Can't see Chopin's cesareans any longer so I'm having to get my duty disappeared.
Sorry about that.
Eeeeh.
It's only yesterday that I got here that I got rich, and the size of these grass is sooo short.
good evening dear hearts and welcome to the show I'm Norman Johnson I would like for you
to meet my co-host both here and at home Lil Mays Johnson hi hello love that red dress
thank you that is neat thank you you have courage I know I know I do long time listeners
of the radio show you know Basin Bob Basin Bob Jimerson and we are glad to have him with
us well you know you just you know you came in off the street and said you know hey you
know I need a job and you said me and took me in and raised you the way I wanted to but
anyway we're glad to have you Bob helps me out here and there and yonder and I've always
said he's the real brains behind the show but of course most of you who listen to the
show know there's not a lot of brains involved in the right but anyway we're gonna start
out with the great Nacogdoches giveaway except we're gonna do it a little bit differently
tonight as you know every week we give away a prize from starving fabulous artists present
present now I guarantee you this is something you're gonna want to win so the number will
be on the screen throughout the show five six four eight three eight six and but just
for the fun of it we're not going to tell you what it is now I guarantee you when you
find out what it is you'll want one I'll even get me in especially the guys yes the guys
especially would like to have one but I don't know some women would too well yeah I guess
so yeah but we're not going to tell you what it is I will tell you that it is handcrafted
by pot Mercer very talented who made who made my world famous the world's largest mug tree
that I got for Christmas but we're not going to tell you what this is but call in because
you'll want it and I'm not trying to tease you this was Chris's idea but I'll tell you
what I'll do just to sweeten the pot okay the first person who calls in with the correct
answer as to what it is I will also throw in dinner for two at Capelli's restaurant
what a deal dinner for two at Capelli's now I get to win it is call in and we'll put your
name in the hopper and we'll have the drawing at the end of the show do you want to tell
them what it's not but if you're the if you're the first to call and tell us what it is in
addition to getting your name in the drawing for the end of the show I will also give you
dinner for two five six four eight three eight six right we want to say happy birthday to
a special lady yes LMA sleep Sheffield will be nine years old on Friday outstanding and
she is the proprietor of one of the best kept secrets in Nacogdoches and that is her little
black history museum on South Street she's ninety years old she's just like a part of
our family she's been involved with your family for years and years and years yes for generations
back their family were slaves when that was the thing and at that time they take on the
name of their their owners and they've seen the sleep name which is part of she is a sweetheart
of a really is now start calling five six four I need to tell you what's that you can go
by her museum Friday from five to seven and say happy birthday to her for you're doing
an open house it's on South Street I don't know the exact address but somebody can tell
you she'll be ninety years old she's one of the she's what I call a Nacogdoches treasure
yes and call during the break and get your name the hopper and if you tell me what it
is you get even more five six four eight three six we'll be right back and a couple of words
about Friday's breakfast club at Memorial Hospital first of all my guest breakfast club
will be Dr. Fleming ball we invite you to come out and visit with him and this week
only we will not be in the bright pavilion it is full of stuff we're going to be in
the cafeteria itself so if you come in the side entrance just walk through the pavilion
into the cafeteria we would love to have you and don't forget if you want to win our mystery
gift start calling right now five six four eight three eight six we just put your name
in the hopper and you've got a chance to win and when you find out what it is you'll want
to you may be the only one in town with one and if you call in with the correct answer
as to what it is first I will throw in dinner for two at Capelli's restaurant so we would
love to have you do that if you listen to News Talk 860 Monday through Friday at five
o'clock you hear an excellent financial program and I would like for you to meet the host
of that program from A. G. Edwards and son John Monford welcome to the show thank you
very much for having me no sir I have not nobody on the staff has figured out we've
had a lot of guesses as to what this is by the way Pot Mercer is not eligible to call
in and guess what it is if he's watching he might be watching but I wanted to have John
on and talk a little bit about the the world of finances because some really interesting
things are happening in finance right now and we'll talk a little bit more about that
later first of all we will find out a little bit about you still on the show in the afternoon
you never say anything about you you're from Houston I was born in Houston and I grew up
in Fort Worth and San Antonio and I spent my parents did let me put it to you that way
and we moved to San Antonio when I was about 12 years old and I pretty much grew up there
and your degree was from I attended Texas A&M University but I transferred to Syracuse
University and I received a bachelor's of science and finance from there and I also
have a master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio
and you were a little bitty boy sitting in the floor did you say I want to grow up to
be a broker never said that I want to be a broker but I was always interested in business
and in money I guess I was treasure of a number of organizations when I was in school and so
I guess it sort of came naturally and how did you come to be associated with AG Edwards?
