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USER INFO FILE (FILENAME "USERINFO.DOC") ---------------------------------------- ┌─────────┐ ┌─────┴───┐ │ (R) ──│ │o │────────────────── │ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of │ │ │─┘ Shareware └───│ o │ Professionals ──────│ ║ │──────────────────── └────╨────┘ MEMBER CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SELECTION OF THE EVALUATION WARE PROGRAM "WALL $TREET RAIDER." We think you will find that this highly sophisticated simulation not only endlessly varied and challenging (no two games are ever very similar), but that getting it installed and a game started is exception- ally easy. In terms of computer literacy, RAIDER is a no-brainer to use, with all choices posed to you as menu selections, or as questions. While this is an "evaluation" program (similar to share- ware, except that you may only legally use it for a 30-day evaluation period), you will find that it is completely uncrippled. There is no longer any "commercial" or "registered" version of the program. This is the only version extant. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF THE GAME: ----------------------------------- The program has been an almost lifelong project of the author, begun while a student at Harvard in 1967, originally designed as a board game, sort of a corporate version of Parker Brothers' well known real estate board game (which they will sue us if we dare mention by name). After years of development as an ever more complex board game, Raider (then called "Robber Baron") got so unwieldy and took so many hours and even days to play, with players all using electronic calculators, that we finally gave up on it as a board game around 1975, and began, manically, filling up notebooks with outlines and ideas of how it could be turned into a highly sophisticated, easy-to-play computer game, if someone would just HURRY UP and invent a cheap personal computer! Fortunately, a few guys in garages did that, and we began programming Wall $treet Raider in 1984 on our first Kaypro II. After quitting our job as a tax lawyer, and working at programming Raider for endless 90 to 100 weeks, we finally delivered the first working version 2 years and one ulcer later to our publisher, in 1986. As a commercial program, it got rave reviews, but only after both of our software publishers had let it die of benign neglect, with almost zero marketing, by late 1988. A small but hardcore and fanatical users around the country are apparently still playing the old version, which many tell me is still ahead of any simulations being done for today's much faster, more powerful machines. Since we got the rights to the program back, and decided it to convert it to shareware, we have added much, much more underlying complexity and texture to the simulation, and we still play it regularly ourselves. Because of the flexibility of the program, it lends itself to multiple creative approaches to solving any problem or reaching a particular financial goal you may be trying to attain, such as taking control of a particular company, or having your company become more profit- able, or dominate its industry. Because it is so much like the real stock market and the real world of corporate finance and economics, the more you know and understand about how the real financial world works, the better you will play Wall $treet Raider -- and vice versa. It's a fun way to get your MBA in finance. While we don't expect a financial simulation of this nature to appeal to everyone, or to ever make a lot of money on it, we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do and will financially support its further development. To do so, please register your copy if you use and like the program, or order one of our related products listed on the Registration/Order Form the program will print out for you. FILE CONTENTS: -------------- The remainder of this file contains: . a description of hardware limitations of the program; . information about the Association of Shareware Professionals "Ombudsman" program; . general information about shareware; . disclaimer and summary of terms of the license under which this software is provided by the author; and . information about the various registration options and about ordering updates of the program, or ordering the related books or the Professional Version of the program; For detailed instructions on using all the functions of the program, see on-disk user manual which is provided below, as part of this file, USERINFO.DOC. (We will send you a printed version of the user manual if you register the program. Or you can print out this file with your printer.) PROGRAM LIMITATIONS--WALL $TREET RAIDER --------------------------------------- The program is compatible with most MS/DOS PC/DOS systems, monochrome or color, MDA, Hercules, CGA EGA or SVGA. However, it will not run properly on some monochrome monitors used with a color card. You will need 512K of RAM and either a hard disk or a floppy disk drive with at least 720KB capacity to run the program. Because of occasional but extensive disk access, running the program on a hard disk drive is highly recommended. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ***│WALL $TREET RAIDER will NOT run on the IBM PCjr.│*** └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ASP OMBUDSMAN STATEMENT ----------------------- "This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide tech- nical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message, via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536." DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE ----------------------- Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and con- tinue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocket- book, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT ---------------------- Users of WALL $TREET RAIDER must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "WALL $TREET RAIDER is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, includ- ing, without limitation, the warranties of merchantabil- ity and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of WALL $TREET RAIDER." WALL $TREET RAIDER is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using WALL $TREET RAIDER and continue to use WALL $TREET RAIDER after 30 days, you must make a registration payment of $25 to the author, Michael D. Jenkins. The $25 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of WALL $TREET RAIDER must also register and pay for their copies of WALL $TREET RAIDER within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting the author at the address given on-screen in the program. Anyone distributing WALL $TREET RAIDER for any kind of remuneration must first contact MICHAEL D. JENKINS at the address given in the program for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering WALL $TREET RAIDER immediately. (However, MICHAEL D. JENKINS must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of WALL $TREET RAIDER.). You are encouraged to pass a copy of WALL $TREET RAIDER along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. Users who wish to: . register; or . to order an updated copy of the program (an expanded version is in progress, with an additional 100 companies, 9 additional industry groups, and a large number of new "ethical choice" and other added scenarios, and should be available by around October, 1992 -- registered users will be notified and offered an inexpensive upgrade when it becomes available); . to order the companion book, "TAKE NO PRISONERS: WALL $TREET RAIDER -- STRATEGIES AND TACTICS" (approx. 