I'm a woman, I'm fickle. I don't really have a list of likes and dislikes. You're either intuitive enough to intrigue me, and we're a good match, or not. I suppose it's that ephemeral thing called chemistry. With people of feeling things can never be cut and dried. When you buy a machine you get a book of instructions. People are not like that.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Real Surrender
Real surrender with no limits is an exchange with essentially incalculable repercussions. It is such an exposure of myself precisely because it mingles my needs and desires with the needs and desires of another, in a way that so called self-interest never can. Involving myself with a sadist makes me far more vulnerable, revealing more of myself than even promiscuity could; to one who, day in and day out, feeds off my suffering and breaking.
There is solace for me knowing it will be your way, whether I give it to you, or you take it.
There is solace for me knowing it will be your way, whether I give it to you, or you take it.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wait, the crisis was caused by moral hazard? You don't say.
I wouldn't care either if I got paid millions regardless of my performance.
"Last year the five biggest Wall Street securities firms lost $25.3 billion. The executives at those companies still took home $26 billion in bonuses. In other words, they wouldn't have lost a nickel if they hadn't taken any bonuses."
Capitalism doesn't work without negative consequences for mistakes.
as soon as we declared AIG, Citi, B of A, etc. as being "too big to let fail", we declared open season for the people who run these places to do whatever they wanted to do with absolutely no fear of the consequences.
Moral hazard exists in many places in our society. Lets take the biggest one of all, which is the congress and the president. They spend our nations assets with very little to stop them from doing stupid things. Companies run by professional managers are a moral hazard, but so is every other activity where one person is paid to spend another's money.
"Last year the five biggest Wall Street securities firms lost $25.3 billion. The executives at those companies still took home $26 billion in bonuses. In other words, they wouldn't have lost a nickel if they hadn't taken any bonuses."
Capitalism doesn't work without negative consequences for mistakes.
as soon as we declared AIG, Citi, B of A, etc. as being "too big to let fail", we declared open season for the people who run these places to do whatever they wanted to do with absolutely no fear of the consequences.
Moral hazard exists in many places in our society. Lets take the biggest one of all, which is the congress and the president. They spend our nations assets with very little to stop them from doing stupid things. Companies run by professional managers are a moral hazard, but so is every other activity where one person is paid to spend another's money.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bad Apples and Group Dynamics
Will Felps, ass prof management
Hired Actor to 'infect' teams, 3 plus 1 actor. Prize, 100$ each to best task completing group.
jerk: are you kidding me? have you taken business class before? say others ideas not adequate, offer no alternative
slacker: feet on desk; txt message, eat lunch, say I really don't care
depressive pessimist: Head down, complain unenjoyable, doubt ability
people conform to group? or group tainted by one bad apple?
People argue, fight, not share relevant info, communicate less, with bad apple. People take on characteristics. Not just back at bad apple, but to each other. Spill over effect.
Hired Actor to 'infect' teams, 3 plus 1 actor. Prize, 100$ each to best task completing group.
jerk: are you kidding me? have you taken business class before? say others ideas not adequate, offer no alternative
slacker: feet on desk; txt message, eat lunch, say I really don't care
depressive pessimist: Head down, complain unenjoyable, doubt ability
people conform to group? or group tainted by one bad apple?
People argue, fight, not share relevant info, communicate less, with bad apple. People take on characteristics. Not just back at bad apple, but to each other. Spill over effect.
Stimulus Package
Stimulus Package (SP)
History doesn't have a simple example to compare what effect the Stimulus Package will have.
New Deal
Roosevelt's New deal during the 1930's provided relief for the unemployed during the depression. (Wall Street crash of October, 1929). The economy recovered from it's lowest point (1932-1933) until the recession of 1937, when unemployment returned to it's previous 1934 level.
It wasn't his plan, but the war, (WWII Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 the Japanese attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941,) that truly ended the economic malaise.
Japanese Stagflation
Japan had a situation very similar to the one the U.S. has today.
Tariffs after WWII created accessible credit which gave Japanese companies an advantage over their foreign competition. Japanese goods were cheaper, and the trade surplus increased. This available money made speculation rampant. There was a stock market and real estate bubble.
After Japan’s economic collapse in 1989, where property and stock price falls “reduced Japan’s national wealth by 41 percent,” consumers went into a spending hibernation. When assets decrease in value, the money supply shrinks, and definition occurs.
On March 19, 2001, the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government tried to combat the deflation by reducing interest rates. As the interest rates approached zero for years, the deflation problem was not solved.
U.S. Today
Right now the U.S. is in a recession and deflation is occurring. Prices are falling, profits are decreasing, companies are cutting jobs, and wages are falling.
Ignoring the debate on inflation, a moderate amount of inflation can increase investment in the economy which can cause economic growth, and a steadily growing income level. If companies can start raising prices, they can invest the profits, produce more, and increase employment.
History doesn't have a simple example to compare what effect the Stimulus Package will have.
