Articles by Eric Mason
The Christianity Today Book Awards
Our picks for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture. One of the great pleasures of our work at Christianity Today is getting to spend so much time with books-with the scholarly discoveries, impassioned arguments, and pastoral encouragements shaping evangelical intellectual life today. Every year, we honor a small subset of these books in our annual CT Book Awards. Publishers submit books for consideration in one or several of our categories.
Bonds are the key to reining in runaway municipal pension plans
In what is the product of the sustained low-rate environment, many municipalities are considering addressing their pension position through bonds. This should be encouraged by policymakers and explored by pension systems. Bond markets are offering municipalities the opportunity to exchange discount rates of 6, 7 and sometimes even 8 percent for bonds with yields below 3 percent. The spread between the discount rate and the bond yield is the root of the appeal of pension obligation bonds.
帶我們回家
閱讀：以賽亞書12:2-6；52:7-10，西番雅書3:14-20 聽到家這個字，你會想到什麼？對某些人來說，這個詞會喚起創傷的記憶。其他人則對他們家庭的概念和記憶模稜兩可。有些人渴望離家出走。其他人從未體會過家庭的舒適。當然，也有很多人非常熱愛他們的家，迫不及待地想回家。許多人甚至把自己看作是“宅男宅女”。 渴望家——渴望一個我們屬於的地方，是人類境遇的一部分。我們渴望有一個可以做自己的地方，在那裡我們被了解也被疼愛；在那裡我們會感到我們終於回家了。家應該是一個寧靜之地，在那裡人卸下防備，安然居住。家是安全港灣。歸根到底，從某種意義上說，我們所有人都渴望成為宅男宅女——不再經歷疏離與分生。...
Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling Reveals Nonlinear Airway Stress during Trachea Development
Normative trachea dimensions and aerodynamic information during development was collected to establish clinical benchmarks and showed that airway development seems to outpace respiratory demands. Infants and toddlers' trachea exhibit higher aerodynamic stress that significantly decreases by teenage years. This implies large airway pathology in younger children may have a more substantial clinical impact.
Vehicle Data Shows Revving Up Economy
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Large Banks Have Been Building Up Toxic Assets, But There Is A Light
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The High-Quality Bond Market Breaking From Binary
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How Technology Can Help You Find and “Own” Your Own Guests?
I get questions all the time, practically every day from Hoteliers, Airbnb Hosts, Property Owners, and Vacation Rental Property Managers about how they can find guests using other means than Google and OTA's. It's been challenging to find would-be-guests given the noise and marketing spend of the "big guys". In recent years and months, there have been several companies that have launched to deliver greater capabilities in identifying would-be-guests and compelling them to book directly.
Pepsi Vs. Coke: Two Tastes For Two Different Investors
Pepsi (NYSE:PEP) is a considerably better investment than Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) at its current price. Both offer uniquely different expectations, despite similar growth in 2017. An investment in Pepsi should not be on the expectations that it will experience a quick positive correction. It should instead be based on the knowledge that the long-run growth trend of Pepsi has been a freight train of consistency and stability, and there is no current data suggesting that trend will end soon.
2017, So Far, Has Been A Great Year For Non-Durable Good Consumption
The purchasing of non-durable goods has climbed to an all-time high, and that is a great sign for the economy. Non-durable goods are anything that is purchased and consumed in the short term. This includes such things as food, gasoline, and toilet paper. Basically, if the good is only around for a short time, less than a year, before being completely consumed, it is a non-durable good.
U.S. Consumers Are Buying More Durable Goods
Some of the best measures of how the economy is doing involve looking at if consumers are making large purchases. We normally reference house sales and car sales when talking about big ticket purchases; those are great indicators, and we’re not here to talk about usurping the royal couple of big purchase indices. We are going to discuss another macro economic indicator that investor should follow to track consumer confidence and general economic health.
Auto Sales Have Fallen Faster In 2017 Than Any Time Since The End Of The Recession
Car sales are a great indicator of the state of the economy and an especially strong proxy for consumer confidence. Outside of their home, an automobile is the most expensive item a consumer owns. If more cars are being consumed, the greater confidence consumers must have in the stability and growth of their future income. Over the last several quarters, we have seen a decline in automobile sales.
Major Banking Economic Indicators Show Strong And Stable Banking Environment; 3 Indicators All Investors Should Be Following
The U.S. banking sector is not just the largest it has ever been, but it may also be the strongest it has ever been. Banking is the single most important aspect of economic and financial health. Weakening banks mean a weakening economy. If Slow Growth has taught us anything it is that without investment economies cannot grow. That is why it is important following the health of the U.S. banking system, not that I need to convince investors of that point.
Second Quarter Financials Show AZZ Inc. Is At An Impasse
On the July 6, 2017, earnings report date, AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ) fell 16.34% below the market consensus on earnings per share. The company posted an EPS of $0.51, well below the projected $0.61. Though earnings per share is not the end all be all for a company, despite falling below the projected EPS, there is some good news found in an examination of their financial statements. In short, don’t dump AZZ Inc. just yet.
