Weekly Market Report – December 22, 2022

Dec 22, 2022 | 0 comments

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Restaurant & Retail Updates

Caniglia’s a Mano held a grand opening earlier this week for its new location at 11425 South 72nd Street in Papillion, just north of Shadow Lake Towne Center. The new space is twice the size of the restaurant’s previous space at 13178 Lincoln Road. Caniglia’s a Mano is a pizza-and-pub restaurant serving authentic Sicilian family recipes.

Cup and Cone Bennington, a new coffee and ice cream shop, plans to open soon at 15420 South 2nd Street in downtown Bennington.

Calleyjon Del Cafe (“Coffee Alley”) plans to open in the Place 72 center near 72nd & Harrison Street, according to The Lerner Company. The coffee shop will take over a 2,400 sq. ft. fitness space. The opening date has not been announced.

Kamp Concessions has opened in the Kamp Blackstone food hall at 3618 Farnam Street. Concessions joins Single Double, a burger joint, and a bar, which opened earlier. Another concept is coming in 2023. Kamp operates inside the former Switch Food Hall space.

Ragstock has opened its first Nebraska store at Westroads Mall on the first level near Von Maur. Founded in Minneapolis in 1954, Ragstock is one of America’s longest-running retailers of vintage and recycled clothing. Ragstock also carries new clothing and accessories online and in its 42 retail locations in 10 states.

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The “Restaurant & Retail Updates” section is sponsored by Anderson Convenience Market, featuring Quality AMOCO Fuels and serving Omaha since 1952, and proud to announce the return of Quality Amoco Fuels. Look for changes this Summer at Anderson Convenience Market – 8 Omaha area locations!

Learn more about Anderson Convenience market at www.Anderson1952.com

Grow Omaha Eats with
Sarah Baker Hansen

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My top five reviewed restaurants of 2022 (and five more favorites, for good measure)

By Sarah Baker Hansen

It has been a real pleasure to return to restaurant reviewing this year. I knew I missed it; what I didn’t realize was just how much. As we close out 2022 — a year that has been personally challenging for me on many levels — I just want to say a quick word of thanks to the Grow Omaha team for the opportunity, and to all of you, for still caring about what I think and reading the words I write about food in Omaha every other week.

This time around, I decided to write about my favorite five restaurants I reviewed this year, and throw in five more that while I didn’t review, I deeply enjoyed — one I tried for the first time just a few days ago.

Finally, before we get to the list, thank you to all the chefs and service industry workers who continue to feed us, often with care and kindness. See you in 2023.

My top five restaurants reviewed in 2022:

Koji, 8718 Pacific St.

I knew that Koji was going to be the first restaurant I reviewed, and it was a warm welcome back. It continues to be one of my favorite new spots of the year, and since the review came out, I’ve been back many more times. The menu continues to grow and expand. It continues to be adventurous. Chef David Utterback continues to introduce Omaha to Japanese skewered and barbecued meats and seafood, and is just doing it so incredibly well.

Our lineup of favorites included a juicy chicken breast coated in a flavorful green curry; a smoky, crisp chicken meatball with a tender center and crispy exterior served with an unusual cold egg yolk-based sauce; and the chicken belly, off the limited menu. There’s also a long list of delicious small plates and a second list of sushi rolls diners will be more familiar with, whether they have visited Yoshitomo or not.

Utterback is savvy enough to understand that the way one introduces diners to new foods is by wrapping those more unfamiliar experiences inside what’s already comfortable. He’s doing that heavy lifting with the menu at Koji.

I, for one, am grateful. More than ever, this is what our city’s food scene needs.

Khao Niao, 15505 Ruggles St.

After my review of Khao Niao came out earlier this year, I heard from the owners, who were absolutely thrilled at how many Omahans had found their way into their west Omaha Thai-Lao restaurant. That, my friends, is one of the reasons this whole thing can be super fun. I really liked the restaurant’s Pad Kee Mao, or drunken noodles. The noodles here are almost like Italian handkerchief pasta: big sheets of broad rice noodles that tumble through the sauce and delicately fold over each other on the plate. They are so good I ate much more than I planned on, that’s for sure.

