Posting a great talk by Nialls and some new faces

This talk features Harvard Professor Nials Ferguson.



I frankly love everything he's stating.

America is in decline in both capital power and influential (Soft) power.
Mathematics is in decline throughout the country
Changes to world landscape can occur within a generation, nearly overnight by historical
standards.

and YET he says, it's not too late.

America needs to drive the two things it's good at :
Innovation and Entrepreneurialism

The real question is, can America DO just that with a crushing deficit before the bond market decides it's had enough?? Take a listen.

GPU's being used to accelerate computing

Where are my finance heads at??

http://nvidia.fullviewmedia.com/GPU2009/1001-atherton-1431.html

http://nvidia.fullviewmedia.com/GPU2009/1001-atherton-1203.html

http://nvidia.fullviewmedia.com/GPU2009/1001-atherton-1003.html

Updates on whichdegree4me

Quick Comment on bond market

Seems rates keep getting pushed down, while the market is wondering : "Why lend money to the United States?"

Pimco, the largest Bond Fund in the world, founder Bill Gross states the following at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395010745696880.html

Pimco's Gross: Better Uses for Government Spending

By MATT JARZEMSKY

Government spending that seeks to artificially boost consumer spending "can be compared to flushing money down an economic toilet" and will be hampered by demographic trends, said famed bond-fund manager Bill Gross.

Mr. Gross, in his monthly missive on the website of Pacific Investment Management Co., a unit of Allianz SE, argued that governments instead should focus on improving infrastructure, clean energy and education as well as creating less costly health care.

"Capitalism depends upon final demand and that if there ever comes a time when population growth slows, then the world's most efficient economic system will be tested," he wrote.

He warned that the current pace of 1.15% annual global population growth is slowing, and referenced modern-day Japan and the U.S. and Europe in the 1930s as examples of slowing population coinciding with a economic downturn.

A mix of fewer new consumers in terms of total population, and a growing number of older ones who don't spend as much money as new consumers will slow economic growth more than otherwise, he said.

Mr. Gross said decelerating population growth since the 1970s likely was a key factor in the leveraging of the developed world's financial systems and the ballooning of total government and private debt as a percentage of gross domestic product. "Lacking an accelerating population base, all developed countries promoted the financing of more and more consumption per capita in order to maintain existing GDP growth rates," he added.

Deficit spending that seeks to maintain an artificially high level of consumer spending should be replaced by other efforts aimed at structural change, he said. Governments that do otherwise will be left "waiting for the flush, with very little success," he said, referring to an automatic toilet whose eye fails to recognize the user has finished and gotten up.

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My thoughts are, as people are aging they are getting out of riskier asset classes and pushing into the one thing they think is a sure thing, US Treasuries. What this is doing is giving the current generation some breathing room to keep the dollar stronger.. but anyone who has some sense is looking at this no-yield area and asking.. WHY?

Talk of coupon clipping and corporates, especially foreign currency prices coupons are attractive in yield AND balance sheet position. Canada, Latina America, Asia.. all these countries do not have the debt overhang that the US, Japan, and UK have. When this bubble of bubbles rolls over, I do NOT want to be in it's wake.

Question is just.. when will the market tune in to the lack of yield on treasuries in the US.

New youtube channel is up

Please go comment there, and most of all spread the word on this new venture. Hopefully we can help people zone in on their true passion.

Thanks,

Automation and why labor market will be changed forever

Thanks to the blog at Econfuture

The ineptitude and perhaps blind faith of the government in itself.

The government is made up, after all, of emotional human beings. They can be rational, if it suits them. What suits a politician? besides Armani.

By the way I've been hoping to order more technical books. If anyone has a recommendation on Python 3.1+ programming I'd love to hear it. Leaning towards this one, but hoping it's not too far ahead of my ability to understand the basic syntax (it's been a while).



On that note, an interesting look back at a man who used to run the free world's economy.



His new op-ed piece in the WSJ is here

How to Beat the Crowd in the Stock Market

From How to Beat the Crowd in the Stock Market

Great Active Investor Carl Icahn

Key points he made were distressed debt was cheap, bank debt was cheap.. but that equities are quite risky. He seems hesitant to recommend that area at all.

To Hedge the US dollar he cannot speak too much. He doesn't play the currency market because of his lack of knowledge. Same reason he doesn't use computers and the electronic futures markets to do arbitrage.

Tip for Universities on youtube

what would help the youtube e-learning community, specifically with recorded lectures would be an index of the video with minute links (links to bring you to that minute in the video) so we can go back easily to a certain lesson or talk.

thank you.

Inside look @ Portugal

It's intriguing that each nation has bailed out it's banks in order to put itself at risk of deficit spending. Pushing the private liabilities onto the public balance sheets. Why? I'll speculate why, because the governments of the world rely on those banking infrastructures for their day to day operations. State, Local, and especially National governments cannot rely on it's people alone.. but on the international markets to provide funding for itself.

Why else would it be in the interest of governments to save banks? To avoid what?

GOOD talk on the China / US relationship.. economic and political

My feelings EXACTLY on what the US wants from China.. and Chinese interests in greater high tech goods.

