Brittany Waldrep

Archive for February, 2010

The folks who design what the industry tells us are “chicken heavens” are real virtuosos when it comes to manipulating the environment of the animals for maximum profit. When layer hen’s production begins to slacken, the producers do not just sit back and let her output wane. Not when they have found it possible to bolster her egg production by a procedure known in the trade as “force-moulting. The already panicked and exhausted hen will suddenly find herself plunged into complete darkness. The artificial lighth1g, which heretofore had been on for upwards of 17 hours a day, is now completely cut off, and at the same time her food and water are removed. After two days of starving without even water in the dark, the bircj, still without food or light, is allowed water. Eventually lighting and food will be returned to what passes for “normal.” Those hens who 51tvive this ingenious procedure will have been shocked into physiology processes associated, under natural conditions, with the seasonal lo of plumage and growth of fresh feathers. After the forced moulting, those hens who survive the ordeal may be sufficiently productive to be kept around for another two months. Then they join those who did not survive the procedure in the first place in our chicken soup.
Hopefully, the hen will have learned something from the days without food or water, because the farm managers certainly have. During her last 30 hours before slaughter she will again receive no food. A headline in Poultry Tribune reminded poultry producers to “Take Feed Away From Spent Hens.” The trade journal brilliantly calculated that food given to hens during the last 30 hours of their lives doesn’t have time to turn into flesh. It stays in the digestive system, and so, counsel the experts, is nothing but a waste of feed.

You have probably heard the magnificent trumpeting of roosters at daybreak, the passionate, flill-throated announcement that dawn has come. The sound with which they welcome the day testifies, not only to their proud and passionate spirits, but also to how sensitive chickens are to light. This is a fact that modem poultrymen know, and do not hesitate to exploit.
In the windowless warehouses we are asked to believe are “chicken heavens,” the artificial lighting is manipulated in the most unnatural ways to maximize profits and minimize costs. Broilers are often subjected to bright light 24 hours a day for the first two weeks. Then the lights may be dimmed slightly and go off and on every two hours.’° At about six weeks of age, the animals have gone so completely crazy from all this that the lights must be turned off completely in an attempt to calm them down. But even then the absence of any outlet whatsoever for the birds’ natural energies and drives leads to a great deal of fighting, with the de-beaked birds pecking painfully at each other in the dark, often managing despite the mutilation of their beaks to kill each other. It’s at times like this that farm managers will sometimes reveal the depth of their compassion for the animals in their care.
“It’s a damn shame when they kill each other. It means we wasted all the feed that went into the damn thing.” The lighting conditions for young layer hens (called “pullers”) are a little different from those provided for broilers, though not exactly what you’d call natural. These young are kept in “grow-out” buildings which are usually kept comPletely dark except for feeding times.” Then, when the young hens rach the age where they can begin to lay eggs, everything suddenly changes. Having lived their entire lives in complete darkness, excent for feeding times, the hens now find themselves subjected to harsh and continuous light.

A lot of people don’t know that in 1983 Bank of America bought Charles Schwab & Co. lock, stock, and broker, with my dad staying on as chairman and CEO. Within four years he had bought back his company. But in those first few months of being under the Bank of America corporate umbrella, Schwab employees were offered the option of purchasing shares of BofA stock commission-free. Fresh out of college and just having received my broker’s license—and never having actually placed a stock order for myself—I purchased two shares. Not two dozen shares or two hundred shares or two thousand shares. just two shares, which I still own. I always joked that while my dad was one of the largest Bank of America shareholders, I was the smallest. Still, eighteen years later, with the two shares that I bought for $44 now grown to almost $400, a tiny sliver of that BofA pie remains mine. Stocks (also referred to as equities) represent ownership. When you buy even a single share of stock, you’re actually buying a piece of that company. That’s what sets buying a stock apart from any other investment. Of course, this gives you not only the greatest opportunity for growth but also the greatest exposure to volatility if that company doesn’t perform well.
Depending on the company’s market value (the share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding), stocks are classified as either large-capitalization (the top 5% of companies, generally with market value greater than $8.2 billion), small-capitalization (the bottom 80% of companies, with market value less than $1.3 billion), or mid-capitalization (the 15% in between). Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Indexes are made up of mostly large-cap companies, with General Electric, and its more than $250 billion market cap, currently leading the herd. Though each category carries different levels of risk and reward, the object isn’t to choose one among them but to come up with a mix.
Other terms you’ll hear are growth and value styles. A growth stock is just what its name implies; its earnings (and usually its share price) are expected to grow rapidly. It pays negligible dividends because most of its profits are funneled right back into the company—to foster more growth. Growth investors are optimistic about the future of the firms in which they invest and are willing to pay a premium for this potential. This strategy has been most effective when new industries are developing and advancing, such as the rise of technology and biotechnology throughout the l990s.
A value stock is a different creature. Investors who take a value approach are looking for fundamentally strong companies whose share prices might be depressed for any number of short-term reasons. Because a company’s stock is believed to be underpriced, it is thought to represent good value. Value investors believe that, at some point in the future, the true value will emerge, the share price will increase, and they’ll profit from buying at a lower price today. Some value stocks also tend to pay higher dividends, which may help increase your overall return.

Many of us neglect to talk to our spouses, our parents, and or our children about investing because we feel uneasy about our own financial knowledge and skills. As we saw so clearly with Kate’s dad and even her siblings, that uncertainty—or fear—not only leads to avoiding the topic of discussion, it can also lead to avoiding investing altogether. Like anything else, however, once you break investing down into its basic components, it’s just not that complicated.
In this section I’ll introduce you to the world of investment vehicles—from stocks to bonds to mutual funds. As you begin to learn (and talk) about them, you’ll soon realize that each type of investment has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as its own risks and rewards. Just remember that a properly diversified— balanced—portfolio will include a mix of investments.
Once again this overview is directed primarily to beginning investors. If you’re a bit rusty, you may find it a useful review. Or if you’re encouraging a friend or family member to jump in, this could be a good place to start.