People are always talking about Facebook these days. Microsoft even threw them something like $240 million dollars just to be a minority stakeholder (no official decision making power). Why exactly is Facebook so damn cool from a business perspective other than because you can “socially network” aka “stalk all your friend’s hot friends?”

1. Because Microsoft cares - Ok, that a bit of an attention seeking headline. The history of companies that Microsoft has invested in or taken over is both extermely long and definitely not 100% successful. However, Microsoft is enormously rich, powerful and and is one of the most profitable companies on the face of the Earth. Ever.  They’ve thrown about $240M in investment capital at Facebook in exchange for having exclusive rights to deliver ads on Facebooks website + 2% stake in Facebook. Yes, those ones that you’ve never clicked on. Nevertheless, the fact that Microsoft is paying attention ($240M worth) is not something to ignored…

2. Because they hire great talent - Facebook is very busy snatching up all the bright minds in Silicon Valley. Even Google, with all their crazy, over-the-top perks is losing a crazy amount of people to Facebook. Sheryl Sandberg, Google’s long time VP of Sales left months ago to become the COO at FB.com. As anyone who’s ever attempted a startup business or even worked in a corporate environment before, it takes much more than a brilliant idea to build a truly profitable business model. It takes smart, creative people who can work well with eachother and EXECUTE. Facebook seems to be building an army of those over there.

3. Because Social networking is obviously important - Social networking, from a business perspective is almost like the elusive fountain of youth or “Philosopher’s Stone” if you would… If you can find it, you can basically print money because you’ve figured out how to perfectly advertise to your audience (who you know everything about because they told you in their profiles). However, no one has figured it out. The trouble (like with email) is that no one wants to look at much less click on ads when they are looking at pictures of their friends an family. However, with all that money and brainpower…If anyone is going to “figure it out” aka monetize on that goldmine of user data, it should be Facebook. As long as Facebook keeps making smart moves and making the right investments, they should be able to keep ahead regardless of if anyone truly “figures it out” first.

4. They actually care about their users - Facebook has made mistakes. Big ones in fact. A great example of this is when they first rolled out the “friend feed” which basically made it so that all of everyones actions (most anyway) was published for everyone else to see. At first, EVERYONE hated it. I had friends who revolted and even shut down their accounts! However, a few days later, and I distinctly remember this; Mark Zuckerberg (young CEO and founder of Facebook) wrote a very personal apology letter that both explained the new feature, how to turn it off, and a sincere heartfelt apology for violating their user’s trust. I’m actually not entirely positive about everyone else, but after that I felt completely OK with the new feature as well as with anything else they would roll out in the future. People might hate it and Mark, the very top of FB.com would respond and take action.

5. Good technology - With good engineers comes good technology. Facebook has some of the best in class online applications already (social networking, photosharing and tagging, etc).  They’ve also got a [supposedly] great advertising platform that allows you to target very precise age groups and demographics - a much more targetted demographic targetting system than anything I’ve seen before. These tools, especially that advertising platform,  are the keys to unlocking the wealth that potentially lies in social networking. They have a tremendous start and the manpower to continue it. However, they aren’t there yet, and until they are - none of it really means a whole helluva whole lot.

Facebook is a very interesting company. They certainly have a lot going for them, certainly. However, in my opinion, they haven’t proven themselves as a truely revolutionary money making machine that everyone seems to already creditting them for. If they can figure out social networking and how to monetize it, I will be convinced.

Also, by knowing who these people are, what the organizations are for which they work, and what they are doing you can better understand the news that you see/hear. Ultimately, as usual, more understanding will distinguish you from the average investor/human being who could be clueless both as to what is going on and how to react.

Without further ado, I present to you Ben Bernanke - Chairman of the Federal Reserve (aka the Fed)

What is the Federal Reserve/Fed? 

• The Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the United States government. This means that it is both a “bank for banks” as well as the bank at which the “US Treasury” [of which Hank Paulson is the head of] is a customer. 
• The couple main purposes of the Federal reserve (among many) is to address/prevent bank panics, act as the government’s bank, and promote fairness and stability in the US economy (employment, prices, interest rates, etc). 
• A few ways that the Fed does it’s job is through: control of the money supply, supervising and regulating commercial banks, and adjusting the federal funds rate.
• For the Fed, the name of the game is stability and national welfare. Very “big picture”-esque
• Ben is essentially the Chairman/boss of this part of the government. 

About Ben

Ben has very much an academic background which includes a PhD in economics from very prestigious schools (Hardvard and MIT). He then went on to teach at Stanford  and Princeton!

Ben is pretty new on the job and started in 2/1/06, replacing the former Chairman of the fed, Alan Greenspan - who’s basically been around forever and is a highly respected economist. In terms of economists, Ben is in just about the highest position you could achieve for the world’s foremost economic superpower (I hope we still are for a while longer!).

