“It’s not chump change, but it makes the entire global crowdsourcing space roughly half as big, in revenue terms, as, say, the Fifth Avenue Apple Store.”
—Annals of dubious statistics, crowdfunding edition | Felix Salmon
July 2012
24 posts
“In my opinion, banks are the Achilles’ heel of capitalism. They really do need to be regulated like utilities if their liabilities are either explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the government, i.e., by taxpayers. Banks should be permitted to earn a very low utility-like stable return. Bankers should receive compensation in the middle of the pay scale for government employees, somewhere between the pay of a postal worker and the head of the FDIC. It should be the capital markets, hedge funds, and private-equity investors that provide credit to risky borrowers instead of the banks.”
—
Interesting quote from Edward Yardeni in this week’s Barrons’.
The key is defining which institutions are - and aren’t - ‘implicitly guaranteed’.
The Politics of Influence
Just catching up this morning with yesterday’s little kerfuffle in the Enterprise Software world:
there was so much #EnSW analyst drama going on today, I thought an episode of Glee was going to break out!
— thomas wailgum (@twailgum)
In case you missed it, apparently this was all triggered by Michael Krigsman republishing Dennis Moore’s list of ‘Trusted Enterprise Software experts’ on ZDNet, CloudAve, Enterprise Irregulars and possibly elsewhere.
Which inspired this response - The awkward Art of Selfpromotion - from Martijn Linssen. Worth noting is that Martijn was not included in the aforementioned lists.
Also worth noting - neither was I. Full disclosure - I too am an Enterprise Irregular (as are Michael and Dennis). I am a considerably less active one these days, since I do not make it my business to be an ‘influencer’. So being omitted from a list like this perhaps is a slight blow to my ego (although not surprising since my Twitter feed and blog posts are not exactly focused), but has zero impact on my bank account.
Everyone and anyone is, of course, entitled to promote and/or publish their opinions and lists of who their ‘top’, ‘most trusted’ or otherwise important (to them) resources are. Whether it’s a blogroll, a Twitter list, or something more formalized, there’s nothing inherently wrong with doing this.
But what outsiders to ‘the Influence game’ need to also realize is the structure of how these networks work. Quality content matters, of course, but one also becomes an Influencer by both self-promoting as well as by building alliances and cross-promoting others with similar outlooks and views. In other words, it’s politics - and it’s also why, due to personal distaste for those politics, I have personally fought off repeated efforts to get back into ‘the game’.
This whole discussion reminded me of a review I read recently in the WSJ of the book Politics as a Spectator Sport.
In 2008, Rudy Giuliani’s team had wooed Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for months, eager for his endorsement in the contest for the GOP presidential nomination, and thought that a deal had been reached. Just before the Florida primary, Mr. Crist handed his endorsement to John McCain, which helped crater Mr. Giuliani’s chances in Florida. Mr. Giuliani didn’t forget. A few years later, when Mr. Crist was struggling in his bid for a Florida Senate seat, guess which former presidential candidate—still popular among ex-New Yorkers voting in Florida primaries—was only too happy to endorse newcomer Marco Rubio?
As a former Giuliani staffer (and undying loyalist), I find it delightful to read the words “Senator Rubio,” and I was amused to see that Mr. Cillizza has remembered the incident too. One of the guilty pleasures of his writing is the way he adroitly captures the deep personal hatreds that politics provoke—and that most reporters pretend don’t exist.
The stakes are somewhat lower in the Enterprise Software world but the ever-shifting alliances, informal backscratching arrangements and personal animosities are very much there.
For those involved in this little dustup (all of whom I am friendly with and wish to remain so), I hope you can resolve things amicably.
For everyone else, enjoy the show…
“The question of interest shouldn’t be “what would Keynes do” but rather “why even listen to someone so pompous and nihilistic to begin with?”
—Why Listen To Keynes In The First Place? | ZeroHedge
“In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them.”
—The Lion in the Grass | Mauldin Economics
“Consumers aren’t buying more because they feel great. They are spending more because the prices have gone up. But now consumers are reaching their limits.”
