Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

I have to hand it to Netflix: they may be witless, but they aren't complete dunderheads. After the tidal wave of criticism from their customers and a free-falling stock price, they've figured out that just maybe they should not split the streaming and DVD-by-mail businesses asunder. CEO Reed Hasting (how much longer will I be able to make that statement?) posted on the company blog today that: It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs. Bravo - that man must have an MBA. So, again this plays out more and more like the saga of New Coke . By the way, in case you've forgotten how that ended, Coke actually gained market by re-introducing Old Coke, er, Coke Classic. Other than looking clueless by tampering with a classic, the whole "fiasco" solidified Coke's place in the market. So who's to say how ill-advised all this seems in th...

My employer, the Sisyphean Corp, announced today the retirement of our beloved CEO, L. C. "Soupy" Soupington III, after 17 years of service. He's regularly mentioned in the financial press for his unique hands-off management style, and was recently voted "Third Worst CEO in the Fortune 500." Although share values have plunged over 90% in the last 18 months, Mr. Soupington is fond of reminding employees their 401ks are buying more stock, more cheaply. He's done his bit to ensure that's possible by dumping huge amounts of his own holdings before the vomit-inducing plunge in stock prices. Insiders were surprised at the low-key announcement. Some privately remarked they expected the announcement to come on the national news, accompanied by video footage of Mr. Soupington being frog-marched from his office in handcuffs. When asked his plans, the usually CEO reserved grinned, "Play golf, gain weight and be on my guard for angry shareholders."...

It is an urban legend and somewhat of journalistic cliche that Eskimos have a large number of words for "snow." which somehow belies the importance of snow in Eskimo life. If this be the case, consider the number of words in our capitalist system related to moving from the state of employment to unemployment. For starters, there is " losing one's job " (whoops, it was here a minute ago), as if it the poor unfortunate merely misplaced his livelihood. Then consider the personal violence inherent in the following: fired , discharged , axed , cut , given the boot , and of course, terminated . British workers find themselves " sacked ," and when collecting unemployment, they go " on the dole ." It's important to distinguish whether the separation was for cause ( fired! ) or merely bad business conditions ( laid off ). Of particular interest is the term " given the pink slip " or more simply " pink-slipped. " According ...

Barack Obama and right-wing French President Nicholas Sarkosy find that if they look hard enough they can find common ground on at least some issues at the G-8 Conference. Well done, gentlemen.

Salon (always good for an interesting read) has an opinion piece called The French are right (again) which points out the irony of the free-market deregulating US bellyaching at the welfare state Europeans to spend more to stimulate the economy. My Libertarian sparring partners will probably not care for the article. I would encourage them to read it before they begin whining.

By now you've at least heard about Thursday's Daily Show, wherein Jon Stewart pulled off his foolscap and grilled former hedge-fund trader turned business entertainer Jim Cramer about CNBC's (and the business news networks in general) failure to rise above mindlessly parroting the lies and half-truths fed them by the folks who brought you our current financial fiasco. Jon Stewart once again showed his "fake" news show does news better than the "real" news shows: his staff prepped him with a series of clips he rolled anytime his subject protested he was misquoted or hadn't said something. Jim Cramer was left no wiggle room. When was the last time you saw that sort of interview on, say, NBC? It was effective and devastating. By the end, Cramer was contrite and apologetic. Say what you will, Cramer went knowing he was going to get bitch-slapped. He gets marks for doing it anyway - unlike Rick Santelli, who's done little more than whine after Stewar...

Ayn Rand is to Conservative/Libertarian Free Market True Believers what Mary Baker Eddy is to Christian Scientists (or is that what L. Ron Hubbard is to the Scientologists?). She is the originator and high priestess of "Objectivism," a religious cult for the non-religious which elevates the individual's tendency to be a self-absorbed, selfish prick to evidence of the divine. Its major tenet, boiled down to layman's terms, is "Fuck you, I got mine." As a side note, despite Libertarians' commendably progressive views on gay rights, Rand's views on homosexuality were considerably less enlightened: she held that it was immoral and disgusting . Some of her prophets (profits?) include Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, and pretty much the entire Cato Institute. As you might imagine, she's very popular on Wall Street and in Board Rooms all across America. The Randistras' Bible is her novel " Atlas Shrugged ," where in all the world's l...

By now who hasn't at least heard of CNBC on-air financial personality Rick Santelli's " Rant Heard Round the World, " in which he castigates "losers" who shouldn't get help by the government on their mortgages. Santelli, a former commodity and futures trader turned professional entertainer, launched his diatribe from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, surrounded by the guys we can thank for $4.00 a gallon gas not too long ago. Short investment lesson: greed whips up panic over the cost of gasoline in 6 months and people investing in futures bid up the price to astronomical levels. Traders make a shitload of money. Fear they paid too much grips investors and the price falls like a stone. Traders make another shitload of money. "On-Air Editor" Rick Santelli's job? Whip up the fear and panic. Down in the pit where Rick prowls there's been a huge market over the last few years in " derivatives :" financial contracts, o...

Yeah, yeah -- your 401k is a joke, the market's been in free-fall, lay-offs are all around us. But did you miss the following signs we are truly in an economic apocalypse? NetZero is running ads asking if you really need broadband after all. Use dial-up and save $300 a year! Give up broadband for dial-up? Dial-up?? Billboards are appearing in the area advertising cut-rate cremation services for only $399.95. The funeral industry never advertises on pricing. Until now. Finally, the Dallas Morning News , ran the following on their editorial page this morning: If this brutal year on Wall Street (and, in turn, on Main Street) taught us anything, it's that our economic model is seriously flawed. Among the myths that didn't survive the year: Markets can be trusted to regulate themselves. Investment banking is the goose that can be counted on to lay golden eggs. You can't lose by investing in housing. Subprime mortgages are risky, but if they fail, the damage...

Having a hard time wrapping your head around the sub-prime mortgage crisis and how mortgage-backed securities work? Scott Adams explains in today's Dilbert.