I updated my Financial Crisis Reading List today with two must read books: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress and a Plan to Stop It by Lawrence Lessig. (http://amzn.to/IbaKyL) Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweitzer. (http://amzn.to/HLOVu8) A week or so ago, I had lunch with someone who has read almost everything on my reading list. MyContinue reading “Political Meetup in Provo”
Category Archives: Government and Technology
Who Is Looking At Your profile On LinkedIn?
Who is looking at your profile on LinkedIn? If you are in the job market, or are an entrepreneur building a new company, or if you create value through business development partnerships, there is a feature on LinkedIn that you should probably know about. It’s pretty powerful and could lead you to explore opportunitiesContinue reading “Who Is Looking At Your profile On LinkedIn?”
Tim Draper Keynote at OnDC ’09–“Land of the Free, Home of the Brave”
How free are we? The government spends 40% of what we make. We spend more for our average prisoner than for an average student. Going through the airports, almost every time I get the probe. Some construction permits take more than 6 years. How brave are we? There are more lawyers per worker than anyContinue reading “Tim Draper Keynote at OnDC ’09–“Land of the Free, Home of the Brave””
Liveblogging OnDC — David Boaz, EVP Cato Institute
Entrepreneurism and free markets work. Johann Norberg from Sweden at Cato institute says entrepreneur is a hero. A hero makes the world better for people. That’s what entrepreneurs need. They need freedom to create and freedom for consumers to choose. There are obstacles to that. Corruption is the biggest obstacle in many countries. Because weContinue reading “Liveblogging OnDC — David Boaz, EVP Cato Institute”
Liveblogging: AlwaysOn: Tapping the Trillions
Moderator: Michael Zolandz, Partner, Sonnenschein Owen Barwell, Deputy CFO, Dept. of Energy; Christine Tezak, Senior Analyst, Energy & Environmental Policy Research, Robert W. Baird & Co; Wes Coulum, Exec. Dir Gov’t Relations, Morgan Stanley. Owen. Out of our $24-25 billion budget, most of our money doesn’t go to what is reported in the press today.Continue reading “Liveblogging: AlwaysOn: Tapping the Trillions”
Liveblogging: OnDC panel, Entrepreneurs March on Washington
Moderator: Bill Schnoor, Goodwin Procter. Panelists: Henrik Fisker, CEO Fisker Automotive; Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme; Wes Bolsen, CMO of Coskata; Andrew Perlman, GreatPoint Energy. Coskata has raised $40 million in funding. Fisker has raised nearly $200 million in equity. Solazyme and GreatPoint Energy have also raised capital. Solazyme does algae fuel. Fisker: some venturesContinue reading “Liveblogging: OnDC panel, Entrepreneurs March on Washington”
Perfect Score on Pew News IQ Quiz — Whew!
via pewresearch.org In addition to my day job, trying to build FamilyLink.com into a technology company that helps families connect online, I’m spending more and more time studying politics, history, and economics. (My college major was originally political science, until I switched to Russian.) I search in the Congressional Record often and watch CSPAN regularly.Continue reading “Perfect Score on Pew News IQ Quiz — Whew!”
Marriner Eccles and Franklin D. Roosevelt
via flickr.com This is getting fun! I now have pictures on my blog! My blog traffic has declined a lot in the past couple of years. I used to have thousands of readers back when I posted articles every week on internet marketing and entrepreneurship. But my consistency wore off and my readership waned. IContinue reading “Marriner Eccles and Franklin D. Roosevelt”
Solve Nation’s Problems with Citizen 20% Time
Google is the most innovative company in the world, in large part because they hire smart people who get things done, and they give their engineers 20% time to work on any project they want. Google has found a powerful way to unleash creativity to solve incredible technical problems. I wonder what would happen ifContinue reading “Solve Nation’s Problems with Citizen 20% Time”
Becoming Informed
I\’m having a hard time sleeping lately. I keep waking up at 3 am or 4 am feeling compelled to investigate the root causes of the national and global financial crisis we are experiencing. I don\’t have a lot of time, because I\’m also running a startup company, but I have to carve out some time if I want to be part of the solution as we try to fix our government and our country, and get it back on track. I\’ve got to become better informed.
I have several books now on derivatives trading, and I have come to believe they truly are "financial weapons of mass destruction" as Warren Buffett called them in 2003. I think unbridled use of OTC derivatives is the primary cause of the worldwide economic melt-down. The Wikipedia article on derivatives is a good starting point.
