Integrated Man

Capitalist Papers 6 - The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing

"The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing", so spake Oscar Wilde. 

Today, it seems, even the cynics appear challenged to put a price on, for example,....real estate, securities of financial institutions, depleting energy resources, food stocks, pro athletes and nursing home attendants, medical care and music, news and reality t.v.  If price is the mechanism of rational allocation of resources in a competitive market economy, the collapse of various pricing mechanisms is yet another indicator of the cancer afflicting Capitalism.

Pull the Plug; Walk Away

Concerted Procrastination is an accepted and well worn decision-making practice among senior executives in all venues -- government, business, NPOs.  The theory is that, if you can wait long enough, difficult problems will resolve themselves when all options have been reduced to the worst one by default.  Then the 'decision' is inevitable, and often unarguable.

I,too, though not a senior executive by any means, have practiced it on occasion, most recently in relation to forming my personal opinion on the efficacy of the Government assisting the US auto industry to a soft landing.

Capitalist Papers 5 - Information Please -- Reconsidering the 'Efficient Market' Hypothesis

One of the myths of capitalism is the "Efficient Market" Hypothesis.  It confers upon The Market an all-knowing wisdom of the herd that divines at any point in time the best valuation of a security based on two fallacious assumptions:

-    that a broadly based market assumes a broadly based correct assessment of value, based on...

-    ...reliable information that is broadly available to all at the same time.

Capitalist Papers 4 - Eulogy for the Consumer - TEOTWAWKI

W got it half right in his photo op with the finance chiefs of the G7 on 10/11 when he said: "That which affects Wall Street affects Main Street as well."

The other side of that coin is: "That which affects Main Street affects Wall Street as well."  The Capitalist Catechism recognizes this in theory ("The customer comes first") but Capitalism's most ardent acolytes appear to have lost sight of this verity, ensconced in their gated communities or C-suites elevated above the street-level din.

The truth of these two statements can be found in the events leading up to the current crash in the price of oil.  Let's review:

Shock and Awe, The Sequel

Shock and Awe, Baby.  Shock and Awe.

It looks and feels a lot different when you're near the blast zone: your home, your job, your family.

I've been anticipating this moment since 1995, and yet now that it's here, I'm somewhat surprised by its timing and ferocity.  It's not like we couldn't see it coming.  We've been warned for years.

I cite 1995 as a point in time when we were staggering out of the financial wreckage of the Reagan years, and surveying the future.  My expectation was not of an immediate and universal implosion, but a long, steady slide into third world status, aided and abetted by serial failures in leadership.

Approximately one year ago, I attended a presentation of the Fiscal Wake-up Tour, conducted by David Walker, then Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and a complement of economic policy wonks from institutions as diverse as The Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institution.  They came to the University of Hartford to present a consensus view of our economic future if current policies and leadership did not change.  They painted a bleak picture, but one that was still some time in the future, though its seeds were already firmly planted and germinating. 

Capitalist Papers 3 - The Cost / Benefit of Trust

"Trust, but Verify."  Only the Great Communicator could have perpetrated this philosophical oxymoron with impunity.

If you truly trust, then there is no need to verify.  And if you need to verify, then there is obviously a dearth of trust.

From an accountant's point of view, trust is more than a philosophical issue.  It often comes down to dollars and cents.  That's not a crude take on a philosophical virtue.  It's a direct read on current reality.