luni, 11 octombrie 2010

Seth's Blog : Do you need a permit?

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Do you need a permit?

Where, precisely, do you go in order to get permission to make a dent in the universe?

The accepted state is to be a cog. The preferred career is to follow the well-worn path, to read the instructions, to do what we're told. It's safer that way. Less responsibility. More people to blame.

When someone comes along and says, "not me, I'm going down a different path," we flinch. We're not organized to encourage and celebrate the unproven striver. It's safer to tear them down (with their best interests at heart, of course). Better, we think, to let them down easy, to encourage them to take a safer path, to be realistic, to hear it from us rather than the marketplace.

Perhaps, years ago, this was good advice. Today, it's clearly not. In fact, it's disrespectful, ill-advised and short sighted. How dare we cheer when a bold changemaker stumbles? Our obligation today isn't to spare the feelings of our peers from future disappointment. It's to establish an expectation that of course they're going to do something that matters.

If you think there's a chance you can make a dent, GO.

Now.

Hurry.

You have my permission. Not that you needed it.

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duminică, 10 octombrie 2010

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


PBoC Researcher says China Should "Set Red Line for Yuan Appreciation at 3%"; IMF Participants Pledge to "Create Reports"

Posted: 10 Oct 2010 09:48 PM PDT

In spite of ongoing currency wars, there are no surprises to report from G-20 participants at the IMF's annual meeting. Indeed, I cannot recall ever being surprised by major agreements at any IMF or G-Whatever meeting.

Year in and year out the achievement is the same, a pledge to cooperate more. This year we see a slight twist: the G-20 agrees to have the IMF to create reports on the U.S., China, the U.K. and the Eurozone.

Translation: The talks failed.

Bloomberg reports Finance Chiefs Fail to Resolve Currency Spat as G-20 Splits
Leaders of the world economy failed to narrow differences over currencies as they turned to the International Monetary Fund to calm frictions that are already sparking protectionism.

Exchange rates dominated the IMF's annual meeting in Washington on concern that officials are relying on cheaper currencies to aid growth, risking retaliatory devaluations and trade barriers. China was accused of undervaluing the yuan, while low interest rates in the U.S. and other rich nations were blamed for flooding emerging markets with capital.

Finance ministers and central bankers pledged to improve cooperation, yet did little to show how they would alter their ways beyond agreeing to let the IMF to study the matter.

Days after Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega set the tone for the gathering by declaring a "currency war" was underway, officials held their traditional battle lines. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet were among those to signal irritation that China is restraining the yuan to aid exports even as its economy outpaces those of other G-20 members.

"Global rebalancing is not progressing as well as needed to avoid threats to the global economic recovery," Geithner said. "Our initial achievements are at risk of being undermined by the limited extent of progress toward more domestic demand- led growth in countries running external surpluses and by the extent of foreign-exchange intervention as countries with undervalued currencies lean against appreciation."

Some forms of protectionism may already be on the rise. Ukraine's Deputy Premier Serhiy Tigipko said in an interview in Washington that his country may follow South Korea, Poland, Brazil and other emerging markets in introducing capital controls to prevent short-term investments from fueling currency volatility. India may also intervene to "prevent the disruption of the macroeconomic situation," Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao told reporters.

Unable to find common ground themselves, governments agreed the IMF should serve as currency cop by preparing reports which show how the policies of one economy affect others. The studies will focus on the U.S., China, the U.K. and the euro area.

"The need to have this kind of spillover report has been discussed for months and now it's part of our toolbox," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
Preparing Reports Useless

Brazil set the tone for the meeting with complaints about currency wars, but Brazil can scream its wants but no one can force China (or any other country), to do anything.

Since the IMF cannot set or enforce policy decisions, it was known in advance the whole conference was a waste of time and money.

The main "achievement" is the G-20 countries all agreed to have the IMF prepare reports. Sheesh. What a waste of money. What good is yapping and preparing reports when no one will act on those reports?

Capital Controls, Constant Bickering are Signs of Increasing Stress

The fact that Ukraine will follow South Korea, Poland, and Brazil in setting capital controls (with Japan, the US, Europe, and China all at each other's throats) is a clear indication of global currency stress.

Something is sure to blow sky high, but what and when is still not clear.

