Whoever said 'time flies' didn't know the half of it.

I certainly lost the plot on this blog.

Lots of things happening, personally, in the market, and politically -- and when a colleague suggested it was time for an update, I had to agree, more than a little shamefacedly, that he was on the mark.

So here I am, with intentions to carry on more regularly.

C.S. Lewis, in his beloved children's Narnia series, wrote of his characters at the end of the last book that they were to move 'onward and upward' into what was a scantily disguised Christian heaven. Theology aside, 'onward and upward' is reasonable advice.

It's more than just stock related -- there's a need for us to take the high road very consciously and strategically.

And just by-the-by, whoever launched the 'Lift her up' campaign in Alberta in response to the cretinous shouts from Chris Alexander's supporters re Rachel Notley to 'Lock her up' has my deep respect and gratitude.

The US JOBS Act, short for "Jumpstart Our Business Startups", is one of those nice broad conceptions that falter in the details.  There seems to be fairly universal agreement that small business is the bedrock of North American economic growth, and that the last few years have been tougher than usual on these companies.  And as a small business person working with small businesses, I can pretty much vouch for that.  So the idea of supporting small businesses and helping them grow without entangling them in too much bureaucracy is appealing.  Hence the JOBS Act -- a small sampling of the massive associated media response is headlined at the end of this entry.


The catch is that at least some of those bureaucratic entanglements have to do with governance and investor protection, things that Wall Street has demonstrated -- at the very least -- a reluctance to deal with seriously, permanently, and comprehensively. Wall Street seems to be thrilled with the bill, which is enough to make many small investors worry.  The big investment banks see profit potential in combination with reduced regulation:  the same combination that triggered the freefall in 2008.

It is important to invest in our start-ups, and it would be very positive if more people considered them as part of a diversified portfolio.  However, as consultants we try to encourage ambitious start-ups to treat themselves as public companies from the outset, especially in terms of governance and disclosure.  Here we have a bill that seems to be encouraging companies to do the exact opposite.  Hmmm.  Wonder how attractive that will seem to private equity investors.

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DealB%k
Wall St. Examines Fine Print in a Bill for Start-Ups By SUSANNE CRAIG and BEN PROTESS (April 4, 2012)

 http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/wall-st-examines-fine-print-in-a-new-jobs-bill/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120405

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Slate
Now Everyone Can Lose Big Investing in Startups
Obama’s new crowdfunding bill democratizes venture capital, for good and for ill. By Will Oremus|Posted Friday, April 6, 2012, at 12:59 PM ET

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/04/jobs_act_now_ordinary_people_can_lose_big_investing_in_startups_too_.html?wpisrc=newsletter_slatest

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The Globe and Mail

U.S. Jobs Act doesn’t mean Wild West for companies
By Olivia Oran
Reuters
Posted on Monday, April 9, 2012 7:38AM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/global-exchange/international-roundup/us-jobs-act-doesnt-mean-wild-west-for-companies/article2395732/ ___________

Interesting piece on stock option payments for management, by Kyle McLean of Exploration Insights:  http://tommyhumphreys.com/blog/the-real-cost-of-incentive-options.  The conflicting issues of dilution and alignment of interests, combined with a capital intensive situation (like mining exploration and new technology plays) mean that management mistakes are paid for by shareholders in businesses where very few of the companies could ever receive a cash payment on sale of their real estate or intellectual properties that exceeded their market cap.  He argues for an incentive system based on and fostering accountability, a focus on capital gains, entrepreneurial spirit, and a caretaking mentality.  Not sure how this would be be into practice, though.

FAIR Canada, the Canadian Foundation for the Advancement of Investor Rights, posted a very interesting article yesterday (you can read it at: http://faircanada.ca/top-news/exchange-conflicts-of-interest-must-be-appropriately-managed/).

The writer suggests that there are signficant actual and potential conflicts of interest in the way we currently run our stock exchanges, with the needs of the investors, who depend on the exchanges for their regulatory function as well as their trading utility, often taking a distant third place to both listed companies and the profit motive.

From an IR perspective, these conflicts are pretty clear.  Not to mention exchanges buying an IR firm in order to support their listed companies and then promoting the IR to new listings....

PDAC -- the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada -- had its annual conference this week at the Toronto Convention Centre.  More than 31,000 people turned up, which made the show crowded, but exciting.  Despite the fact that some people were saying the show has become unmanageable, we got a charge out of seeing that many energetic and enthusiastic mining and service companies in one place. 

We walked and walked and talked and talked.  We heard scads of great stories -- it amazes me how undervalued some of the smaller players are, priced far below asset value.

Key to getting those valuations up to a more reasonable level is, of course, attracting investors.  Federal Mining Minister Joe Oliver did his best to help, announcing that he foresaw $100 billion in new investment in mining over the next 10 years (http://www.mining-journal.com/finance/canada-could-see-c$100-bn-mining-investment-in-next-decade-minister). 

Given that 40% of global exploration spending, amounting to $4.2 bn in 2012, comes from Canadian companies, it's clear that mining is a big ticket item for Canada.  In fact, mining employs more people in Canada than any other industry, including the automotive.

So, is the show too big?  I think, not big enough! 

The federal election in the US is provoking strong thoughts about truth (rather than 'truthiness' as described by Stephen Colbert so usefully) and ethical behaviour.  The leading Republican candidates seem quite willing to dispense with truth in the fight to win power, but few commentators are calling them on it.  It makes me wonder if we have become so sensitized to the need to call a spade an earth-moving implement that we are hesitant to identify and name lying as such -- that we have become inured to bushwah.

So does this extend to the business as well as politics?  As an investor-relations consultant, I have a responsibility to ensure that my clients' stories are told clearly and honestly.  Otherwise it is impossible to manage investors' perceptions and expectations (it's hard enough when you're dealing with fact let alone adding fiction).  If you are in investor, is it your sense that more businesses are falling prey to a tendency to stretch, paint, mould, embroider, or alter fact to entice you to buy stock? 

Oh frabjous day!

Lewis Carroll had it right. With the market's vorpal blades going snicker-snack, it's way too easy to see tragedy coming even on the brightest day. I envision my portfolio evaporating and my client base dwindling, and I can get quite deep into the drama of it all. Intransigent Greeks (no gifts forthcoming, apparently), idiot politicians (into which category nearly all US incumbents and wannabes now seem to fall), the falling dollar, increasing protectionism, European devolution -- we're not getting a lot of good economic news.

So, cock-eyed and contrary optimist that I am, I start to tally blessings. Resource companies continue to get funding, and the commodity markets are still holding. Gold stocks, especially for smaller entities, are undervalued and represent a real buying opportunity -- particularly with the Chinese starting to make gold property acquisitions offshore.

Technology innovation is strong in Canada, and start-ups are getting an unprecedented amount of government help to commercialize their products (just ask me!).

Even biotech is showing some signs of hope. The US seems to be working on developing a better relationship with China, one of the outcomes being Chinese agreement to help protect IP.

Never mind the market volatility -- pundits wiser than I suggest much of this is mechanical, or at least mathematical, and there is money to be made in the swings as well as in steady growth.

And Angela Merkel has made stocky women hotter than they've been since Peter Paul Rubens was mixing egg tempura.

So for now, we seem to be holding our own against the forces of chaos.