I ordered my dish with tofu — diners choose from the usual protein lineup of pork, beef, chicken, shrimp or tofu — and the pleasing squares of tofu here are extra crispy and browned. The rest of the dish is stacked with crisp carrots, scrambled egg and fresh herbs.

Almost all the sauces are homemade, and across the board, we liked their noodles, curries and homemade crab rangoon. If you haven’t been there yet, add it to your list for 2023.

Hacienda Real, 425 N. 78th St.

Hacienda Real is just a fun place to eat. Almost everything we tried during our visits earlier this year was colorful, flavorful and, in some cases, served so searingly hot you had to wait a beat before taking a bite.

Every diner begins their experience with a basket of warm tortilla chips (yes, refills are free) along with a complimentary side of dark red, thin salsa and a warmed, creamy refried bean dip, which I liked quite a bit, too. Try a dip of both on the same chip.

I’d spotted the moleajete de mariscos on our first visit to Hacienda Real and, in an adventurous mood, decided to order it. At $24.99, it’s one of the most expensive dishes on the menu, and here’s why: it’s a sizzling pile of shrimp, octopus, crab legs, tilapia and clams along with a variety of vegetables all served in an oversized Mexican mortar made of lava stone.

I had to wait a solid minute before digging into the bubbling hot dish, but once I did I found seafood nicely seasoned and well cooked. One note of caution if you do order this dish: take the seafood out of the moleajete once you start eating, otherwise, it gets overcooked as you get deeper into the bowl. I’d also recommend Hacienda Real add a seafood cracker to the lineup of utensils they provide, as crab legs are a chore to eat without one.

I like Hacienda Real. It’s a place I think could fill the hole left by the recent closing of Rivera’s, another of my Omaha favorite Mexican spots.

Anna’s Place, 1802 Dodge St.

When I heard that James Beard semifinalist Jill Cockson was opening her first Omaha concept, I knew I had to make a special exception and do a cocktail bar review.

Anna’s Place, the bar she opened with co-owner Devon Mundt, is decidedly a bar for cocktail-loving grown ups. There are no wines, no shots, no list of craft beers and no snacks, unless you count an edible cocktail garnish or two. And while the owners can make you any classic drink you might desire, I’d advise, after visiting several of Cockson’s other bars, to stick to the list; we didn’t encounter a single disappointing sip during our recent visits.

The Anna Wilson, one of the “Soiled Dove Auld Fashioneds,” is the first drink on the menu, and it’s served with drama: it arrives at the table in a Venus de Milo shaped vessel modeled after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Uncork the top and smoke curls out; scented with Frankincense and lavender, it flavors the drink, which gets poured over a fat square of ice in the accompanying rocks glass, that ice topped with a slice of dehydrated apple (another night, I had it topped with an orange, as its pictured here.)

Made with apple brandy, rye whiskey, honey syrup and Angostura bitters, the ingredients are simple but balanced, and the gentle smoky element pushes that flavor beyond the ordinary, invading both your nose and your palette as you sip.

I can’t stop thinking about how the Underworld Exorcism looks under the bar’s red lights. A twist on the Aviation, one of my favorite cocktails, it’s made with botanical gin, violet and herbal liquors, fresh lemon and a house made hibiscus-Cubeb pepper syrup; the Indonesian pepper has a slightly bitter aromatic similar to allspice. It’s delicious, complex and layered but still approachable. But what really sticks in my head is its garnish, a candied hibiscus flower, that sits atop the drink, pricked by a spear. Under the red lights, it eerily but also sort of beautifully resembles an anatomic human heart.

Virtuoso Pizzeria by David Losole, 6056 Maple St.

It had been a while since I’d returned to Virtuoso, and the first night, we ordered just one thing: a 16-inch New Yorker pizza. If you order just one thing at this Benson pizza joint, make it this.

