Pretty simple lead-in to this one... there's a lot of cool stuff going on at this Volkswagen factory/museum in Dresden, Germany. From the delivery trams to the robotic sleds to the electrified floors, this is what innovation is supposed to look like. Impressive and fascinating.
(h/t The Big Picture)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
USA, Inc.
Late last month, the firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers published "USA, Inc.", a PDF book which, in its own words:
If you had any doubts about the difficult decisions that our country faces (and has continually refused to make), this report should put them to rest.
Would you invest in this company?
If your employer's budget looked like this, how comfortable would you feel about your job security?
Not to mention, how sustainable would you consider these spending trends to be?
What I think is perhaps most notable about this report is just how capable these politicians and businesspeople are of assessing the problem when they view it from an appropriate distance--for some reason, many of them were incapable of doing the same when they held positions of greater power (with the exception of Bloomberg, who still holds a position of power and does tend to have a grip on the severity of the situation).
Maybe their voices were drowned out amid a chorus of fools, maybe groupthink is to blame, or perhaps there's another explanation that hasn't yet been proffered. Either way, we should certainly listen to them now. They know these problems from both the inside and the outside, and to ignore their warnings could be quite dangerous.
[USA Inc.]
(h/t Mish Shedlock)
looks at the federal government as if it were a business, with the goal of informing the debate about our nation's financial situation and outlook. In it, we examine USA Inc.'s statement and balance sheet. We aim to interpret the underlying data and facts and illustrate patterns and trends in easy-to-understand ways.Neither the company nor the report are to be taken lightly. USA, Inc. was compiled by longtime Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker, and it boasts NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, former Secretary of State George Shultz, and many other prominent businesspeople and politicians as contributors. The loaded report is comprehensive (long), insightful, and somewhat terrifying, but its true brilliance is in the wealth of easy-to-comprehend graphs and charts that it uses to display its findings. In short, it's a consultant's (and blogger's) dream.
If you had any doubts about the difficult decisions that our country faces (and has continually refused to make), this report should put them to rest.
Would you invest in this company?
If your employer's budget looked like this, how comfortable would you feel about your job security?
Not to mention, how sustainable would you consider these spending trends to be?
What I think is perhaps most notable about this report is just how capable these politicians and businesspeople are of assessing the problem when they view it from an appropriate distance--for some reason, many of them were incapable of doing the same when they held positions of greater power (with the exception of Bloomberg, who still holds a position of power and does tend to have a grip on the severity of the situation).
Maybe their voices were drowned out amid a chorus of fools, maybe groupthink is to blame, or perhaps there's another explanation that hasn't yet been proffered. Either way, we should certainly listen to them now. They know these problems from both the inside and the outside, and to ignore their warnings could be quite dangerous.
[USA Inc.]
(h/t Mish Shedlock)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Well that was quick
No sooner had I posted this item than I came across a follow-up news story, published yesterday.
[BBC]
Ice cream made from breast milk has been removed from a central London restaurant on health grounds following complaints by members of the public.
The dessert, called Baby Gaga, went on sale at ice cream parlour Icecreamists in Covent Garden in February.
But Westminster Council officers removed the product to make sure it was "fit for human consumption".
Icecreamist founder Matt O'Connor said the donor was medically screened and the milk mixture was pasteurised...
Westminster council said it had received two complaints from members of the public and concerns were raised by the Health Protection Agency and Food Standards Agency.
Tory Westminster Councillor Brian Connell said: "Selling foodstuffs made from another person's bodily fluids can lead to viruses being passed on and, in this case, potentially hepatitis,
"As the local authority we will support small businesses and applaud innovative ideas wherever possible, but must protect the health of consumers."Seems like I wasn't the only one who was disgusted by the concept. I'm not sure if the health concerns hold any water, but the story certainly raised more eyebrows than just mine.
[BBC]
This is extraordinary
The Charlie Sheen saga has taken some truly amazing (disturbing) turns this week, and given that we're in the internet age, all manner of enterprising bloggers and social mediaites have been all over it.
So far, this quiz is the best Sheen-related item I've come across, and it seemed worth sharing.
Of course, if oppressive Libyan dictators aren't your thing, you can just enjoy this cartoon from the Jimmy Kimmel Show instead, a delightful mashup of two famously misunderstood Charlies.
[The Guardian]
So far, this quiz is the best Sheen-related item I've come across, and it seemed worth sharing.
Of course, if oppressive Libyan dictators aren't your thing, you can just enjoy this cartoon from the Jimmy Kimmel Show instead, a delightful mashup of two famously misunderstood Charlies.
[The Guardian]
R.I.P. Rev. Peter Gomes
I was saddened to learn that Rev. Peter J. Gomes--a prominent preacher, professor, and theologian, and one of the more memorable characters from my college days--died on Monday night from a brain aneurysm and heart attack. Rev. Gomes was a great speaker, a brilliant academic, and the rare witty and humble preacher. On the merits of his voice alone, he was the type of man whom you simply couldn't forget meeting, even if the meeting was only brief.
R.I.P.
[Harvard Gazette]
Widely regarded as one of America’s leading preachers, Gomes participated in the inaugurations of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He was named Clergy of the Year by the organization Religion in American Life in 1998; in 1979 Time magazine called him “one of the seven most distinguished preachers in America.” He received 39 honorary degrees and was an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.
“We are deeply saddened by this loss,” said Harvard President Drew Faust. “Peter Gomes was an original. For 40 years, he has served Harvard as a teacher in the fullest sense — a scholar, a mentor, one of the great preachers of our generation, and a living symbol of courage and conviction. Through his wisdom and appreciation of the richness of the human spirit Reverend Gomes has left an indelible mark on the institution he served with unmatched devotion and creativity. He will be sorely missed.”
