Carnival of the Capitalists for 11/22/2004
Well, this is definitely more work than I ever expected. I wish I was feeling better this weekend to really dig in and tell a nice story, but so it goes. In any event, let's get on with the Carnival...
There were just too many great submissions (and GMail booted me) this week so I came up with four initial categories and stuck in whatever fit.. some things didn't quite fit (some people just can't color inside the lines) so hopefully they'll get grabbed next time around. Sorry if I didn't include you here. The categories were:
Government, Economics and Markets - The economy is terrible (or is it), markets are opening and closing, and government just needs a swift kick from time to time.
Selling and Getting Expertise - If every anything was ever sold, it was the skills of one to the needs of another. There's no shortage of charisma, charm, and cleverness in the world and our capitalists want to tell you how to leverage it.
A Little of the Old, A Little of the New - Business, like history, works in cycles. We're always seeing some old process modernized (relieving the "pain" as the VC-types like to call it). Check out some of the recent happenings and ponderings as these two forces collide.
New Business Opportunities - Those zany entrepreneurs. They're always coming up with the darnedest things and this week is no different than any other.
Government, Economics and Markets
Joe Kristan from Roth & Company scrutinizes the coming of the flat tax:
"Will any of this pass? Some are sceptical that the administration will be able to pull off both social security reform and tax reform. We think there is a good chance of significant tax reform. When the President sets his mind to something, he keeps at it until gets his way. Just ask Saddam Hussein."
Rawdon Adams of Capital Chronicles wonders about Greenspan and the bottom:
"might this evolution of Chairman Greenspan's current account rhetoric mark a step towards fulfillment of the Large Bottom Law? In other words, now that even America's Central Banker has tossed fodder to dollar bears, there will be yet more folks on the already crowded sell-side of dollar trades."
Random Roger chimes in as well on this matter and starts talking about the weak dollar:
"Neither of them said anything new, but that it came from Greenspan so bluntly was not everyday stuff. There are real problems confronting the dollar, the bond market and the stock market. What I think might happen is that the dollar may regain some of the ground lost this week, but I don't think a correction will change the trend. The twin deficits are likely to continue to send the dollar lower but with less violence than we saw this week."
Anita Campell puts on her SBO hat and wonders what that weakened dollar means for the small players (simple answer is it depends):
"I could name a dozen different scenarios that make the weak dollar good for one small business or bad for another. One thing, though, is clear. In this increasingly global world of commerce, no country is an island. And no business operates on a single island. The traditional wisdom about currency valuations and who it helps and who it hurts is not such a cut-and-dried proposition anymore."
Mike Pechar, The Interested Participant, warns that consolidation is not always the optimal solution (we've all got old habits and biases -- and government's got even more):
"From an organizational and business perspective, consolidation of management functions among three facilities is a good idea but it won't be welcomed by many. In particular, those that will no longer be needed.
[...]
All that said, it can't be overlooked that President Leidich is trying to implement dramatic changes to a sloth-like bureaucracy which will impact many people's lives. Hopefully, the consolidation can be completed with employee discontent kept as low as reasonably achievable."
David Jackson ponders on the impact of new Gold Exchanges (maybe it's just Fool's Gold):
"Gold is only worth what investors are prepared to pay for it, unlike other commodities whose demand is largely determined by consumption. If the price of gold begins to fall and is expected to continue falling, there's no reason for most people (excluding jewelers) to buy gold.
In that respect, investing in precious metals is fundamentally riskier than investing in stocks or industrial commodities. And that's one reason why some people may consider gold to be an asset class unworthy of inclusion in investment portfolios."
Lastly, Brian Gongol thinks the government just doesn't know when to stop:
"What the Secretary misses is that a free society involves choices -- the choice to work in a smoking or non-smoking environment. The choice to eat in a smoking or non-smoking restaurant. The choice to associate with smokers or non-smokers in the bars. A pub chain spokesperson says, "The majority of people don't like to be around smoky areas. We think it will bring a lot more people back into pubs long-term." If they really believed that, they'd offer non-smoking pubs. Smoking bans don't seem to have much impact on revenues in either direction.
Smoking is a filthy, disgusting habit. But it shouldn't be an excuse to make people more comfortable with government intrusions in their lives. Smoking ban proposals are everywhere, not just in England."
Selling and Getting Expertise
Torsten (TJ's Blog) admires David Teten's Circle of Experts:
"There have been quite some trials to start such a knowledge marketplace. Even Pierre Omidiyar is according to people familiar with the matter still on the lookout for a working model. Circle of Experts has already built up a considerable database of experts all over the world. But the trick is NitronAdvisors pays out up to $250 per consulting hour. This is a major difference to all the lay marketplaces where the incentive for real experts is pretty slim."
