Pavilion, a sculptural addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum which opened in 2001, and cost approximately $121 million. The museum initially hired […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
05.28.2009

Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago a “Temple of Light”

Amidst the most dire financial crisis in a generation, Chicago has created a magnificent rejoinder to all the bad news.  The Russian writer Dostoevsky once said that “Beauty will save the world.”  Seeing Renzo Piano’s new Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago makes you believe that it just might.  First of all, how […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
05.21.2009

“The Giant Pool of Money”

$70 trillion dollars.  That’s all the money in the world, or to get technical, the subset of global savings known as fixed-income securities.  And it almost doubled from $36 trillion in just six years.  How did this happen? The Federal Reserve presided over the creation of what we have learned (the hard way) is a […]

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