Capitalism Defined

Capitalism: The system under which the government provides bailout capital when large rich firms are about to go out of business. Article.

Booming Economy != Rising Stock Market

Shanghai Composite index plunged from 6000 to 2000 in a matter of months - with no fundamental changes in the Chinese economy. Another year, another bubble. Reminds me of this hilarious onion article. I'd be laughing if my emerging market funds were not scuba diving.

Ambient Awareness

... and here we have it, a new term to describe what Facebook news feed and Twitter are creating.

Talking Head Accountability

Historically news anchors have a hard time keeping up with talking heads as they spew out facts and opinions real time. But these days, shows like the Daily Show and Colbert Report can dissect, fact-check, and rip apart these pontificating blowhards. Case in point:

Blogs I follow

A good blog is hard to find - most of them are not worth checking out twice. Here are a couple I find myself going back to periodically - because they have solid information and/or interesting opinions.

* Calculated Risk
* Greg Mankiw
* TechCrunch
* VentureCapital Wire

Now I know why the Wazzup ... ads were playing

Its all about forming habits (in this case - drinking with your buddies). Great NYT article

Faith In The Economy?

Kevin Philips argues that official CPI, GDP, and Unemployment numbers are all fudged. Not a conspiracy, but just a result of desire of governments to report things as being better than they are in reality.

Airports

Its good to be back in asia and experiencing the firsthand the changes that are afoot (sorry, that was bad - I know). The two airports I just passed through - Singapore Changi and Seoul Incheon - were both equally impressive. Seems like while the US is busy spending money on bombs, oil, and health insurance - Asia is plugging away building infrastructure and making money. What will be the competitive profile in twenty years? I will just say that my 401(K) is mostly in emerging markets.

Brooks on Religion

David Brooks has a unexpected and eclectic NYT OpEd on the scientific/religious debate. Key quote:


"In their arguments with Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the faithful have been defending the existence of God. That was the easy debate. The real challenge is going to come from people who feel the existence of the sacred, but who think that particular religions are just cultural artifacts built on top of universal human traits. It’s going to come from scientists whose beliefs overlap a bit with Buddhism."

Deploy Cognitive Surplus? Yes please ...

GMO Crops Turning Farmers to Suicide

The high costs and problems associated with planting GMO cotton crops leading thousands of farmers to suicide in India. Quite alarming - I hope the Indian government takes a long hard look at the business practices of Monsanto. This wont do anything to improve the image of GMO crops ...

Update: Vanity Fair has an overview of Monsanto history and practices.

Professor John Taylor

... aka the raisin. Profile.

Hello, Flocke!

Free Trade and Rust Belt

Free trade only hastens the process - what drives out jobs is costs (union/taxes) and policies. Article.

Ouch!

Prof Jeff Miron's Rational Perspective on the Effects and Policy Implications of Drug Prohibition

Now if we can find a politician who can explain this to the broader population. Not happening in my lifetime for sure. And now studies show that more than 1% of the US population is in prison. Awesome. On the bright side California is one of the few states that has seen a decline in the number of prisoners since 1987.

Americans Switching Religions - And Becoming Unaffiliated As Well.

NYTimes reports on a new Pew Study - the number of unaffiliated/agnostic individuals is rising. You wouldnt know it from the media coverage. (Click the image to expand it)

Lessig for Congress (or President)

Is there anyone better with powerpoint than Prof Lessig? Good material if you are trying to decide between Barack and Hillary. Also, he may be running for congress - encourage him by joining this group . He will bring some sanity and rationality into the political discourse.

Japanese/Koreans - Whats the Relationship?

Jared Diamond argues that the Koreans had a much more active role in shaping Japanese society than they like to admit ...