Monday, December 14, 2009

“SCBT sees conservative philosophy as key to success over 75 years - Times and Democrat” plus 4 more

“SCBT sees conservative philosophy as key to success over 75 years - Times and Democrat” plus 4 more

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

SCBT sees conservative philosophy as key to success over 75 years - Times and Democrat

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 02:01 PM PST

As the number of national bank failures this year reached the 100 mark in October, South Carolina Bank and Trust continued to buck the trend by holding to the conservative philosophy it has had for 75 years.

"A lot of that does go back to when the bank was founded on the heels of the Depression," SCBT Financial Corp. Chief Executive Officer Robert Hill Jr. said, reflecting on the bank's successful 75-year run. "Even though we have grown and a lot has changed since 1934, the fundamental values of soundness, profitability and growth ... have kept this bank relatively healthy for the past 75 years."

The celebration of the bank's 75-year anniversary brought an occasion for past and present bank executives to reflect on its growth, success and changes over seven decades.

"There are a lot of new branches and new markets we have invested in over the years," Hill said. "What has not changed, which is just as relevant, is our core values such as basic ethics about being honest, doing the right thing for our customers and doing the right thing for our employees."

Hill said the bank's philosophy since its founding has been in long-term management, which has in many ways helped it absorb the financial meltdown experienced among banks nationally.

"We don't manage our company for just the next 90 days or the next six months," Hill said. "We manage it for the next three, five and 10 years. The company has always been managed long-term. We have seen some of our customers struggling and we see more people falling on hard times, but they have managed their finances conservatively and that is a reflection on how we run our business, which is very conservatively through the years."

During his 15-year tenure with the bank, Hill said assets have spiked from $100 million to $2.7 billion. Employees have grown from 100 to about 750.

John Pollok, SCBT financial chief operating officer and chief financial officer, has been with SCBT for the past 13 years.

He says among the most significant changes experienced over the years are the technological additions.

"We see it as a real advantage for us as the technology costs have come down so much it has helped us compete against the larger banks," Pollok said, noting that one of the most significant technological changes has been Web banking. "Everything has gotten very paperless."

Pollok said there was a time when mail couriers had to pick up bank-related documents from the branches and bring the items to Orangeburg. The electronic transport system has in many ways revolutionized the banking sector.

"It has allowed us to serve more places outside of Orangeburg," Pollok said. "Myrtle Beach is a long way from Orangeburg. We now have all-day banking. We can do all in our system and process that in Orangeburg."

Pollok said he credits the success of SCBT over the years to the employees and management.

"It is the people we have been able to hire and the core values created in Orangeburg are the things we really rely on," he said, echoing the bank's focus on soundness, profitability and growth.

"We have had two capital raises over the past year and a half," Pollok said, referring to the $25 million in capital equity raised in the second quarter of 2008 and then another $28 million in October 2009. "Few banks have been able to do that."

Robert Jennings III, First National Corp. chairman emeritus and whose father served on the bank's board during its initial two decades, says the SCBT's success has been credited to founders setting a firm foundation. He said bank successors have followed the "good, sound, strong" banking rules.

"The bank does not rely on volume as much as relying on quality," Jennings said, noting that when it came to the real estate market, the bank played it cautiously by using the bank's property appraisal assessments rather than the borrower's appraisal. "People that succeeded him as chief executive officer used those same rules and it has worked out pretty well," Jennings said. "The bank is a great Orangeburg institution."

And while many banks have struggled to stay afloat, SCBT has invested in itself.

It has purchased several desktop scanners and sorters to replace the bank's previous two larger units in Orangeburg. The previous units cost $2 million each while the smaller units cost about $1,000 apiece.

They capture about 1,100 items in a minute.

The vacant space left by the two large sorters, which were located on the fourth floor, will be used in the event of an expansion.

Over the last few years, the bank has also installed newer, smaller network servers.

"The mainframe is up in 30 minutes," Pollok said, noting the speed of the computer can update about 350,000 accounts approximately 16 hours ahead of the bank's processing capabilities years back.

The bank has also installed within the last couple of months an all-new security system throughout the Orangeburg building, to the tune of about $50,000.

The installation includes new key entry cards and locks.

The bank's success hearkens back to its founding.

During The Great Depression in the early 1930s while many financial institutions closed their doors, a group of seven men formed First National Bank in Orangeburg.