100 pages); or . to order our other major software program, "SMALL BUSINESS GURU," an interactive tax/legal/business adviser ("expert program") for small businesses, may do so by using the facility in the WALL $TREET RAIDER program that allows you to print out an order form. BENEFITS OF REGISTERING YOUR COPY OF WALL $TREET RAIDER: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1. RIGHT TO CONTINUED USE OF PROGRAM (LEGALLY). As a regis- tered user, you may continue to legally use your copy of the Shareware version of WALL $TREET RAIDER indefinitely, after the 30-day Evaluation Period has expired. 2. PRINTED USER MANUAL. You will receive a neatly printed user manual. 3. TECHNICAL SUPPORT. All REGISTERED users will receive the right to 3 months of free technical support, by mail, of the program, and we will, where feasible, remedy any "bugs" or system incompatibilies that we can, or, if we are unable to do so, or choose not to, we will fully and prompt- ly refund your registration fee. When you register, you will receive a written notice regarding the address to write to for such service (if different from the address given in this version of the program), and, if we have implemented telephone technical support service by such time, we will also give you the telephone number to call for technical support. 4. USER CODE. If you register your copy of the WALL $TREET RAIDER (basic $25 registration fee only), we will NOT automatically send you an updated copy of the program. However, we will send you a simple user code that will allow you to turn off certain "shareware message" reminder screens in the program. At that point the program becomes IS the "registered version." There is no other, separate "registered" version of the program extant (unless you have one of the old, somewhat clunky commercial versions we quit selling in 1988). 5. DISCOUNT PRICE ON SMALL GURU SOFTWARE. If you order directly from us, printing out the order form, you can buy our SMALL BUSINESS GURU SOFTWARE, which retails for $149.95, at the discount price of $25. QUESTION: HOW DO I PRINT OUT THE ORDER FORM? --------- ANSWER: Simply enter "Y" when the program asks you if ------- you want to do so, at the start of a game, after you have selected the number of players, number of years the game is to last, etc. Turn your printer on and follow the simple on-screen instructions. AS ALTERNATIVES TO THE BASIC REGISTRATION, the order form that the program will print out for you gives you several other options, as follows: - BOOK ORDER (without registration). You may order the companion book we have written, for people who really want to seriously get into WALL $TREET RAIDER, entitled, "TAKE NO PRISONERS: WALL $TREET RAIDER -- STRATEGIES AND TACTICS." It can be separately ordered for $25.00. - SOFTWARE ORDER (without registration). You may separately order our other main software program, SMALL BUSINESS GURU, a $149.95 retail value commercial program, for $25.00. - PACKAGE DEAL (includes registration, and all of the above). For $45.00, register the program, receive a copy of the related strategy book, and the SMALL BUSINESS GURU expert program for small business, instead of paying $25 each for all 3. *** CONSCIENCE MONEY *** ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │IF YOU USE AND LIKE THIS PROGRAM, BUT CHOOSE NOT TO SUP-│ │PORT IT BY SENDING IN YOUR REGISTRATION FEE or ordering│ │updates, we strongly urge you to instead send a $15 (or│ │larger!) contribution to the GREENPEACE organization, in-│ │stead of us, at the following address: │ │ │ │ GREENPEACE │ │ P.O. BOX 3720 │ │ WASHINGTON, DC 20007-0220 │ │ │ │ PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NOT, IN ANY WAY, AFFILIATED WITH│ │ THE GREENPEACE ORGANIZATION. We are simply in alignment│ │ with their goals and wish to encourage others to give│ │ their financial support to helping maintain a semblance│ │ intelligent life on the planet -- and we also would like│ │ to give you, as a user of the program, some other way to│ │ salve your badly mangled conscience, if you continue to│ │ use WALL $TREET RAIDER in violation of the copyright. │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ W A L L $ T R E E T R A I D E R THE CORPORATE FINANCIAL SIMULATION ON-DISK DOCUMENTATION For the IBM (R) Personal Computer, XT, AT, PS/2 and compatibles Copyright (c) 1992 by Michael D. Jenkins All rights reserved. =========================================================== ABOUT THE PROGRAM ----------------- Wall $treet Raider is practically a life-long project of the author, who first developed it as a board game in 1967, while attending Harvard. Since it took a calculator and about 12 hours to play a game with only 24 simple corporations, sort of a corporate version of a certain well known Parker Brothers no one dares even mention in print (you know the real estate game we're talking about), this board game remained strictly a weird hobby of the author and a few crazed but addicted friends. After many years of waiting, the personal computer finally arrived, making it possible for us to reinvent Wall $treet Raider as a computerized financial game that now bears only a faint resemblance to the old board game version. It also allowed the author to build in many more levels of complexity and realism, with massive non-stop number crunching done by the computer in the background, all with no effort required on the part of the user, except to remain highly alert and skeptical, do good research, and make smart investment and management decisions in very little time, based on limited information and good hunches. Sort like the real Wall $treet, except that this is only a simulation, so if you lose here, the downside won't include droves of creditors pounding on your door at 2:00 a.m., seeking to repossess your car, your house, and perhaps your first-born child. Wall $treet Raider is a commercial program, but we permit anyone who wishes to do so to make copies of the program and distribute or sell it as a shareware product, provided they charge no more than $5 per copy for it, and do not modify the program or any of the documentation or other accompanying files in any way. Nor may anyone copy the extensive book, "Take No Prisoners: Wall $treet Raider -- Strategy and Tactics," a companion book of approximately 100 pages, which we sell separately for $25.00 The "Strategy Guide" goes into detailed discussions of how to most effectively utilize each of the many W$R menu commands. For example, the section on the "MG" (Merger) command goes into a long "graveyard humor" discussion about how mergers work, when to do them (and not to do them), and various merger strategies and techniques. Game strategies are also explained in terms of real world strategies, explaining the similarities between the real world and the W$R simulation (and, in relatively few instances, differences between the simulation and the structure of financial reality in the real world of corporate finagling). This simulation reflects the author's extensive personal knowledge of corporate finance, business law and the securities business, having been an economics consultant, a licensed stockbroker, a "Big 6" CPA, and, finally, a tax lawyer with a major San Francisco law firm for 4 years, before a serious illness ended his "normal" working career at a tender age. Fortunately, having to stop working on account of the illness, while scary, also had the beneficial side effect of freeing up time since 1983 to work on this and another major software project, an "artificial intelligence" program called the SMALL BUSINESS GURU, which has just recently been released as shareware. (More on this below -- See ORDERING INFORMATION.) W$R is constantly being improved and expanded. The orig- inal version, released in 1986 by a California software publisher, and so favorably reviewed in InfoWorld when a copy of it eventually worked its way to the top of computer columnist Jerry Pournelle's desk in 1989 (well after commercial publication of W$R had ceased-- Ouch!) came on one 360K disk and required only 256K RAM. The current edition, with 150 companies, 26 industries, and almost countless new features, new and interesting things going on in the