Stuff that made me – in no particular order – think, chortle, smirk, snigger , slurp, nod my head wisely, with sorrow, and in a wtf mode. I shan’t identify which is what …coz it will be fun a year later to figure:
I have been following the economic crisis – you would have to be on mars if you didn’t. ‘emperor’s new clothes‘ anyone?. Keynes must be looking terribly smug and superior at the economist’s table in the great beyond. Friedman is possibly drinking himself to oblivion !
Stephen Dunn’s piece in the Hindu on Galbraith has a brief summary of bubbles that burst, making me wonder how stupid we are as a species….
Starting with the tulip bulb mania in the 1630s, bubble after speculative bubble has been erased from the popular memory: the South Sea bubble in the early 1700s; the Mississippi bubble, which caused a stock market crash in 18th-century France; the Florida real estate bubble in the 1920s; the stock market crash of 1929; the stock market crash of 1987; the Nikkei bubble, which began in 1991, and the Nasdaq bubble of 2000.
There is Christopher Hitchens in ‘Vanity Fair’ on Banana Republics – the anger at a situation where political parties and politicians across the world have colluded with big business to bankrupt the system is very apparent ….
But welcome to another aspect of banana-republicdom. In a banana republic, the members of the national legislature will be (a) largely for sale and (b) consulted only for ceremonial and rubber-stamp purposes some time after all the truly important decisions have already been made elsewhere.
in a related area of tech and media companies Mark Evans writes:
What’s amazing is the “Hey Mom, no business model†model was allowed to exist. You would think after the dot-com boom went bust that entrepreneurs and investors would have a better focus on fundamentals such as, say, how to generate revenue.
I remember meeting an old colleague who had joined a company that makes mobile video content. And in a circuitous conversation he admitted that they haven’t figured out revenue model as yet and that currently, and for the foreseeable future, there wasn’t enough bandwidth to make video content available to customers, even if they wanted it….. i saw it happening before, and i am seeing it happen again, which leads me to question how stupid are we as a species…
Also on the same track, check out Shefaly’s ‘only the monetising survive‘.
Survival may be easier for a small niche business, focused on, say, tailoring services, than it may be for a Web 2.0 firm with lots of VC money but no clear monetisation model.
of course, the assumption is that the next round of funding will happen – i have friends in VC funded companies in India, who are seriously nervous. they have families, mortgages, EMI’s, …
John Kay in the FT looks at the difference between fraud and ‘innocent fraud’ and asks,
Is the deception of others more or less venal when one has also deceived oneself?
And, there was this cartoon at Truthdig, which kind of encapsulates the entire problem of the disconnect between politicians and ordinary voters (anywhere)
Other stuff that was interesting :
Madhukar on Alternatives to Singur – with the agitation moving to Gujarat along with the Nano factory, maybe it is time to relook at the way agricultural land is acquired for industry…
MJ Akbar on why for the vast majority of Indians secularism and religion are both ways of life and go hand in hand.
Ram Puniyani on the Nanavati report. Until Justice is done and seen to be done, there would be injustice …
i will end this with a quote from Hitchens again, this time on the reasons for his choice for President :
A candidate may well change his or her position on, say, universal health care or Bosnia. But he or she cannot change the fact—if it happens to be a fact—that he or she is a pathological liar, or a dimwit, or a proud ignoramus. And even in the short run, this must and will tell.
which is possibly my issue wtih Mr.Advani…
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