Real Tech Or Content Creators?

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To the editor:
It might be better if FANG stopped referring to so-called stocks as tech companies, but instead just content creators about railroads built on real technology (Tech Bill Po Coming, cover story, January 6).

Real technology still requires people to build and maintain an infrastructure of real goods and services, not ad-based entertainment for which few people have the time, interest or cash flow. Real technology needs engineers, not virtual engineers, and there are far fewer of them in the US than in Asia.

WE Buckout, at Barrons.com

To the editor:
Tech companies are taking full responsibility for their actions, but the feds have increased funding by 40%. This has created a situation where too many dollars have pushed too few goods. Tech companies appear to be hiring more workers in response to increased incentives.

Thomas Schiller, at Barrons.com

To the editor:
I note with interest that none of the tech companies that announced the layoffs mentioned in your article said their executives would cut their salaries, bonuses, or stock option awards to pre-center levels.

Myra Hershberg, Brick, New Jersey

Closure Risk

To the editor:
When I read Randall W. Forsyth's comment about tougher issues than casting 15 votes to elect Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, I thought, "Exactly!" I couldn't help but notice. ("Speaker Drama Next Market. Get Ready for Debt Tail Battle," Up & Down Wall Street, January 6). "Deficit reduction is going to be more of a concern going forward," Forsyth said, amid fears of a government shutdown at the end of the summer. As we try to free ourselves from the sword of Damocles that is the recession, do we really need to sharpen that blade?

Patty Duffy, great white, Michigan.

To the editor:
"Not raising the debt ceiling is like not paying your credit card bill after spending money," Forsyth said in an article about the upcoming budget battle. It's not true. These bank card bills can be paid from savings or income as an alternative of increasing the debt amount. Of course, in the case of the US government, there are no savings from past surpluses, so there is no such possibility.

But there is no need to drastically increase spending in every budget, as disposable income (called "taxes") and debt can be reduced to pay down the debt.

It is a mark of our common sense that these options are not even considered.

Elliot Miller, Naples, Florida.

It doesn't look like a sign.

To the editor:
OPEC is losing power to set oil prices. What it means for stocks” (January 5) Avi Saltman compares the aggressive release of strategic oil reserves to the behavior of a cartel that controls oil prices. But closing short-term prices with liquid stocks has no effect on the market. Instead, it delays the higher prices needed to encourage large capital investments that ultimately increase the flow of goods and lower prices.

Moreover, it is not at all a cartel to announce to the world the price of oil that must be covered in the short term by the products created due to the depletion of oil reserves. It's just a guess.

Bill Spinner, Kennebunkport, Maine

Not sure about ARK

To the editor:
Regarding "Kathy Wood of ARK is not retiring. She explains why” (Jan 6) Rather than benefiting from a creative investment from ARK, I'm convinced Cathy Wood's ancestry test will show shared DNA with PT Barnum.

Brad Norton, Westlake, Ohio

Reasonable price?

To the editor:
You can summarize this article ("If you want growth, post on quality stocks. How to get it" January 6) with the acronym GARP, which stands for growth at reasonable prices.

The critical question: Are the agreed revenue estimates realistic or should they be reduced? Also, are analysts behind the demand curve in a world where the cost of capital is zero? If analyst earnings estimates differ by only 10-20%, it is not a good value/earnings/growth or PEG stock and is not trading at fair value. Time will tell.

Nabil Estaphanous, su Barrons.com

users etc

To the editor:
Among the CES winners were hotel and casino companies in Las Vegas ("Electric Vehicles, Chips and Metaverse: What We Learned at CES This Year," TechTrader, January 6). Future events are expected to further increase travel to Las Vegas, including the Formula 1 race, the NCAA basketball tournament and the Super Bowl as early as 2024. Pay off Caesars Entertainment's debt and generate free cash flow, plus a strong presence in Las Vegas Strip. Online sports betting is expected to increase profits from 2023 onwards.

Joe Hamad, at Barrons.com

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