background, plus a half dozen major new commands, requires nearly 640K of RAM, and we are avidly awaiting the day that the 640K limitation, which is still a wet blanket on millions of users' systems, is no longer a concern of software developers. At this time, we are also hard at work on a new version of W$R, which should still run on 640K systems, and which will feature 250 companies in 35 industries (vs. 150 companies in 26 industries in the current version), with a lot more financial companies, plus a number of giant and aggressive Japanese trading companies, as well as many other large foreign corporations. Some of the new features we are working on for the next release include: . A command that lets you call in the loans of a competing player or company, if you control the lending bank he/she/it borrows from. (This is brutal! Not recommended if playing against your spouse, unless you have a strong marriage.) . Banks will make foreign loans to Third World countries and real estate loans, which may go bad at the most inopportune times, as in today's headlines. As a controlling shareholder in a bank, you will be able to set its loan policies. . A command that will let you lay off thousands of employees, write off assets, and otherwise adopt a scorched earth policy, all with a view to improving the "bottom line" for the company in the future. This kind of bloodletting is called "restructuring" in the real world these days, but in W$R you can do the "bottom-line thing" without any guilt, and reap the benefits. Sometimes. . Another new command that will let you change banks (providing you can first pay off any loan you owe to your current bank lender). . Many new scenarios that will pop up once in a great while, sometimes with shattering effects on your financial health. Life is full of surprises. (Mostly bad ones, in the financial world. "Negative miracles," they're called.) Others will offer you various realistic "ethical" choices, teaching you a bit about "business ethics" (a self-canceling term, if we've ever heard one, in the Wall Street context). . And a lot more, if we can squeeze it all in, and have a program that will still run on a 640K RAM machine. We will also have a WINDOWS version of W$R ready some time in 1992 or 1993. There, we will be going beyond the old 640K barrier, at last, so the sky is the limit. (Or, more realistically, the only limit on the WINDOWS version will depend how many nights we can go without sleeping in a year, without requiring the kind of major personnel maintenance that puts one back into the pitiless hands of the medical mercenaries who run America's Hospital Gulag.) REGISTRATION AND ORDERING INFORMATION ------------------------------------ You are granted a 30-day free license to evaluate the Wall $treet Raider software program. After 30 days, you should either register the program, or erase it. Continued use of the program after expiration of your 30-day license is a violation of Federal copyright law, as well as a rip-off. The program will print out for you an order form that you can mail in with your registration or payment for other items listed on the form (and below): REGISTRATION ONLY -- $25.00 --------------------------- You may register your copy of the program for only $25, and may continue to use it indefinitely thereafter. As a registered owner, you will also receive a printed user manual and will be entitled to 90 days of free technical support (by mail). We will also notify you of any program upgrades, as they become available. Wall $treet Raider is undergoing constant revision, as we dream up new ways to make it ever more realistic and filled with surprise scenarios. We are now working on an expanded version, which will be available at a reduced price to registered users of the current version. The new version will contain 100 additional companies, and 9 additional industry groupings, plus many new "ethical" scenarios which the player will face. It should be available by October 31, 1992. ORDER OUR COMPANION BOOK -- $25.00 ---------------------------------- Or, for a $25 price, you may order a copy of our book on strategies, "TAKE NO PRISONERS: WALL $TREET RAIDER -- Strategies and Tactics." This book, which also describes much of the technical underpinning of the program, and how it all fits together, gives you numerous suggestions and warnings about how and when you should utilize various menu selections, such as Greenmail, LBO's, Mergers, Junk Bonds, and all the other menu items in the W$R program. ORDER SMALL BUSINESS GURU SOFTWARE PROGRAM -- $25.00 ---------------------------------------------------- Or, you may order our exciting new "expert" program for small businesses, SMALL BUSINESS GURU, which gives you customized, up-to-date information and checklists for your small business. Updated quarterly. This program is like a 500-page book on disk, with tax and legal information you can use regarding federal laws, taxes and regulations, and tax and legal info. for each of the 50 states. (Only laws for the state you select are shown at any one time.) Covers income taxes and other federal taxes of all kinds, OSHA, ERISA, civil rights laws, immigration affecting hiring of employees, EEO, workers' comp, minimum wage (federal and for every state), sales taxes, ECOA, Truth-in-Lending, and usury laws affecting extension of consumer credit, tax accounting, excise, unemployment, FICA and self-employment taxes, withholding, information returns, fringe benefit plans and reporting requirements, insurance, startup checklists, independent contractors, securities laws, partnerships, office-in-the-home expenses, taxation of regular and S corporations, environmental laws, mail order regulations, franchises, SBA financing, venture capital, checklists for buying a business, and much, much more. Also contains built-in worksheets to create a business plan, an employee personnel policy, or a marketing feasibility study; a handy entrepreneurial self-test to evaluate your suitability for starting your own business; tax modules for calculating federal individual income tax, corporate income tax, and federal estate tax -- will quickly show you how much you may save on estate taxes simply by setting up a simple "by-pass" trust. Also includes a "consulting module" where the program will ask you questions and give you lengthy, documented advice (written and on-screen) on a wide range of complex subjects, such as electing Sub S status, or whether you should incorporate (or disincorporate) your business, based on 20 years experience of the author, a Harvard Lawyer and "Big 6" firm CPA. (See the more detailed description of this unique software product below.) PACKAGE DEAL -- $45.00 ---------------------- For $45, you can register your existing copy of the program, and also receive all of the above, including the W$R strategy book and the Small Business Guru program. TO REGISTER WALL $TREET RAIDER, START THE PROGRAM, AND WHEN ASKED IF YOU WANT TO PRINT OUT A REGISTRATION FORM, ENTER "Y" (FOR "YES"), AND THE PROGRAM WILL PRINT OUT A REGISTRATION/ORDER FORM FOR YOU, WITH OUR ADDRESS ON IT, WHICH YOU CAN MAIL IN WITH YOUR CHECK OR MONEY ORDER. Please specify type of diskettes: 5.25" (360K) 5.25" (1.2 MB) 3.5" (720K) 3.5" (1.44 MB) PRODUCT INFORMATION --SMALL BUSINESS GURU ----------------------------------------- P O W E R T O T H E P E O P L E ! ! (WELL....TO THE BUSINESS PEOPLE, ANYWAY) ANNOUNCING....THE S M A L L B U S I N E S S G U R U - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EASY-TO-USE EXPERT BUSINESS SOFTWARE FROM RONIN SOFTWARE ....THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE SELDOM FREE.... BUT SOME OF THEM, LIKE THE SMALL BUSINESS GURU, ARE EMINENTLY AFFORDABLE!! THIS REVOLUTIONARY NEW "EXPERT IN A BOX" SOFTWARE CAN SAVE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS HUNDREDS, OR EVEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN PROFESSIONAL FEES, NOT TO MENTION TAXES AND POTENTIAL PENALTIES (FOR NOT KNOWING THE REGULATORY AND TAX "GROUND RULES"). KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND The SMALL BUSINESS GURU, WHICH IS UPDATED FOR TAX AND OTHER LAW CHANGES EVERY CALENDAR QUARTER, PROVIDES UNPRECEDENTED POWER TO SMALL BUSINESSES FOR ONLY $149.95 ($399.95 FOR THE 50-STATE PROFESSIONAL VERSION) ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ NOTE: PERSONS REGISTERING WALL $TREET RAIDER │ │ PROGRAM, FOR $35.00 REGISTRATION, WILL RECEIVE │ │ F R E E (!) COPY OF THE FULL-FUNCTION SHAREWARE│ │ VERSION OF SMALL BUSINESS GURU, WHICH IS IDEN-│ │ TICAL TO THE $399.95 COMMERCIAL VERSION (CALLED│ │ THE "SMALL BUSINESS ADVISER"), EXCEPT FOR THE │ │ ADDED SHAREWARE MESSAGE SCREENS. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Q: Just what is this "revolutionary" new SMALL BUSINESS GURU ("SBG") program and what does it do? A: The SMALL BUSINESS GURU is a unique new kind of software program, designed to assist your small or medium-sized business, existing or new, to cope with an increasingly complex tax, legal, and business en- vironment, utilizing "expert systems" methods to analyze and respond to your complicated business information needs, with a primary emphasis on tax and legal matters. SBG accomplishes this feat by providing many special and unique features, such as: - It offers a wide range of "consulting sessions" on various subjects ranging from whe-ther or not you should be incorporated to which accounting method you can (or should) adopt. Each "consultation" consists of question-and-answer interactions, where the program asks you questions, offers help, analyzes your answers, and, if necessary, asks more questions, before finally giving you a summary of its conclusions (which you may print out or save for future reference). The program is authored by a Harvard-educated tax attorney and CPA. - SBG also asks numerous detailed questions about your business, the number of employees, what kind of business, your annual sales volume, ownership, and other such items. It then provides you with highly detailed and customized business startup checklists, usually 3 to 5 pages long, listing the important federal and state regulations (for YOUR state only) that apply to YOUR business. Scroll through the checklist on-screen and simply hit <Enter> to branch off and read "hypertext" background information on any item. - SBG's tax-planning module lets you calculate personal or corporate income taxes, or even the estate taxes you and your spouse can save over a period of years by setting up an estate tax "bypass" trust. The quick, easy-to- use, individual tax planner lets you easily and instantly do complex tax calculations to estimate your tax liability for the next year. Or do "what if" calculations in seconds if you are in- corporated, to see whether, for example, you should take that year-end bonus out of your corporation, and to easily and instantly see how much the bonus or other payment to yourself saves on corporate taxes and what it will cost you additional taxes on your personal return. - SBG contains 3 kinds of built-in worksheets, which you can use as outlines to create final documents, by simply following the on-screen instructions and filling in the blanks: ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ■ Business plan worksheet; │ │ ■ Personnel policy worksheet; and │ │ ■ Marketing feasibility worksheet. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ - Contains extensive business/tax law information for all 50 states and D.C. (as well as Federal), includ- ing sales tax, individual and corporate income tax rates, property tax information, minimum wage rates and workers' compensation requirements for all states. Once you tell the program which state you do business in, any textual advice on, for instance, minimum wage laws, automatically weaves in a dis- cussion of the applicable state law for the state you have selected. There's nothing else remotely like this software when it comes to helping small businesses navigate the government regulatory thickets! - Plus a vast range of instantly accessible, and very current, tax, legal, and business information and advice, accessible by menu selections, entering key words or phrases, or by scanning through an exten- sive index and making a single keystroke to bring up timely information on topics such as EEO, OSHA, ADA, ERISA, immigration law hiring rules, export incen- tives, wage-hour laws, sales and excise taxes, workers' comp., etc. -- all tailored to display the federal law plus, where applicable, the state law of the state you have selected. Q: What are these "consulting sessions" like? A: For example, if you select the "Should I incorporate my business question?", the program will lead you through a series of questions (with on-screen help to assist you in entering the correct response to all technical questions) about your business. The ques- tions asked are only the ones that are relevant to your situation, based on your responses to prior questions (instead of a long laundry list of questions that mostly would not be pertinent to you). Then the program "massages" this data, and based on a couple of decades of tax, financial and legal consulting experi- ence of the author of the program, comes up with a recommendation, with a lengthy explanation of the reasons why YOU should (or should not) incorporate, or should or should not elect "S corporation" status for a corporation. All this information is instantly displayed on screen, for you to scroll through, forward and backwards; and you may also save the whole question and answer transcript and conclusions to disk as an ASCII file, or print it out with only 2 keystrokes. (Many lawyers, financial consultants and accountants tell us they are using these "consulting sessions" for their clients, doing a whole session in a couple of minutes, printing out the transcript and conclusions, and giving it to their clients, along with a hefty bill for the consultation. By owning a copy of this program yourself, you can eliminate the middle man in many cases, since it is exceptionally easy to install and use, with no manual required.) Q: Is the SMALL BUSINESS GURU a substitute for lawyers and accountants? A: Absolutely not. This program does contain a wealth of concisely summarized, cogent tax and legal information, updated several times a year, but neither it nor any other computer program yet devised can take the place of an experienced tax or legal professional. However, SBG can greatly assist you in staying abreast of the "ground rules" that your business must operate under, and may alert you to planning ideas that you can bring to the attention of your legal advisers, any of which may reduce your tax bite, or help you to get "more bang for the buck" from your human advisers. Lawyers and accountants are a long way from obsoles- cence yet, but SMALL BUSINESS GURU, the computer equivalent of an "expert in a box," by a Harvard lawyer and ex-"Big 6" CPA, is a big first step in that direction. Minimum System Requirements for the Small Business Guru: For the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 and compatibles (but not the PCjr.), with at least 512K RAM, plus either hard disk or 1.44 MB floppy disk drive. DOS 2.1 or higher. Works with all printers & with or without graphics/color. SMALL BUSINESS GURU is the companion software to the 51-book series, "Starting and Operating a Business in _________" (California, New York, etc.), a series of highly readable, comprehensive books on starting or doing business. There is a separate edition of the book for each of the 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. Each is approximately 275 pages long, and is authored by Michael D. Jenkins, CPA and Attorney; most are co-authored by the local offices of the "Big 6" CPA firm of Ernst & Young in each of the relevant states. The books all contain detailed federal and state tax and legal information, start up cashflow work- sheets, numerous checklists and how-to information, government tax and other forms, plus pre-addressed postcards to mail to over a dozen government and private agencies for forms, posters required by law to be posted by employers, and other free information. The books, which have now sold over a half million copies nationwide, can be ordered for $39.95 (YOUR MONEY BACK IF NOT FULLY SATISFIED) each from: Michael D. Jenkins 3020 Issaquah-Pine Lake Road Suite #36 Issaquah, WA 98027 (Shipping is free; WA residents include sales tax) ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ NOTE: Be sure to specify the state edition │ │ of the book that you wish to receive. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ =========================================================== INSTALLATION. Wall $treet Raider ("W$R") is provided to users in the form of a single large, compressed file, with the file name WSRFILE.EXE, which contains the various program files, plus a file called INSTALL.BAT and this documentation file. To install W$R, simply type "INSTALL" followed by the letter of the disk drive on which you want the program files to be installed. For example, to install the program on drive C, you would enter: INSTALL C: That's it. You need only to make sure that the drive on which you are installing it has approximately 720K of free memory available, and that the default drive (for example, floppy disk drive A) contains the W$R diskette with the files INSTALL.BAT and WSRFILES.EXE. The program will be installed on the drive you have specified (C, in the above example) in about a thirty seconds, while you relax. The program (file RAIDER.EXE) will then be started automatically, and you will be asked to enter your name, plus a couple of easy questions about your computer system: - Whether you are using a color monitor, and - Whether you have graphics (which can be CGA, Hercules, EGA, VGA, or SVGA). Even if you have an old system without graphics capability, the program will still run with all features intact, provided you enter "no" in response to this question. After you have entered your name and answered the above two "Yes/No" questions, the first game of W$R will be started. STARTING A GAME OF WALL $TREET RAIDER: ------------------------------------- Each time you start a game, you will be asked if the current default system configuration data is correct (whether you have color and graphics). You can accept the current default settings for both, or you can change the defaults at the start of any game, which will automatically be saved to disk for future games. You will then be asked a series of other questions, including: - whether you are starting a new game or continuing an old game that was saved before it was completed; - whether you want the computer to be one of the players in the game; - how many players will be playing the game you are starting (2 to 4 players, one of whom can be the computer); - the names of each of the players (If the computer is a player, you can also "personify" the computer, by giving it a name. Thus, if you are playing against the computer, you may want to name your opponent after some leading corporate raider, perhaps some infamous chap who is serving time in the federal pen these days.); - whether you want the players to each start off the game with cash only, or to "inherit" a combination of stock in a single company, government bonds, and cash, less some amount of debt; - how many "years" you want the game to last, from 1 to 15 "years." Each "year" in W$R consists of four calendar quarters, during which quarter each of the 150 companies that make up the W$R database will issue an earnings report, many of which reports are shown on the "Teletype" window on the Main Menu screen. A typical game of 10 years should take a couple of hours of normal play to complete, depending on how fast a computer you are using, and the speed setting you select for the stock ticker (fast or slow; you can toggle back and forth the two speed settings, using the "CH" menu item on the Play Control Menu, to select a speed that feels comfortable for you. After you answer questions about the above items, the program will create a unique database for each game, and the current game will begin, with the first player whose turn it is selected at random. USER COMMANDS: -------------- Once a game is started, you may select transactions to be executed or select other commands from two menus, the Play Control Menu and the Main Menu (which consists of five different submenus, one each for Operations, Research, Acquiring/Selling, Financing, and Management). To select an item from any menu, move the lighted bar to the item, either by using the cursor keys (NUMLOCK KEY SHOULD BE ON), or the space bar, or + or - keys. (Or, you may press the letter that corresponds to the first letter of the menu item, and the lighted bar will move directly to and highlight the item). Once the menu selection in the menu box is highlighted, press <ENTER> key to execute it. For some items, such as display of your balance sheet (net worth statement), or to display economic statistics, simply pressing <Enter> will fully execute the command. For others, you will be asked to enter a company's stock symbol (which you can look up by entering "L") or an industry ID number (ID numbers will be displayed for all 26 industries on screen any time you are asked to select one). You may also be asked to enter dollar amounts, always in millions (enter 8.3, for example, if you wish to borrow $8.3 million), or a percentage of the stock of a company you wish to purchase (1% to 100%, entered as a whole number from 1 to 100), or to respond to other simple questions, or to make choices. PLAY CONTROL MENU: ----------------- After each player takes a turn, the Play Control Menu is displayed, which allows the player whose turn is next to make any of several selections, such as changing the stock ticker speed (which speeds up or slows down the rate at which the game progresses -- you might want to select the slower speed as you are learning the game), saving the game to disk at that point, exiting the program, or starting that player's turn. The menu items on the Play Control Menu are as follows: SP -- Start Play. This switches action to the Main Menu and begins the player's turn. (The name of the player whose turn it is is displayed next to this menu item.) NX -- Next Player. This causes a skipping of the turn for the player whose name is shown. CH -- Change Ticker Speed. Select this item to change the speed at which the stock ticker moves, from fast to slow or vice versa. SV -- Save Game. Select this item to save the game on disk, with all stock values, etc., exactly as they are at the instant you save. You can then either quit, or continue play until the game ends, and, if you don't like the outcome (if the Computer beats you for the 40th straight time), you can re-play the game from the point at which you saved it, and see if using a different strategy works better. QT -- Quit. This is the only point at which you may end play and exit the program, except when a game is completed. TX -- Texture. This is a "toggle" command that changes the the screen background from "textured" to "non- textured." This command does not appear if you have configured the program for a non-graphics environment. MAIN MENU: --------- The Main Menu consists of 5 different Submenus, one of which is always displayed when a player is taking his or her turn. The names of each of the 5 Submenus are shown on menu a bar across the top of the screen. To move from one Submenu to another (right to left, or left to right), press the right or left cursor keys (with the NUMLOCK key in the ON position), or else use the TAB key to move right or the BACKSPACE key to move left on the menu bar. The 5 Submenus are displayed like "drop-down" menus in many other programs, with the difference being that in W$R you DON'T have to select the item from the menu bar first, and then use another keystroke to "pull down" the menu. As soon as you move from one Submenu listed on the menu bar to the next one, the next one is instantly displayed. NOTE: There is no way to exit back to DOS from the Main Menu. This will keep you from inadvertently losing a game that you are an hour or two into. (Unless you turn off your computer, or press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, of course.) If you want to quit and return to DOS, you must select the OPERATIONS SUBMENU, and the "END" item on that submenu, which will end your turn and get you back to the PLAY CONTROL MENU. From the Play Control Menu you can exit to DOS by selecting the "QT" (QUIT) command. The following is a brief description of each of the menu items in the 5 submenus of the Main Menu. During a player's turn at the Main Menu, he or she may execute up to 5 major transactions. Only items listed in the ACQUIRE/SELL, FINANCING, and MANAGEMENT Submenus are counted as transactions. Thus, you can use the commands in the OPERATIONS and RESEARCH submenus as many times as you wish during a turn. NOTE, however, that your number of remaining allowed transactions decreases by one at the end of each calendar quarter of play during your turn. Thus, even if you do NO transactions, your turn will end after a year and one-quarter (5 calendar quarters). OPERATIONS SUBMENU ------------------ Use this submenu to check of the status of various aspects of the financial situation, such as checking on your net worth or stock portfolio, or to view diagrams of any player's or company's stock portfolio, or such miscellaneous functions as borrowing or repaying on loans, or to end your current turn, and return to the Play Control Menu. BAL -- This item will display a "balance sheet" for the player whose turn it is, showing cash, bonds, stocks, which add up to Total Asset, and subtracting loans owed, to arrive at the player's Net Worth. PF -- Select this item to see a listing of your stock portfolio, with current prices, dividend yield, percentage of each company owned (rather than number of shares -- in W$R, each company has 100 million shares of stock issued, so each 1% you own = 1 million shares of stock). SUM -- Use this item to see a summary of your net worth and of all the other players in this game, so you can see at any moment who is winning (richest). DIAG -- This will give you a diagram of stock ownership holdings for any player or company. For a company, the diagram will also show who its major stockholders are. This diagram is displayed using text-based graphics, so it is the same whether your system has a graphics card or not. TAPE -- Displays a full-page earnings report for whichever company is reporting quarterly earnings at that instant. Play stops while you are viewing any such earnings report. LOAN -- Use this selection if you (or a company you control) wishes to borrow money from a bank, or to make an early repayment on an existing loan. SYM -- Displays stock symbols, prompting you to enter a letter from A to Z. This lookup routine will then show you the company names and stock symbols for all companies whose names or stock symbols begin with that letter. You will rarely ever need to use this command, since any time W$R prompts you to enter a stock symbol, it also allows you to enter "L" to look up the stock symbol, using the same lookup routine. END -- End your turn, and return to the Play Control Menu, from which you can either start the next player's turn (if it is the Computer's turn, it will take its turn automatically, and usually will tike only 10 seconds or so), save the game, quit the program, or do any of the other things listed above under the description of the Play Control Menu commands. RESEARCH SUBMENU ---------------- Use the selections in this submenu to look company, industry, and national economic data, in order to help you make informed decisions about when and which stocks to buy or sell, whether to invest in or sell bonds, and whether or not a company you control needs to increase or cut back on investment in new facilities, or if it is uncompetitive, whether you may need to change its R & D spending levels or take drastic actions such as firing corporate management, selling off business assets, restructuring the company, or even getting out of the business it's in and having the company go into another industry. RS -- This item instantly creates a full-page, up-to-the- minute research report on any of the 150 corporations that make up the W$R investment universe, including a "buy", "sell" or "hold" (neutral) recommendation on its stock. FIN -- Displays a full-page financial summary for any of the 150 corporations that make up the W$R investment universe, including such items as stock price, net worth, net worth per share, credit rating, values of all assets the company owns, including "business assets" (factories, aircraft, etc., depending on the type of industry the company is in), stocks owned in other companies, cash holdings, government bond holdings, dividend yield and percentage of earnings the company pays out as dividends, and more. IND -- For any of the 26 industries, except banking, insurance, and holding companies, this command gives a summary comparison of all companies in that industry, showing each company's market share percentage, how fast their business assets (and sales) are currently growing, their projected profitability 6 months in the future, and how fast demand is growing for that industry as a whole (if all the companies in an industry are expanding their assets faster than demand is growing, supply will exceed demand, and industry profitability will decline, and vice versa). Also shows what percent of sales each company in the industry is spending on Research and Development (R & D), where relevant. This item can also give you an idea, when one company completely dominates an industry, with a market share of 50% or more, of a possible target for an antitrust lawsuit. (See "AT" command below, under the discussion of the Management Submenu.) ISUM -- Gives a comparative financial summary of all the companies in any of the 26 industries, showing percent return on net worth (profitability), dividend yield, net worth per share, and price per share. OWN -- Displays a stock portfolio listing of all the stocks owned by any player or company. If playing against the computer, enter (instead of a stock symbol) the number "151" to see the computer's stock portfolio. For other players in the game, whether or not the computer is a player, enter a number from 151 to 154 (each player in the game is assigned an ID# 151, 152, and, if there are more than 2 players, 153 and 154. SHR -- Displays a list of all the stockholders, and how much they own, for any corporation. Shares not owned by a player or by one of the other 150 corporations in the W$R simulation are considered to be owned by "the Public." DB -- Database search command. Allows you to search for attractive investments, based on any 1 or more of 4 criteria: Stock price, stock price as a percentage of net worth, dividend yield, and P/E (price to earnings) ratio. NEWS -- Select this item to see a list of news items, with up to 15 headlines of recent events that have occurred in the game being played, such as transactions by any of the players, corporate takeovers, bankruptcies, tax changes by Congress, changes in Federal Reserve monetary policies, changes in banks' prime lending rates, and many other significant events. ECO -- Displays a full screen of current economic statistics, such as rate of growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product), various interest rates, price of the 10% government long-term bond, housing starts, oil prices, and more. ACQUIRE/SELL SUBMENU -------------------- Use the