Facebook: Stable And Marching Higher In The Long Haul
Facebook Inc. (NasdaqGS: FB) had a rough IPO. In fact an investor that bought Facebook the day of its IPO had to wait about 15 months before they saw the largest social media site in the world’s share value go green. Since then, it has not dipped below its initial price and has been an absolute powerhouse. It holds the distinction of being the only social media company to be in the top 20 stocks held in institutional funds.
Why Wells Fargo And JPMorgan Chase Are For Seasoned Bulls And Skittish Bears
As the Dow nears the 22,000 mark, and the market hums with healthy earnings and increased consumer confidence, I thought it would be appropriate to look at how the two most commonly held banking and financial service stocks demand and health are looking. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) are two cornerstone, high dividend yielding, stocks. I can’t sell you if you already own them, or if you’re defiant on not holding them.
Investors Should Have Visa Or Mastercard (Or Better, Both) In Their Portfolio
Over the last couple months, the market has climbed to, and stabilized, at an all-time high. As whenever the market reaches a stabilized period after a new record high, voices in the bearish camp grow louder and speak with more frequency. While investors should consider the arguments from both the bullish and bearish campers, there are two positions the pessimistic and optimistic investor should long: Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) and Visa Inc. (NYSE:V).
Athenahealth, Even After The Monster Beat, Is Worth The Buy
When a company with a market cap over $6 billion operates in one of the most mature and complicated industries beats on earnings per share, investors should take notice; when a company beats the market consensus by 300%, investors should move. Athenahealth, Inc (NASDAQ:ATH) went into their Thursday night conference call with loud murmurs of a pending beat, but even the optimistic investor was shocked when they reported an earnings per shares of $0.28. The consensus was $0.07.
Airbus: The Better Boeing Alternitive
With their second quarter earnings reported on July, 11th 2017, accompanied by a small beat in expected earnings per shares, Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF, OTCPK:EADSY) is a solid buy at its current sub $40 price. Airbus beat earnings per share by about 2.3%, coming in at $0.44 from the market consensus of $0.43. While beating EPS by a penny is usually nothing to move the needle of the investor not already watching or longing a stock, Airbus’s financial statements had a lot of positive news in it.
Consolidated-Tomoka: Strong Management, Massive Earnings Beat, Still Major Upside
Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE: CTO), a commercial real estate holding company, is riding high after beating the market consensus on earnings per share by over 150%, posting a second quarter EPS of $0.67 while the consensus sat at around $0.25. While strong earnings can sometimes lead to a stock being temporarily overpriced, Consolidated-Tomoka is still has value at this price.
Who Stands To Gain The Most From Oil's Rise In Price?
As oil approaches its consensus floor for price per barrel, the next move can only be upwards. To take advantage of this pending uptick, which of the major oil sector firms offers the best growth relative to the price of oil? This article will help shine some light on which stock is the best pick for gains. This approach is based on historical monthly data starting in December of 1987 and ending in June of 2017. The reason monthly data was used instead of weekly or daily is twofold.
ConocoPhillips Is A Solid Buy
As oil begins to bottom out, it can be advantageous for investors to examine how petroleum firms will react. Modeling shows ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) has potential to carry gains from the oil sector. Using a pairs trading modeling with Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), autoregressive modeling, and a comparison with the index for the production of automotive gasoline, a strong econometric case for going long in ConocoPhillips can be presented.
T-Mobile is flirting with a Bubble
Over the last five years, T-Mobile US, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TMUS) share price has grown by 366%, the fastest growing stock price of any of the five largest firms, ranked by subscribers. T-Mobile grew 273.17 times faster than AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and 2.73 times faster than Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S). The two remaining companies in the top five, Verizon Communication Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE: USM), saw their share value decline in the previous five years.
Is MasterCard's Growth Real?
When analyzing a stock's value it is difficult to decipher whether recent past gains are from real valuation increase or from demand bubbles. Demand bubbles are especially problematic when investing in individual companies because the bubbles tend to be able to hide in overall sector growth. The "hiding" characteristics of bubbling can make risk averse investors wary of investing in a stock that has seen dramatic recent growth. MasterCard has shown signs that may indicate a bubbling.
When you’re in charge of testing in a Colorado school district and your daughter wants to opt out
Seniors at Fairview High School in Boulder protest state tests last fall, a precursor to PARCC backlash (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/ The Denver Post) Our First Person feature spotlights the voices of people on the front lines of the critical education issues facing Colorado. This latest installment is from Eric Mason, director of assessment for Colorado Springs School District 11. If you ‘d like to contribute to First Person, here are the details.
Good Grief: The gospel, race, and our experiences
I haven’t spoken on race much since I’ve been a pastor. But like the great songwriter said, “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” (Ecc. 3:7 ESV) Now is a time to speak. I grew up in an environment in the post-civil rights era when every message from the pulpit was racially charged.
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