At its root, the conflict over Pebble Mine is one of human nature. It’s a battle of now versus later; instant wealth versus delayed gratification; greed versus prudence. At issue is man’s respect for the natural world by which he is sustained; man’s power to harness the pearls of the planet for his own needs and his own desires; and the treatment of the gift bestowed upon man and his transformation of it, for better or poorer, for the re-wrapping, and re-bestowment, of that gift upon the generations of men who will follow.
Archive for the ‘Business and Markets’ Category
The Color of Sacrifice: Pebble Mine and Red Gold
Posted in Business and Markets, Culture, Law and Economics, Politics, tagged Alaska, Anglo American, ANWR, John Shively, Mining, Northern Dynasty, Pebble Mine on August 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Pumping: The Centi-Million-Dollar Market-Cap Crap-Trap
Posted in Business and Markets, Internet and Technology, Law and Economics on August 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Technology advances, but human nature stays the same. It’s cliched by now, but it’s never been more true.
We all remember Gordon Gekko, cinema’s epic representation of the 1980s Wall Street titan. Gekko is a slimy master of the universe, an unscrupulous speculator with morals as flexible as the tape he trades. “Greed…is good.”
Less remembered is [...]
Cease and Desist: A Lesson in Customer Service
Posted in Business and Markets, Internet and Technology on July 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I can’t find the link, but I remember last year I read a post about a JetBlue pilot mixing up his schedule and inadvertently delaying the departure time of his flight nearly 45 minutes. The pilot took full responsibility for his own mistake, absolving entirely his company, his fellow pilots, and his crewmembers. Nevertheless, JetBlue [...]
The Death of Prolific Writing
Posted in Business and Markets, Internet and Technology on July 2, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Content is an industry: words are a capitalist commodity, a bag of goods for consumer consumption. But content ingestion isn’t learning. Data and information aren’t knowledge. As we read less, we respond less. As we respond less, we write less. And as we write less, we are less. By writing less or by writing differently, we close the avenues through which we come to understand ourselves and our place in the world.
On Stops, Sex, & Speculative Self-Destruction
Posted in Business and Markets, Miscellaneous Commentary on June 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Scorned speculators are scattered across the globe, tallying wins and losses, unable to recall the glamour of the halcyon days because they can’t stop thinking about that One. Tough. Beat.
In the opening scene of Rounders, poker player Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) loses his life savings in a single round of Texas Hold ’Em. His opponent [...]
Thoughts, As They Come
Posted in Business and Markets, Internet and Technology, Miscellaneous Commentary on June 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Thoughts, as they come…
The Hangover: This movie was epic. It’s Tucker Max meets Road Trip made visible. Very rarely does a film capture the intricacies and complexity of the often sick and perverted sense of humor of my generation’s males, as well as our trying but cozy relationship with alcohol; our diverse and maladaptive interpersonal [...]
Law School: To Go or Not to Go?
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics on April 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Even as the legal profession suffers and shrinks, while layoffs mount and titanic firms crumble, fresh legions of college students are applying to law school in unseen numbers. The logic is simple: the economy sucks now, so let’s wait it out in professional school until the storm passes. The newest excuse for law school matriculation [...]
Lessons from the Financial Crisis Circa 2006
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A few days ago, I was flipping through an old favorite investment book, Hedge Hogging by Barton Biggs. Though it was published in 2006, in market years decades have since passed. A few passages, for their pertinence to the current financial crisis, induce more interest today than they did when written. Biggs, a hedge fund manager, relates lessons learned [...]
Contrary-Contrarians and the Bear Market Rally
Posted in Business and Markets on March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
My, what a difference a month makes.
February saw the secular bear unleash its pent-up fury, pummeling toxic-debt-laden financial companies and mangling even cash-rich large caps in healthy industries.
Rumors began to surface that former Wall Street titans had disappeared, cashed ‘em out and packed ‘er up, for Des Moines or Duluth, to coach sixth grade tennis [...]
Trading Time
Posted in Business and Markets, Miscellaneous Commentary on July 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
[N.B. This blog post is adapted from a more technical post on The Margin Call.]
Time is the justice that examines all offenders. –Shakespeare
With an impossibly busy July and August ahead of me, I’m starting to weigh the pros and cons of shoring up my long-term positions with my day-trading capital.
Two things happened this week. For a hot [...]
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