—Coming: The End of Fiat Money - Barrons.com
“I suspect the answer is to go after the power users, the ones with the most influence or the most followers. George Takei, Robert Scoble, Lady Gaga.”
—
The definition of ‘Power User’ has certainly shifted…
“We don’t credit the Swiss postal service with the Special Theory of Relativity because it transmitted Einstein’s manuscript to the Annalen der Physik. Everyone drives the roads, goes to school, uses the mails. So did Steve Jobs. Yet only he created the Mac and the iPad.”
—Charles Krauthammer: Did the state make you great? - The Washington Post
“I think the Obama team is beating up Romney for something that makes great headlines and might look bad to an unsophisticated voter. But to me this looks petty and cheap. I don’t like petty and cheap. I wish the Obama team would talk about important stuff instead of beating up a guy over nonsense.”
—A VC: Partners Forever (or close to it)
Saying Goodbye (for now) to Pundit Review Radio
My friend Kevin Whalen asked the other day if I’d be willing to join him again on his Pundit Review radio show on Sunday night.
What I didn’t initially realize is that it’s Kevin’s last show on WRKO - so I’m particularly honored to be joining him.
Final in-studio guest will be an unapologetic capitalist, so I think that works well. Looking forward to seing @cselland again. #WRKO
— Pundit Review (@PunditReview)
I’m quite certain that we haven’t heard the last of Kevin and his unique and groundbreaking voice and strongly suspect the show will live on in another form and at another home before long.
But this is it - for now at least.
So please listen - and call - in between 6 and 8 PM (EST) Sunday evening and help me send Pundit Review Radio off in style. If you’re outside of the Boston metro area, you can still listen at www.WRKO.com (click ‘Listen Live’ in the upper RH corner).
Bullish on the Valley View
My fellow Enterprise Irregular Sameer Patel took me to task a bit earlier today for my prior post of the still-weak employment situation.
@cselland stop being a party pooper already. This is twitter, the capsule where we confine our selves to a bubbly valley view. :)
— Sameer Patel (@SameerPatel)
While I presume that Sameer’s tongue was at least somewhat in cheek, he raises a very important point and a distinction I need to make.
First of all, if there’s a ‘party’ it’s not very visible right now, at least not from where I sit. Yes employment is moving in the generally right direction, but at a glacial pace. Every day I meet and speak with talented friends and acquaintances who are out of work and, while doing their best to put on a good face, obviously increasingly discouraged and frustrated.
Meanwhile, the powers-that-be in Washington continue to devastate the value of our currency and sap our long-term (and future generations’) wealth in a desperate attempt to hold on to power in November.
Yet, despite all of this and as I responded to Sameer, I am fundamentally an optimist - longer-term. Because, putting aside the incompetence and bad faith of our elected officials, I believe that Vivek Wadhwa (and probably Sameer) are absolutely right - we are entering the most innovative decade in history.
Why am I so optimistic? Because of the wide assortment of technologies that are advancing at exponential rates and converging. They are enabling small teams to do what was once only possible for governments and large corporations. These exponential technologies will help us solve many of humanity’s grand challenges, including energy, education, water, food, and health.
This innovation - the ‘Valley View’ that Sameer talks of - is what will drive our economy forward. I firmly believe that these innovations will overcome and, eventually, obsolete the malpractice taking place in Washington and other traditional seats of power - and will create opportunity and economic growth beyond what we can imagine today.
So I am bullish - and optimistic - on the ‘Valley View’ - even while I remain extremely bearish on the ‘DC View’. For the sake of my kids and our future generations, I hope I’m right - and am going to continue to do everything in my power to bring that future closer.
P.S. Yes that does include working for change in Washington. However, since neither party has proven its ability or willingness to act responsibly when in power, at this point I’m of a mind that the best thing that can happen is for us to wind up with a divided government. With luck, DC will tie itself in knots and do as little harm as possible while the innovation economy takes over and drives the growth that we so desperately need.
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