Ben Bernanke could be seen a few months ago in the headlines of most major Fed actions in the news including rate cuts (which generally serve to boost up the economy for a little bit and spur borrowing which leads to activity) and stuff to try to stave off a lot of what is happening today. Now Ben is seen mostly working with Hank Paulson on all these enormous bailout plans and such.

So is Ben doing a bad job? Well again, this is a very complicated question. You could say that Ben Bernanke is not exactly handling the situation well given that we are in the worst financial crisis this nation has [ever] seen. However, you could also argue that things could potentially be worse (if we were attacked by aliens or something…) or that Ben actually just came in and inherited a system/nation that had been suffering for a LONG time from too much greed that dug us into a deep whole, from which we could not have possibly expected ol’ Ben B to save us from single handedly. Time will tell, time…will….tell…

Watch this, I guarantee you will chuckle.

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/ - This is the REAL website of the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where our money comes from…

Awesome article about exactly how much $700 Billion dollars really is…

I need to own one of these, to help me remember these insane times!

Great article about why Google’s Andoid phones are something to be excited about.

This phone looks very mediocre, but the potential is amazing! This is the long awaited gPhone btw.

If the bailout talk doesn’t just PISS you off. Read this. There are some good quotes and perspectives there.

I posted a few weeks ago about the ban on short selling… here’s a good supplemental article about how our government is basically cheating American free markets.

As someone who bikes to work everday, this technology is pretty cool but a little bit of a gimmick if you ask me. It would be GREAT for long biking trips though.

This is a hilarious commercial.

If all my clever explainations don’t help you at all, check out this screenplay for Resession: The Musical

Also, by knowing who these people are, what the organizations are for which they work, and what they are doing you can better understand the news that you see/hear. Ultimately, as usual, more understanding will distinguish you from the average investor/human being who could be clueless both as to what is going on and how to react.

Without further ado, I present to you, Hank Paulson!!

Henry Paulson - Secretary of the Treasury

What is the Secretary of Treasury? - [bulletted for your easy consumption :D]

• The Secretary is the head of the US Department of the Treasury (see below)
• Basically, this is the part of the government that is concerned with all finance and monetary matters.
• The Secretary of the Treasury is not only a member of the presidential cabinet but also 5th in presidential line of succession meaning the role is a highly politically influential and influenced role. 
• The Secretary of the Treasury is the “principal economic advisor” to the president and plays a critical role in policy making by bringing an economic and financial perspective to government issues. 
• Specific responsibilities include creating and recommending policies (domestic and foreign) relating to finance, economy, and tax. 
• Hank must also oversee his department and make sure that it enforces its own policies and does everything in the best interest of the United States Government.
• Key Takeaway : Basically, this is the CFO of the US Federal government

So who is Hank and What’s Hank Doing? 

Hank is actually extremely experienced in the finance industry. He’s worked at Goldman Sachs (cream of the crop for  investment banks) for over 3 decades and even assumed a role as their CEO for several years. Needless to say, he has had an amazing professional track record  in the Wallstreet/finance industry and has had his personal net value…estimated at $700M. Whatever his reason’s may be (power…self fulfillment/actualization… wants to kick it with George Bush more…) he has now migrated his career to the government in basically the highest position you could possibly be relating to finance.

Hank is responsible for just about all the stuff you hear in the news lately. Not only has he been responsible for all the small (relatively!) bailout plans (Freddie/Fannie, AIG, Bear) you’ve been hearing about; he is one of the key orchestrators of the current “Master Plan” which is a $700 Billion dollar bailout of all the bad debt. While many points of this enormous plan are debatable, I would say the key takeaway is that this plan is more of an actual plan to proactively face this crisis as opposed to the above referenced smaller bailouts, which I would consider to be putting out fires. This is more like buying a firestation, or something…

So, Hank sounds like a pretty darn cool dude huh? Yay?? NAY!!! I won’t venture to actually make any sort of bold statement about him or his intentions but do think about this…Basically the big dilemma is that as former CEO of Goldman and wall street veteran Hank has a LOT of friends and connections in that area. Personally if one of my buddies went to the bigshots and then my company failed, I’d be all like - “Hey save me man! Remember that time I totally bought you a yacht for your birthday? I can’t do that anymore if my company goes down!” In any case, there’s definitely a concern of conflict of interest.

Even more interestingly, much of the economic mess we are in today is a direct result of investment banks (like Goldman) and their actions during the time in which Hank was CEO!

Well, there you go! Your crash course on the human being known as Hank Paulson.  We’ll be following up soon with an in depth looking at the other man of the a hour. A person I like to call Ben “Never once smiled or even looked remotely undepressed in a photo” Bernanke. Most all of his photographs look like the one below. The guy must be just stressed beyond all definitions of the word. Stay tuned.

Microsoft’s second commercial with Seinfeld. Again, no one understood. = \

This must be SkyNet at work again. Gives some great insight into how some tiny error can really have HUGE implications.

This will be the future of television. I saw one of the small ones at the Sony Store (why do they exist…well I guess I went inside…) last weekend. These TVs are crazy thin.  Like as thin as the new Ipod Nano.