selections on this submenu to acquire or sell stocks of companies in various ways, or to buy or sell government bonds (or buy back junk bonds issued by a company you control), or to buy or sell business assets (plant, equipment, etc.). BUY -- This command allows you (or any corporation that you control) to buy stock in corporations. You or your controlled company may buy up to 15% of a company's stock from "the Public" on the open market. Note that buying stock on the open market will tend to run up the price of that stock. The more you buy, the more you force the price up. Or you may buy ANY amount of stock from a company you control that already owns the stock in question, at the current market price. This type of buy transaction does not affect the stock's market price. SELL -- This menu command lets you (or any company that you control) sell stock from your (or its) stock portfolio. Note that the more stock you sell, the more you will drive down the market price of that stock. BOND -- Lets you buy 10% government bonds, in units of $100 million face value. The price of government bonds, say 103, represents the percentage of face value at which the bonds are currently trading. Thus, to buy 1 unit of $100 million face value of bonds if the price is 103, you would have to pay $103 million. If you control a company that has issued its own IOU's, called "junk bonds" in this simulation, you may also use this command to have such a company buy back such high-interest (15%) bonds at the current bond price (which is assumed to the same as the price of 10% government bonds), or at 105, whichever is less. TO -- Tender Offer, or Takeover command. If you want to buy more than a 15% interest in a company (you will need at least 20% ownership if you want to "control" the company and make decisions for it), you can use the TO command to buy up to 100% of the company, all at one price, up to 25% above the current market price. LBO -- Leveraged Buyouts. If you control a company, say 20% of it, which seems undervalued, you can use this command to have the company use its own money (or borrowed money) to buy back all its stock that is owned by the Public. For instance, if the Public owned the other 80%, the company could buy back all 80% of the Public stock, leaving you as the sole, 100% owner after the transaction. To raise the money for such an LBO, it may often be necessary for the corporation to borrow all it can from the bank, and possibly even sell a lot of 15% junk bonds. GM -- Greenmail. Similar to the LBO command above, except that instead of buying back the stock owned by the public, your controlled company can buy back (sometimes) the stock of other corporations who own a non-controlling block of its stock. MG -- Mergers. If your company wants to take over another company, but doesn't have the money (or can't borrow enough) to do the takeover, you can instead have it propose a stock-for-stock merger, in which your company will issue new shares to all the stockholders of the "target" company, which it will then acquire as a wholly-owned subsidiary (or become a wholly-owned subsidiary of, in certain cases, called "reverse mergers"). A merger will usually dilute your ownership of the "parent" company, so that you will wind up with a smaller percentage interest in a larger, combined, enterprise, which will usually be worth just about the same as your stock in the one company an instant before the merger took place. AC -- Acquire assets. This selection allows a company you own to increase its investment in business assets (new airplanes for an airline, new trains and rail line for a railroad, new plants for most kinds of industrial companies, etc.). It can either invest in new assets (which increases the supply for the industry as a whole) or simply buy assets from another company that you also control. Use this command also to have a company sell off business assets, on which it will usually take a loss if those assets are not currently earning a satisfactory rate of return. FINANCING SUBMENU ----------------- Use the choices on this submenu to raise money in any of a variety of ways, either to keep a company you control "liquid" enough to stay out of trouble, or to enable it to make investments, pay out large dividends, or to shore up a company's finances if it is too heavily in debt, by issuing new stock. PO -- Public Offering. Allows you to have a company (that you control) issue new stock to the Public, to raise cash and improve its balance sheet, which may result in an improved credit rating and, as a result, a lower interest rate on its bank loan. WK -- White Knight offering. Allows your controlled company to seek out a large, "neutral" company that will buy newly-issued stock in your company. Effect is same as a Public Offering (above), except that you may not want too many share of stock in Public hands, if you are concerned that another player might be able to buy up enough Public stock to wrest control of the company from you. This is a way to "park" the newly-issued stock in the hands of a friendly (or at least neutral) "White Knight" shareholder, where they can't be bought by another player. The "White Knight" company will always vote its stock with your stock, against any merger attempt, too, in the event that another player attempts to take over your company by means of a stock-for-stock merger. JB -- Junk Bonds. Allows your company (if its credit is not TOO bad) to issue high-interest (15% of face value) "junk bonds" to the Public, at the current bond price, up to a maximum price of 105% of face value (105). This is a way to borrow some more, when the bank won't lend your company any more money, either because your company has too poor a credit rating, or because an opposing player controls the lending bank, which shuts off your company's line of credit from the bank. Issuing junk bonds is risky, because you have to pay such high interest. If you can't earn at least a 15% return on the borrowed money, it will usually be a losing proposition, unless there are special tax considerations. CC -- Capital Contribution. This selection allows you, or a company you control, to contribute cash to a company you own at least 80% of the stock of. This might come in handy if, for example, you own a small company that has almost gone bankrupt, in an industry dominated by a rapacious competitor, whom you think your little company might be able to successfully sue in an antitrust case -- if only your company had enough cash to pay for good lawyers -- up front, of course. Thus, you might drop a few hundred million for legal fees into the company, if you owned 80 to 100% of its stock, so it could pay the lawyers and file the antitrust suit. XD -- Extraordinary Dividend. This is sort of the opposite of a capital contribution (CC command, above). Here, instead of putting money INTO a company you control, you take a big chunk of money out of it all at once, up to 30% of its net worth. (You must own 51% or more of the company's stock to have it make an XD distribution). Note that any such extraordinary dividend is taxable, the same as any other dividend. (Fully taxable to an individual player; only 20% of the dividend is subject to tax if paid to a 20%-or-over corporate shareholder, or only 30% is taxable to a less-than-20% corporate shareholder.) MANAGEMENT SUBMENU ------------------ Use this menu to set various management policies for a company you control, or for such rather drastic measures as firing existing management, "restructuring" the company, or filing an antitrust lawsuit against another company in the same industry. CM -- Change Management. Just what it sounds like. If it appears your company isn't competitive with other companies in its industry, in terms of its return on business assets (see IND command for a comparison of all the companies in an industry), you can fire existing management. A few months later (watch the teletype