Archives for “Economics”
On the 2010 rise in bankruptcy filings: my understanding is that there are three major categories of debt that “tip” people over the edge. Credit card debt, made more difficult to vacate after the 2005 BAPCPA change. Student loans, which are almost impossible to vacate, and medical debt which is still possible to vacate. With few benefits for bankruptcy relating [...]
Ran into this 2004 economics paper referenced by Wayne Marr on twitter. Several quotes that jumped out at me for a variety of reasons. All economics links added by me. “The foundation blocks of standard finance were now in place, supporting one another. Investors are rational, prices are efficient, risk is measured by beta and [...]
A cross post from a guest blog post on the Houston Chronicle Commercial Real Estate Defaults Increase – A Good Thing? Several economists I heard speak recently at the GHP Growth Summit pointed out that every recession in the US ends when real estate rebounds. Real estate leads us out of recessions. So just as [...]
Pontiac-GMC-Bankrupt on flickr.
“You cannot trust these guys.” – Wendell Potter (source)
Morgan Stanley says we are near the trough in the decline of computer sales and that it’s going to be all uphill from here. But why? WHY? The article points to no particular reason for the upturn they are predicting beyond “the cycle.” This is about the same as the constant rosy predictions from the [...]
Yali’s famous question from the book Guns, Germs, and Steel: “All of those things must have been on Yali’s mind when, with yet another penetrating glance of his flashing eyes, he asked me, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had [...]
I run a creative agency and lighting is a frequent topic. In short, we have the people who want to live in the dark and never talk to anyone. And the people who want to “let the light shine in!”. The bottom line is if you employ both you must side with the people who [...]
I just finished reading The Simple Truth About Your Business, Why Focused and Steady Beats Business at the Speed of Light. By Alex Brennan-Martin, a man I have had the privilege of meeting. And a man who has earned a good amount of my money from celebrating dinners at his Houston restaurant with my wife [...]
last glimmer in miami Originally uploaded by eschipul We are witnessing the biggest tax increase in American history. The President is advocating a 700 Billion tax increase to be under the control of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Rushing in fact. Urgent. Let me repeat that – the biggest tax [...]
Reading Harvard Negotiation Project: 5 Lasting Rules For Negotiating Anything on GigaOm made me send the list of five rules of negotiation to a client. First the rules: Don’t Bargain Over Positions Separate the People From the Problem Focus on Interests Invent Options for Mutual Gain Insist on Using Objective Criteria One side effect of [...]
Differentiation is something we talk about a lot. Yet there are subtleties that as a leader are very hard for me to wrap my brain around. On Differentiation Welch says: “I just don’t like quotas in the boardroom or in the office. Winning companies are meritocracies. They practice differentiation, making a clear distinction between top, [...]