Bank founding fathers pledged a minimum stock purchase of $1,000 and together raised $62,500 through the sale of stock.

They borrowed a matching amount from the federal government's Reconstruction Finance Corp.

From its start of six employees, the bank had deposits of $1,133,099 and profits of $1,395 during its first year.

By its 40th anniversary in 1974, SCBT had 120 employees and deposits of $56,310,162.

Headquartered in Orangeburg for about 67 years, First National moved its headquarters to Columbia's Gervais Street in January 2002.

In May 2002, the bank changed its name from First National to SCBT.

Despite its corporate headquarters moving from Orangeburg to Columbia, Pollok says Orangeburg remains a key to the bank's future business strategy.

"The core of SCBT is here," he said, noting the bank's call center and many of the bank's support services are still in Orangeburg.

Today, the bank has roughly 750 employees, operates 49 financial centers in 16 South Carolina counties and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

The bank has assets of approximately $2.8 billion and its stock is traded under the symbol SCBT in the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

President O'Bomber Defends Acceptance Of NoBull Prize For Implementing ... - OpEdNews.com

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 11:52 AM PST

By Lawrence Velvel (about the author)     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

opednews.com     Permalink

For OpEdNews: Lawrence Velvel - Writer

December 14, 2009

President O'Bomber Defends Acceptance Of NoBull Prize For Implementing Philosophy Of Peace Through War In Goniffstan.

In a wide ranging interview, President B. Rack O'Bomber defended his refusal to reject the NoBull Peace Prize. He had been urged to reject it by American militarists on the ground that sometimes the NoBull Prize had been awarded to people who had contributed to peace, and therefore the NoBull Committee was a bunch of hypocrites.

President O'Bomber began the interview by explaining his new post-campaign philosophy that, in order to reach peace, you must first have war. "The Pentagon and the right wing have persuaded me of this great truth by powerful historical arguments," he said. "To have peace in 1918, nations first had to fight World War I. How could peace have broken out in 1918 without first fighting World War I? The same has been true many times in our history. How could peace have broken out in 1945 without first fighting World War II? How could peace have broken out in Viet Nam in 19, in19, well, wherever it was, if we had not first fought the Viet Namese War (which the Viet Namese, in a fit of anti-American viciousness, call the American War)? I understand all this," he said, "so I am happy to accept the NoBull Prize even if the NoBull Committee is a bunch of hypocrites because they previously gave the NoBull Peace Prize to people who had not created war and therefore had made no contribution to peace. I prefer to think that they have now seen the light of American exceptionalism, that they now recognize the truth of the American theory of making peace as we continuously did with Native Americans, with the Philippines Insurrectionists, with Germany and Japan, with Viet Nam, and so forth."

President O'Bomber said that he nevertheless feels very humble in accepting the NoBull Peace Prize because his accomplishments are so much less than those of deserving past recipients. "I am only fighting two wars and, more importantly by far, I have only been fighting wars for a brief amount of time," he said. "Whereas Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho managed to implement the theory of peace through war by keeping the Viet Nam War going for four years or so. For an accomplishment like that they truly deserved the NoBull Peace Prize." He added, "Didn't they even argue over the shape of the table in order to keep the war going? That was genius, sheer genius. I wish I were able to do something like that. I fear that I won't be able to. Good Lord, Goniffstan is so poor that there are only five tables in the whole country. So how could I get away with arguing over the shape of a table?"

"However," he mused, "we are fighting to create an honest country, so maybe I can argue that we have to stay there until people in Goniffstan stop stealing. That will never happen. 'Gonniff' means thief in Yiddish, you know. Rahm Emanuel has told me that and Larry Summers verified it (like what's his name, I trust but verify), and the country has warlords who steal, a government that steals, citizens who steal. No, stealing will never stop in Goniffstan, and therefore maybe it will be my 'table,' so to speak. We are fighting to create an honest country, and that will never happen, so I will be able to fight in Goniffstan for years and years. Ultimately I will be as deserving of the NoBull Peace Prize as Kissinger and Le Duc Tho."

"You know," he said to this reporter, "I'm really glad we had this interview. It has enabled me to think things through. Those damn people in the Pentagon don't present me with the kind of clear, unassailable logic that I've reached today."