China to Cap the Yuan's Rise at 3 Percent

All the pressure being applied to China is likely to be futile given that a Chinese Central bank researcher says China must cap yuan rise this year
China need not worry about whether U.S. lawmakers label the country as a currency manipulator and should instead halt the yuan's rise at an appropriate time, said Wang Yong, a professor at the central bank's training school in Zhengzhou, Henan province, according to the Securities Times.

"This is the red line for yuan appreciation," he said, referring to a 3 percent rise.

"Once the line is crossed, it means the yuan's exchange rate will be derailed from the normal track and the government should intervene in the market in a timely manner," Wang added.
Adding Fat to the Fire

The yuan has risen 2.3% this year, certainly not the 20-40% that Congress and Geithner wants. Thus, limits of 3% are likely to infuriate Congress.

Bear in mind that announcements of a possible 3% cap could be China's way of setting expectations deliberately low, with a planned reversal coming at an opportune time later.

However, moves of 20% or even 8% are highly unlikely to be in the cards.

For more on economic tensions and currency wars please see



It will be interesting to see how Congress responds to news of a possible 3% cap on Yuan appreciation. With an election coming up, followed by a lame-duck session, China may have correctly calculated Congress will not do anything, at least for at least 3-4 months.

Regardless, tensions beneath the surface continue to mount. All it may take to see some very unwise legislation is a few more bad job reports and unemployment rising.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Cost of War Since 2001; Federal outlays and revenues, 1940-2015

Posted: 10 Oct 2010 10:46 AM PDT

The National Priorities Project has some interesting charts and graphics on the US budget.
Federal outlays and revenues, 1940-2015

The following chart shows federal outlays and revenues from 1940 to the proposed levels in 2015. The difference between the two equals the federal deficit or surplus.



Aside from specific policy initiatives, spending grows over time in order to accomodate a larger economy and population. Though many federal programs were cut during the 1990s, the outlays continued to increase as more people retired and Social Security payments grew. Recent growth in spending is due in large part due to increases in military spending.

Federal outlays and revenues, 1930-2015 as a percentage of the GDP


The following chart shows federal outlays and revenues from 1930 to the proposed levels in 2015 as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).



Viewing federal spending and revenues as a percentage of GDP indicates how large or small government is in relation to the economy.



Bring the Troops Home Now!

Those costs do not include the future medical costs of injured soldiers, the countless wrecked lives of US soldiers and the lives of millions of innocent civilians killed in the needless war in Iraq.

Bear in mind, I do not support the social agenda of the National Priorities Project. However, I would rather see any spending in the US than the needless destruction of lives and property around the globe.

The US cannot afford to be the world's policemen, and even if we could, I still would not support such needless destruction.

It's time to declare the war won and bring back all the troops.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Sunday Funnies 2010-10-10 Sacrifices Must Be Made

Posted: 10 Oct 2010 10:41 AM PDT

Government Workers Prepare To Make Much Needed Sacrifices.



Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


FDIC Authorizes $1 Billion Lawsuits Against Failed-Bank Executives; Token Search for Low-Profile Scapegoats

Posted: 10 Oct 2010 07:53 AM PDT

The FDIC has only brought one case to date against executives of failed banks. Supposedly more charges are coming.

Bloomberg reports FDIC May Seek $1 Billion From Failed-Bank Executives
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has authorized lawsuits against more than 50 officers and directors of failed banks as the agency aims to recoup more than $1 billion in losses stemming from the credit crisis.

The lawsuits were authorized during closed sessions of the FDIC board and haven't been made public. The agency, which has shuttered 294 lenders since the start of 2008, has held off court action while conducting settlement talks with executives whose actions may have led to bank collapses, Richard Osterman, the FDIC's acting general counsel, said in an interview.

"We're ready to go," Osterman said. "We could walk into court tomorrow and file the lawsuits."

The FDIC, which reviews losses for every bank failure, has brought only one case against officers or directors tied to recent collapses -- a suit filed in July seeking $300 million in damages from four executives of IndyMac Bancorp Inc.

The FDIC "brings suits only where they are believed to be sound on the merits and likely to be cost-effective," according to an agency policy statement that dates from the savings-and- loan crisis of the 1980s. That requires considerations of whether an individual, if sued, has the means to pay or an insurance policy to cover all or part of the claim.

