Actually, I Like Her but Great Cartoon!

Crowding Out

One of my stronger memories from the 1980-82 recession is the expression "crowding out". At that time the world pre-eminent uber-bear was Henry Kaufman of Salomon Brothers. It was Kaufman who called the bottom of the bear market in August of 1982. For, oh, two years he had been writing that growing government debt was "crowding out" private borrowers and pinching off economic recovery.

I still clearly remember the day in August of 82 when I read in the Wall Street Journal that Kaufman said that the economy was so weak that crowding out was no longer a problem. There was no business demand for money so it didn't matter. The market took off like a shot and never looked back. It was my first lesson in contrarian thinking.

Maybe I'm not the only one who remembers that connection.I've posted before on why I'd seen almost no talk of crowding out. Maybe it's making a comeback now.

Brilliant

I've always found George Will a little stuffy but this speech he gave is simply brilliant. It's 30 minutes well spent.

Ironic, isn't it.

Here's one where the article's headline writer tells you there are things millionaires won't tell you. And then they proceed to tell you. Deft little verbal slight of hand, no?

ERP Flow

Here's a handy graphic if you're trying to communicate with your business colleagues about the impact of ERP systems.

Good for You, Glenn

Or maybe I should show respect and say, "Good for you, Mr. Reynolds." My favorite blogger, the world famous Glenn Reynolds of www.instapundit.com, has been named one of the The Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse. If you're not a fan of Glenn's then you should be. One day all right-thinking people will agree.

What's the Time to Impact

And now back to the topic of Information Technologies, which is already in progress.

I've found this picture handy and persuasive when discussing disaster recovery and how much time and money should be invested in stabilizing failing systems.

What it tells senior management is that if a major system crashes (or is otherwise unavailable), they have this many days to update their resumes.

What Caused the Collapse

Again, people seem confused about the English language. In 2008 the market did not collapse ... but I digress. This is still an excellent opinion summary of the causes of the bursting market bubble.

It Did Not Collapse

Words mean things. Here's a snip from an Amazon listing for a new book called "The Road from Ruin".

"Instant analysis since the collapse of the financial system in the fall of 2008 has produced no end of ideas about what to do ..." Ahem ... Misters Bishop and Green I would like to comment on yet another stubborn fact. The financial system did not collapse in 2008. Indeed, the financial system did not collapse in 1981, nor 1974, nor even 1929-31. Did it suffer a shock? Absolutely. Did it collapse? Not even close. 

Corporatism Is Self-Defeating - The Great Milton Friedman

Little other commentary is needed. Free markets means free markets and capitalism works best in free markets. I'll say it again: What we have in the United States is not Capitalism, it is Corporatism.

IT Exists for One Reason

I found a blog entry at CIO.com that asserts that, "The sole reason for IT's existence is to manage the flow of data." To be honest, the assertion is kind of underwhelming but it did strike a chord in my brain about outsourcing. (Don't ask why. I stopped trying to understand my own brain years ago. ... just enjoy the ride, Mickey me boy!)
 
The blogger makes the interesting observation that in the early days of electricity there were heads of departments in organizations designated to manage electricity: a Chief Electricity Officer, if you will. Electricity is now a commodity to which we barely pay thought. Someday IT will be a commodity as well.

How Do Meme's Work?

If you follow politics at all, there's been a recent uproar in the blogosphere over a political ad by Carly Fiorina in California where her opponent is portrayed a demonic wolf dressed as a sheep.

Within days, I see this comment, "Something to think about as regulators here and abroad start targeting Google (it's amazing to me how seamlessly Google has replaced Microsoft as the demon sheep of technology companies ..." at Reason Magazine on line.

Wow! This internet thing, and it's power to create memes, might just catch on.

Interesting Facts

As someone once remarked to me, "Facts are stubborn things". Here are some interesting facts regarding the United States economic environment of the last decade.

A Dose of Sanity

This is the best suggestion I've heard in a long time. It's a simple and effective way to reign in excess leverage and risking behavior in the banking system. Manage the reserve requirements.

I'm Just Wondering

It is my affliction to read widely on finance and economics - darting like a waterbug on a lake and seldom dipping under the surface. (Can a person digress in the first sentence of a note? I think I just did.)

In the last few years there have been countless articles discussing how the Boomer generation (my generation) will burden its children with unimaginable social and financial costs as we reach our dotage. It occurred to me this morning that while this is true, it doesn't reflect the truth our children will inherit.

This focus on how the Boomers will afflict our children and grandchildren is, in fact, yet another example of the Boomer generation's absolutely, unblinking fixation on itself. I'm not a social historian but I'm guessing that no other generation in Western history has been so self-absorbed, all throughout its life. I have always been a little ashamed of this.

Maybe it's time for we Boomers to stop worrying about our aging and passing and start worrying about how the world our children will have and provide the best world we can for them. That's what my parents did and it seems right to me.

(On reflection, this is a rather sophomoric thought ... but then it's still early in the morning. Would that I were the philosopher to state the question more profoundly. Uh .... nah!)

Quote of the Week

P.J. O'Rourke is one of my favorite authors. I heartily recommend "Parliament of Whores" if you like to see American legislators ridiculed with great gusto.

O'Rourke has written a book on the great Adam Smith called "On the Wealth of Nations". I'll put it on my Amazon wish list but, in the meantime, the line of the week which comes from O'Rourke's reviewer.

"On occasion, one wishes the Invisible Hand would smack O'Rourke upside the head ..." The review itself is a pretty good read.

Salesforce Again

In August, I commented on the high P/E ratio of Salesforce.com (Symbol CRM). It was $50.50 with a P/E of 104.5. Now, even after a recent decline of over $74 a share, it's down to $64.99 (or up from $50.50, if you will) with a current P/E of 110. I'm keeping an eye on this one and wishing I'd put some money into it in August.