Remember Cuil? Yeah, me neither… But honestly - I’m not trying to be a hater on innovative startups. I just have a problem using an extremely ambitious claim to fame to get attention and then not delivering.

If you don’t know who Mark Cuban is,  he’s one of the very famous billionaire, investor/entrepreneurs of our time. Here’s how to get him to invest in your idea. Awesome interview with him here as well.

Oh my goodnes… what are they thinking…

Remember that video up top? Looks like there won’t be anymore… Like everything about these commercials, I don’t know how to feel….

Here’s what Microsoft has come up with to replace Seinfeld. What do you think?

1. The economy is weakening. -  There is a good chance we will go into a recession this fall.  Make sure you are working hard at your job.  The unemployment rate is now 6.1% which is a 5 year high.   Learn more here.

2. We are going to end up paying for this housing crisis. People have been living way beyond their means and this is finally going to come back to haunt us.  I always find it funny that people who make very mediocre incomes are buying new BMWs and huge Flat-screen TVs.  Companies have been encouraging people to buy things beyond their income level and this is going to cause problems.  Over the past few couple of weeks, the government has stepped into to help two very large American companies.  This is because they have had so many mortgages go bad.  Learn more about how this will affect you here.

3. We are currently going through a fundamental shift in the IT world. - At EvadingMediocrity, we are huge believers in Software as a Service (SaaS).  This basically means that your computer programs will run more like services (electricity, cable, etc..) than traditional software programs.   This would allow you to access your data from any computer no matter where you are in the world.  I will explain this in much more detail in later posts.  Google confirmed that it is trying to accelerate this movement when it released Chrome this week.

“What did you do when you were my age to help get you where you are today?”
“That’s a very broad question…”
“I guess I mean in terms of investing or personal finance… what can I do to ensure that I get my financial life started off well so that when I’m your age, I can be ready to retire and enjoy some of the luxuries in life?”
“The BEST thing I can tell you to do at your age, since I’m assuming you don’t have much to invest, is to NOT BUY A CAR right out of college. It is a huge temptation that nearly all graduates succumb to and I can’t stress how important staying out of debt early and building a good base early for investing is.”

It was a relatively simple lesson but I took it to heart. Here’s some ways young professionals can easily save/preserve some of their hard earned cash.

Ditch the wheels - Taking public transportation has many pluses (for everyone) in addition to the fact that it will save you lots of money in the long run.  According to the American Public Transportation Association an average person can save $672.00 a month by taking public transportation.  Not only are you saving your wallet but your car’s life span too. Shit, maybe even your own if your doing a little “Self powered commuting”.

Live with roomates - Do yourself a favor and save an extra couple hundred (at least) a month by living with roomates in the early days of your career. This allows you to leverage “ECONOMIES OF SCALE!” and buy those large Costco containers of hand soap and toilet paper which are simply too large for a normal human being. Not to mention I personally save about $400 a month doing this in lieu of living by my lonesome when compared to just about all my friends at work.

Leave the ol’ credit card at Home when going out - It is a well known fact that when drinking your inhibitions are less than non existent.  You are more likely to whip the card out and yell “shots for everyone” or buy a drink for every buddy you have! Take only what you can afford to spend with you in cash, when it is gone then it’s time to start moochin’ off your friend’s who did not read this blog post! JK!! But seriously….

Here’s 3 easy technological innovations that are HUGE boosters in productivity no matter who you are!

Email on your phone - This is an absolute must.  After you try using email on your phone, you will never go back to not having it.  This will help you be very responsive to email and more aware of what is going on at work.  However, I must warn you that your significant other will probably not like this feature.  The ultimatly means you will be working more but it will work out to your advantage in the long run. Learn how to turn this to your advantage without getting addicted to the drug known as the crackberry and you’ll crush your current productivity level.

Dual monitors - Everyone should have dual monitors in their office. By having more real estate in which to work on your computer, you can get things done faster without flipping through a million windows a hundred times each. This is critically important if you have to create presentations or work on complex spreadsheets. *BONUS TIP!* Work will usually happily pay for an additional monitor for you. All you have to do is ask. Who would say no to an more productive employee? *DOUBLE BONUS!* If you can afford it, put this on your home computer and you basically can watch TV shows or movies you’ve downloaded while having another window open to work on your personal email or whatever. Pretty sweet. Again, don’t go overboard as it is expensive and has diminishing returns.

Good Email Search - Just about every single email has search in it but most of the time it is as useless as your tonsils. In fact, if you try to use them, you might as well be trying to use a butter knife to kill a bear. They simply don’t work and just get you mad/killed in the process. If you aren’t already using Gmail, do yourself a huge favor and go through the painful process of switching email providers. Sure its a bitch to tell everyone you have a new email but you’ll be thankful. They have GREAT email search. It enables you to find any email you’ve ever sent or received with the greatest of ease. If you use outlook or outlook express at work, try Google Desktop. It allows you to search your Outlook emails too. Pretty wicked sweet..