I went to school in ROTC scholarship and after my four years commitment on active duty out
in El Paso I was interested in investments and in fact opening an AG Edwards brokerage
account there in El Paso after I left active duty and came to San Antonio I interviewed
with local AG Edwards office and I was fortunate enough to be hired and that was about 17 and
a half years ago.
So it may be a take huh?
That's right.
John gave me some material to read before the show and I learned a lot about the company
you're with.
First of all it is a very respected organization.
I'm very proud of that.
A firm of its kind?
Yes two national magazines recently did surveys and both of those magazines came to the same
conclusion and they ranked AG Edwards as the best full service brokerage firm in the United
States.
You might go over some of the categories that the particular article that I read is called
Rating the Brokers.
This is in Smart Money magazine.
Some of the different categories that they used to rank an organization.
There was a total of ten different categories that they ranked the brokerage firms in and
of those categories AG Edwards came in first in five of those particular categories.
Our overall ranking was 1.8 which was significantly higher than the number two place brokerage
firm so we were very proud of that.
Some of the ones that they discussed was of course commission and fees although that wasn't
the most important one.
We did rank tops in that as far as having low commissions and low fees for a full service
brokerage firm.
Other categories were arbitration, keeping out of trouble, securities research and different
types of products that are available including what we call initial public offerings and
underwritings.
Like I said I learned a lot just about the way brokerage firms work and we might talk
a little bit here in this first segment about how you choose a firm.
I guess it's like going anywhere else, you shop around, it's like you would probably
for an automobile or a home but what do you look for when you choose a brokerage firm?
I think most investors when they look and try to determine what firm best suits them
as they'll probably talk to other people especially their acquaintances that might
be using one of the brokerage firms and find out how satisfied they are with that particular
firm.
But I would encourage anyone to go around to the different firms that are available
and just talk with one or more of the brokers there in the office and see if you feel comfortable
with what they would be recommending and the things that they would have to offer you.
Would a small investor choose a different type firm from a large investor?
Sometimes that is appropriate but it's again more I think appropriate to talk with that
individual broker and make sure that you have a comfort factor with him or her and that
you are comfortable enough with the products that they have to offer that even as you are
a small investor now you hope at some particular point to be a large investor in the future
and hopefully that broker will be able to help you along the lines.
It's almost like a doctor-patient relationship, I mean you've got to have a lot of trust haven't you?
You very much do have to have a trust and this is very much a trust game because people
should not just hand over their money to anyone, they should do some homework and investigate
both the firm and the broker and I would highly encourage that and I think the best way to
do that is to talk to people who are familiar with that company, who have invested with
that company and feel comfortable with them.
This is one of those shows I wish we had about three times as much time for tonight because
to me some fascinating things are happening in the world of finance and in the economy
generally let's say we've hit record highs on the Dow what four times this year already?
Yes, pretty much almost every trading session has been a new record high and the Dow right
now is sitting around 38, 48 and we've had over the last couple of days the market has
been down somewhat but pretty much record highs going into 1994.
But it has not been down anything like it has gained I think about 15 points yesterday
and a couple of points today so that's pretty good.
Would you say that there are some very positive signs in the economy?
