Monthly Archives: February 2009

Archive of posts published in the specified Month

Understanding Success

I just finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He has a knack for insights and thinking that most of us miss. The premise is that success is less a matter of IQ and talent and more a matter of culture, opportunity

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New Marketing

This ad is bold, and probably extremely effective. The law firm is all women. The ad has been googled over 7,000,000 times. The firm did not use an ad agency for the production.

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Late Justice

A real life example (the numbers are changed) of why is it getting harder to create wealth in America. A worker is injured on the job in a truck accident. He incurs medical expenses and lost wages of, let’s say,

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The Republican Repair Crew

Only months after losing the White House and both houses of Congress, the leading voice of the party is Jewish Eric Cantor from Virginia, and Michael Steele, a black man, is chairman of the party. Considering that 75% of the

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From Rags to Riches

I have found the success of the Jews in America a fascinating story. Like many I have attributed much of it to cultural literacy because of the centerpiece of the “book” to the Jews. The torah service looks like a

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Systemic Failure

– I havge tried to get this thought across is a numebr of blogs but Terrence expresses it succinctly. “How convenient it is to blame bankers and CEO compensation for triggering the crisis, especially for politicians and regulators. Charging bankers

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A Question of Balance

In 1893 the United States faced a depression, then called a panic. With no Fed and no stimulus packages the country adjusted and came out of it in a few years. In 1920-21 the country was in a severe recession

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Slumdog Wins

I was happy to see Slumdog Millionaire win at the Oscars. Besides just being an original and wonderful film, it showed that creativity is not restrained by the lack of big names and big budgets. Ideas and talent can still

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Class Warfare

The so called Stimulus package has even greater restrictions on executive pay than the Treasury had imposed. This is a misguided populist capitulation that feeds political class envy. At a time when the banks need the best talent to pull

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The Limits of Measuring IQ

IQ measurements can have some significant bearings on ability to a point, but beyond certain thresholds, the measurements mean little. You need an IQ of 75 master the elementary curriculum; 105 to complete an academic or college prep program in

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Dubai Tennis and a Little Justice

The WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) fined Dubai Tennis Championships organizers a record $300,000 for refusing to grant a visa to Israeli Shahar Pe’er . See the whole story here.

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Just Words

Obama is certainly in a learning curve and he needs to learn the power of the words he selects. By constantly comparing our current financial problem to the Great Depression he raises that expectation. The result is a reluctance to

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Investing Without a Brain

I have set in more than my share of meetings where organizations use investing consultants to engage in asset allocations. They all basically say the same thing. “Asset allocation is the most important part of investing returns. Being out of

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Thinking Outside the Vacuum

For a strong economy you need four ingredients: low taxes, low regulation, free trade, and a sound currency. The first only needs an explanation to the extent that the amount of taxation is relevant to global competition and to the

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When Contrarians Prevail

In the 1970’s financial writers such as Harry Brown and Howard Ruff made a nice living writing books and newsletters about investing in an era of inflation. Howard Ruff sold food storage products and advocated buying household commodities in bulk

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The Benefits of a Recession

This recession is as much a consumer credit bubble as a housing bubble. The credit correction means that less credit worthy borrowers have a harder time getting credit and thus their consumption is forced down. Consumers will be buying smaller

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A True Stimulus Package

In Yes and Not Yes writer Doug Ott notes businesses that do well in a recession. One worth noting is high end prostitutes. Read his entry here. Apparently may of the wealthier unemployed have a bit of difficulty facing their

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Stimulus Check

You can check on every project in every city in every state. Gotta give them credit for transparency. See the report here. Tips to Sivia Lipson

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Kosher Liberalism

Nick Cohen, a liberal non Jew ( in spite of his last name) writes that left wing anti-semitism is making him want to become Jewish. Hatred is turning me into a JewBy Nick CohenCreated 12 Feb 2009 – 11:34 Excerpts:

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It’s Snowing in Hell

Deroy Murdock notes that even hard core leftists are rejecting the Gore delusion of global warming as empirically and factually false, and a distraction from far more serious problems. Tips to Evan Koplin

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