Much has been written in the last few days about the FaceBook IPO, er private funding.  Umair makes a solid point here and notes that FaceBook is doing exactly what is wrong for sustainable value.  No doubt many will make commissions, including Goldman but is this approach appropriate for sustainable share value. He goes on to note that by aligning themselves with the worst of Wall St approaches, something Google chose to not do, FaceBook has less chance for creating sustainable real and consistent value for investors. A Tale of Two IPOs | Bubblegeneration Companies that have philosophies are resilient–they’re … Continue reading “Facebook has no philosopy” | a comparison to the Google IPO

I found this post interesting.  Looking beyond the philosophical points in the post, the central theme is that Google search is deteriorating in quality.  When I think about it, I have to agree.  I am a Google addict and that’s all I use for my internet experiences.  But when I see the search results, more and more I am scanning them and trying to pick the one that is most likely to be the answer I seek before I click.  I do not want to be the algorithm. But I am not certain it is getting consistently worse.  Rather it … Continue reading The battle for internet equality and how Google has most to lose

In the midst of a fairly long piece, Martin summarises the distinction between emerging and advanced economies.  Incomes are converging between the two at a rapid pace and this produces highly divergent growth rates. The most staggering statistic is that during the 5 years to 2010, the Chinese economy grew 70% and advanced economies grew by 5%.  Elsewhere he notes that China is where Japan was in the 1950’s relative to advanced economies. In the grip of a great convergence | ft.com – Martin Wolf In short, today’s divergent rates of growth between successful emerging economies and the high-income economies … Continue reading “Convergent incomes and divergent growth – that is the economic story of our times” – Martin Wolf

This is the most incredibly naive strategy I have ever heard a bank attempt, at least in this decade.  At a minimum the person /group who is purchasing the domains should know better and have told BofA that the lunacy of this approach is that now people will actively go after BofA just to make a point “The WikiLeaks strategy: Bank of America buys up abusive domain names” | Finextra for the original story & Slashdot for some amusing and but insightful comments from folks who know: According to Domain Name Wire, the US bank has been aggressively registering domain … Continue reading Bank of America tries a 1996 strategy to save reputation in preparation for possible WikiLeaks problems

A terrific piece for Xmas eve 2010. Modern bankers have their own Ghost, Mr. Scrooge says DEREK DECLOET From Friday’s Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010 7:05PM EST They haunt him still. The ghosts, I mean – of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come, who appeared in succession one Christmas Eve, long ago, to pry open the cold heart of Ebenezer Scrooge and teach him a thing or two about generosity and the holiday spirit. It’s hard to shake the memory of an experience like that, harder still to forget the lessons it wrought. Mr. Scrooge was … Continue reading “Banking is a simple business – it’s only when you try to make it complicated that you run into trouble”

A quick summary of the Canadian economy from the IMF is generally positive but notes the potential risks already identified by the Bank of Canada, namely consumer debt and impacts felt from the elephant south of the border. Transcript of a Teleconference Call on the International Monetary Fund’s 2010 Article IV Review of Canada | IMF One is we see Canada having weathered the global recession very well, in part, thanks to a big monetary and fiscal stimulus that’s helped to support demand. Another factor we’d point to: unlike in a number of other countries, the financial system has avoided … Continue reading International Monetary Fund Review of Canada