Rush Was A Genius
... had he been performing on an improv stage. Rush Limbaugh's latest kerfuffle, which involved him calling Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student who advocated for birth control, a slut and a...
View ArticleWhat Do $5 Gas, Iran And Improv Have In Common?
All three reflect the pros and cons of unified action. Even though the U.S. is or soon could be a net exporter of gasoline, we still depend on Middle-Eastern oil. Iran has a lot of it, and we're mad...
View ArticleFacebook and Instagram: Ask Don Draper
Perception vs Reality A billion dollars for two manager/stockholders and eleven employees working at a two-year old profitless company? Is this a fever dream? As you Mad Men addicts know, Don Draper...
View ArticleWhat Do the Beam Acquisition of Pinnacle Vodka and the Borgias Have in Common?
They both have to do with double entry bookkeeping. Fun topic, right? My post-grad corporate accounting class threw me for a complete loop when we studied debits and credits. I could not for the life...
View ArticleHey, Mark Zuckerberg! Are You My Friend?
Don't know about you but I have actual friends, Facebook 'friends', and Linkedin f r i e n d s, in descending order of, you know -- real friendship. The minute one of them recommends I buy something...
View ArticleSpain Is Not Uganda. Say What?
Opposite Day: Text as Image by Ruscha Spain wanted a bailout, basically $125B new debt from the Eurozone. In the middle of negotiations, Spain's Prime Minister texted his finance minister to hang...
View ArticleSoccer is Life: Germany v. Greece
Germany is 100:1 times likely to beat Greece today in men's soccer at UEFA 2012. Giorgio Karagouni, Greece's captain and goal scorer against Russia (whom they beat to make the quarters), is out for...
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...
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 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 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 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? With apologies to dog lovers,...
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.
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 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 Article