What’s Left of Financial Privacy?

A friend wanted to withdraw 10k from his bank account to keep the cash on hand because he is concerned about the financial stability of banks especially after what happened in Cyprus.  What he found out surprised him but it was something I already knew. The bank didn't have 10k in the vault to give …

King George Never Asked for This

So the story has broken that the NSA & FBI have a massive spying program on US citizens.  Email, pictures, web searches, SKYPE conversations etc. The reason given is to fight terrorism and no doubt well meaning people within the government will do just that, however, human nature being what it is I can be …

The Publically Disgraced No Longer Retire to Private Life

In Joseph Conrad's novel Lord Jim , a young man redeems himself for his cowardice and disgrace through service on a remote settlement.  Today, the publicly disgraced stay in the public arena running for Congress where they can get superior healthcare, multimillion dollar retirement (after serving a single term) and millions more when they leave …

Get a Puppy…

Western culture strikes rock bottom, breaks out dynamite.   The very fact it is in the newspaper means it is not widespread.  Otherwise it wouldn't be "news".  People become single parents for any number of reasons, accidental pregnancy, widowed, abandonment, etc. (I don't count simple divorce as that is volitional.  There are quite a few selfish …

Rules, Principles & Virtue

Consider that whenever we have a massive failure in a business industry like the .com era, real estate or banking we usually wind up with more regulation and more rules.  Rules are expensive to comply with.  Most compliance efforts are "letter of the law" not the spirit.  Before, during and after the rule process there …

Frontline The Untouchables

Frontline has a new series on how no Wall Street Executives found a prison cell their new lavish quarters after the mortgage debacle.  The only missing thing from this series is the role of the US Congress and how they built the incentives into the system to reward this behavior.  There is really good paper …

Logical Analysis of Emotional Issue

The difference between rhetoric and the dialectical style can been seen in this video.  Logic versus emotional appeals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooa98FHuaU0

Watch Me Mommy, I’m Driving the Economy

When your view of the banking industry is early 20th century you wind up with these kinds of results. Ben Bernanke just can't keep his hot hands off the dials driven by a mechanistic view of the economy and banking. We should get him one of those driver toys we give toddlers so they "drive" …

Blech

After reading this article about the practice of blading and needling beef to make it more tender, it reminded me of the post a couple of days ago on Salmon.  Again the issue is labeling, that is, informing consumers so they can make informed decisions.  Uniformly, you find organizations oppose this can kind of information …

Richard Branson’s Top Five Tips for Starting A Business

Richard Branson posted an article at Linked In that is very short and to the point.  He lists just five.  Here is a thought experiment.  If 3,000,000 people follow this advice faithfully how many will become as wealthy as Richard Branson?  I would guess maybe 1 or 2.  The rest would disappear into obscurity.  If …