Part-Time Pundit

Carnival of the Capitalists - 11/7/05

Welcome to this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists. This edition has NOT been brought to you by Insight Broadband who’s crappy cable modem was off and on all night last night. That being said, sorry for being late. Here it is…

Economics

Owen at The Sharpener presents Brand value - for whom? on the efficiency case for taxing brands and corporate advertising.

Big Picture Guy at Big Picture, Small Office presents We Sail in Paper Boats. He take you sailing through the budgeting process in the Small Office, a painful, drawn-out exercise that always begins with everyone trying to play it safe.

Michael Cale of Financial Methods presents I-Bonds Yield Higher Than Treasuries. With a current yield of more than 6.5%, inflation-protected US Savings Bonds (I-Bonds) have a higher yield than Money Markets, CDs, and US Treasuries. The rate is adjustable, so it may not last. But with short term rates returning to normal and a Fed that is diligent on inflation, cash is no longer trash.

2¢ Worth presents Climbing an Elongating Tail. The Long Tail, The Big Moo, Million Dollar Home Page and Viral marketing rolled together. Examining the progress of the Million Dollar Homepage as a Long Tail business with viral marketing pushing it up the Tail. A quote from the Big Moo triggered off this observation piece.

Steven Towns of The Japan Stock Blog presents Further Discussion on Jesper Koll’s “Japan is Back, For Real This Time”.

LC of Latent Capital presents Too Much Entrepreneurship. Imagine that entrepreneurship is just another class of investment, so too much enthusiasm for it can bring down its returns.

Mick Weinstein of The Consumer Electronics Stock Blog presents Dell Warns On 3Q05 - Reactions and Implications (DELL).

David Jackson of The Internet Stock Blog presents Priceline Discusses Its European Travel Business (PLCN 3Q05 Conf Call Quotes).

Mark of SportsBiz presents Olympic Sponsorship: What’s It Worth?. Discussion of the value of the becoming an official Olympic sponsor and whether “halo” marketing really has the desired effect of increasing sales.

Harvey Multani of Fiscal Times presents Despair on the role despair plays in investing.

Barry Welford at The Other Bloke’s Blog presents Before-Internet and After-Internet - the millennium changes

Michael H. of Chocolate and Gold Coins presents Entrepreneurs Needed. Sometimes a market waits a generation for an entrepreneur to create a new product. Pumpkin carving kits weren’t there in my childhood but they could have been.

Ferdinand T. Cat at Conservative Cat presents The Curse of Inventory Profits

Tom McMahon at Tom McMahon presents Baby Bells

David Porter at Pacesetter Mortgage Blog presents Will Home Equity Prevent the Retirement Dreams of Baby Boomers?

Henry Stern, LUTCF at InsureBlog presents On the Case… Steve Case casts his eyes on healthcare solutions.

Abnormal Returns presents Emerging markets hoopla. Emerging market equities have performed well in 2005 and have received a fair amount of good press. One common reason given for this outperformance is their higher economic growth in the emerging markets. However, academic research has shown that higher economic growth does not necessarily lead to higher equity returns.

Mastiff at Critical Mastiff presents Comparative Advantage in a Changing World. To maintain our economic preeminence in the face of rising competitors, we need to change our regulatory environment and education methods to cultivate small businesses and creativity.

Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality presents The Future of Media: Not now, but soon!. A series of three posts that combines market forces and technological changes into a look at the future of media, including news and on-demand television. Part 2 and Part 3.

Advice

Never work alone presents Caught in the middle of wanting everything on setting goals and resolving the conflict between getting every customer and keeping every customer.

JLP of AllThingsFinancial presents Start Planning Your Taxes Now saying that Now is the time to start planning your taxes for next year. JLP’s post will help get you started.

George of Fast Pitch Financials presents 30 Days to Becoming a Better Investor - Day 5 (Economic Mental Models). It is important to develop a good set of mental models for evaluating various business scenarios. George at Fat Pitch Financials points to some excellent resources to help you develop your basic knowledge of economics.

Wayne Hurlbert of Blog Business World presents
Articles: Trading Your Way To The Top.

Joe Kristan of Roth & Company Tax Updates presents IME to Harvest the Fall Tax Deductions. By mid-November, most taxpayers can have a pretty good idea what their income will be, and we still have six weeks or so to do something about it. Where to start? Think AMT and charity.

Adrian Savage of Slow Leadership presents Dealing with Distractions. Since instantaneous contact is now expected, so are instant answers. Not only do people interrupt you on a whim, they want an answer or an opinion on the spot. This may be the new norm for the media, who have people available to “analyze” an event or a speech before the echoes have died away, but does it make sense for leaders who take their job seriously?

Deputyheadmistress at The Common Room presents Selling Books: Getting to the Post Office

Jim Logan of JSLogan presents Another Business Lesson From One Of My Kids - Daddy’s Little Girl On Training Customers. Things you do out of the norm often become expected. When you stop giving, you encounter the danger of ending something that wasn’t supposed to be a norm in the first place. Your generosity became your trap.

Ankesh Kothari of Marketing eYe presents How to Spark Sales in a Slump. The story of a person who sold 47 unsold boxer puppies during a market slump for big bux (and how you can use his ideas to increase your sales).

Jack Yoest presents Doing Business in a Values Vacuum

David Porter at Pacesetter Mortgage Blog presents How to handle a complaint with a Mortgage Lender or Mortgage Broker

David Danies of Business & Technology Reinvention presents Value Creation Principles. 10 simple value creation principles to help companies grow.

Les Jones presents Google AdSense Click Fraud and how to prevent it.

Skip Angel of Random Thoughts from a CTO presents Do you have passion for what you do?. Do you or your co-workers seem lifeless, and only go to work to pick up a paycheck? If so, chances are that you have lost (or perhaps never found) your passion. This post explores what passion is and what you need to do to find it (again).