More testimony on how abrupt and suprising China's moves have been

Contest Entry for Audrey's Startup - Ballerinies

Hi,

I just entered the "Small Business. Big Impact. contest" and need your vote to help me win.

You can view my entry and vote for me here:
http://newegg1.votigo.com/contests/voteformyentry/259401?sk=qc731eus

Thanks and wish me luck!

ecpeters

Fight hunger in Chad

Severe food shortages in western Chad lead to rising malnutrition in children

MAO, Chad, 24 March 2010 – Adam Abdulai is just over a year old, but he can barely move, let alone stand up and walk. He and a dozen other emaciated children lie on mattresses at a feeding centre in Mao, western Chad, with their mothers and grandmothers watching over them helplessly.

Ex-Peoples Bank of China adviser, flat out!

So A little background on this clip. A few weeks ago a man named Chanos came on Bloomberg Charlie Rose's show. He flat out stated China is on a treadmill 'to hell' and that this is going to make Dubai look like nothing. A very bold and agitating statement, but perhaps now it is being taken as an arrogant statement as well.

observe



For a public figure head to be saying 'Chanos thinks Chinese central government officials are stupid'. I was flat out surprised by this language, and not in a good way. The protectionism of last few months includes

100% tariff's on imports from China
calls to reevaluate the Yuan
arm sales to Taiwan
Dhali lama visited president Obama in DC.

Geithner atleast has a sense of history and tact, by delaying the senate hearing over this issue a few weeks back. I sense this relationship between the US and China is getting worse.

SEC was understaffed, under minded? Fuld talks about Repo 105's

SEC finds it teeth Friday

markets had been on a run for a few days, but that has come to a glorious stop.

The SEC has now accused Goldman Sachs of securities fraud, via misleading investors who bought their CDO's. I am kind of surprised, the market is VERY surprised. GS dipped roughly 15% in one day, equivalent to roughly $12-13 Billion. What is even more interesting is the Paulson connection, and how his company was used in the process of investors losing 1 Billion dollars.

Is this the new trend? Can we count on more news to hammer the market downward?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-goldman-paulson17-2010apr17,0,4780827.story

Jobs report on Friday showed positive jobs. Geither speaks

Been 1 month

Greetings people,
   Markets took a sharp correction mid January.  In order to pass the time I have been reading a new book on avoiding taxes to the fullest.  I truly believe you cannot be rich, or even live properly these days unless you lower your tax burden to the fullest.  I like the idea of living within your means, not taking on debt which doesn't have some economic benefit for you later (like a college loan), and avoiding taxes.

I will review some of the book/s key points, but the major point I get from the book so far is you MUST start your own venture.  Whether you are full-time/part-time/working from home/etc... you need to examine the laws and start your own business.

More to come.

Book reviews, tips, etc..

So I am starting a blog to use as a tool for my studies and thoughts. Though I hope to cover many things, I will mostly use it as a note taking service for myself.

Book: Who Moved my Cheese?

This book is a very small piece that you can finish in about an hour. I read it on the plane from Monterrey, Mexico to San Francisco, USA (Stop in D.F.). It entails the story of 4 mice. These mice do what mice always do and that is eat cheese and scurry. In the beginning they are all in a maze together, and wear little tennis shoes to run quickly around for cheese. Two of the mice are named Scurry and Sniff, the other two are some funny names about Hesitance and Sloth (way off, I know).

Anyway, these characters all want cheese and the book itself is a tale of how sometimes you find cheese in the world. Loads of cheese, and, God help us, it gets moved. The first two mice, Scratch and Sniff (again, off), everyday run as fast as they can to their cheese which has been in the same spot it always has been (oh joy). Only one day it's GONE! Shock of the century. They quickly grab their shoes from their necks, throw them on, and are off to search the maze. The other two mice sloooowly get to the spot, only to find the same predicament. Dear Lord, the cheese is gone. Why?? Will it return? Oh it must.

This story really did remind me of some people. Namely people in management who like things the way they are. These people are complacent because they think that what has worked will work again, and again. Much like the housing boom that was thought to, again and again, raise the value of homes by 30%+ year after year. When the market started to go bad, some people quickly moved out of the way, got their shoes and were off to doing other things (shorting the banks I presume). Others still felt it was just all wrong, and that the cheese was rightfully coming back. They sat and sat until they got so weak from not eating that they were scared to go out and get into the maze to look for more of that cheese.

Now I should mention that the Author made it clear that cheese does not NECESSARILY mean money, but instead what people strive for…it’s different for everyone after all. I liked the story, and I felt a bit at ease about how I have reacted to the changing global world that we live in. I've learned Cantonese when some would have shied away from not only doing business with China but also saying that they want no part with Communist countries. (Human rights problems are another topic, for another post.) I think it is clear that the momentum for finding the new global cheese is not with the U.S. markets (for we are heavily laden in debt, unable to get up to find new ideas and products) but with emerging markets unburdened by consumers who think going 0-10% down on a house with an adjustable rate is okay.

I say read this book, but better yet, share it, discuss it, and ask yourself which kind of mouse am I.