"It doesn't make sense to file a lawsuit if at the end of the day you have a low chance of recovery," Osterman said.

"It's in both our interest and theirs to try and settle this matter before it gets into the court and we get into expensive litigation," he said.
Political Stunt to Placate the Public

I see this as little more than a political stunt to placate the public. These cases are unlikely to go to trial, on purpose, and not for the reason the FDIC says.

The FDIC does not want to rattle the banking system, so they won't. Instead they will settle most if not all of these cases for peanuts.

To make it look legit, the FDIC might pursue a couple of scapegoat cases, IndyMac being one of them, but don't expect anything more.

Criminal Fraud

"In the IndyMac case, executives are accused of granting loans that were unlikely to be repaid while seeking to benefit from the bank's compensation structure."

Excuse me but why isn't this criminal fraud?
Why isn't the SEC involved?

I believe all the executives from Dick Fuld on down are guilty of fraud. Indeed, there is a huge list of those who should be prosecuted for fraud.

Running List of Needed Criminal Investigations

It's time to update my rolling list of who should be criminally indicted and why.

April 29, 2010: Barofsky Threatens Criminal Charges in AIG Coverup, Goldman Sachs Abacus Deal, TARP Insider Trading; New York Fed Implicated

April 16, 2010: Rant of the Day: No Ethics, No Fiduciary Responsibility, No Separation of Duty; Complete Ethics Overhaul Needed

March 2, 2010: Geithner's Illegal Money-Laundering Scheme Exposed; Harry Markopolos Says "Don't Trust Your Government"

January 31, 2010: 77 Fraud, Money Laundering, Insider Trading, and Tax Evasion Investigations Underway Regarding TARP

January 28, 2010: Secret Deals Involving No One; AIG Coverup Conspiracy Unravels

January 26, 2010: Questions Geithner Cannot Escape

January 07, 2010: Time To Indict Geithner For Securities Fraud

October 20, 2009: Bernanke Guilty of Coercion and Market Manipulation

July 17, 2009: Paulson Admits Coercion; Where are the Indictments?

June 26, 2009: Bernanke Suffers From Selective Memory Loss; Paulson Calls Bank of America "Turd in the Punchbowl"

April 24, 2009: Let the Criminal Indictments Begin: Paulson, Bernanke, Lewis

We can safely add IndyMac and countless other bank executives to the list.

Token Search for Low-Profile Scapegoats Continues

To date, in spite of the myriad of possible targets, and even some threats from Barofsky and others, we have seen no real action. So why should we expect this to be any different?

At best, all we are likely to see is a token search for a couple of relatively low-profile scapegoats, and those will be settled out of court for peanuts, with bank executives laughing all the way.

Addendum:

In response to the post, Janet Tavakoli pinged me with a one line comment: "Angelo, Angelo, Angelo...Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd....Jamie, Jamie, Jamie"

Without a Doubt

In case you do not recognize the above by first name, here they are...

Angelo Mozilo - Former CEO Countrywide Financial
Lloyd Blankfein - CEO of Goldman Sachs
Jamie Dimon - CEO of JPMorgan Chase

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Seth's Blog : When the long tail is underwater

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

When the long tail is underwater

There are millions of songs on iTunes that have sold zero copies. Millions of blog posts that get zero visitors each day.

The long tail is real... given the ability, people create more variety. Given the choice, people seek out what's just right for them to consume. But, and there's a big but, there's no guarantee that the ends of the long tail start producing revenue or traffic. And a million times zero is still zero.

Sometimes, the best strategy isn't to to head farther and farther out on the tail. No, you don't have to make average stuff for average people. But it also doesn't pay to brainwash yourself into believing that super-extreme is the same as profitable.

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sâmbătă, 9 octombrie 2010

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Investors Plow Into Junk Bonds; Junk Bond Sales at Record Highs

Posted: 09 Oct 2010 07:02 PM PDT

With 10-year treasuries yielding a mere 2.39%, and with 5-year treasuries at an all time low yield of 1.1%, investors have plowed into the riskiest of junk bonds with reckless abandon.

Please consider Bond Distress at 5-Month Low as Junk Rallies
The percentage of corporate bonds considered in distress fell to a five-month low as record sales of high-yield debt and declining borrowing costs convince investors the riskiest companies can pay their lenders.