Michael Pollock of Small Business Branding presents Are Passion and Profit Mutually Exclusive?. The are two schools of thought when it comes to the idea of monetizing your blog. One says that blogs are about passion rather than profit. The other school says blogs represent a premier business model that marries the two. Be careful which philosophy you adopt for yourself.

Jeff Cornwall of The Entrepreneurial Mind presents To Partner, or Not to Partner?. Entrepreneurs often approach the issue of entering into a business partnership much too casually. This post explores the “Why?”, “What?”, “How?”, and “Who?” issues for building a new venture team.

Jane Dough of Boston Gal’s Open Wallet asks “I need HOW MUCH for retirement?” It may not be as bad as her crystal ball is telling her…

FMF at Free Money Finance presents Tough Financial Choices, Part 1: Investing versus Paying Off Debt. Start of a series that compares and contrasts two competing financial choices.

Lucy MacDonald at R.E.A.L. Marketing presents Niche Marketing: The Little Black Dress Example.

Triple Pundit presents Going Green in Business Without Scaring Off the Customer. One of the problems with “green marketing” is that, ironically, appearing “too green” can scare away a sizable segment of the market. Beauty Engineered Forever is a brand of safe, effective
cleaning products that manages to send a pro-environmental message without being heavy handed, or looking like a bunch of hippies.

Rosanna at The Virtual Assistant Connection presents Building Your Professional Network

The Consumer

Mike Pechar of Interested Participant pesents recalled Consumer Products. Without any fanfare, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced a record number of product recalls for the fiscal year 2005. In protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from consumer products that cost the nation more than $700 billion annually, the CPSC recalled 397 products in 2005.

Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade presents The Ultimate Consumer Horror Story

Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture presents
DRM Crippled CD: A bizarre tale in 4 parts.

Steven Silvers of Scatterbox presents Wal-Mart uses political campaign tactics to win consumers. Or not.. Concerned that increasingly well-organized critics are ruining its chances with middle-income shoppers, Wal-Mart has created a “rapid response public relations” war room lead by Ronald Regan spinmiester Michael Dever and staffed by political campaign veterans from both parties. But consumers aren’t voters. And the typically aggressive, discredit-the-opposition political strategies being used by Wal-Mart’s new PR war room may in fact be contrary to what is still a consumer marketing agenda.

Ironman of Political Calculations presents Boarding Ahead of the Rest. Ironman at Political Calculations spotlights an entrepreneur who has found a market in helping Southwest Airlines’ passengers score the carrier’s coveted ‘A’ boarding passes.

Yvonne DiVita of Lip-sticking presents Jane Wears Herself Out. Jane talks about being a girl…and how the customer is always right still works.

Politics

Warren Meyer of Coyote Blog presents Politicians and Prioritization. If managers at corporations prioritized spending like politicians, they would be fired.

Mike Landfair of Mover Mike presents What is the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, H.R. 4155?. “The Family Research Council (FRC) is opposed to tax breaks to the gaming industry to help them get back on their feet after the damage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.”

Brandon Berg of Catallarchy presents At Least Take off Your Nobel Prize When You Say That. Brandon Berg of Catallarchy asks Joseph Stiglitz to at least take off his Nobel Prize when criticizing the strawman of “perfect market economist”.

James Hamilton of Econbrowser presents Oil Company Profits. Why aren’t the big oil companies reinvesting their huge profits?

Steve Conover of The Skeptical Optimist presents Fill in the blank: “Tax cuts for the ______.”. Like Pavlov’s dog, we’ve been successfully trained by our politicians how to fill in that blank. But we have chosen the wrong word for completing that phrase.

Ogre at Ogre’s Politics and Views presents Byron Dorgan: A Translation. An exposure of one who truly hates capitalism.

Warren Meyer of Coyote Blog presents Libertarians Adrift. Republicans officially cast aside the libertarian wing of the party. Post includes a refresher on why its impossible for the government to be “positive but not overbearing”, as David Brooks describes the new Republican goal.

Misc.

David Foster of Photon Courier presents A *Real* Cowboy Capitalist. Can childhood experiences on a cattle ranch contribute to the development of a successful CEO?

Douglas Sorocco of Rething(IP) presents Blackballed - You Are the Brand. Do your people get you blackballed? Our people are our “brand” - I know what branding message I want to be sending, and it isn’t what we saw on that flight. Are your employees/associates/team members getting you blackballed?

Adrian Savage of The Coyote Within presents To Dream… The Impossible Dream. It’s entirely possible to hold on to two sets of values simultaneously that cancel each other out. That’s why people can dream and still find it acceptable to take no action.

Clyde Smith of ProHipHop presents The Source Continues its Downward Spiral. Clyde Smith puts recent news of lawsuits against the hip hop magazine The Source in the context of an ongoing series of disasters at this major music publication.

cehwiedel at Kicking Over My Traces presents Last Quarter Website Review

Elisa Camahort at Worker Bees Blog presents High-risk Corporate Blogging-gettng a message out that your customers may not want to hear. A company considers banding together with its competitors to blog truth to power. Could it work? Or would they all go down in flames together?

neelakantan of interim thoughts… presents Is your plate heaped?. A short post on the visual effect of plenty used while serving customers.

Mark A. Rayner at The Skwib presents The Gruntwerx Paradigm. Corporate censorship goes public and Gunter goes postal.

Steve Pavlina at Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development Blog presents Million Dollar Experiment

Phil Hunt at The Sharpener presents Kiva: where microcredit meets P2P on suggesting improvements to the world’s first peer-to-peer, distributed microloan website.

That’s it. Next week will be at The Entreprenurial Mind

November 7th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Carnivals, Economics | 7 comments