Bullet Trains . . . in Minnesota How can you compete with a country that is run like a company? –Thomas L. Friedman, “Too Many Hamburgers?”; The New York Times (9/22/2010) I suppose that depends on whether the country in question is run like Costco — or Citigroup. In fact, Friedman makes a number of...Read More
Engineers, Financial & Otherwise OK, so I’m not coming down on the side of buying more Intel stock (vs. selling what I did buy, way back in 1995; see, “To Buy Intel (or not) . . . that is the question“). But I still like what Intel does a whole lot better than what Wall...Read More
Earthquake on Wall Street You break it, you own it. –Thomas L. Friedman, “The Pottery Barn Rule” Supposedly coined by Friedman in a 2003 Op-Ed piece, the “it” he was referring to at the time was Iraq. His warning: if the U.S. goes into Iraq and bungles it — it will bear responsibility for the...Read More
Taking Away the “Spoiler Factor”“Ranked Choice” voting, which I strongly support (“Ranked Choice Voice: Cure for What Ails Us?”), picked up a big endorsement today: from NYT columnist Thomas Friedman. Here’s Friedman’s case for what he calls “alternative voting” (also referred to as “instant run-off voting”): One reason independent, third-party, centrist candidates can’t get elected...Read More
Good Schools = Buyer Demand (What’s New?) Local San Jose Realtors are running ads in newspapers in China and India telling potential immigrants to “buy a home” in [San Jose’s] Lynbrook school district because it produced “two Intel science winners.” –Thomas Friedman, “America’s Real Dream Team“; The New York Times (3/21/2010) Nice piece by Tom...Read More
Friedman on Goldman Sachs Tired of me (deservedly) bashing Goldman Sachs? Here’s what the eminently fair-minded Thomas L. Friedman has to say about them: The behavior of some leading Wall Street banks, particularly Goldman Sachs, has been utterly selfish. U.S. taxpayers saved Goldman by saving one of its big counterparties, A.I.G. By any fair calculation,...Read More
