Gyroscopic Investing

6 Iron wrote:

MediumTex wrote:

notsheigetz wrote: And speaking of Afghanistan and presidential elections while the Olympics is underway I was reminded of something very interesting the other day about the 1980 Olympics. Jimmy Carter was president and we boycotted the Olympics that year. Does anybody remember why?

Dispute involving the Soviet Union.  I don't remember what it was about.

It was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in support of the then existing communist government, against Muslim rebels.

Oh yeah, that was back in the days when the U.S. needed a friend in the neighborhood and found one in Osama bin Laden.

I don't recall, but did anyone boycott the 2002 winter olympics in Salt Lake City because the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001?

That would have been sort of amusing.

Reub wrote: I believe that Iran will blow up well before the election in November.

What's going on over there lately?  Are the citizens uprising yet over what I imagine must be their horrible future prospects?

6 Iron wrote: It was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in support of the then existing communist government, against Muslim rebels.

The Soviets did not invade in order to support the existing government.  Not unless you count using Spetsnaz shock troops to assassinate the Afghan president on day one as a show of "support."

TBV wrote:

6 Iron wrote: It was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in support of the then existing communist government, against Muslim rebels.

The Soviets did not invade in order to support the existing government.  Not unless you count using Spetsnaz shock troops to assassinate the Afghan president on day one as a show of "support."

I had forgotten that less than minor detail. What 30 years can do to a guy's brain...

Watching a religious leader celebrate a mall may seem surreal, but City Creek reflects the spirit of enterprise that animates modern-day Mormonism. The mall is part of a sprawling church-owned corporate empire that the Mormon leadership says is helping spread its message, increasing economic self-reliance, and building the Kingdom of God on earth. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attends to the total needs of its members,”? says Keith B. McMullin, who for 37 years served within the Mormon leadership and now heads a church-owned holding company, Deseret Management Corp. (DMC), an umbrella organization for many of the church’s for-profit businesses. “We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.”?

http://tinyurl.com/csabx57

MG, that is a really good article - very accurate.  The way the Mormons run their business is pretty interesting.  They used to have their own bank, which is now Zions Bank - had to spin it off from the church to pass federal banking regulations decades ago.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... make-money

I find it a little bit incestuous, however.  Mormon businessmen like to do business with other members and if you're not worthy enough you don't get to play.  It's sort of like a golf club that CEOs go to, however, without the cigars and brandy.