Just the Other Side of the Debate

November 9, 2011

I’m looking at the WSJ on my iPad.  Immediately underneath the headline “Herman Cain: “I have Never Acted Inappropriately” is a picture of the soon to be former PM of Italy and just below that is a caption that says “Italian bond yields jumped to staggering highs in a chilling replay of the market volatility [...]

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Too Much Time on My Hands

November 5, 2011

Some oldies from a couple of weeks ago . . . Okay, let’s see.  Michelle Bachman announced that her New Hampshire campaign is replacing the people that didn’t quit en masse (vigorously denied by the Bachman campaign) that weren’t getting paid so how could they quit because the campaign is out of money anyway. I’ve [...]

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9.11.01 (written the week after)

September 10, 2011

Ten years ago I wrote what follows. It finishes with what amounts to a blessing invoking a God I no longer believe in (and for that matter political leaders I no longer believe in either). Still, they feel like words worth sharing again. I feel like I need to write something about the events of [...]

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I Can’t Help Myself (again)

September 8, 2011

History channel on line two for Governor Perry.  You might want to rethink referencing Galileo in support of your anti-Science point of view. You know, the father of modern astronomy and the guy the church declared a heretic for claiming that the sun was the center of our galaxy? Did anyone get the license plate [...]

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Just Thinking Again

August 16, 2011

In the “I told you so” category . . . and you’ll recall my previous rant on follow the money and who would benefit from a faux debt crisis . . . the answer to the question “What will corporations rolling in cash do with that cash?” is not, employ people.  It is “merger Monday” [...]

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And in Other News

August 9, 2011

Candidate Huntsman tweets that he believes in evolution and thinks there’s something to this whole global warming thing. Thinking people everywhere are dumbstruck. The Tea Party strikes back. Carly F buys Compaq, nearly kills HP, and loses her job.  Mark Hurd buys EDS, nearly kills it and HP, and loses his job.  Leo A, who [...]

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Investors and Uncertainty, a Bad Mix

November 23, 2010

The foundation to behavioral economics is the idea that investors are not rational actors: That they overreact to uncertainty, are influenced by immaterial information, and act for all manner of reasons not consistent with their best interests (utility). I found a paper the other day published by The Paul Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market [...]

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Valuable Statistical Insights Into Political Reality

November 8, 2010

A recent piece by my hero Barry Ritholtz on statistics and the problem with selective perception got me to thinking what other useful information might be out there. Here’s what I found . . .  This first graphic shows clearly and irrefutably the correlation between the number of words in a piece of legislation (in [...]

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A Good Day to Read The Famous “I Have a Dream Speech”

August 28, 2010

Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honorpalooza, on the anniversary day and location of one of the 20th century’s most famous speeches, seems a fitting last act to the summer of our great mid-term discontent. Depending on which of Mr. Beck’s many ringing defenses you heard . . . It was an incredible coincidence: The date was open and he had [...]

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The Numbers Are Against Good Government

August 16, 2010

I have been in a running debate with a friend and colleague generally about the topic of whether or not our elected officials are able to vote knowledgeably given the large number of bills they need to track, the size of their staff, and the competing need to raise money and attend to constituents. It [...]

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