Early this morning I read a series of articles1 which expanded on my uneasy expectations of where the US economy is headed, and inspired me to consider what may be done to remedy the situation. The major themes of the posts can be broken down into a few significant areas. (more…)
Tag: critical value
Celebrate or Vilify Social Parasites
The relationships between organisms are categorized as symbiotic when species cooperate, and parasitic when one organism feeds off the energy, labor and life-force of another. Nature is not inclined to morally judge the tactics of life, the only law is survival and procreation. Over time ecosystem and environmental instabilities shift even the most successful life forms and relationships into chaos, rewarding only the most fit and fortunate with another sunrise. Parasitic organisms have survived for hundreds of millions of years, and there is little doubt that their presence plays a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
Does wealth exist in a vacuum?
Best of Day News Filtering
In the quest for relevant knowledge we spend hours each week (or day) sifting through mountains of data in order to discover information critical to our success. Dozens of services specialize and survive by delivering relevant content.* There’s a thin line between brilliant success and obsolescent oblivion.
Want to Startup America, fund Mega Projects and R&D not more web apps
This riff captures my initial reactions to the recent Startup America Partnership which is actively supported by popular Venture Capitalist Brad Feld and discussed by Fred Wilson in a mostly positive light.
How to persuade corporate IT into making your next computer upgrade an Apple
Here’s an extended list of Mac vs PC commercials. If your IT staff proves resistant to blatant advertising tricks you’ll have to dig deeper, please read on.
How Money Shapes the future of the Web
Don’t discount the value of short term optimization
Invest in the partnerships, people and technology that will benefit your business and projects in the long run. Plenty of folks will advise you to make commitments to sustainable solutions with long term planning, myself included. Yet there are times when the switching cost is far less than the cost of premature commitment to a suboptimal, although inevitable alternative.
The Fallacy in Controlling Currency Value
National governments endeavor to influence their local currency through a number of tactics. The tactics leveraged include but are not limited to, creating more currency, altering the federal lending interest rate, and issuing attractive bonds (debt). Real trends in currency values are based on market forces which are beyond efficient government control. Governments have heavy influence over a variety of financial activities, but their ability to predict and dictate future productivity is nonexistent. I propose that government effort to control currency value is based on a fallacy. (more…)
An Amateur Investor’s Tale of Favored Sums
Early this morning I experimented with Dave Pinsen’s latest financial product, the Portfolio Armor app. The tool is designed to rapidly search for optimal insurance on purchases to minimize the transaction’s downside. Such a practical and focused tool forced me to recognize the drastic changes to personal investment over the past decade. There are multiple social networks for traders like the StockTwits and Shortscreen communities. Back when I actively traded stocks, I was a lone fish.