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Link of the Day [9.15.09]

Capitalism eats itself as well as its young, old and every one in between. It doesn't care about you. It doesn't care about your job or your house or your kids' schooling. It does what it does efficiently and ruthlessly. It's growth is unrelenting. It will make you happy for a while, but eventually it will make you sad.

Don't say that there were no warning signs. Don't say that no one could've predicted. Someone can and did by just looking at how things work, extrapolating this to the future, and realizing it will destroy us.

It is a cylce of destruction, and once we realize that we need to oversee this cycle to make it less destructive, we will realize that someone other than the Market should help.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/13/why_capitalism_fails?mode=PF

Labels: NewsRadio quote, the market

No one in the financial world really knows what they're doing. It's a con game, a scam. It's all pretend, but everyone thinks it's real so we must perpetuate that myth.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/04/iceland200904

Labels: lotd, the market, wankers

I don't know why I am posting such an intriguing read on a Saturday. No one's going to read it, but you should. Wait. I do know why. It's because I can't find a link for the day for today.

Still read this article and ponder how we got ourselves in this mess. And if these suggestions are going to help us get out of it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2009/01/fiscal-therapy.html

Labels: lotd, the market

Choices made by business leaders yesterday affects what is happening today. These leaders only see the present and the near future, but don't imagine anything long term. They do craft business plans for that but honestly does it make sense that ten, fifteen, twenty years these plans all go exceedingly well? Probably not, so they innovate to make things work out. Yet, that innovation is only helpful for the present, and like a butterfly flapping its wings in China, you can never predict the repercussions of innovation will spread.

The pension plan was meant to ensure that the workers of a company was guaranteed a level of income well he retired. Health plans were also provided by the business leaders. These benefits to the worker were meant to stave of some form of social care and socialism by the government. It forced the business to be the ones granting workers benefits. The business leaders smiled because it weakened the worker's leverage. They are now dependent on the benevolence of the business leader who can hire or fire your and provide the benefits.

Yet, these obligations are too generous, and the business leader doesn't want to spend money on them. It makes them unprofitable.

Years ago, the Democratic president wanted to provide universal health care to the US. It was business leaders who didn't want to push for it. "We will end up losing money to ne'er do wells who don't work for us," they reasoned. Now they are coming to the government because they can't afford paying obligations that could've been ameliorated by universal health care. Couldn't these business leaders foresee that the obligations would've been spread around to every business and that their costs would've come down? Could they not see that having the burden of paying health care costs is making them uncompetitive with foreign companies who have their workers subsidized by government providing benefits? Are these business leaders smart?

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/28/060828fa_fact

Labels: egg on the face, lotd, the market

The ever shrill, Paul Krugman, takes the financial service industry to task eviscerating those jokers with a beautiful op-ed in the NY Times. This is awesome and sums up my feelings about the fraud perpetrated on the world that the market is run by smart people. They are only smart in that they make us all dumb for believing them. What a bunch of immoral, greedy bastards. The devil works there.

Labels: the market

To watch Wall St. come crashing down is very fascinating. It makes you
angry and sick thinking about it all. The more you think about it, the
more "the market" seems to be a big scam. It's greed I tell you. There
is no higher goal within "the market." It's just to make money for
myself, and if you so happen to make money with me, then good for you,
but I can't care if you do or not.

While I understand that "the market" gives us jobs and makes the world
churn, I hate it for how indescriminate it is. There is no hard work
there. It's plain luck and who-you-know that'll make you money. You
bring to "the market" your sense of morals and it will reward you with
what it sees fit. It's too bad that those who choose the life of
working "the market" are unscrupulous bastards.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/

Labels: anger and frustration, lotd, the market

I don't believe in capitalism as preached by this country. I think the
markets are run by greedy people who only believe in the here-and-now
and not the long term future viability. And we follow them, because we
think they are smart. In reality, they are dumb and we are fools for
following them.

Perhaps in the future, we will be less susceptible to the cons of the
financial industry.

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/stiglitz200901?printable=true
&currentPage=all

Labels: lotd, the market

What is the cost of having Republicans run the country?