If you look at new home construction, if you look at automobile sales, automobile stocks
look good right now, employment figures are we coming out of it?
I think we've been in a general expansion since 1991.
I would sort of call this the last of the Bush era if you will as far as the economy
right now.
AG Edwards expects the gross national product in this last quarter of 1993 to be up approximately
four and a half percent.
We expect going into 1994 that we're going to see GNP or GDP growth approaching about
three percent so we're looking for a slowdown coming up but in general we still feel like
we're in expansion phase of the economy.
You still have time to call in on the price tonight, five, six, four, eight, three, eight,
six and we'll be right back.
Well, surprise, surprise, John and Diana Shaquille are going to be enjoying Dinner for Two at
Capellis and not only that but she will have her name in the hopper.
It's been a long time since she's won anything, not to get into work, but she's won Dinner
for Two already, stands a chance of winning this cap holder.
That neat pot-mercer made this, you hang it on the wall and just come in and put your
caps on it.
We have an official Lady Jack cap to put on it.
You'd be surprised what some of the guesses were that we had tonight.
In fact, one of our crew here, Edward, but he thought you were supposed to wear caps
on your head, I mean, you know, but now you know what it is, you've still got a chance
to win it, five, six, four, eight, three, eight, six, it can be yours.
I think that is neat.
I like that.
I want it.
I like everything that Pot does.
I've got to have him on the show sometime.
John Monford is with me.
We are talking about money and how much of it we're going to have in the coming months
and years.
We've said we've already set four record highs in the first 12 days of the year.
Most of the economy looks pretty healthy, pretty sound.
Retail is looking good.
People are using credit cards more.
Credit card use over this Christmas shopping season went way up according to all statistics.
I'm concerned about this real rapid growth.
I mean, when you think in 12 days the market set four record highs, do you worry about
a fall?
I always worry about a fall, but we still look like most everything as far as the stock
market is concerned is very, very positive.
I think the key is the inflation rate.
When we had inflation figures today that looked very, very attractive, A.G. Edwards feels
like the inflation rate for 1994 will be pretty much the same as approximately 3 percent,
and that will be conducive to keeping interest rates relatively low.
Although we do look for a little bit of an uptick, maybe a half a point on the long
treasury bond and also maybe another half a point or so on short-term rates also, that's
something.
You're going to have to go up a little bit, aren't they?
I mean, you can't just stay down forever.
Well, actually, if you take a look at past interest rates, especially as measured by
the U.S. Treasury market, we are in a period of normal interest rates if you go back as
long as 150 years.
Most people remember the big spike-up in rates that we had in the early 1980s when inflation
got out of control, and everybody sort of worries about that, and they should, but we
don't think that was very much an aberration and it's not necessarily where we're going
back to.
But we could see an increase of approximately half a percent before things start tailing
off again towards the middle to latter part of next year, or this year, excuse me.
What should people be looking for right now in the economy to get an idea of what's happening,
whether we're doing good or bad?
Well, there's a couple of different places that I would look.
First of all, I'd keep track of the inflation figures.
I think that will be an indication that the economy is heating up too much and will not
perhaps be able to be sustained.
As long as the inflation figures remain under control, I think we're in pretty good shape.
Another thing is employment.
I think we need to make some progress there as far as creation of new jobs, and then also
take a look at the exports, because much of our manufacturing economy especially is key
to the export markets, and I think that remains crucial, and I was happy to see the free trade
pass as it has.
That's probably going to do more than anything that we've done in a long time for exports.
For over the long term, I think that is correct.
Over the short term, we might see some dislocations and actually see it hurting a little bit,
but over the long term, I think it's extremely positive for the United States economy.
It's amazing how many factors are affected, how many areas of industry are affected by
the free trade agreement, for example, in agriculture, Rick Perry, our commissioner of
agriculture, tells me that it's going to be almost a boom for Texas agriculture.
