How Much Green for this Deal?
When I was a leftist radical some decades ago in Berkeley, I joined in many late-night to early morning discussions about the woes of the world. The Vietnam War was raging, we were all subject to the draft and none…
Voter Suppression in San Francisco
Some years ago, before I moved back to Africa, the local ballot in San Francisco had a measure to allow non-citizens to vote in school board elections. At the time, I thought it was another prank proposition like naming the…
Sexist Racist Nazis
I’m a little shocked at the election outcome. Not who won so much, but rather the reaction of people who think of themselves as progressives or liberals. These are people I know. I went to school with them. I worked…
The Sources of Inequality
All men are created equal but they do not stay that way for long. As they age the dispersion of incomes increases dramatically. So there are two questions here. Why does this happen and is it a problem? A couple…
Through the Looking Glass
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Now that enough people have made it through the looking glass of www.healthcare.gov, we are beginning to find out more about the…
What Went Wrong? Expectations Matter
Five years ago we found out who was not too big to fail. Lehman Brothers went down on September 15, 2008, with over $600 billion in assets setting off a remarkable chain of events. A few days later John McCain…
How Risky Is Uncle Sam?
The first time I heard the phrase “country risk” associated with the United States of America I was at an international private equity conference in the fall of 2009. I was shocked that European investors were applying analytical techniques to…
The Weight – The Final Chapter? by Jim Anderson
“Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free; Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me.” The Band, Robbie Robertson, 1968 With a string of profitable quarters on the books, it seems…