Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Hong Kong Parking Costs $387,000 as Cash Moves From Homes
It it looks like a bubble, smells like a bubble, sounds like a bubble, then...quack.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-26/hong-kong-parking-costs-387-000-as-cash-moves-from-homes#p2
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-26/hong-kong-parking-costs-387-000-as-cash-moves-from-homes#p2
Borrowing costs in Hong Kong are almost at record lows because the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the U.S. currency ties monetary policy to the Federal Reserve’s even as the economy is driven by China’s growth.
Jean-Claude Juncker quotes
“When it becomes serious, you have to lie.” - Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup
"We all know what to do, we just don't know how to get re-elected after we have done it." - Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup
"We all know what to do, we just don't know how to get re-elected after we have done it." - Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup
Two-thirds of millionaires left Britain to avoid 50p tax rate
If it works in the United Kingdom, it should work in the good ol' USA?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9707029/Two-thirds-of-millionaires-left-Britain-to-avoid-50p-tax-rate.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9707029/Two-thirds-of-millionaires-left-Britain-to-avoid-50p-tax-rate.html
Almost two-thirds of the country’s million-pound earners disappeared from Britain after the introduction of the 50p top rate of tax, figures have disclosed.
In the 2009-10 tax year, more than 16,000 people declared an annual income of more than £1 million to HM Revenue and Customs.
This number fell to just 6,000 after Gordon Brown introduced the new 50p top rate of income tax shortly before the last general election.
The figures have been seized upon by the Conservatives to claim that increasing the highest rate of tax actually led to a loss in revenues for the Government.
It is believed that rich Britons moved abroad or took steps to avoid paying the new levy by reducing their taxable incomes.
Presidential Memorandum, 11-21-12
“Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled as they have been during the Bush administration. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistle-blower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud and abuse of authority in government.” -- Obama campaign's Document for Change, 2008http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/21/presidential-memorandum-national-insider-threat-policy-and-minimum-stand
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs
This Presidential Memorandum transmits the National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs (Minimum Standards) to provide direction and guidance to promote the development of effective insider threat programs within departments and agencies to deter, detect, and mitigate actions by employees who may represent a threat to national security. These threats encompass potential espionage, violent acts against the Government or the Nation, and unauthorized disclosure of classified information, including the vast amounts of classified data available on interconnected United States Government computer networks and systems.
The Minimum Standards provide departments and agencies with the minimum elements necessary to establish effective insider threat programs. These elements include the capability to gather, integrate, and centrally analyze and respond to key threat-related information; monitor employee use of classified networks; provide the workforce with insider threat awareness training; and protect the civil liberties and privacy of all personnel.
The resulting insider threat capabilities will strengthen the protection of classified information across the executive branch and reinforce our defenses against both adversaries and insiders who misuse their access and endanger our national security.BARACK OBAMA
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Senate works on new package of Iran sanctions
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/us-usa-iran-sanctions-idUSBRE8AQ1CY20121127
The package seeks to ban financial transactions with any person or organization blacklisted for their association with the Iranian government, as well as sales of metallurgical coal and precious metals, a congressional aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The sanctions would end "Turkey's game of gold for natural gas," a senior Senate aide said, referring to reports that Turkey has been paying for natural gas with gold due to sanctions rules.
The legislation "would bring economic sanctions on Iran near de facto trade embargo levels with the hope of speeding up the date by which Iran's economy will collapse," the aide said.
