Analyzing Everything

Cover Feedback

2011-02-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine is working on a self publishing project. Here is the cover he's been working on. We'd like some feedback--what you like about it, what you don't like, etc.

Thanks

Why I Like the Filibuster

2011-01-24T17:20:00.000-08:00

In my work I am regularly called upon to make difficult technical decisions. My best work is done in a slow methodical way. Decisions made quickly in the passion of the moment are often regretted. Some of my best decisions have taken months to solidify in my mind. I don't find it strange at all that groundbreaking legislation can take months to work through Congress. In fact it should!

I've always respected the U.S. Senate for it's policies and procedures that delayed and inhibited the legislative process. Good decisions only come after the emotion has passed and thinking takes over. If you hear anyone talking about "streamlining" government by removing the filibuster please remind them that the legislation that got us into the Iraqi war was was passed VERY EFFICIENTLY. Is that the model for legislation that we want? If anything we need more barriers not fewer.

FCC vs. the Internet

2010-12-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

Over the past twenty years the Internet has grown from a small academic community into a worldwide phenomena. In the process transforming how we work and think. Over the same period the US Government has stumbled from one failure to the next becoming increasingly mired in debt and ineffective policies.

Today the big news is that the FCC is going to get involved in regulating the Internet in the US. Considering the track record of these two worlds I can't image that the injection of government is going to be anything but a disaster.

Please contact your congressional representatives and beg them to get government out of one of the last pieces of our economy that is still working!

Wikileaks--Providing a Valuable Service?

2010-12-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

I find it interesting that nearly all the coverage of Wikileaks makes the implicit assumption that organized governments are against Wikileaks. A good analysis of the situation however leads me to question that assumption.

1) Wikileaks has operated with impunity for a remarkably long period of time and until fairly recently from Amazon.com servers. If wikileaks were as big a threat as the 6:00 PM anchor implies they would have been pushed out of the mainstream far sooner.

2) Wikileaks provides a great opportunity for America (and it's allies) to embarrass political (and/or military) opponents (and get away with it). That is a rare and unusual privilege. It would be hard to argue that government agencies haven't at least considered "leaking" certain documents.

3) Wikileaks provides political justification to ratchet up "oversight" of security agencies. In an age of growing privacy concerns this is another valuable commodity.

4) Too much drama. Sexual scandal, hiding, then jail time while fighting extradition. The media blitz is extraordinarily and just a little too dramatic to be believable.

What I can't figure out is whether Wikileaks is fully orchestrated by a government agency or if it's a "public/private partnership". I suspect it's the latter, but in any case the Wikileaks side is playing their role beautifully. This could be a truly historic moment--the first widespread internet based misinformation campaign. If so I have to give a round of applause to however organized it--this has been very, very well done.

I don't have any "evidence" to "prove" any of this. I just analyze things. But, like the old saying goes, "When you see hoof prints think horses not zebras". Right now everybody is talking zebras and that doesn't analyze.

How many democrats would vote for Health Care if George Bush was Running it?

2010-03-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many of the house democrats would vote for this bill if George Bush was president? A democratic president won't be in the white house forever. . . we've got to think ahead people.

The 30 Second Health Care Bill Summary:

1) After the bill goes into effect the only health insurance available for purchase will be through government exchanges.

2) Existing plans may not add anyone.

2) In five years your existing plan will start to look a lot like a government plan.

The 2 Minute Version (Directly quoted from the Bill section 102):

1) "Individual health insurance coverage that is not grandfathered health insurance coverage under subsection (a) may only be offered on or after the first day of Y1 as an Exchange-participating health benefits plan.

2) "the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1."

3) "plan years beginning after the end of the 5-year period beginning with Y1, an employment-based health plan in operation as of the day before the first day of Y1 must meet the same requirements as apply to a qualified health benefits plan under section 101, including the essential benefit package requirement under section 121."