“No one epitomizes all that is good about Harvard more than Peter J. Gomes,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s Alphonse Fletcher University Professor. The pair met in 1991 when Gomes was part of a recruiting committee that helped to bring Gates to the University. Gates quipped it was “love at first sight,” and said Gomes had been a loyal friend and adviser for 20 years.For a jaded Catholic like myself, Rev. Gomes' somewhat irreverent take on modern religion was a breath of fresh air, and an affirmation of what religion and faith can and should be. I was therefore glad to have been directed to this clip from the Colbert Report, which does a pretty fair job of showing Rev. Gomes in his element. It's rare for a religious man to out-funny Stephen Colbert, but I think our man might just have pulled it off.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Peter J. Gomes | ||||
| ||||
R.I.P.
[Harvard Gazette]
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A follow-up on Quote of the Week
Given Charles Ferguson and Matt Taibbi's complaints about the lack of prosecution of bank fraud in the wake of the financial crisis, I don't think either of them will be too pleased to read this item from the Big Picture blog (emphasis mine).
Good stuff. If you read me often, you know that I'm all about balancing the budget and reducing our deficit and debt. But this isn't where to start with the cuts, as I made clear in this post. The core job of the federal government by any definition is to set the rules by which the rest of the country plays. Therefore, "balancing the budget" by defunding regulatory agencies is akin to balancing a police department budget by firing officers and no longer responding to criminal complaints, or balancing a fire department budget by letting fires burn themselves out--what's the point?
[Big Picture]
If you can’t stop the legislation, you can defund it.
That is what our Chart of the Day shows, the net impact of defunding regulation. As we previously discussed 1 year ago (SEC: Defective by Design?), there has been a concerted effort at keeping regulators under-funded. The SEC has lacked sufficient staff, thus holding enforcement efforts to a minimum.
This is not an accident. Imagine being allowed to have an army and guns, but no bullets are allowed. The banks and big Wall Street firms are very comfortable with this arrangement. And as Matt Taibbi made clear, the revolving door between the SEC and Wall Street has prevented any criminal prosecutions.
And its not a bi-partisan issue this go around, its the crazy wing of the Republican Party:
“Congressional Republicans intent on big spending cuts are on a collision course with Wall Street’s top regulators over a plan to slash millions from agency budgets.
Lawmakers are targeting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The work of both agencies is set to balloon as the Dodd-Frank financial reform law is implemented...
The most recent comprehensive spending bill produced by House Republicans would chop the CFTC’s funding by $56.8 million — almost a third of the agency’s entire budget — over the next seven months. Funding at the SEC would be cut by $25 million over the same time period.”
To give you an idea of what this looks like, consider the chart [below] — it shows how the SEC caseload has risen, while its budget remains flat.
Good stuff. If you read me often, you know that I'm all about balancing the budget and reducing our deficit and debt. But this isn't where to start with the cuts, as I made clear in this post. The core job of the federal government by any definition is to set the rules by which the rest of the country plays. Therefore, "balancing the budget" by defunding regulatory agencies is akin to balancing a police department budget by firing officers and no longer responding to criminal complaints, or balancing a fire department budget by letting fires burn themselves out--what's the point?
[Big Picture]
Quote of the Week
This week's quote comes from the world of Hollywood, a town which never seems to have a shortage of notable quotables (and strongly worded opinions). Since this Sunday was the night of the annual Academy Awards presentation (congrats to Natalie, my college classmate and a well-deserved winner), there was of course ample opportunity for the stars to come through. And come through they did.
But given that I'm a financial nerd, I decided that the most memorable line of the night belonged to Charles Ferguson, director of "Inside Job", the documentary on the 2008 financial crisis. Ferguson used his bully pulpit to make a statement that he felt important, echoing Matt Taibbi's sentiments from two weeks ago.
This week's QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong."
- Director Charles Ferguson, in his Best Documentary Academy Award acceptance speech
As Ferguson noted in his post-Oscars interview with the Wall Street Journal, not only have no executives been jailed, but none have even been prosecuted. The reasons are varying and vague, and most of the justifications have to do with an unwillingness to "spook" the markets. Any action that might threaten to do harm to big banks' stock prices must, it seems, be cleared on high, and such clearance has apparently been impossible to acquire.
Ferguson recognizes that the financial industry has become so politically powerful--both by proxy and by direct campaign contributions--as to "inhibit the normal process of justice and law enforcement". That's a problem. Even Bernie Madoff understands that.
[Wall Street Journal]
But given that I'm a financial nerd, I decided that the most memorable line of the night belonged to Charles Ferguson, director of "Inside Job", the documentary on the 2008 financial crisis. Ferguson used his bully pulpit to make a statement that he felt important, echoing Matt Taibbi's sentiments from two weeks ago.
This week's QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong."
- Director Charles Ferguson, in his Best Documentary Academy Award acceptance speech
As Ferguson noted in his post-Oscars interview with the Wall Street Journal, not only have no executives been jailed, but none have even been prosecuted. The reasons are varying and vague, and most of the justifications have to do with an unwillingness to "spook" the markets. Any action that might threaten to do harm to big banks' stock prices must, it seems, be cleared on high, and such clearance has apparently been impossible to acquire.
Ferguson recognizes that the financial industry has become so politically powerful--both by proxy and by direct campaign contributions--as to "inhibit the normal process of justice and law enforcement". That's a problem. Even Bernie Madoff understands that.
[Wall Street Journal]
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