tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65219679014926395242011-04-21T20:58:59.443-05:00Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-38164206057343601302009-03-10T22:34:00.002-05:002009-03-11T22:45:13.643-05:002009-03-11T22:45:13.643-05:00

“All we have to fear is fear itself.” We’ve heard President F.D. Roosevelt’s quote so often, it risks being trite. But I think this was an example of his effort to provide the nation with emotional leadership in a dour time. All we really have to fear is blind refusal to understand how things work and to use that information to our benefit. Like attracts like. Fear pulls in fear, anger

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com1http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2009/03/all-we-have-to-fear-is-fear-itself.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-89920493949831502822009-02-18T07:08:00.003-06:002009-02-18T07:28:29.320-06:002009-02-18T07:28:29.320-06:00

One of Longitude's longtime clients recently engaged yours truly to run their credit bureau business. It's a great company with a bright future and attracts a great deal of attention from all constituents and sectors of the market. The business primarily serves lenders who successfully provide access to credit for consumers who are underserved or otherwise disenfranchised by traditional financial

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2009/02/banking-as-we-know-it-and-underserved.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-91111281783209409622009-01-01T08:20:00.007-06:002009-01-04T14:06:41.831-06:002009-01-04T14:06:41.831-06:00

Magical, isn't it? Or is it? This 'new years' morning, you're likely either nursing a hangover induced head ache, or wondering why you didn't get invited to an A-list party last night so you could get one. Ever notice how we seem to shun what we think we don't want, then end up worrying that maybe we should have wanted it in the first place?I've been scouring the blogs this morning, interested in

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-62088916994503702782008-11-25T07:30:00.002-06:002008-11-25T08:16:43.570-06:002008-11-25T08:16:43.570-06:00

My good buddy Scott Loftesness, Founder and CEO of Glenbrook Partners (http://www.glenbrook.com/) a payments strategy consulting firm in THE Bay Area, does some pretty neat things with the distribution of news, updates, information and opinions in the payments business. His personal blog (http://www.sjl.us/) reveals as much of a renaissance man as you're going to find these days -- recipes,

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/11/payments-meta-blog.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-83953974630832604162008-10-29T22:44:00.002-05:002008-10-29T22:52:05.930-05:002008-10-29T22:52:05.930-05:00

I recently came across the following piece (www.SuperHub.com/PrietoPaper.pdf) on the vulnerability of tightly coupled systems that can go unidentified for a very long time. What may look like random events or issues can actually be highly coupled. Take the simple example of a fire in a small building outside of Chicago that disrupted telephone service for much of the country. Why? Because "It

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/10/inter-connectedness-of-seemingly.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-90259442481218623462008-10-08T23:10:00.003-05:002008-10-08T23:24:52.903-05:002008-10-08T23:24:52.903-05:00

[The following is provided courtesy of Tal Newhart of Parcon Research]What we seem to be forgetting & why we're in troubleA comment by T.S. Newhart A finance journalist, and reader of this occasional newsletter, called last week to ask what I thought about the $700 billion bail out plan. The conversation quickly expanded into a discussion of "What happened?". He was referring to the larger

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/10/al-zawahiri-didnt-care-if-you-starve.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-49255391061217559902008-10-03T20:29:00.007-05:002008-10-04T17:27:24.362-05:002008-10-04T17:27:24.362-05:00

The op ed piece in this Thursday's edition of the Wall Street Journal had it right...calling the federal market intervention plan a 'Wall Street bailout' is just plain inaccurate and a convenient ignoring of the truth. Whatever 'bailing' Washington is willing to do is as much for the benefit of all the home mortgagees who gleefully accepted the low APR, one year ARM at 125% loan to value with no

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/10/wsj-had-it-right.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-59377191431291120052008-09-30T06:42:00.003-05:002008-09-30T06:56:24.866-05:002008-09-30T06:56:24.866-05:00

It used to be if the stock market went down, the liquidated capital had to go somewhere, usually into real estate. If housing and commercial property values started softening, investors sought bonds to even out the trough. And, if corporate bonds or munis took a turn south, there was always foreign exchange, or another sector in the stock market to re-evaluate and hedge. But, today, I wonder "

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-investingwhats-it-all-gonna-mean.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-31571149703917043522008-09-16T21:48:00.006-05:002008-09-16T22:33:16.051-05:002008-09-16T22:33:16.051-05:00

My son, who is doing Masters work at the Johns Hopkins SAIS School, alerted me to a Brookings Institute forum this week on the "Future of Consumer Payments: a Discussion on Business and Public Policy" (www.brookings.edu/events/2008/0916 comsumer.aspx). Some really smart people were scheduled to speak including Ken Chenault of American Express, Dick Schmalensee of the Sloan Institute and Vijay D’

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/09/change-were-all-for-itas-long-as-its.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-6374380284917666012008-09-13T20:41:00.003-05:002008-09-13T20:50:23.095-05:002008-09-13T20:50:23.095-05:00

University psychologist and researcher Carol Dweck says the “key to success in life is to adopt a ‘growth’ mindset as opposed to a ‘fixed’ one.'” She goes on to discuss results from her research on “mindsets”: “People with a fixed mindset believe their basic qualities are carved in stone, so they are concerned about making their abilities look good. Those with a growth mindset believe their

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/09/coach-or-crony.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-74107181375896518882008-09-08T07:40:00.004-05:002008-09-08T08:01:46.880-05:002008-09-08T08:01:46.880-05:00

Our hearts are heavy with the news of the recent passing of Chuck Russell, former CEO of Visa. Chuck was a man of character and integrity, who put the long term interests of the association and its constiuents ahead of his own. Chuck had the gifted soft touch of leadership -- firm but poignant direction and wisdom that only comes with experience. He was a man led by common sense and never

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/09/farewell-harley-kid.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-71924881483468230042008-08-18T19:01:00.000-05:002008-08-19T15:02:21.561-05:002008-08-19T15:02:21.561-05:00

I recently picked up a copy of Brafman and Beckstrom’s 2006 quintessential work on organization theory. This interesting and quick read confronts the conundrum faced by many growing organizations: as growth in the market forces us to react to a changing landscape, is it better to decentralize and force more self-direction down stream, closer to the market, or continue to rely on a centralized ‘

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/08/organizational-theory-spider-or.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521967901492639524.post-46434334676871473142008-08-12T14:58:00.000-05:002008-08-19T15:03:52.696-05:002008-08-19T15:03:52.696-05:00

TowerGroup recently released a report titled “Disruptive Technology Spawns Market Revolution: The Ascent of Mobile Remittances into the Mainstream which said that "accelerating investments being made in ubiquitous mobile payment platforms will be a disruptive industry force”. As a result according to TowerGroup, “the emerging revolution occurring for sending and receiving remittances may well

Longitude Partners, Inchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299311833371852786noreply@blogger.com0http://longitude-partners.blogspot.com/2008/08/get-real-about-mobile-remittances-and.html