Margin Call: Heartless Bankers Need Love Too
Margin Call: Heartless Bankers Need Love Too This new movie illustrates a fundamental trade-off inherent in investing and in improv. It’s also thoughtful, entertaining, and just provocative enough to...
View ArticleWho Should Get Paid To Occupy Wall Street?
Who Should Get Paid to Occupy Wall Street? The general rule I try to follow when advising my clients on what to charge, is that good deals happen when theone getting paidgives back more in value than...
View ArticleThe "N Word" in Finance and in Improv
The “N Word" in Finance and in Improv In finance, it’s “ nationalization”. In improv, it’s “no”. Belgium and France just announced they would “n word” part of Dexia, Belgium’s largest bank, by buying...
View ArticleRepatriation Tax Holiday: Fun For Some Or Fun For All?
Repatriation Tax Holiday: Fun For Some Or Fun For All? The latest Congressional proposal to declare a tax holiday on repatriated earningsis more than a little counter-intuitive, yet not without...
View ArticleInaction = Death, in Markets and in Improv
Inaction = Death, in Markets and in Improv As Forbes’ readers know, nobody makes money unless somebody does something. If trading stopped. Dead. Right now- (pause for dramatic effect) – pretty soon...
View ArticleFed 'Twist' a/k/a Me First a/k/a Bad Improv
Every improviser dreams of getting a call from Lorne Michaels, a text from Seth Meyers, or a shoutout from Tina or Amy (who of course have moved on but surely still have pull...). But too often we...
View ArticleIt's All Based on Trust
It’s All Based on Trust ( William Hurt as Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, in Emmy-nominated Too Big To Fail) Quick … how do you know trust when you see it? My little company helps clients find good...
View ArticleRooting for the Underdog: Florida Gulf Coast and ....Microsoft?
As any NCAA Men's basketball fan knows, the most fascinating Cinderella at the Big Dance is Florida Gulf Coast University. Their 78-68 victory over the mighty second-seeded Georgetown Hoyas last...
View ArticleEconomics Lessons from the New Pre-Raphaelite Exhibit (Twinkies, Anyone?)
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) were the bad boyz of English painting. Inspired by work created three centuries before, they sought to move forward by looking back-- a credo rich with economic...
View ArticleLance Armstrong Guesting on Showtime's 'Shameless?'
This show, which I love, can well be read as a treatise in economic theory. The set-up is six kids, from about 3 to 20 something, living in a Chicago slumlet. Most are attractive, and/or intelligent....
View ArticleZipcar: Keep Driving Me Crazy. Please.
Far too often small companies sacrifice their competitive distinctiveness when they get acquired. In hopes that life is not just a series of cool things turning to junk, I offer the following...
View ArticleMortgage Interest Deduction: Take My Toaster Oven. Please.
Up for discussion in the fiscal cliff ballyhoo is elimination/reduction of the mortgage interest deduction. The housing industry is up in arms, calling it a kick in the breadbasket for middle income...
View ArticleTurtle for Thanksgiving : College Football Econ.
This Saturday, the University of Maryland will play at North Carolina (3:00, ESPN 3) for one of the last times. The Terrapins have announced they are leaving the Atlantic Coast Conference, which they...
View ArticleHeeeere Cliffy-Cliffy-Cliffy: Bring on the Fiscal Cliff!
Think 'rapture' when the pious ascend to heaven. Think the Redskins and the Nationals doing well, even for a moment, SIMULTANEOUSLY. Think automatic government cutbacks and tax increases at the same...
View ArticleWould You Eat the Dog? : Five Questions You Won't Hear Asked Tonight
1. You are attending the first State Dinner in North Korea, at a crucial time in U.S.-North Korea relations. You are sure you are being served Fido. Would you eat the dog? With apologies to dog lovers,...
View ArticleDid Video Kill The Radio Star? Romney's Waterloo.
OK, so the man said some things that were inflammatory, when viewed through a certain lens. But now he has a choice to make: embrace or deny both what he said and the media which conveyed it. For my...
View ArticleLessons From Showtime's Web Therapy for Draghi and Zuckerberg
Being an improv person, I love Web Therapy (Showtime, 10:30 PM Sundays) . The brainchild of Lisa Kudrow, this 1/2 hour masterpiece centers around a therapy 'modality' invented by Dr. Fiona Wallice...
View ArticleThis Brew's For You: Craft Beer Economics for Your Labor Day Pleasure
Let me first say that I do not drink, though my husband does. This post was inspired by a forced-march to Meantime Brewry in Greenwich, UK, where I was treated to a three-hour plus session watching...
View ArticleDeacon Blues: There's A Name For It (Besides Short Selling)
Steely Dan says: You call me a fool. You say it's a crazy scheme. This one's for real. I already bought the dream. So useless to ask me why. Throw a kiss and say goodbye. I'll make it this time. I'm...
View ArticleObamacare: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Taxes
Much flap everywhere about Romney calling 'Obamacare' a TAX. I say, GOOD! At least it is honest. By the way, the word TAX and Obamacare are connected because the Supreme Court said they were, and...
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