Posted by Dave Mark on Feb 5, 2010 in
Economy,
Politics,
Stu Yesterday, Republican Scott Brown was sworn in to the US Senate, taking over the seat of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy. Brown has vowed to be an independent voice in a bitterly divided Senate.
What’s fascinating is the story of how he came out of nowhere to single-handedly derail the Democrats’ filibuster-proof super-majority. The democrats can no longer simply script an agenda and vote along party lines to push something through the Senate. Suddenly, this single election changed everything in politics.
This article from the New Yorker (sent in by my brother, Stu) tells the story of the origins of the movement that, some might argue, led directly to Brown’s election.
Here’s a slightly slanted wikipedia page that covers the Tea Party Movement, whose main focus is the opposition to using stimulus to spend our way out of the recession.
A fascinating look at an important chapter in our political history, well worth the read…
– Dave
Tags: Scott Brown, Tea Party Movement
Posted by Dave Mark on Oct 1, 2009 in
Economy Amazing story out of Singapore. A massive fleet of ships lies idle and empty just east of Singapore, a sign of the times. Terrific article from the Daily Mail points to a tail end of the economic recovery that likely will not see new ship production until 2012 at the earliest.
– Dave
Tags: Economy, Shipping Industry
Posted by Dave Mark on Aug 17, 2009 in
Economy A few weeks ago, Postmaster General John E. Potter appeared before Congress and gave a state-of-the-union speech. Here’s the text of that speech.
In a nutshell, Potter paints a dark picture of the economic health of the US Postal Service. He’s reduced payroll by more than 20%, is asking permission not to continue funding the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund, which basically provides health benefits to future retirees. And, as you’ve likely heard, Potter has asked that the Postal Service no longer be required to deliver mail on Saturdays.
Bottom line, my sense is that Congress will give Potter all he asks for. He’s not asking to eliminate health benefits for carriers, he’s asking to be let off the hook for covering retirees once they retire. Pretty standard in other industries.
As to Saturday mail delivery, seems pretty logical to me. Electronic communications have vastly changed the landscape. I can’t remember the last handwritten letter I received. Most of what I get is junk mail, which I can do without for a day, and bills/commercial mailings. Limiting that latter category to a standard five day work week seems a reasonable bit of belt tightening, especially give the current state of the economy…
– Dave
Tags: No More Saturday Mail, Postal Service, USPS
Posted by Dave Mark on Aug 13, 2009 in
Economy Great blog post by Mark Cuban. With which I could not agree more. Want to be patriotic? Work your ass off. Get rich. Create new jobs. Hire all the people laid off by the big corporations doing what they can to prop up their stock price.
– Dave
Tags: Economy, Mark Cuban, patriotic
Posted by Dave Mark on Aug 13, 2009 in
Economy,
Movies Below is the trailer for Lemonade, a movie about people who got laid off and forced into their real life’s work. Thanks to Katharina Manalac for the original link. Here’s a link to the movie’s web site and a higher resolution trailer. I am a big believer in the lemonade aphorism (If life gives you lemons, make lemonade). Been making lemonade my whole life! 
– Dave
Tags: Lemonade Movie
Posted by Dave Mark on Aug 7, 2009 in
Economy This fascinating New Yorker article details the cost to produce various coins and tells the story of one company, Jackson Metals, that started buying truckloads of pennies from the Federal Reserve and melting them down. The soaring cost of precious metals is creating an interesting problem for the mint. More pressure to get rid of the penny!
– Dave
Tags: Jackson Metals, New Yorker, penny, precious metals
Posted by Dave Mark on Jul 12, 2009 in
Economy Nice visual collection of our debts. Yeesh…
– Dave
Tags: Economy, US Debt
Posted by Dave Mark on May 7, 2009 in
Economy,
Microsoft Interesting talk on the economy and entrepreneurship. I have to say, I am not a fan of Steve Ballmer, but I did find this fascinating. He does a nice amount of reminiscing about the early days of life with Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Worth a listen…
– Dave
Tags: Economy, Stanford, Steve Ballmer
Posted by Dave Mark on May 7, 2009 in
Economy,
Politics President Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University, 45 minutes, walking through his sense of the current economic status and his plans to get us where we need to be as a nation. This article, from the Wall Street Journal, talks about the story behind the speech. You can read the full text of the speech here.
– Dave
Tags: Economic speech, Obama
Posted by Dave Mark on Mar 25, 2009 in
Economy This resignation letter was written by Jake DeSantis, Executive Vice President, AIG Financial Products, to Edward Liddy, AIG Chairman. Opened my eyes a bit. Thanks for the pointer, Todd.
– Dave
Tags: AIG, Edward Liddy, Jake DeSantis, resignation