Attention Span

2010-01-04T18:06:00.001-08:00

Ever notice that pay is largely determined by attention span? Low paying jobs typically require very short attention spans--make a burger, ring up a sale. Higher paying jobs require longer interactions. The highest paying jobs often have steps requiring months if not years to complete. What is your attention span? Could you make it longer?

Great Visualization of Bank Failures

2009-12-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

http://computationallegalstudies.com/2009/12/13/visualizing-bank-failures-2008-2009/

Excellent Course on Business

2009-12-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

Lonnie Wibberding a long time friend has made available a free short course in business/economics. He is an excellent writer and thinker. Take advantage of this rare opportunity at SmartFocusCoaching.com

Conflict of Interest Journalism

2009-12-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

Thriving Small Business Still Struggling to Get Loans is a CNN.com article about a business man who can't get a loan to expand his successful small business without putting up his home as collateral.

I smelled a rat.

First, the premise of the article is based on ignorance. Just because business owner Andy Shallal can run a successful small business with 3 small stores does not at all mean he can run a larger business with the same degree of success. It's not unusual when a small business starts to thrive for the owner to believe they own the next Starbucks.

They borrow like crazy to expand and then crash spectacularly when the new investments turn out to be less productive than the original. In fact, small businesses are often successful because of the special efforts/knowledge of the owners. The larger a business grows the more diluted those talents become.

Banks have been around long enough to know the hubris of the small business owner and are extremely hesitant to loan money to small businesses borrowing money to grow. Every bank would love to have financed Starbucks, but for every Starbucks there are a thousand wanna-be's that will fail. Banks can't absorb very many of those losses without going broke themselves. So they set their standards very, very high. Thus the requirement for additional collateral.

Andy Shallal doesn't like those standards. Instead he wants the government to hand him cash. If he fails (the odds are he will) we taxpayers take the loss. If he succeeds--he gets the benefit. How nice. . . for him.

But there's still that rat. Small businessman Andy Shallal is no ordinary businessman. He's a liberal activist that uses his business to promote social issues. There is nothing wrong with that. Let me repeat--there is nothing wrong with his decision to be a liberal activist and use his business to promote his beliefs. It's a free country. Go for it.

But don't use my tax dollars to fund it. Don't use my tax dollars to fund conservative or libertarian projects either. Tax dollars belong in non-political projects like building roads and paying soldiers. If we start down the road of raiding the public treasury to support various competing political agendas it will take us straight to fiscal ruin. (If we aren't already there yet)

There is a huge potential for conflict of interest when a liberal activist seeks government money to build up a business that actively works to promote a liberal agenda. It is morally objectionable for CNN to report on Andy's desire for government loans without mentioning a word of this. Disclosures matter.

Best Peice of Financial Reporting I've Ever Seen

2009-11-22T11:47:00.001-08:00

Kudos to Latoya Egwuekwe this is amazing.

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

Did You Feel Dumb Today?

2009-09-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel totally dumb. Maybe I made a stupid decision or missed a key piece of information. While I feel bad I rarely go away from those experiences without learning something. Often those lessons have turned out to transform my life. The days when everything goes well feel awesome. It's good to have good days, but rarely do they pack the long term benifits.

Perhaps it's not such a bad idea to purposefully include a "dumb" moment in every day. Start reading a challenging book. Sign up for a stock market simulation (for the business noob) or fantasy football league (for the sports noob). Talk to a smart friend about something they are good at.

Have you created an opportunity in your day to feel dumb?

Welcome to Analyzing Everything

2009-08-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's said the best thing about the NPR show "All Things Considered" is that everything is considered. It's also said that the worst thing about "All Things Considered" is that everything is considered. Perhaps the same is true for analysis.

I've always been an analyst. People and processes have always fascinated me. I did my first formal analysis back in high school when I analyzed my school's mission statement. In recent years I've worked as a software analysis. I've even been known to do an analysis on a cartoon. . . So here it is, my version of "All Things Analyzed".