President O'Bomber denied that in Cairo he had said that America had fomented the overthrow of Mossadegh in 1953. "I was misquoted," he said, "viciously misquoted by all the left wing media -- and there is no other kind -- all over the world." He would not, however, elaborate on how he had been misquoted. He would say only, "Look, it was all Mossadegh's fault. Kermit Roosevelt had nuthin' to do with nuthin'. The very idea -- that a descendant of Theodore Roosevelt could have anything to do with imperialism!! It's offensive. Let's face it: Mossadegh wanted the Iranians to benefit from Iranian oil -- he deserved whatever he got. And what he got was not oil."

President O'Bomber commented on the allusion to Martin Luther King in his acceptance speech. "What did his non-violence ever accomplish?" asked the President. "I'll tell you in one sentence. All it accomplished is that it got him shot. By some Hitlerite who did not believe in non violence, no less. The same is true for Gandhi," he added. "All that non-violent crap just got him shot too. And nobody gave a damn about India anyway until it developed the atomic bomb. Then people started to listen to India. Including Pakistan, which listened so hard that it developed its own bomb, called the Kashmiri Special."

To your reporter's immense surprise, President O'Bomber criticized the Wall Street Journal of all papers for truncating a quotation, from his Cairo speech, that expressed his views of how to proceed in the world. The Journal, he said, had left off his all important last sentence when it set forth a quote from his Cairo speech in a heavily bolded special section next to his picture on Friday, December 11th. The full quotation, with the all important last sentence italicized, which the Journal omitted, he said, is:

There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other, to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. And then open fire.

The President found it especially puzzling that this sentence was omitted by a national newspaper that had moved heaven and earth to try to prove that he had been born in Kazakstan, not the United States, and had unearthed the previously well kept secret that his first name is the Gallicized (i.e., Frenchified) "Bom," which in English is Bomb, so that his name, Anglicized, is Bomb Rack O'Bomber. (Some of his closest family members, who are southerners, and are used to double names that are run together, like Bobby Joe and Billy Bob, run his first and middle names together and call him Bombrack, so that his correct title and name are President BombRack O'Bomber.)

Irate at the Wall Street Journal, the President expressed great pleasure at what he called, off the record (but like a good reporter I am going to tell you anyway), "the completely thoughtless, vacuous, but wonderfully favorable editorial in the New York Times. The Times editorial," he said, "had completely accepted his view, repeatedly expressed at the NoBull festivities, that it is "just war." "It is true," he said, "that while the Times' editorial said 'we agree that this war . . . is a necessary one,' it was unable to give reasons for this view. "But that inability to give reasons is not the important point. The important point is that they support anything I say. I agree with Stephen Colbert. I am the decider. My press secretary tells the press what I've decided. And the job of the press is to write down and tell the public what I've decided. The Times carried out its function beautifully. Just like with WMDs." "It was almost as great as the trumpets blaring in the hall where the NoBull Peace Prize was awarded," Mr. O'Bomber added.

President Bombrack O'Bomber conceded in the interview that, because of American exceptionalism, it will be this country, and no other, which decides when and where wars shall be fought, who shall be killed, and so forth. "If that point of view is a criticism," he said, "then, as FDR said of his wealthy capitalist opponents, 'I welcome their enmity,' or something on that order. Somebody has to decide who should be killed all over the world," he said, "and, for my money, our record with regard to the Native Americans, the Filipinos, the Central Americans, the Viet Namese, the Iraqis, and now the Goniffs prove that America should be that somebody."

"This is, after all, an evil world with many evil people," he said, "and now modern technology allows a few small men with outsize rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale. So, thank God that modern technology also allows an even smaller number of us big men to decree the deaths of thousands or hundreds of thousands or even millions of innocent people." "Us big men, they don't call us predators or drones for nothing," he added.

Next Page  1  |  2

 

http://velvelonnationalaffairs.com/

Lawrence R. Velvel is the Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, which educates the working class, mid-life people, minorities and immigrants. He (more...)
 

 

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Invest like a pro - Globe and Mail

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 12:21 PM PST

For those investors who have been lucky enough to have survived one or more major market downturns, some lessons have been learned. For example, there always seem to be some firms that not only survive those downturns, but profit handsomely from them. So why do certain investment companies do better than others and survive market waves? They have a long term investment philosophy that they stick to; they have a strong investment strategy that they formalize within their products and understand that while taking some risk is part of the game; a steady disciplined approach ensures long-term success. Once the key tools of successful investment firms are understood, they can easily be adopted by individual investors to become successful. By adopting some of their strategies, you can invest like the pros. (You don't need a lot of money to start investing, check out Start Investing With Only $1000.)