Calpers triggers legal fight with bankrupt San Bernardino over pension debt
Good luck with that. CalPERS is suing a bankrupt San Bernardino to recoup millions in halted pension payments. Um, San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy--they're broke, but I'm sure Wall Street bankers will try to squeeze blood from a turnip.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/28/us-usa-debt-sanbernardino-idUSBRE8AR09120121128
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/28/us-usa-debt-sanbernardino-idUSBRE8AR09120121128
Y Combinator reducing investments to $80K per startup, but including regular office hours from VCs
The article below is more evidence that the Web 2.0 bubble is bursting. The first sign of a bubble was the production of the reality TV show: Start-ups: Silicon Valley. The second sign is the show is a bust. Disclaimer: I have never watched the show, nor do I ever plan to watch it. So I have no idea if it becomes a game-changer like the Survivor series. /double sarcasm Why the double? Because I think reality TV is a snoozer with no redeeming qualities. Yet, I understand it's every producer's dream to drum up the next Survivor.
As someone who's been around since the late 1990's, I've seen this rodeo before.
As a fan of technology, and one who participated and even profited from it, I believe in the value of creative, disruptive innovation. But history also shows the trajectory of that curve includes road kill littered in its path. For instance, at the turn of the 20th century, there were thousands of American car companies--it was cutting edge technology then. Today, there are 3--barely, and only after two of them needed bailouts in 2008. But we needed that boom in cars--otherwise, we'd still be riding horses today. It's analogous to the Dutch tulip mania of 1637, which was a bubble of immense proportions, but spawned the world's greatest flower market in Amsterdam.
So tech giants like Google, Apple, Paypal, Amazon.com, Oracle, Microsoft, and yes, even Facebook will survive and thrive. A few more mid-tier companies and upstarts will kick down the doors, and fill out the infrastructure. And dreamers will always point to these successes as guideposts to justify their dreams. Good for them--we need dreamers. But we also need those who successfully implement those dreams.
The "reality" is: most startups will be lab experiments gone wrong, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Those failures will fuel the next set of dreams. You need the parasites to keep the eco-structure vibrant. A cacophony of failures is necessary to subsidize the rare winners. But as an investor, I'm passing. Yes, that's cold and calculating on my part. It's a splash of water in the face--a "taking away of the punch bowl." But it's also a sober assessment, and that's the reality show in my world.
Creative destruction, bitchez!
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/11/26/y-combinator-reducing-investments-to-80k-per-startup-but-including-office-hours-from-all-vcs/
As someone who's been around since the late 1990's, I've seen this rodeo before.
As a fan of technology, and one who participated and even profited from it, I believe in the value of creative, disruptive innovation. But history also shows the trajectory of that curve includes road kill littered in its path. For instance, at the turn of the 20th century, there were thousands of American car companies--it was cutting edge technology then. Today, there are 3--barely, and only after two of them needed bailouts in 2008. But we needed that boom in cars--otherwise, we'd still be riding horses today. It's analogous to the Dutch tulip mania of 1637, which was a bubble of immense proportions, but spawned the world's greatest flower market in Amsterdam.
So tech giants like Google, Apple, Paypal, Amazon.com, Oracle, Microsoft, and yes, even Facebook will survive and thrive. A few more mid-tier companies and upstarts will kick down the doors, and fill out the infrastructure. And dreamers will always point to these successes as guideposts to justify their dreams. Good for them--we need dreamers. But we also need those who successfully implement those dreams.
The "reality" is: most startups will be lab experiments gone wrong, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Those failures will fuel the next set of dreams. You need the parasites to keep the eco-structure vibrant. A cacophony of failures is necessary to subsidize the rare winners. But as an investor, I'm passing. Yes, that's cold and calculating on my part. It's a splash of water in the face--a "taking away of the punch bowl." But it's also a sober assessment, and that's the reality show in my world.
Creative destruction, bitchez!
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/11/26/y-combinator-reducing-investments-to-80k-per-startup-but-including-office-hours-from-all-vcs/
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Mousetrap
Read the first 21 pages, titled The Mousetrap, and how to keep a conspiracy secret.
http://mauldin_images.s3.amazonaws.com/images/uploads/ttmygh/6107/Nov27_2012_TTMYGH.pdf
http://mauldin_images.s3.amazonaws.com/images/uploads/ttmygh/6107/Nov27_2012_TTMYGH.pdf
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