Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
3 years ago
Monday, January 25, 2010
Inspired by 'A Drive to Inspire'
Wow, what's not to like... a road trip down Route 66 in an alternative energy version of my all time favorite, the 66 Pontiac GTO. All I can say is that CNG Route66 is my kind of blog. Stay tuned, I'm going to find out more about this project.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Time for Bernanke and Geithner to go
Gentlemen,
Thank you for your service and wisdom in saving the US banking system from complete and total annihilation. We are deeply grateful for your efforts,but your services in this capacity will no longer be needed.
We the people understand that the policies and policy makers that brought us out of the crisis are not the same as those required to take us where we need to go from here. We also understand that we were required to foot the bill for dragging our economy from the brink.
We never expected your friends, those wealthy bankers who profited off of trading worthless derivatives and destroying the 401Ks of millions, to pony up. Why would they when they had the gun to our heads, and stood to profit further from your policies. So it worked. Economy saved, bankers enriched, credit markets still breathing.
Now we're going to find some new policy makers that will help us heal and get us back on the path to jobs and prosperity. Nothing personal.
Love,
The Vanishing Middle Class
Thank you for your service and wisdom in saving the US banking system from complete and total annihilation. We are deeply grateful for your efforts,but your services in this capacity will no longer be needed.
We the people understand that the policies and policy makers that brought us out of the crisis are not the same as those required to take us where we need to go from here. We also understand that we were required to foot the bill for dragging our economy from the brink.
We never expected your friends, those wealthy bankers who profited off of trading worthless derivatives and destroying the 401Ks of millions, to pony up. Why would they when they had the gun to our heads, and stood to profit further from your policies. So it worked. Economy saved, bankers enriched, credit markets still breathing.
Now we're going to find some new policy makers that will help us heal and get us back on the path to jobs and prosperity. Nothing personal.
Love,
The Vanishing Middle Class
Friday, January 15, 2010
Had Enough of Too Big to Fail
If they're too big to fail, let's make them smaller. Move your money to a community bank or local credit union. Move Your Money
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Corporate Robots
We no more want to give corporations the rights of persons than we do robots. Either one will doom democracy. Corporations don't (and shouldn't) act like people, they are purely selfish. That's why they need to be regulated. I would not loan money to a friend, hoping and arranging things so that they would not be able to pay, so that I could make more money. But that's exactly what the banks and financial institutions did to their customers.
Senator Graham’s ‘blame the victim’ mentality in this situation is a perfect underhand pitch to the financial industry. Not to mention the reporters, commentators, and clowns on financial ‘news’ channels like CNBC who latch on to this myth. These folks must surely awaken every day amazed that they still have a job. That would explain why they spend so much air-time scrambling for new ways to keep up the charade that they’re competent. Don't forget that these are the same people that held up Bernard Madoff and Sir Robert Allen Stanford as heroes of unregulated free-market capitalism.
President Obama pointed out:
"Americans don't choose to be victimized by mysterious fees, changing terms and pages and pages of fine print. And while innovation should be encouraged, risky schemes that threaten our entire economy should not," he said. "We can't afford to let the same phony arguments and bad habits of Washington kill financial reform and leave American consumers and our economy vulnerable to another meltdown."
The President gets it.
Senator Graham’s ‘blame the victim’ mentality in this situation is a perfect underhand pitch to the financial industry. Not to mention the reporters, commentators, and clowns on financial ‘news’ channels like CNBC who latch on to this myth. These folks must surely awaken every day amazed that they still have a job. That would explain why they spend so much air-time scrambling for new ways to keep up the charade that they’re competent. Don't forget that these are the same people that held up Bernard Madoff and Sir Robert Allen Stanford as heroes of unregulated free-market capitalism.
President Obama pointed out:
"Americans don't choose to be victimized by mysterious fees, changing terms and pages and pages of fine print. And while innovation should be encouraged, risky schemes that threaten our entire economy should not," he said. "We can't afford to let the same phony arguments and bad habits of Washington kill financial reform and leave American consumers and our economy vulnerable to another meltdown."