news ticker, and check the NEWS command occasionally), you will usually learn if your new management is turning the company around, or is no better than the old, or is a complete disaster. GROW -- Growth rate. Lets you set the annual rate of growth in business assets (capital spending) for a company you control. The more a company expands, relative to the other companies in its industry, the larger its "market share" becomes, and, in W$R, higher market share increases relative profitability, all other things being equal (they never are). If things really look gloomy, as in a Depression, you can set you company's growth rate at as low as -10%, which means that, instead of it putting money INTO new plant and equipment, it is simply converting 10% of its business assets into cash each year, by letting them depreciate, without any new net capital spending. Conversely, if industry prospects are booming, you will want to build more plants, buy more airplanes or ships, or whatever, so you may increase the growth rate to as much as 30%. (NOTE: Fast-growing companies will tend to trade at higher price-to-earnings ratios than slower- growing companies in this simulation, as in the real world, so in the short run you may be able to give a boost to your company's stock price by creating a flurry of expansion -- assuming the company has the financial wherewithal to make such capital investments.) DVD -- Dividend payout. Lets you set the percentage of annual earnings that a company (that you control) pays out to shareholders as dividends. You can set this percentage at anywhere from 0% to 100% of the prior year's annual earnings. There are various pros and cons of high or low dividend payouts in W$R, as in the real world. See our Strategy and Tactics book for a discussion of the pros and cons of either high or low payouts. RD -- R & D Spending. For companies in certain high- tech industries, you may spend anywhere from 0% to 30% of annual sales on Research and Development (R & D), in an attempt to improve profitability. The more you spend, the more you cut into your company's current profits, but the more likely you are to come up with major increases in its long-term level of profitability. The choice of whether to spend a lot or a little on R & D is always a tough one. In the short term, you may make a company's earnings look a lot better by slashing its R & D budget, but the company will usually suffer a year or two down the road, particularly if all its competitors are spending heavily on R & D and are become more profitable than it is. LQ -- Liquidation. This command lets you "liquidate" a wholly-owned company into a parent company in the same industry (or if either company is a "holding company," with no business assets invested in any industry). In a liquidation, the "liquidated" subsidiary goes out of existence temporarily (it will soon resurface as a small, publicly-owned company with cash, but not business assets), and all of its assets are transferred, tax-free, to the parent corporation. Thus, if you have 2 companies in an industry, one with a 15% market share, and the other with a 25% market share, and you liquidate one company into the other, the surviving company will have a 40% market share, which may make it a formidable competitor, much more profitable than either of the two companies were before the liquidation. Also, if one of the two companies has unused tax "net operating loss carryovers," those will carry over to the surviving company, and can be used to shelter the earnings of the combined enterprise from taxes until taxable earnings offset all of the tax loss carryover, which may mean several years of paying no taxes, in an ideal situation. AT -- Antitrust lawsuit. Any company in an industry (other than financial companies, such as banks, insurance companies and holding companies) may sue any other company in that industry for anti-trust violations (and may be countersued if the claim is frivolous). In W$R, the best evidence of antitrust violations is when a company has a very large market share percentage in its industry, such as over 50%. In general, the higher the defendant company's market share, the more likely you are to win an antitrust suit (for up to $5 BILLION in damages against it). When every other attempt to manage your company has failed to make it very profitable, an antitrust suit against a successful competitor in its industry (particular if the competitor is owned by another player) can be a longshot way of winning a large windfall and possibly snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. In short, if you can't beat 'em fairly, sue 'em. REST -- Restructure. This is a new command, just added to this version of the program. This command allows you to have a company you control "restructure" its business by laying off thousands of employees, paying them large severance or early retirement bonuses, and writing off (scrapping) large portions of its business assets, up to 40% of assets, in some cases. The immediate effect, depending on how large a restructuring charge-off you decide to take, it to clobber your company's net worth, as well as creating a loss (or sharply reduced net income) for that quarter. The gamble is that this re-structuring of the company will greatly increase the profitability of the remaining business asset base, by getting rid of redundant employees and unproductive plant and equipment, so that future earnings will be sharply increased. COMMENTS ON STRATEGIES AND TACTICS: ----------------------------------- In Wall $treet Raider, as on the real Wall Street, the name of the game is success, and the way you keep score is with money. You can either try to be smart, work hard and do a lot of good research, manage your companies well and get rich slow, or you can take large gambles (by floating lots of junk bonds or doing LBOs, for example) or play dirty (suing your competitors, trading on "insider" tips, etc.) and try to make a ton of loot in a hurry, by fair means or financial sleight of hand and trickery. This simulation is deliberately created to allow for a great deal of flexibility and free-form, creative financial manipulation, as much like the real world of high finance as we can imagine and make it. Thus, the more you play W$R, the more creative gimmicks you are likely to come up with, in terms of ways to manipulate stock prices, keep down your company's taxes, savage the competing players and their companies, improve your companies' profitability, and so on and on. While W$R isn't an exact replica of the real world, in terms of tax and SEC laws, accounting conventions, or business dynamics, it does build in a great deal of reality, and with it, a lot of the same type of tough decision-making processes, and we have a hunch that if you play it long enough, you will get a much better gut- level understanding of how financial markets work, and what tends to make stock prices go up or down. We know that creating this game, going back to 1967, has done a great deal to teach US about the stock market, and has been almost (but not quite) as good a learning tool over the years as actually trading stocks and bonds, and working to help put together billion dollar corporate takeovers and mergers in the '70s and '80s, both as a tax lawyer and as a CPA in a giant accounting firm (with a brief spell as a consulting economist and a licensed stockbroker). Of course, if you're the impatient type, who doesn't like learning by trial and error, and gets tired of losing games of Wall $treet Raider to the computer or to human opponents, there is always a shortcut....Our book, "Take No Prisoners: Wall $treet Raider -- Strategy and Tactics," mentioned elsewhere in this file, available for $25 if you print out the order/registration form built into the program and mail it to the author at the following address: Michael D. Jenkins 3020 Issaquah-Pine Lake Rd. Suite #36 Issaquah, WA 98027