The crust is downright delicious, with a thicker profile than a Neapolitan style pizza, but still relatively thin all around — especially when compared to the thick Sicilian-style grandma pie that Losole now has on the menu.

The edge of the pie, colored to a beautiful hue of golden brown, has the right combination of crisp and chew that makes you want to put away slice after slice.

Losole lays down a thin layer of acidic tomato sauce and then any variety of flavorful, high-quality toppings. The New Yorker involves rounds of pepperoni stacked under ovals of sliced, house made Italian sausage, the meat nestled between a layer of mozzarella below and dollops of melted Burrata cheese on top. It’s incredibly rich, punctuated with the heat of pepperoni, the spice of sausage and the creamines of cheese. The crust holds up miraculously under such weight, never getting soggy.

I love Chicago beef, and Virtuoso’s is among the best Italian beef sandwiches anywhere in Omaha, no contest. I wrote in my notes “swoon worthy,” and I stand by that dramatic estimation.

The beef, seasoned with garlic and a house-made rub, is served medium rare, topped with a crisp and spicy house made giardiniera and a layer of hot melted cheese. We got ours dipped in the beef jus, and the roll absorbed that flavor, becoming slightly soft while also staying partially crisp. It’s a textural wonder.

Needless to say, Virtuoso has aged well, and remains one of the city’s best pizza spots, hands down.

And five more places I loved this year:

La Buvette, 511 S. 11th St.

If you’re asking “has there been a year that hasn’t gone by where Sarah loved La Buvette?” the answer is no. But I’ve learned to love it even more, somehow. It got us through Covid times with many layers and heaters on its patio, along with steaming bowls of whatever hot, savory dish was on the menu that night. It got us through the re-entry into the outside world, full of familiar faces and cheese plates. It got us through the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway weekend with wit and “Buvette Shareholder” passes. And it’s where I will usher out this year and into the next, surrounded by friends and certainly by good food and wine.

The Boiler Room, 1110 Jones St.

For most people, the sign of an excellent meal is probably a photo of every dish on their phone. For me? It’s the opposite. Often, the food this year at The Boiler Room has been so good that I’ve completely forgotten to take a single photo, a sure sign that it’s really, really good. The cocktail program, too, is still on point, and the Hansens have added the Boiler Room bar as a nightcap spot back to our regular rotation. I suggest you do the same.

Yoshitomo, 6011 Maple St.

I know I’ve already got Koji at the top of this list, but I would be remiss if I did not recap some of the best meals I’ve had this year, at its sister restaurant in Benson. I’ve taken so many out-of-town friends to Yoshitomo this year, and they’ve left impressed. We’ve even taken our 10-year-old niece to Yoshi, who had her first try of crab rice and crab rangoon rolls (I think she mostly liked it, too.) During my last visit, I realized that the restaurant has quietly doubled the size of its dining room (and moved its door a bit to the west.) I can’t wait to welcome 2023 with my first dinner at Ota, Utterback’s new private dining counter where he serves his singular omakase experience.

Dante, 16901 Wright Plaza

This summer, I had one of the more memorable meals of my year at Dante, on their patio. Each bite — hyper seasonal, hyper local, super delicious — reinforced the restaurant’s ethos. Chef Drew Statz builds off what chef and owner Nick Strawhecker built in a wonderful way. The pizzas and pastas at the core of the menu are still top-notch, but the seasonal small plates seem to be getting better and better. I’ll be back in ‘23, that’s for sure.

Single Double, inside Kamp, 3618 Farnam St.

I ate at Single Double, one of the new restaurants inside the reimagined Kamp food hall in Blackstone, just a couple of days ago. The latest burger from the mind of Kristina Lee — founder and creative mind behind Nice Rollz — is simply outstanding. Imagine if the Nice Rollz Spicy Bulgogi Burger (which many of us know and already love) got reinvented as if it came from Shake Shack, and that’s where we’re headed. Only two concepts are open thus far, Single Double and Concessions, which opened quietly this week, but Angel Wingz is coming soon, Lee said. After that, Nice Rollz will return, sometime in early 2023, in its new permanent space. If that’s not something to look forward to, I don’t know what is.