Strength in Strategy
A strong investment philosophy should be outlined before any investment strategies are considered. An investment philosophy is the basis for investment policies and procedures, and ultimately into long-term plans. In a nutshell, an investment philosophy is a set of core beliefs from which all investment strategies are developed. In order for an investment philosophy to be sound, it needs to be based on reasonable expectations, assumptions of how historical information can serve as a tool for proper investment guidance.

For example, the investment philosophy, "to beat the market every year," while a positive expectation, is too vague and does not incorporate sound principles. It's also important for a sound investment philosophy to define investment time horizons, asset classes in which to invest and guidance on how to respond to market volatility while adhering to your investment principles. A sound long-term investment philosophy also keeps successful firms on track with those guidelines, rather chasing trends and temptations. Since each investment philosophy is developed to suit the investment firm, or perhaps the individual investor, there are no standard plans to write one.

If you are developing an investment philosophy for the first time, and you want to invest like a pro, it's important that you consider covering the following topics to make sure the philosophy is robust:

* Define Your Core Beliefs
The most basic and fundamental beliefs are outlined regarding the reason and purpose of investment decisions.

* Time Horizons
While investors should always plan on long-term horizons, a good philosophy should outline your unique time frame to set expectations.

* Risk
Clearly define how you accept and measure risk. Contrary to investing in a savings account, the fundamental rule of investing is the risk/reward concept by increasing your expected returns with increased risk.

* Asset Allocation and Diversification
Clearly define your core beliefs on asset allocation and diversification, whether it is active or passive, tactical or strategic, tightly focused or broadly diversified. This portion of your philosophy will be the driving force in developing your investment strategies and build a foundation to which to return when your strategies need redefining or tweaking.

The Secret of Success
Successful firms also implement product funds that reflect their investment philosophies and strategies. Since the philosophy drives the development of the strategies, core style investment strategies, for example, are usually the most common in most successful product lines and should also be part of an individual plan. Core holdings or strategies have multiple interpretations, but generally, core equity and bond strategies tend to be large cap, blue chip and investment grade types of funds that reflect the overall market.

Successful firms also limit their abilities to take large sector bets in their core products. While this can limit the potential upside when making the right sector bet, directional bets, practiced by hedge funds, add significant volatility to a fund that is judged by not only its performance but its relative and absolute volatility.

When defining an investment strategy, it is very important to follow a strict discipline. For example, when defining a core strategy, restricting the temptation to follow or chase trends keeps the strategy grounded. This is not to say that one can't have additional momentum strategies with different goals, as those can be incorporated into the overall investment plan.

Outlining a Strategy
When outlining a sound investment strategy, the following issues, which are similar to those of creating a philosophy, should be considered:

* Time Horizon
A common mistake for most individual investors is that their time horizon ends when they retire. In reality, it can go well beyond retirement, and even life, if you have been saving for the next generation. Investment strategies must focus on the long-term horizon of your investment career, as well as the time for specific investments.

* Asset Allocation
This is when you clearly define what your target allocation will be. If this is a tactical strategy, ranges of allocations should be defined, if strategic in nature, hard lines need to be drawn with specific plans to rebalance when markets have moved in either direction. Successful investment firms follow strict guidelines when rebalancing, especially is strategic plans. Individuals, on the other hand, often make the mistake of straying from their strategies when markets move in sharp directions.

* Risk vs. Return
At this point you should clearly define your risk tolerance. This is one of the most important aspects of an investment strategy, since risk and return have a close relationship over long periods of time. Whether you measure it in relative to a benchmark or absolute portfolio standard deviation, just remember to stick to your predetermined limits.

Putting the Pieces Together
It's important to remember that investment strategies define specific pieces of an overall plan. Successful investors cannot beat the market 100% of the time, but can evaluate their investment decisions based on their fit to the original investment strategy.

After you have survived a few market cycles, you can potentially start to see patterns of hot or popular investment companies gathering unprecedented gains. This was a phenomenon during the internet technology investing boom. Shares of technology companies rose to rock star levels, and investors - institutional and personal - lined up at their gates to pile on funds. Unfortunately for some of those companies, success was short-lived, since these extraordinary gains were unjustified. Many investors deviated from their initial investment strategies in the hopes of chasing greater returns. Individuals can pattern themselves after successful investment companies by not trying to hit home runs and focusing on base hits, instead.

