Lessons 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 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 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?
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 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 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 ArticleZipcar: Keep Driving Me Crazy. Please.
Zipcar just sent me a 'personalized' email announcing their planned acquisition by Avis. Notwithstanding my general abhorrence of all things automotive (despite or perhaps because of growing up in...
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 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 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 ArticleNext President for Sale: Cheap
Next President for Sale: Cheap The overlap between money and politics is nowhere more blatant than in the Iowa Electronic Market (IEM) . Run by faculty at the University of Iowa Henry B. Tippie...
View ArticleDebit Card Fees: There's A Pony In There
The banks are going to find a way to take our money. I'd rather be able to see what I am spending than hunt for the pony. Debit cards are a lot easier and safer than hauling around a checkbook, so I...
View ArticleIf Warren Buffett Can Have Secrets, Why Can't I?
If Warren Buffett Can Have Secrets, Why Can't I? Where's Warren? Warren Buffett recently announced he had amassed 5.4% of IBM -- without telling anybody for months. The only hint until recently was an...
View ArticleTrue Aim - Does Elvis Costello Act Against Self-Interest? Will Merkel?
True Aim - Does Elvis Costello Act Against Self-Interest? Will Merkel? Roycroft Subsumed Self-Interest for Community And who decides what self-interest is, anyway? Elvis' latest box set, "The Return of...
View ArticleIf T. Boone Pickens Isn't Too Old To Invest, Neither Are You
Miro Was 81 When He Made This Tapestry for the WTC If T. Boone Pickens Isn't Too Old To Invest, Neither Are You He's 83. Warren Buffett and H. Ross Perot are both 81. Even Gordon Gecko/Michael Douglas...
View ArticleGinni Rometty: Stick to Your Deal
Ginni Rometty: Stick to Your Deal The incoming CEO of IBM does not plan any immediate changes in strategy, yet she intends for one of the world's biggest corporations to continually reinvent itself, as...
View ArticleShowtime's House of Lies: Just That
Showtime's House of Lies: Just That Warhol: Entertaining Context to Ponder Big Issues Showtime's new series, which premiered Sunday, putatively showcases those who advise and participate in the...
View ArticleWikipedia Blackout: Grand Gesture or Grandstanding?
Wikipedia Blackout: Grand Gesture or Grandstanding? This post is not about the pros and cons of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act), tho I do have an opinion. It...
View ArticleFacebook IPO Filing: It's What You Don't Say
Miro Left Things Out Too Facebook IPO Filing: It's What You Don't Say When I try a new restaurant, the first thing I do is check out the bathroom, and not for the obvious reason. I sniff for...
View ArticleFind Hidden Messages in Earnings Reports for Fun and Profit
One of my day jobs is helping my clients interpret/decode their clients' earnings reports so they can best match money to value. Just like the who-sits-by-who in the old USSR May Day parades, there...
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