Grow Omaha Eats with Sarah Baker Hansen is sponsored by Cheer Athletics, one of the largest and most respected All-Star cheerleading programs in the United States. The Omaha location is at 14620 Gold Coast Road, near Highway 370 and 144th Street. Learn more HERE!

The Big Story

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Rendering provided by TACKarchitects courtesy of CSI

$46 Million Expansion Planned at Child Saving Institute’s Midtown Campus

The Child Saving Institute plans to nearly double the size of its Midtown building near Dodge Street & Saddle Creek Road.

The organization has a rich 130-year history in the community of providing hope and healing to local children and families.

CSI originated in 1892 and was first known as an orphanage to safely house infants that needed a home, later becoming Omaha’s leader in infant adoption and pioneer of early childhood education locally.

Today, the organization has evolved to meet the changing needs of the community—continuously providing hope and healing across its 15 programs to more than 2,500 children and families each year. From foster care to mental health services, early childhood education to an emergency shelter, CSI works to help children and families heal, grow and find hope for the future.

Now CSI is looking to enhance the future of care in Omaha as it plans to expand its services and physical footprint by launching a $46 million capital campaign known as “Campaign for Hope.”

CSI has evaluated the evolving needs of local children and families including the rapidly growing need for pediatric and adolescent therapy, an expanded emergency shelter, supportive early education services and additional access to high-quality early childhood education.

To expand these services, CSI will nearly double its physical building space centrally located at 45th & Dodge Street. This two-year project will allow for an on-site mental health clinic to be added to the facility, a newly built emergency shelter housing 16 beds for youth, four additional early childhood education classrooms with a STEAM classroom, and innovative treatment childcare classrooms added within its early childhood education center to address the needs of preschoolers unable to attend traditional school environments.

In the past six years, CSI has doubled the size of its mental health services program to meet the growing needs of the Omaha community. Yet, CSI has a waitlist of over 150 children and youth waiting to receive imperative therapy and medication management services. A purposefully designed mental health clinic providing therapeutic space that is conducive to address trauma, promote safety and allow for healing is critical for Omaha’s young population.

CSI’s current emergency shelter was originally built for young children, but the older teens who live there today have very different needs. The new emergency shelter will add robust educational services, a physical activity space and allow for youth to have their own bedrooms—all of which are essential to a youth’s successful physical, emotional and mental health.

The project directly addresses the growing needs of the community, while also enhancing the day-to-day experiences of children, families and staff members at the organization. CSI has hired Kiewit to serve as the contractor and TACKarchitects to design the facilities.

“CSI is excited to be closing out yet another year with hope. Hope for all children and families living in Omaha despite their current or past circumstances. Together, we truly can build a stronger community. However, we can only do this work with the support of those around us. Thank you for the decades of past support, and we look forward to moving into the future together,” said Jaymes Sime, CSI President & CEO.

This section is sponsored by TR Construction. With over 25 years of commercial concrete construction experience, TR Construction has expertise with projects large and small to include commercial building concrete, footings, paving, remove and replacement of concrete, industrial projects, and special projects for clients. TR Construction can deliver Concrete Excellence on your next project. Learn more HERE!

Grow Omaha Snippets

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The late Joe Williams has donated $20 million to the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy. The gift allows the college to endow its deanship; to endow a student scholarship fund and funds for faculty support which include available matching dollars to spur even more giving from the college’s supporters; it includes funds to further develop the UNMC Center for Drug Discovery; and provides unrestricted dollars which the college will use to bring its strategic initiatives to life. A UNMC alumnus, Williams died in March 2021.