I was reading a trade magazine today from the Texas Film Commission that tries to recruit
filmmakers to come into Texas and make movies, and they say that NAFTA is going to help that
industry, so that's a positive.
If you were advising the economists in Washington, the people who work within government, what
advice would you say, or would you have for them?
I would say the main thing is that for the United States to be successful, or the economy
to be successful, it's extremely important, I think, for government to try to stay out
of as much as possible.
I would say that I'd be very careful as far as the increasing of taxes, for instance.
Regulation is another important area that the government typically does that could put
governors on growth, and if we don't have the growth associated with the economy to
increase the rate of tax revenues that we have to support our social structures, our
social welfare programs, and things like this, we're going to have a situation where everybody
is going to be fighting for a shrinking piece of the pie, rather than participating in an
increasing pie, and I think that is very crucial to the United States and also the world.
Our stocks are hot right now.
I don't mean specific stocks, but I mean in areas like, automobiles are doing good.
I know that suddenly.
If anybody had told us that a year ago, it probably said they were crazy, but they're
suddenly doing good.
What about health care-related stocks?
A.G. Edwards thinks that health care is one of the more attractive areas for investment
in 1994.
1992 and 1993 have both been bad years for the health industry, especially towards pharmaceutical
drugs and those type of securities, so A.G. Edwards is very positive on the health-related
industries in 1994.
The general population of the United States is getting older and requires more medical
care, and I think that is very, very positive, not only on the short term, because the stocks
have been sort of beaten down, if you will, but also, of course, over the longer term.
We're out of time.
I would just maybe a yes or no, I would imagine telecommunications is hot right now, too.
Telecommunications is extremely important for the economy of the United States and I
think will be an excellent investment vehicle for the future.
Okay, John Monford with A.G. Edwards, again, you can hear his financial report every afternoon
at five on News Talk 860, KSFA, and we feel very fortunate to have him.
And if you will stay with us another minute and a half when we come back, somebody is
going to win our cap holder from starving fabulous artists present presents right after
this.
All right, now come on, Chris, I mean, any fool knows that you come in and you hang
the cap like that, right?
Rome.
That's not the way you do it.
How do you do it?
You put it in here, and this way you can put more than one.
See, you can get a lot of them in there that way.
Well, see, she wouldn't tell me what it was either, and much less how to use it, so that's
the way it goes.
Well, you can put more than three cap, somebody's very like, I'd like you to meet some guests.
If you saw the Christmas special that we did at the mall, this is my late son, Jason.
I say that because he's always late.
He was late for that show.
We got there in the last few seconds.
He had a flat tire.
He had a flat tire.
Yeah.
Dundee Donna.
This is his friend Donna Strickland, and Donna is so pretty and so nice.
We thought we'd let her do the drawing tonight.
Do that.
Reach in there, and just pull out a name, and read it out, and we'll find out who wins
the cap holder in which the caps go like this.
Okay.
Libby's that.
Libby.
Libby.
All right.
And that's exactly what she needs, you know, and she will be coming in, by the way, you
can only pick it up Saturday from 10 to 2 at Starving Fabulous Artists Present Presents.
And we had a good show tonight.
I like that.
Good show.
And we thank everybody for being with us, and congratulations, Libby.
This is something that will be an heirloom that you'll want to pass down.
Generation to generation.
Chris was enjoying watching me try to figure it out, huh?
Chris was enjoying it.
I guess I'll hear about this tomorrow.
I will.
I'm sure the rest of the world will.
I would like to thank John Motford for stopping in, and we'll have John on more frequently,
because we just barely got to scratch the surface tonight, and there's a lot of interesting
things happening in the world of finance.
Jason, you going to ride in the bull bash?
Hopefully.
You know why my hair is gray.
Jason's a bull rider.
You're a what?
You're a barrel raiser?
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
A smart girl, and she's going to go a long way.
Hey, we're out of here, see you tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. on the radio.
It's your house, there are some.
