In the mountains of the Czech Republic lies a 55 meter observation deck with a gigantic slide. Franek Company Architects built the slide in collaboration with Taros Nova and it stands at 1116 meters above sea level.
Given how important it is, it's surprising we don't hire for it.
How easily do you bounce back from a disappointment? What is your reaction to change? As an investor, or a board member or an employee, are you seeking stability or impact?
Resilience is a skill, one that's probably more valuable than most.
Obama deviated from his prepared transcript greatly. Here is a video for interested parties.
Belief in Change
In his address, Obama said "I believe in change because I believe in you".
That's ironic because his first campaign slogan was "Change you can believe in". People believed in change but what change did Obama deliver?
Despite promises, we are still in Afghanistan. Despite promises, we did not close Guantanamo Bay. The Mideast is a bigger mess than ever.
US unemployment is indeed half of what it was when Obama took office. But who gets the credit for that?
The answer is retiring baby boomers dropping out of the labor force by mad. Any US president would have achieved the same result by doing nothing. Obama gets to brag because he is lucky enough to be in office at the time.
Doing Things
Obama did do things. Obamacare was a disaster. But he bragged about it.
Obama's treaty with Iran is his single most positive accomplishment in eight years, but that's in dispute by many on the left and right.
Affordable Education
From the left, Obama received massive applause for affordable education.
Affordable "anything" would get applause from socialists. Yet, "affordable education" will drive up costs every bit as much as "affordable housing".
Without a doubt, history shows that any time government sets out to make something "affordable", the opposite happens.
Dare I ask: Were Bush's "Ownership Society" and "No Child Left Behind" programs all that different from Obama's proposals?
Pure Political Bullshit
75% of Obama's speech was purely political bullshit. Proving the sorry state of divisive politics, Obama received little applause, even on topics where he was right.
Campaign finance reform was one such topic.
Congress is clearly bought and sold by special interest groups. On the left, unions rule. On the right, bankers rule.
In general, neither party really wants reform. If they did, we would have had reform by now.
Hypocrisy in Action
Had a Republican given the exact same speech (stripping out global warming and other obvious nonsense), Republicans would have applauded every step of the way.
Obama's mention of "No Child Left Behind", a ridiculous program of the Bush administration, was nothing short of brilliant.
Republicans cheered Bush's program at that time. Curiously, there was dead silence from the Republican side of the aisle when Obama praised it.
Had a Republican bragged about taking out Osama Bin Laden, Republicans would have cheered like mad and Democrats would have been silent. We saw the opposite.
Brilliance Explained
Obama's SOTU speech was pure brilliance. With just a few minor tweaks, either party could have given the same speech, with accolades from their party.
Are things heating up in the Mideast? Is the Obama-sponsored nuclear deal about to unravel?
Those appear to be reasonable question following the news report Iran Seizes Two U.S. Navy Boats hours before president Obama's State of the Union (SOTU) address.
What the Hell is Iran Doing?
Upon reading the headline, my first thought was "What the hell is Iran doing?"
Then I read the story.
It appears the US made a mistake, not Iran. US officials say the navy lost contact with the boats and they may have veered into Iranian territorial waters near Iran's Farsi Island.
The White House moved to head off perceptions of the incident as an act of Iranian belligerence. "We do not see this as hostile intent, and every indication is they're being well treated and will be released," a senior administration official said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said U.S. officials were in touch with the Iranians and received assurances the sailors are "being afforded the proper courtesy that you'd expect." The boats were on a trip from Kuwait to Bahrain.
Bad Timing or Good Timing? For Whom?
Republicans will be screaming hellfire, but look at what we are talking about. These are the boats in question.
The boats detained by Iran were described as 'Riverine' crafts approximately 20 to 25 feet long. Above, two 'riverine' boats in June. Photo: U.S. Navy
Prompt Release
The Wall Street Journal reports "U.S. has received assurances that crew members will be released promptly".
If so, bear in mind that a prompt release would likely not been the case before the nuclear deal with Iran.
There is no story here except for Republican warmongers itching to unravel Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
I maintain Obama's deal with Iran is the single best thing he has done in eight years. Hmm. Has he done anything else right?
It's not the jobs report or the latest housing data but railway cargo that has analysts at Bank of America concerned.
Railroad cargo in the U.S. dropped the most in six years in 2015, and things aren't looking good for the new year.
"We believe rail data may be signaling a warning for the broader economy," the recent note from Bank of America says. "Carloads have declined more than 5 percent in each of the past 11 weeks on a year-over-year basis. While one-off volume declines occur occasionally, they are generally followed by a recovery shortly thereafter. The current period of substantial and sustained weakness, including last week's -10.1 percent decline, has not occurred since 2009."