Forever North Real Estate, LLC is planning to redevelop a vacant, 2.87-acre parcel on the northeast corner of 24th & Lake Street. Plans call for a 4-story, mixed-use building with street-level retail space plus office and multi-family uses on the upper floors.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report on Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) for all metro areas in the country. GMP is just like Gross Domestic Product but instead of measuring the economic output of an entire country, it considers the production of a metro area.

The eight-county Omaha Metropolitan Statistical Area came in #50 on the list with a 2021 GMP of $77.9 billion. That’s impressive considering that Omaha is only the 58th largest metro area in terms of population. Omaha ranked just behind #48 New Orleans and #49 Oklahoma City, both of which are substantially larger population markets.

Here are six metro areas that have larger populations than Omaha but smaller Gross Metropolitan Products: Buffalo, N.Y.; Birmingham, Ala.; Rochester, N.Y., Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Tulsa, Okla.

Here are the GMP ranks of a few other cities in our region: #3 Chicago; #15 Minneapolis; #18 Denver; #32 Kansas City; #129 Lincoln.

Grow Omaha has added a new feature to its website: “Grow Omaha Certified Podcasts.” We have identified high-quality, Omaha-centric podcasts that provide value to our followers. We launched with three podcasts: “Restaurant Hoppen” with Dan Hoppen; “The Omaha Podcast” with Matt Tompkins; and of course, The “Grow Omaha Show!” The site updates these podcasts automatically every time a new episode is dropped. Click HERE.

Grow Omaha Snippets are brought to you by Omaha Car Care with four metro area locations – 131st & Dodge, 58th & Center, 85th & L and 144th & Harrison.

Omaha Car Care “We’ll be along for the ride.”

Business News

Local Business News Sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland:

Real Estate News from CoStar – Building permits issued for single-family projects were down 7.1 percent for November and 29.7 percent for the year. Including multifamily, total housing construction permits dropped 11.2 percent for the month and 22.4 percent for the year. For the first 11 months of 2022, single-family construction starts were down 9.4 percent from a year earlier, while multifamily starts were still up 4.9 percent.

zLinq, a platform for communications lifecycle management, has raised a Series B growth funding round. The round was led by Omaha-based McCarthy Capital out of their Emerging Growth Strategy. zLinq was founded to help multi-location enterprises buy, manage, and optimize connectivity, Unified Communications, Collaboration and Contact Center solutions. zLinq was recently named the third-fastest growing company in Colorado in the small business category by the Denver Business Journal.

Union Pacific was selected as a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America for the first time. The index benchmarks corporate sustainability performance based on an assessment of comprehensive governance, economic, environmental and social criteria.

Werner Enterprises announced its inclusion as a 2022 Top Green Fleet by Heavy Duty Trucking. The Top Green Fleets program honors industry leaders in sustainability efforts across all sizes and types of trucking fleets.

Green Plains Inc., Tallgrass and Osaka Gas USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based Osaka Gas, announced a joint feasibility study to evaluate the production of up to 200,000 tons per year of synthetic methane in the Midwest.

The project aims to produce synthetic methane from low-carbon hydrogen and biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from ethanol biorefineries owned and operated by Omaha-based Green Plains. The study, which is scheduled to be complete in mid-2023, will focus on the production of low-carbon hydrogen that incorporates the capture and permanent sequestration of at least 95% of the fossil-based CO2, coupled with the methanation of low-carbon hydrogen with biogenic CO2 from fermentation.

This section is sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland, the local, trusted franchise experts. They are “in the business of helping you get into business!”

Grow Omaha University

Leadership & Sales Insights for Ambitious People

Compiled by Grow Omaha co-founJeff Bealsder and sales trainer 

Sponsored by MyStaff, Inc.

Leadership & Management

If you mention Twitter or Elon Musk these days, you’re wise to start with a disclaimer: This is not intended to be political. A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece discussed Twitter’s previously bloated bureaucracy and the corporate disease is caused by such bloat: systemic paralysis.