The number of speculative-grade companies worldwide with yields at least 10 percentage points more than government bonds declined to 290, or 12 percent of the total, the lowest share since April and down from 15.9 percent at the end of August, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data.

Junk-rated borrowers globally sold a record $98.9 billion of bonds last quarter as investors sought higher relative yields, helping the weakest companies shore up their balance sheets. Defaults by high-yield issuers fell to 4 percent last month from 6.2 percent in June, Moody's Investors Service said yesterday.

At least $13.2 billion of junk bonds have been sold this month, bringing the global total to an all-time high of $263.5 billion, 26 percent higher than the full-year record set in 2009, Bloomberg data show. Junk bond sales in the U.S. have reached $208.9 billion this year, the data show.

"This is obviously a case of too much money chasing too few good bonds," said Don Ross, who helps oversee $9.5 billion of assets as global strategist for Titanium Asset Management Corp. in Cleveland. "It's just money changing hands and corporations being the net gainer by being able to issue cheaper and have better balance sheets. In the long run that will help the economy, but holy mackerel, at what cost?"

High-yield spreads in the U.S., which fell yesterday to 613 basis points, are "within shouting distance" of the historical average of 598 basis points, a milestone that doesn't indicate the market has "run too far too fast," Martin Fridson, global credit strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said Oct. 6 in an e-mail.

"Investors are being well compensated for risk and talk of a bubble in high-yield bonds is misguided," Fridson said.
Average Times These Are Not

Saying junk bonds are not in a bubble compared to average times only makes sense if these are average times. They are not.

The one thing Bernanke has managed to do is stimulate risk taking. However, that risk taking in equities and junk bonds will not do a thing for the real economy nor will it create any new jobs.

The proper conclusion is that risk is high and rising. With junk bonds at par, gold soaring to all time highs, and equities priced far beyond perfection, more speculation is the last thing the economy needs.

Yet increased speculation and risk taking is the only think Bernanke has managed to stimulate.

This can't end well, which by definition means it won't, but the Monetarist clowns at the Fed don't see it that way. In the meantime, all that remains to be seen is how big various bubbles get before they pop.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Economic Nonsense from Ezra Klein at the Washington Post

Posted: 09 Oct 2010 06:51 AM PDT

The only genuinely good news in Friday's jobs report was the much needed shedding of 159,000 government workers of which only 77,000 were temporary census workers.

Shed another million government workers and you have a small start as to what needs to happen. Some don't see it that way, including Erza Klein at the Washington Post.

Assuming you are able to stomach still more Keynesian claptrap please consider Welcome to the anti-stimulus
The good news: The private sector gained 64,000 jobs in September. The bad news? The public sector lost 159,000.

The government is now impeding an economic recovery. But it's not for the reasons you often hear. It's not because of debt or because of taxes. Nor has it scared the private sector into timidity. It's because, at the state and local level, it's firing people. There are more than 14 million Americans looking for work right now -- to say nothing of the 9.5 million who have been forced into part-time jobs when they want, and need, full-time work -- and the government just added 159,000 more to the pool. Consider this: If we only counted private-sector jobs, we'd have had positive jobs reports for the last nine months. As it is, public-sector losses have wiped out private-sector gains for the past four months.

Because the federal government has decided against backing up state and local governments, the bleeding continues, and that scares businesses away from investing in recovery. We create the stimulus that helped the economy survive 2008 and 2009, and we've created the anti-stimulus that's keeping it from recovering in 2010.
Keynesian Claptrap At Its Finest

Gee, if only the government would hire everyone, there would be no unemployment.

Then again, countless cities, counties, municipalities and states are bankrupt because of absurd levels of spending.

Isn't that what wrecked Greece?

Non-Solution #1- Raising taxes

Raising taxes burdens ordinary taxpayers for the sole benefit of government bureaucrats who like most of the rest of the population ought to be thankful they have a job at all.

Non-Solution #2 - Printing money and giving it away

Ezra is clearly a fan of printing money and giving it away to government bureaucrats so the unemployment rate does not drop.

However, printing money and giving it away cheapens the US dollar, making goods and services more expensive, especially commodity prices. Rising commodity prices in the face of weak demand for nonessential goods is hardly an inducement for small businesses to go on a hiring spree.