That means trying to beat the market by long shots is not only difficult to do consistently, it leads to a level of volatility that does not sit well with investors over the long term. Individual investors often make mistakes like shooting for the stars and using too much leverage when markets are moving up, and tend to shy away from markets as they are falling. Removing the human biases by sticking to a set approach and focusing on short term victories is a great way to fashion your investment strategy like the pros.

Conclusion
Taking cues from successful professional investors is the easiest way to avoid common errors and keep on a focused track. Outlining a sound investment philosophy sets the stage for professional and individual investors, just like a strong foundation in a home. Building up from that foundation to form investment strategies creates strong directions, setting the paths to follow. Investing like the pros also means avoiding the temptation to drift from your investment philosophy and strategies, and trying to outperform by large margins. While this can be done occasionally, and some firms have done it in the past, it is nearly impossible to beat the markets by large margins consistently. If you can fashion your investment plans and goals like those successful investment companies, you to can invest like the pros. (Learn from the best, read Think Like Warren Buffett.)

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Ingram won within team philosophy - Birmingham News

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 02:20 AM PST

TUSCALOOSA - When Mark Ingram stood at the podium in New York, clutching the Heisman Trophy and grinning through tears of elation, it was a historic moment for Alabama's football program.

But it was also a great story for this reason: Alabama has waited 75 years for a Heisman winner. Who would have thought it would be Ingram this year?

As proof, still affixed to walls of stores around Tuscaloosa is a small vertical poster with Alabama's 2009 football schedule. It's the kind that schools often print before a season and pass around town.

Pictures of six Crimson Tide players are featured. Predictably, five selections were popular returning starters: Nose tackle Terrence Cody, cornerback Javier Arenas, linebacker Rolando McClain, wide receiver Julio Jones, left guard Mike Johnson. The sixth was new quarterback Greg McElroy.

Nowhere on this poster is sophomore tailback Ingram. Six big names were picked in the preseason, and he wasn't one of them.

Honestly, it was understandable. At the time the poster was produced, Ingram was not a returning starter. Had Glen Coffee stayed for another season, he probably wouldn't be one this year either. With Coffee gone, Ingram would surely get more carries, but at the same time, senior Roy Upchurch was healthy again. Alabama was saying it wanted to get Terry Grant more involved. And there was a massive amount of buzz for freshmen Trent Richardson, a great deal of buzz for freshman Eddie Lacy and the knowledge that Alabama coach Nick Saban does not go out of his way to feature any one ball-carrier.

The media played it that way, to the point that Ingram got a tad bit flustered in his first media appearance during preseason camp. Why? Because all the first questions were about Richardson.

This was nothing against Ingram, really. Saban's media policies don't allow freshmen to interview, so I can assure you Coffee was asked plenty about Ingram at one point.

Ingram had some popularity in his own right. He ran hard. He rarely fumbled. Ultimately, though, much of his first-year credit went to the offensive line, and young Ingram remained something of an unknown. He came by way of Flint, Mich., which means he was way off a typical Alabama fans' radar from the start. What they knew was he didn't have lofty recruiting rankings like Richardson.

Alabama's coaches, however, were immediately impressed. Saban touted Ingram, an intelligent player who understood the game, almost from the first day and made him the Crimson Tide's backup tailback in 2008.

CONTINUED 1 | 2 Next

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Our News Philosophy - WBOY

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 08:14 PM PST

Home > Our News Philosophy

Our News Philosophy

WBOY-TV's vision is to be the No. 1 news resource for our viewers. Our mission is to report about our state and surrounding communities fairly, accurately and completely with the best informed and most professional news staff.

As professional journalists, we will:

  • Assure fair and balanced coverage of all perspectives.
  • Focus on meaningful stories that have an impact on our viewers' lives.
  • Seek background information and conduct research to present the most accurate and in-depth stories possible.
  • While examining the specific, offer a broader context.
  • Treat interviewees with respect.
  • Ask the tough, but fair question.
  • Report on what's good about our community, as well as expose wrongs.
  • Expect to be held accountable for producing fair and accurate reports.

In fulfilling our public trust to observe and report the news, WBOY-TV hopes to improve the quality of life for all those people who call this area home.

Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)