“Symptoms include cobwebs of corporate hierarchies with unclear reporting lines and unwieldy teams, along with work groups and positions that have opaque or nonsensical mandates. Paralyzed companies are often led by a career CEO who builds or maintains a level of bureaucracy that leads to declines in innovation, competitive stature and shareholder value.”

Companies of different sizes and varieties can be afflicted with systemic paralysis. There’s a chance your company and some of your client companies are suffering from this disorder.

Speaking of Elon Musk, some Silicon Valley tech bosses are applauding his takeover of Twitter, according to The Hustle, as a leading example of “bossism,” the belief that management has ceded too much power to workers and must take it back.

Sales

Same Planet, Different Worlds – Only 17 percent of salespeople think they’re pushy, according to HubSpot, but 50 percent of prospective customers think salespeople are pushy.

Some sales pros might be wondering what they can do to be productive during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Because it tends to be such a quiet week with few meetings scheduled and few colleagues in your office, it can be a uniquely productive. Of course, that’s assuming you’re not on vacation! If you are working next week, here are a couple things that might be worth your time:

1. Update your CRM – as the year goes by, the data in your CRM can get outdated. When you’re busy prospecting and closing deals, you don’t have time to clean it up. Next week is a great time to do that. Also, if you’re not currently using a CRM, and have been putting off setting it up, next week might be the ideal time to finally do that.

2. Catch up on reading and learning – When you’re doing deals, you tend to put off “sharpening the saw” activities. Next week is a good time to read all those articles you’ve been collecting and watch some good sales training videos.

3. Finish your sales goals – If you haven’t finalized your 2023 sales goals, don’t go to your New Year’s Eve party until they’re done!

Wisdom

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing.” – Peter F. Drucker

Grow Omaha University is sponsored by MyStaff Inc, a locally owned staffing firm whose purpose is helping Nebraska companies recruit for corporate office positions.

My Staff Inc – Our team helps you find yours!

Upcoming Events in the Metro

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Elf Movies & Cookies Party on December 23rd: What better way to celebrate Christmas Eve-Eve than watching Elf the movie! Enjoy Christmas drinks, treats, quotes and of course – Singing Loud for all to hear!

Festivus 2022 on December 23rd: Come out to the Festivus 2022 at Bushwackers on December 23rd! This will be a great night to air any grievances you have with family and friends by letting them know all the ways they disappointed you in 2022. Finish the night out by challenging your friends to ride the mechanical bull!

Xmas Eve Karaoke on December 24th: The Down Under Lounge is hosting a Christmas Eve party like no other! Christmas themed karaoke is the perfect way to immerse yourself in the holiday spirit. Bring your friends and sing along to all the merry music of the season!

Creatives & Coffees on December 24th: Creating can be isolating, but it doesn’t have to be. Creatives & Coffees is a community built to express and connect with other like-minded individuals. Whether you’re working on art, poetry, music, coding, business, or anything that pulls on the creativity within – you are welcome to join.

Holiday Light Festival Display at The Old Market happening now – Jan 2, 2023: Tis the season for snowfall, cold weather, and beautiful lights! This festive display can be seen from 10th to 13th streets and from Farnam to Jackson streets. Experience the city’s dazzle and decor before it’s over!

Bright Nights on December 28th: Set a merry mood with friends and family and explore the illuminated indoor gardens on select nights! From a 20′ tall poinsettia tree to a tropical paradise, see festive installations that glow, shine and showcase nature in a new light.

This Upcoming Events section is sponsored by Eagle Mortgage Company, is a locally owned and full-service mortgage company in Omaha.

Eagle Mortgage can help you realize your dream of owning a home.

People in the News

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

a beautiful blue and white house with a green lawn
digital rendering of Flatiron District project buildings

NP Dodge Real Estate has welcomed two new residential sales associates: Billy Arthur and Jeremy Borosko.