Moreover, salary and benefit levels of government employees compared to the private sector are massive, unjustified, and extremely damaging economically speaking.

No Better Time than the Present to Kill Government Jobs and Benefits

Giving states free money just to keep public workers employed delays a much needed realignment of government wages and benefits with that of the private sector. Some might argue this is not the time for it. However, such thinking is foolish.

States are in this mess because of unsustainable spending, and pension promises. Pensions alone are a $3 trillion problem. Please see Interactive Map of Public Pension Plans; How Badly Underfunded are the Plans in Your State? for details.

It is axiomatic that the cure and the disease cannot possibly be the same, so throwing money at the problem cannot possibly be the solution.

There is no better time than the present to get rid of government workers and lower pension benefits. Kicking the can down the road solves nothing.

Greece and Spain put off tackling the issue of public sector wages and benefits, and look what happened to them. Ultimately the bond market imposed its own (badly needed) solution. We can either take care of this mess now, or suffer a similar fate later.

Deficit Spending Unsustainable

Deficit spending is unsustainable. Unfortunately it is rising because Keynesian clowns who have learned nothing about the lessons of Japan or Greece, insist it is not a problem. Yes, Japan has not blown up yet, but it will. We just do not know when.

Japan has squandered all of its surplus building bridges to nowhere and other nonsensical things. It now has a debt to GDP of 200%, highest in the G-20.

All it takes for this to be a major, major problem is for interest rates in Japan to rise a few percent. When that happens, (and it will), it will take all of Japan's tax revenue, just to pay interest on the national debt.

I believe 7th graders can easily understand the problem of deficit spending even if Nobel Prize willing economists and other clowns can't.

Scrap Davis-Bacon, It's a Real Porker

Without a doubt states need to get a grip on finances. The correct solution is to reduce pay and benefit levels of government workers, privatize anything and everything that can be privatized, and scrap the Davis-Bacon Act along with all prevailing wage laws.

Davis-Bacon ensures that taxpayers pay the most for the least amount of work. The goal should be to get projects completed at the least cost to taxpayers.

For more on prevailing wage laws and the enormous inefficiencies they create, please see Thoughts on the Davis Bacon Act

Tunnel of Idiocy

Krugman calls the possible cancellation of a second tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York by governor Chris Christie a Tunnel of Idiocy.

The merits of the project can be debated all day, but what is not debatable is large cost overruns on every such project on top of huge initial cost estimates in the first place.

The reason for these high cost estimates and the inevitable overruns has everything to do with union salaries and prevailing wages.

Want that tunnel? It's simple. Scrap Davis-Bacon. There would be a line 20 miles long for those construction jobs if you did, and the job would come in on-time and under-budget.

Firing Public Union Workers Creates Jobs

This might sound strange until you think it through, but Firing Public Union Workers Creates Jobs.
Public unions in New Haven, Connecticut have not yet gotten the message that business-as-usual no longer flies. I am quite happy with that because the city responded by dumping public workers and privatizing services, and that is exactly what needs to happen.

Rebuttal to Union Complaints

Public union custodians argue that privatization would lead to lower wages, lost jobs, and wasted taxpayer money on costly management contracts.

Lower Wages: Let's hope so. The union workers are overpaid even if they cleaned the schools like they are supposed to do.

Wasted Taxpayer Money: No, that is a blatant self-serving union lie given the district saves at least two-thirds of the cost of using union-only labor, "and the work gets done."

Lost Jobs: Not a chance. There will actually be more jobs as a result of getting rid of the unions.

How so? For starters, there will be an equivalent number of private jobs to replace the union jobs. Moreover, given the district saves 67% on cleaning costs, some of the saved money will be used on other school district needs, creating more jobs. Finally, some of the savings can be used to cut back on tax increases putting more money in the pockets of taxpayers who will spend it. That too creates jobs.

Every fired public union worker creates more jobs elsewhere, faster than most can imagine possible, quite possibly immediately.

Thus, a good way to deal with rising unemployment is to fire public union workers.
The one point I want to emphasize is getting work done for lower prices puts more money in the pockets of taxpayers who will make far better use of it than politicians who use taxpayer money to buy union votes. It also makes projects more affordable so more of them can be done for the same amount of money.