The President gets it.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Feature Evangelist vs. Product Evangelist
I've seen a lot of start up companies over the last few years that came out for the gate with really exciting, clever, and popular products only to see them stagnate. Lately I've given some thought to the cause of this phenomenon. One problem I've seen is when the product team focuses too hard on a specific feature request from a specific client. Typically, this is a big, well known, or VIP client with an internal 'friend' or evangelist for the start-up's product.
The scenario goes like this...
The Evangelist calls up the Product Manager and says that there's some growing traction for the product among senior management. A deal is likely, but that the start-up needs to make some changes to the feature set to make the product meet all of the features in the Request for Proposal that the potential customer has been sending out. The Product Manager, getting pressure from Sales and Marketing, is eager to help land this great account. One of the worst parts is that at some point, and probably unbeknown to the Product Manager, the sales person has promised a deal to the client that has all but precluded any profitability on the account. So now the start-up is in the situation of having to spend time and resources on a new feature for a product so that they can sell this product at a loss.
This happens more that you'd think, and it's too bad. The solution is not to ignore the customer (that comes later, if you're a Geoffrey Moore fan) so much as to be aware and on the look out of the customer or client that is too focused on a few features. Ask yourself if the client really is a strong supporter of your product, or are they simply using your product to advocate for a pet feature that does not represent an overall product improvement
The scenario goes like this...
The Evangelist calls up the Product Manager and says that there's some growing traction for the product among senior management. A deal is likely, but that the start-up needs to make some changes to the feature set to make the product meet all of the features in the Request for Proposal that the potential customer has been sending out. The Product Manager, getting pressure from Sales and Marketing, is eager to help land this great account. One of the worst parts is that at some point, and probably unbeknown to the Product Manager, the sales person has promised a deal to the client that has all but precluded any profitability on the account. So now the start-up is in the situation of having to spend time and resources on a new feature for a product so that they can sell this product at a loss.
This happens more that you'd think, and it's too bad. The solution is not to ignore the customer (that comes later, if you're a Geoffrey Moore fan) so much as to be aware and on the look out of the customer or client that is too focused on a few features. Ask yourself if the client really is a strong supporter of your product, or are they simply using your product to advocate for a pet feature that does not represent an overall product improvement
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Hollywood Park
I heard recently that the Inglewood City Council is likely to vote to close Hollywood Park, and replace the racetrack with a 'Multi-use, residential, retail complex'.
My advise is don't do it. Once you do this, you'll never get it back. This is the type of short-sighted, misinformed thinking that got this country into the economic mess it's in right now.
My prediction is that this city council will commission some big study at great expense that will undoubtedly come to the conclusion that if they do all this fancy re-building like other cities have done over the past decade, that they will see this giant gain in tax revenue, and earn the eternal gratitude (and votes) of the people.
Except... that won't happen. Instead, we'll look back on this in twenty years and say, "Gee. How sad it is that the city of Inglewood decided to destroy the things that were unique, and gave it an identity. Didn't they see that at the end of the day they were trading that uniqueness for a sameness that could not compete?" Trying to be more like Santa Monica, Westminster, or El Segundo is a losing game for Inglewood. The forum will be gone, Hollywood Park will be gone, and with them any opportunity to preserve the thing that makes towns and cities great: uniqueness.
My advise is don't do it. Once you do this, you'll never get it back. This is the type of short-sighted, misinformed thinking that got this country into the economic mess it's in right now.
My prediction is that this city council will commission some big study at great expense that will undoubtedly come to the conclusion that if they do all this fancy re-building like other cities have done over the past decade, that they will see this giant gain in tax revenue, and earn the eternal gratitude (and votes) of the people.
Except... that won't happen. Instead, we'll look back on this in twenty years and say, "Gee. How sad it is that the city of Inglewood decided to destroy the things that were unique, and gave it an identity. Didn't they see that at the end of the day they were trading that uniqueness for a sameness that could not compete?" Trying to be more like Santa Monica, Westminster, or El Segundo is a losing game for Inglewood. The forum will be gone, Hollywood Park will be gone, and with them any opportunity to preserve the thing that makes towns and cities great: uniqueness.
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