Thomas S. Murphy, Jr. has been elected to the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. In 2004, Murphy co-founded Crestview Partners, a private equity firm based in New York. Prior to starting Crestview, Murphy was a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Additionally, he serves on the boards of New York University, NYU – Langone Health and The Inner-City Scholarship Fund.

Rick Prange has been promoted to vice president of group underwriting for Workplace Solutions at Mutual of Omaha. He joined Mutual in 1988 and was promoted to long-term disability and long-term care consultant in 1998. In 2009, Prange became chief supervisor underwriter in Group Underwriting. He was promoted to manager of group underwriting in 2016 and director of group underwriting in 2019.

Jon Enenbach has been promoted to vice president of brokerage sales for senior health solutions at Mutual of Omaha. He joined Mutual in 2009 as an assistant product development manager. In 2010, he became a regional sales manager for Mutual of Omaha Advisors. Enenbach was promoted to manager agency development in 2013 and regional sales director in 2015. In 2018, he was promoted to health national sales director. Before Mutual, he worked for the Douglas County Attorney.

The “People in the News” section is sponsored by Baird Holm LLP. Baird Holm’s dedicated team of real estate lawyers has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate law, including purchases, sales, zoning and land use, leasing, and dispute resolution. Click HERE for more information.

Wall Street: The Week in Review

with George Morgan

The author is founder of Morgan Investor Education of Omaha.

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

Views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author.

I will begin this week’s pithy comments by apologizing to all the little boys and girls around the world.

Based upon what SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is proposing, I am compelled to say, “There is no Santa Claus.” Gensler has presented the investing world a 1,656-page document that is purported to save the poor innocent little individual investors from the big bad Wall Street wolf.

Gensler is going after pay-for-order flow. Translation: Discount brokers bundle orders from their clients and send those orders to the evil high-speed traders. In return for these orders, the high-speed traders kick back a portion of their ill-gotten gains to the discounters. Gensler claims that this means the prices that individual investors pay are higher than what the big boys pay.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Gensler is looking for a problem for his solution. Part of his motivation is that the stock exchanges are unhappy because pay-for-order flow results in less activity for them. Gensler dislikes trading off the exchanges, because it’s less visible to the regulators.

Translation: Individual investors aren’t smart enough to do their own investing, so they need Gensler’s help. This reminds me of the story of the Boy Scout who helped a little old lady across the street. When they got to the other side, she beat the crap out of him with her cane. He said, “what’s the matter?” She replied, “I didn’t want to cross the street.”

While on the subject of computer trading, the term includes several different ways the computers are programed.

First, is the high-speed rating just mentioned above. The second is what Kramer refers to as the “Quants.” These are computers that are programmed with algorithms designed to respond to tripwire words in the news. These algorithms are the biggest secrets on the planet because the producers of the algorithms don’t want anybody to know what they’re doing.

An example might be that the algorithm firm thinks that the electronic vehicle market is about to explode. They then create an algorithm based upon some trigger word, that would short oil stocks and go long in car manufacturers such as Tesla. Their hope – and hope is the critical word – is that Tesla will go up and oils stock would go down. If not, they go belly up and move on to the next kerfuffle.

On a more positive note, the Gnomes and I would like to point out that in spite of all of the jibber jabber from the Wall Street media and their government cronies, most individual investors have been able to survive 2022 based upon the business model created by Joe Ricketts (with a little help from Jack Bogle).

Tune in next week for our 2023 market prediction. I leave you with the following message. Ho, Ho, Ho, and a Merry Christmas to all.

Have You Watched Grow O on Video Yet?

Jeff Beals, Trenton Magid and a guest in the KFAB 1110 Radio Booth

The Grow Omaha radio show broadcasts live every Saturday morning at 9:00, but now you can watch videos of each episode instead of just listening.

Grow Omaha’s brand-new website features video footage shot inside the radio studio during each week’s show!

Videos include News of the Week, Lightning Round, guest interviews, and “Grow Omaha Uncut,” a behind-the-scenes look at what happens during commercial breaks.

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