Labels: just asking, the market, wankers

Here's another take on what business needs to do to ensure better stewardship of our economy. Businesses should be focused on being good corporate citizens, take out greed from their motivating principles, and look to respect for their customers and employees. Good luck on that!

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/
nov2008/ca2008117_654471.htm

Labels: commerce, lotd, the market

Greed kills.

This article is pretty much a damnation of the wizards on Wall Street. They don't know what they're selling. We don't know what we're buying. We're all dead in the long run.

I remember my one and only business class during my grad school studies. It was a class about ethics in business and it was filled with nothing but finance folks. They took the view that the bottom line was the first thing that mattered for a business. They didn't out right ignore the need for ethical entrepeneurship, but they didn't think that it was worthwhile. I took this class at the end of 2007. I wonder what happened to their world view.

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/
The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom?page=0

Labels: commerce, lotd, the market

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.”

Alan Greenspan, Former Chief of the Federal Reserve

Labels: commerce, egg on the face, oops, qotd, the market, wankers

In my GoogleReader feeds, I have a number of economic commentators. They've been a good read to understanding what this financial turmoil is all about. Yet, all their posts have been depressing for quite sometime, so I usually skip over them and mark them read. I have no time to get depressed when I am already depressed.

Still, today's link caught my eye earlier this week. It's Barry Ritholtz explaining who to blame for this mess. Not really, but he does explain some of the key causes that enabled the problem to fester.

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/10/why-lending-sta.html

Labels: lotd, the market

Please pay first
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.

Closing in on $60.00!

Labels: picture, the market

At the turn of the century, Napster was the place to get your mp3s. Then Apple invented the iTunes Music Store. Sayanora, Napster!

It's back though, and trying to wrestle the mp3 download business from Apple. Good luck, Napster!

http://www.napster.com/store

Labels: lotd, the market

"I propose that the federal government suspend all taxes on gasoline now
paid by the American people -- from Memorial Day to Labor Day of this
year. The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus..."

Republican presidential candidate John McCain

Labels: qotd, the market, wankers

Because Initech is filled with lame people who barely see a movie a year, I have never in my life participated in the office Oscar® pool. Therefore, I am conducting one here!

Yes, now you have a chance to make your predictions for this year's Oscar® in the comfort of your pajamas. You don't need to shlep to work to do it. So start looking over the prediction punditry. Visit your favorite film blog for insight. Start flipping a coin. You may win the 1st Annual BrowserMetrics Oscar Pool!

But here are the rules:

1. One entry per person


2. There are officially 24 nominations under consideration during Sunday's telecast. You have 24 chances. Make a prediction in all 24!


3. Scoring will be based on who has the most points at the end of the telecast.


4. Points will be assigned based on making a correct prediction.


5. Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress are worth 3 points each


6. Best Director, Best Animated Feature, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, and Art Direction are worth 2 points each


7. The rest are worth 1 point each


8. There is a total of 39 points in play (5x3 + 5x2 + 14)


9. In event of a tie, the tie breaker will be the person guessing as close to, but not over, the official number of people watching the telecast in the US.


10. If still tied, I will pick a name from a hat


11. Post your entry in the official thread


12. Entry accepted until Sunday, February 24, 2008 5:00 PM EST as determined by the time stamp in your entry.

I'll try my best to tabulate the score soon after Sunday.

The winner will receive a DVD of any one of the nominated films now or when they get released.

Good luck and have fun!

Labels: movies, oscar pool, the market

The Moby Quotient is awesome. Plug in a band, their song for a commercial, and see how much of a sellout they are. Fun times, but I couldn't think of much.

Labels: the market, time sink, winners

Amazon has released their online music store. MP3s for $0.89. Whole albums for as low as $5.00.

Apple should be worried.

No pernicious DRM to keep you from moving the files to and from wherever. Works with the iPod. And cheaper too.

They even have a download manager that'll copy it to iTunes for you.

Competition has just arrived.

Labels: Apple, NewsRadio quote, the market