Paul Krugman : The Real Plumbers of Ohio

Obama Vs McCain

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

 

 

How to excel in your new job(VP's and above ONLY)

 

Management Bull shit:

 

This makes for good reading and especially effective if you are laid-off after 6-7years of back-breaking work in a high-tech company and you are escorted to the door on an odd day of the week(Tuesday) with 0 severance. Guess, you can call m disgruntled!

 

Credit: John Brandt was the author of this article –

 

This is very effective in this ultra-competitive dog eat cat world…What should a new manager hired for a top spot do in the company where everything is alien to him…some life saving tips, this!

 

“Dump everything on a sub-ordinate(Smith) who actually knows what he/she is doing.”

 

Another old fashioned option now available ONLY at the VP level or above. Breathe a sigh of relief as that pile of unsanswered memos and half baked proposals that’s on Smith’s desk leaving yours clean and shiny as the hood of the new Benz(Porsche or Cadillac) you will be driving this afternoon while Smith digs out.

 

Pros: If Smith is any good, you’ll look like a genius. If not, fire him. Why should you be blamed for all the incompetents your predecessors hired.

 

Cons: If Smith is as good as you hope, a rival may hire him away or worse yet, unmask you for the empty suit you really are

 

Upshot: It sure beats doing it yourself. Mitigate risk by giving Smith a bad review(he or she can now be painted as disgruntled) and making sure that his cubicle can always be found with a trail of bread-crumbs. Atta boy!

 

Snippets from "When Markets Collide by Mohammed El Eriyan, CEO of PIMCO"

Parting thoughts to the individual investor:

 

1.  Investors are advised to keep following topics front and center on their radar screens…they speak directly to the abilitiy of the markets to minimize very wide technical fluctuation occasioned by the current asymmetry between

a.  The role of endogenous liquidity(refer book to what does endogenous liquidity according to the author means…or even better google it)

b.  Official monetary actions

c.  As well as the reliable openness of economies to developments elsewhere in the world.

2.  Do not forget initial conditions – like Harvard Management companies first entry into TIMBER as early as the 1980s(1988-89???), Apparently, HMC made a killing back then and soon, like bees, everyone followed into timber…returns for first movers are the most(investing or forseeing opportunities where nobody is looking).

3.  Major contributor to inequalities around the world has been technological progress which increases the premium on skills and antiquates relatively low skill inputs(need to update here?) thereby benefiting those who are already better off and displacing those that are already worse off.

4.  Prisoner Dilemma – (need to update this)

5.  3 Circuit Breakers

a.  Government or FED jumping in(making access to easy cash)

b.  SWF with money entering the markets

c.  Emerging Economies economic growth.

6.  PASCALS WAGER: If people believed that the probabilitiy of an earthquake in California was hight, they would NOT live in California. Yet, because the probability is non-zero and the consequences are severe, it makes sense to consider earthquake insurance, especially, if the market is providing it cheaply.

7.  Peter Dolan(from HMC?) 4 pronged principle in the life of a money manager

a.  Strive for excellence(arete)

b.  Hubris

c.  Recklesness(ate)

d.  Nemesis(retributive justice)

8.  The urgent/importance matrix – any ceo must need to pay attention to these(more in the book)

a.  1^st Quadrant: IMPORTANT AND URGENT

b.  2^nd Quadrant: Important NOT Urgent

c.  3^rd Quadrant: NOT Important NOT Urgent

d.  4^th Quadrant: Urgent NOT Important

 

 

 

 

 

Broker turned Monk speaks

"We always search for happiness in the outside world, in material things, which makes us constantly unsatisfied, angry with ourselves and the world," said Mishkov, who exudes a sense of tranquility, intelligence, and humor.

Greed and the marketization of our lives have reached the point where people have been turned into a commodity -- even their health can be traded like a stock, he said.

"We have so quickly lost our human appearance, we have become beasts ... There's no-one to count on and say 'hey neighbor come help me.' He will come but demand a payment."

Read the entire article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49004C20081001?sp=true