CNBC -- The Glass Is Half Empty -- December 13, 2019

Glass is half empty. I can't believe the negativity on CNBC. LOL . Maybe I will write about it later, but not worth the time now. Oh, by the way, for the archives: the US House judiciary committee voted along party lines to send articles of impeachment to the entire house. Sort of reminds me of those old westerns, mob rule and lynchings. But that's okay. We always enjoyed those westerns and knew how everything would turn out. To some extent, the action by by the committee reminded me of the Three Stooges, in this case, Jerry Nadler (Moe); Adam Schiff (Larry); and, Nancy Pelosi (Curly). We're all hoping that Clint Eastwood shows up in the US Senate (probably too much to hope for). See first comment.

Consumer spending? I was just downtown doing some Christmas shopping -- yes, Don and Kathy -- I have found you the perfect gifts and they will be in mail tomorrow -- inshallah. LOL. The common theme downtown -- it's going to be a huge retail season.

Here's where we live in our little 900-square-foot hovel (and I say that with thoughts of how lucky we really are):

• Christmas capital of Texas;
• holiday magic

What do folks want? Today, ATT (T) announces that it will raise its quarterly dividend by 2% and will retire $100 million worth of stock in 1Q20, and shares actually fall. What do investors want? LOL. T is already paying 5.32%. What do investors want?

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Tethered vehicle subsidy: no link. If interested, I'm sure it's easy to find. If Congress is able to pass another tax bill soon, it is likely that they will give Tesla and GM a nice gift. The 200,000-EV-sales-threshold will be raised to 600,000. Both Tesla and GM have sold more than 200,000 EVs so their federal incentives are phasing out. If a tax bill is passed, look for Congress to triple the number of EVs eligible for the incentive. What a racket.

Schwab: setting the stage to dominate the brokerage world -- Barron's. I said this was a top story for the week. This story is simply huge. Data points from the article:

• the deal took regular Schwab employees by surprise
• $26 billion deal
• rivals say they were caught off guard
• E*Trade CEO thought Ameritrade would buy E*Trade, so very surprising
• when brokerages drove commissions to $0, Ameritrade shares fell precipitously, giving Schwab an opportunity to buy Ameritrade, rather than E*Trade; prior to the fall in share price, the deal could have been a $30-billion deal;
• "nicely done, Schwab, you crushed Ameritrade's stock and then went back in and bought it"
• assets under management:
• Schwab: $3.25 trillion
• Ameritrade: $1.3 trillion
• branches:
• Schwab: 365
• Ameritrade: 360
• active brokerage accounts:
• Schwab: 12.1 million
• Ameritrade: 12.0 million
• combined:
• assets under management: $5 trillion
• brokerage accounts: 24 million
• custody services for 14,500 RIAs, nearly $2 trillion in assets; 40% of the market (say what, regulators?)
• 2018: Schwab brought in more new money than Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS combined;
• Robinhood Financial mentioned
• Schwab derived just 6% of revenue from trading before commissions went to zero
• Schwab's earnings began to be negatively impacted when the Fed cut rates earlier this year;
• Schwab had not expected the Fed to cut rates;
• Ameritrade's active trader and options platforms are considered top-notch; 
• Schwab is landing a big pool of advisor accounts
• Schwab also gets an infusion of up to $10 billion a year in deposits from TD Bank and Ameritrade customers for 10 years
• first thought: did Buffett miss a whale?
• more consolidation expected
• another takeover target: E*Trade
• if E*Trade weakens further, Schwab could take a stab at it
• more at the link

By the way, what did BK do this week? Not a great week, but the past year has been nice. LOL. See disclaimer. I don't own any shares in BK but I know someone who is a long-time investor in BK.

Does "monthly retail sales" include money spent on gasoline? I believe so. Gasoline prices were down significantly in November.

Untethered: "Montana Skeptic" returns to social media. This guy must really, really suffer from Musk Derangement Syndrome (MDS).

Wow, wow, wow -- in our backyard -- in Southlake, TX: Ozeki Ramen & Sushi Izakaya is now open in downtown Southlake. Wow, wow, wow. Izakaya? A Japanese pub.