New Deal
Roosevelt's New deal during the 1930's provided relief for the unemployed during the depression. (Wall Street crash of October, 1929). The economy recovered from it's lowest point (1932-1933) until the recession of 1937, when unemployment returned to it's previous 1934 level.
It wasn't his plan, but the war, (WWII Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 the Japanese attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941,) that truly ended the economic malaise.
Japanese Stagflation
Japan had a situation very similar to the one the U.S. has today.
Tariffs after WWII created accessible credit which gave Japanese companies an advantage over their foreign competition. Japanese goods were cheaper, and the trade surplus increased. This available money made speculation rampant. There was a stock market and real estate bubble.
After Japan’s economic collapse in 1989, where property and stock price falls “reduced Japan’s national wealth by 41 percent,” consumers went into a spending hibernation. When assets decrease in value, the money supply shrinks, and definition occurs.
On March 19, 2001, the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government tried to combat the deflation by reducing interest rates. As the interest rates approached zero for years, the deflation problem was not solved.
U.S. Today
Right now the U.S. is in a recession and deflation is occurring. Prices are falling, profits are decreasing, companies are cutting jobs, and wages are falling.
Ignoring the debate on inflation, a moderate amount of inflation can increase investment in the economy which can cause economic growth, and a steadily growing income level. If companies can start raising prices, they can invest the profits, produce more, and increase employment.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
You want to get along with a Director? Ask him what he thinks. You want to get along with an Explorer? Ask him what he does. You want to get along with a Builder? Ask him who he knows. And you want to get along with a Negotiator? Ask him how he feels.”
For the Explorer, the word is adventure. For the Builder, it’s family. For the Director, it’s intelligence. And for the Negotiator, it’s passion.”
The Explorer, defined by high dopamine activity, is adventurous, novelty-seeking, creative.
The Builder, with high serotonin activity, is cautious, conventional, managerial. The
Director, pumped up with testosterone, is aggressive, single-minded, analytical. The
Negotiator, more estrogen-influenced, is empathetic, idealistic, a big-picture thinker.
“Like attracts like” and “Opposites attract,” are each true about half the time. Explorers are drawn to Explorers, and Builders to Builders, but that Directors are attracted to Negotiators, and vice versa.
For the Explorer, the word is adventure. For the Builder, it’s family. For the Director, it’s intelligence. And for the Negotiator, it’s passion.”
The Explorer, defined by high dopamine activity, is adventurous, novelty-seeking, creative.
The Builder, with high serotonin activity, is cautious, conventional, managerial. The
Director, pumped up with testosterone, is aggressive, single-minded, analytical. The
Negotiator, more estrogen-influenced, is empathetic, idealistic, a big-picture thinker.
“Like attracts like” and “Opposites attract,” are each true about half the time. Explorers are drawn to Explorers, and Builders to Builders, but that Directors are attracted to Negotiators, and vice versa.
Citi
Henry Kissinger confides his judgment that small, vulnerable nations breed the best statesmen (he cites Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Austria's Bruno Kreisky), whereas big, powerful countries can get by with mediocrities.
The same must be true of companies.
A company as big as Citi, and as protected by federal banking regulations and anti-takeover rules, doesn't worry about rough treatment at the hands of raiders or activist shareholders. Not that the supermarket strategy would have been bad if it properly reflected what a supermarket is -- an exercise in horizontal integration that brings together the products and services a consumer would need to manage his financial life. Citigroup was an exercise in vertical integration. A supermarket doesn't mistake who its customer is -- the retail shopper
Yet Citi tied itself up in conflicts over whether its customer was the manufacturer of investment opportunities, such as companies floating stocks and bonds, or the consumer of them, such as retail investors and their financial advisers and fund managers.
Presumably they didn't mean one billion CFOs peddling IPOs, or one billion Special Purpose Vehicles stuffed with off-balance-sheet subprime mortgages. They meant customers for traditional banking services, who'd rely on Citi to manage their wealth, transactions, debts and cash balances, extracting safe and steady revenue without playing a lot of Wall Street roulette.
The same must be true of companies.
A company as big as Citi, and as protected by federal banking regulations and anti-takeover rules, doesn't worry about rough treatment at the hands of raiders or activist shareholders. Not that the supermarket strategy would have been bad if it properly reflected what a supermarket is -- an exercise in horizontal integration that brings together the products and services a consumer would need to manage his financial life. Citigroup was an exercise in vertical integration. A supermarket doesn't mistake who its customer is -- the retail shopper
Yet Citi tied itself up in conflicts over whether its customer was the manufacturer of investment opportunities, such as companies floating stocks and bonds, or the consumer of them, such as retail investors and their financial advisers and fund managers.
Presumably they didn't mean one billion CFOs peddling IPOs, or one billion Special Purpose Vehicles stuffed with off-balance-sheet subprime mortgages. They meant customers for traditional banking services, who'd rely on Citi to manage their wealth, transactions, debts and cash balances, extracting safe and steady revenue without playing a lot of Wall Street roulette.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