If pay scales are cut to match the private sector, the jobs can actually stay (or be privatized), AND taxes lowered at the same time.

Thus getting rid of government jobs is a win-win for everyone but the overpaid, ungrateful public union workers who always want tax increases to support their undeserved pay and benefit scales.

Who's Responsible for the Loss of Government Jobs?

The ultimate irony in Erza's post is that public unions are responsible for all the government job losses he is whining about.

In every state worker cutback instance that I have read about (dozens if not hundreds), public unions have resisted modest cuts in pay and benefits and instead have voted to cut jobs.

Thus, public unions themselves are responsible for that modest loss in jobs.

Intuitively Obvious Printing Money Is the Wrong Solution

Even without the rock-solid case presented above, it should be intuitively obvious that printing money to retain overpaid government workers at the expense of everyone else is blatantly foolish.

However, for some inexplicable reason, it's obviously not obvious or we would not see such absurd recommendations from writers at the Washington Post and numerous other places, notably Paul Krugman at the New York Times.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Daily Snapshot: Weekly Wrap Up

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Saturday, October 9, 2010
 

Your Weekly Address: Strenthening Education, Not Cutting It

The President explains that even as we focus on creating jobs immediately, we must also ensure the economy is better for our children by investing in education – not cutting it by 20% as Congressional Republicans propose. Watch the video.

 
Weekly Address

Weekly Wrap Up

A quick look at the week of October 4, 2010.

America's Best Kept Secret

At the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, Dr. Jill Biden and President Obama emphasize the importance of providing all students access to a quality higher education. Not to be missed: A video featuring community college grads, including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and, yes, even Billy Crystal. http://wh.gov/3D4

West Wing Week

"A Farewell to Rahm" Video: http://wh.gov/3Dx

Notable Number

64,000. More on the employment situation in September: http://wh.gov/3bc

Approved

One week after President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act, nearly 2,000 small business owners who had been waiting for loans are approved and will soon have loan funds – totaling nearly $1 billion – in hand. http://wh.gov/3YQ

The White House Goes Solar

As we move toward a clean energy economy, the White House is leading by example. Energy Secretary Chu announces, “by the end of this spring, there will be solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House.” http://huff.to/c7sZtb

Epic Tweet

NASA: Hubble Space Telescope vs asteriod. Cosmic battle? http://go.usa.gov/ag0

Video

Elizabeth Warren, who’s standing up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, talks transparency on PBS news hour, “This is about making sure that families have the power to make good decisions, that they can see the contracts, they can see what the stuff costs, and they can get a competitive market to start working for them.” http://to.pbs.org/aAgCYP

Take it from Abe

Administrator Craig Fugate with Nationals racing president Abe share simple steps to save lives during Fire Prevention Week. http://bit.ly/cBVbpp

Not Signing It

 President Obama will not sign H.R. 3808, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer explains: http://wh.gov/3T1

Favorite Photo

A curtsey in the Oval. 

A Little Lady Meets the First Lady
Lynne Silosky, a niece of Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller, curtsies with First Lady Michelle Obama during a meeting with Miller’s family in the Oval Office, Oct. 6, 2010. Later, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama awarded Staff Sergeant Miller the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in Afghanistan. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Seth's Blog : Beware the Nile perch

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Beware the Nile perch

It's a huge freshwater fish, easy to catch and eat, and tempting to introduce into non-native waters.

And when it shows up? It will eat everything it can and probably drive competitive smaller fish extinct. Good intentions are rewarded with plenty of Nile perch (for now) but a degraded ecosystem in the long run.

There are bright shiny objects you can bring into your life (that project, that employee, that new office) that might just push the other useful items aside. You get hooked on them or they demand more attention or they make too much noise and the less-shiny projects or people whither away.

An art museum brings in a traveling show from a famous artist. It's important, expensive, time-consuming and brings big crowds. For the next six months, all eyes are on the big show. And then, of course, a vacuum, because the important but less glamorous work didn't get done.

A lawsuit or a merger or a shift to a new office space might seem like a good idea at the time--but be careful what you wish for.

The Nile perch is nefarious yet applauded (in the short run). Don't be afraid to call it when you see it.

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