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Steve Jobs Connects the Dots

On October 6, 2011, in Our Culture, by Tim

The view count on this video of Steve Jobs’ Commencement Address at Stanford University in 2005 should rise considerably after his passing as it is a truly remarkable and touching speech about how his life was shaped. He recounts his college days, his firing from Apple, and his health problems while offering sage advice to the Stanford grads.

The complete transcript is here and the most poignant stuff comes at the end where he talks about how his health problems have changed the way he views the world:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Sadly, at the time that he delivered this speech, he thought he had beaten pancreatic cancer.

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Taxes in the U.S. and the Boat Tax Loophole

On October 5, 2011, in Our Culture, by Tim

Just about everything you ever wanted to know about taxes in the U.S. is contained in this collection of graphics from the Washington Post today, the video below being something of a dessert if you manage to work your way through the first five items.

The set of graphics on Who Doesn’t Pay Taxes is an interesting one. Among other tidbits you can glean from the data, some 2.5 million families with an income of over $60,000 a year pay no federal taxes. That sounds like a lot.

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Taibbi on the Occupy Wall Street Protest

On October 4, 2011, in Banks, Our Culture, by Tim

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi talks to Keith Olberman about the Occupy Wall Street protest that appears to be gathering national attention at a blistering pace, not yet rising to Tea Party status in the eyes of the mainstream media, but possibly on its way to doing so.

In Griftopia, Taibbi lamented the “hijacking” of the Tea Party movement by the Republican party that shifted the focus to government spending and taxes, rather than the more fundamental problems that have resulted from the financialization of America.

Though criticized for a lack of focus or clear demands, one thing seems certain, the Occupy Wall Street crowd at least has their fingers pointed at the right group of people.

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Hey, A Girl’s Gotta Live

On October 3, 2011, in Banks, Our Culture, by Tim

There’s an interesting collection of pictures from the ever-expanding Occupy Wall Street protest over at The Atlantic (hat tip Patrick.net), one of my favorites shown below.

With the mass arrest on Saturday, this story has really gained a lot of traction in just the last few days, a simple Google News search on “Wall Street Protest” now turning up such names as The Washington Post, CBS News, and the New York Times rather than just the Guardian, as was the case for much of the first ten days or so.

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A Liberal Version of the Tea Party?

On October 2, 2011, in Banks, Our Culture, by Tim

It would appear as though the two-week long Occupy Wall Street protest is gathering momentum after some 700 people were arrested yesterday after they blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge as detailed in this report at Fox Business News.

Based on the video above – now with their own food kitchen and media center in New York City – it looks as though they’re planning to hang around for a while, some now thinking that the group could have an impact on the 2012 elections.

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The World Has Too Many Traders

On September 29, 2011, in Debt, Our Culture, Stocks, by Tim

It occurred to me after watching this remarkable BBC interview with Alessio Rastani the other day – the one that went a bit viral despite the questionable background of the subject – that the “financialization” of the global economy that has slowly transformed the world over the last few decades has produced far more people like Alessio than it really needs.

Just like the little old ladies in Japan who try to compensate for 20 years of freakishly low interest rates with their FOREX accounts and like American punters who lost their shirts in the real estate crash and now intend to make it all back in penny stocks, traders like Alessio Rastani are a symptom of a problem that far too few people are talking about.

The BBC headline read “Anyone Can Make Money From a Crash” and that seems to be the attitude of an increasing number of slightly-above-average Joes in the world.

But, when you think about it, who can blame them?

In a world awash in paper money that steadily loses its value despite the government’s assurance that inflation is low and, during an era when the brightest and most talented college graduates go directly to Wall Street to figure out new ways to make money by pushing all that paper around, the incentives to speculate are just too high for many to resist.

Read the rest of this article at Seeking Alpha.

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