BofA analysts led by Ken Hoexter look at the past 30 years to see what this type of steep decline usually means for the U.S. economy. What they found wasn't particularly encouraging: All such drops in rail carloads preceded, or were accompanied by, an economic slowdown (Note: They excluded 1996 due to an extremely harsh winter).
"Similar periods of weakness have occurred in only five other instances since 1985: (1) the majority of 1988, (2) the first half of 1991, (3) several weeks in early 1996, (4) late 2000 and early 2001, and (5) late 2008 and the majority of 2009 … all either overlapped with a recession, or preceded a recession by a few quarters."
The idea that China would decouple from the global markets in 2007 was ridiculous. Reverse decoupling, the notion the US will decouple from the global economy is equally ridiculous.
Finally, the new found theory that "manufacturing no longer matters" and the US service economy will carry the day alone is the most ridiculous decoupling thesis yet.
An ISIS suicide bomber struck at the heart of an Istanbul Turkey tourist district moments ago, killing at least ten people, among them nine German citizens.
A powerful explosion hit the heart of Istanbul's central tourist district on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 15 others. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a Syria-linked suicide bomber is believed to be behind the blast.
The bomber, identified by Turkish authorities as a Syrian man in his late 20s, walked up to a tour group preparing to explore the Blue Mosque and other world-renowned buildings nearby and blew himself up shortly after 10 a.m. Nine of those killed were German, and 15 people were wounded, Turkish officials said.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bomber belonged to Islamic State and urged Ankara's allies to step up the fight against the Sunni Muslim extremist group based in Syria that has tried to project its global power by carrying out terrorist attacks around the world.
"This attack is a repercussion on Turkey of the civil war that has been going on in Syria for five years, and its related proxy wars," said Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey's deputy prime minister.
Merkel's Seriously Misguided Refugee Policy
After chancellor Angela Merkel foolishly welcomed refugees with open arms, public opinion forced her to change tactics. She did, but in superficial, counterproductive ways.
For example, Merkel bribed Turkey with a $3 billion payment so that Turkey will pen in refugees. How's that working?
Today we have proof of the absurdity of that offer. But let's dig deeper with more statistics.
As part of the deal for penning migrants, Merkel agreed to speed up Turkish admission into the EU. Those 75 million Turks would then have Visa-free access to the rest of Europe.
Not only is Turkey guilty of human rights violations, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has Turkey on a Path for Dictatorship.
Dealing with Erdoğan is madness.
Merkel Should Resign
400,000 Syrians are in Germany right now, seeking asylum. How many of them are ISIS terrorists? Is one too many?
Yet, even after the sex attacks in Cologne, she has done nothing to fix the problem. Heck, she will not even admit what the problem is.
Instead, Merkel sought deals with a would-be dictator.
As I have stated previously, for the good of Germany, Merkel should resign.
Taxpayers in parts of Switzerland this year face an unusual request from fiscal authorities: please delay settling your bill until as late as possible.
Zug, the small but affluent canton outside Zürich, has announced it is ending discounts for early payment of tax bills. The reason? The longer it has cash on its books, the more likely it will incur costs as a result of negative interest rates charged by Swiss banks. The canton calculates that the move will save SFr2.5m ($2.5m) a year.
Its extraordinary appeal — which could be followed by other cantons — is the latest unintended consequence of extraordinary steps taken by the Swiss central bank to weaken the strong franc, which is hitting export industries in the affluent Alpine economy.
"Considering the long lasting phase of low interest rates in Switzerland and the negative interest rates which have to be paid, the canton has no incentive to motivate taxpayers to make early payments," Zug authorities said in a statement. "On the contrary, the canton has an interest in receiving money as late as possible — so it pays less negative interest."
Unintended Consequences
I will gladly receive on Tuesday what you may wish to pay today.
Is a fine for bill prepayment the next logical step?
Think about that for a second.
Rather than getting individuals and corporations to spend (the desired central bank action), negative interest rates (not yet tried at the consumer level) just might get everyone to pay their bills early.
Going one step further, if lending rates are low enough, people could borrow money at negative rates and park it under their mattress or in safe deposit boxes and make money by borrowing.
Please take the money! Just promise to pay me back whenever.
More realistically, negative interest rates on consumer deposits will cause a run on the banks.
What are the five best decisions your competitor or your predecessor made last year?
Not only because they worked, but because they showed you a new way of thinking, something that went against your instincts or biases...
Every political candidate ought to be able to outline the five lessons learned from the men and women who came before--especially the positive things they've learned from those in other parties. Those unwilling or unable to do so are either demagogues or ignorant.
Every job candidate ought to be able to outline the five lessons learned from the leaders they've worked with previously. Those unwilling or unable to do so are not paying attention.
The number one thing to steal from your competitors: Wisdom.
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