Phillip B. Wilson recommends Peter Block's book:
"In most companies today if you are a supervisor or a manager you spend the vast majority, if not all of your time, consulting. To be a great (or in Peter Block's term a "flawless") consultant, you must create and maintain authentic relationships. From authentic relationships spring realistic expectations, actual commitment, and supporting behaviors. It confronts and therefore eliminates many of the negative, back-biting and undermining behaviors so common in organizations."
Evelyn Rodriguez from the CrossRoads Dispatches hopes we can look inside to grow our abilities:
Leaving corporate America and consulting I found wasn't the silver bullet. Yes, I have much more autonomy around my creative cycles but ultimately it gets frustrating to hear: "Yes, but." Usually, "Yes, but that will never work here" time after time after time. And you know with that attitude it truly won't ever work there. Those pitches weren't even my very best ideas as I was well aware of the confines of the box I was given. So having autonomy over your creative cycles ultimately isn't sufficient. A lot of consultants might be quite happy with collecting the fees for advice that falls flat and concepts that go nowhere, but it's not working for me.
Of course, I'm wondering "Why Be An Expert, When You Can Be A Radio Star?"
As we searched for our own outlet, we quickly realized that some of the funniest and best stuff we were talking about happened when we were out having drinks. We weren't sure, but we figured there were some people who might laugh at with us, so we started to record it.
A Little of the Old, A Little of the New
Dave Foster takes to the docks and wonders if river-based shipping is on the move (it's got sea legs):
"The tradeoff, of course, is between cost and speed. To get freight by truck from New Orleans to Memphis will cost you about $40/ton and take 8 hours; by barge it will cost about $6/ton and take 3 days. Osprey is betting that there will be a significant set of customers for which the tradeoff makes sense. One exaple is coffee importers, who can easily transfer their cargoes from ship to barge. And a logistics expert at Georgia Tech thinks the biggest application of river-based container freight will be in returning empty containers to their point of origin."
Jay looks favorably on the merger of Sears and K-mart (S-mart?):
"It will be fascinating to watch the S-Mart, Sears Mart, K-Sears, or whatever you want to call it, saga unfold. They'll have the leverage of size. They'll have a certain buzz, temporarily, from the very news of the merger. The market certainly loved it initially. Stock going up 17% or 21% doesn't happen every day."
James from the Rednersville Loyalist writes about how antique dealers are getting support and sales from the 21st century:
"All too often, antique dealers operate their businesses much the same as retailers did when their products were brand new.
The Rednersville Country Store serves customers in the local community in a real, bricks and mortar, antique shop that is authentic. Some things never change around these parts; folks like it that way.
[...]
At the same time, it's now just as important to reach out and connect with new customers, in faraway places, who are using the power of the internet to locate specific collectibles in places they couldn't possibly visit, except online."
Les Jones reminds us just how far customer service has departed from its homely beginnings (bad e-commerce, bad):
"MSNBC has a story about retailers tracking returns and denying what they feel are excess returns.
I ran into something like this about five years ago when I started remodeling my house. I learned that Home Depot didn't require receipts, so I stopped bothering to even look for the receipt when I returned something. Home Depot eventually flagged my account and told me that from then on I could only get store credit for returns without the receipt. Result: I started looking for my receipts when I took things back to Home Depot. They had disabused me of a bad habit they themselves had taught me."
New Business Opportunities
Wayne Hurlbert says you can sure bet that Blogs Sell Books:
"Blogs sell blooks.
Lots of books.
That's now a proven fact of the publishing world.
Even better, is the fact that blogs sell books that are self published, by print on demand publishers.
The combination of those two phenomona are transforming forward thinking bloggers into successful published authors."
Russel Buckley sees the writing on the wall, well almost:
"I can see this kind of thing taking off - a kind of virtual graffiti, which you only need to switch on and read/listen to it if you're interested in it. This leaves the environment free and uncluttered for everyone else.
We've seen similar things at the Yellow Arrow project, World Board and TagandScan and while they're all pretty crude at the moment, I think we could be seeing something quite powerful in its early stages.
While there are major issues to overcome - mainly who creates, edits and maintains content - I think we will find a way through. If Wikipedia has proved workable and generally reliable, this kind of virtual re-interpretation of the project must be possible."
Warren "Coyote" Meyer talks about the growing community of American Nomads and the challenges and opportunities they face:
"Some of these new nomads are able to completely retire and live off their savings. Others need to work to bring in a bit of cash, or at least to pay for a place to park and hook up their RV to utilities. In our business, we hire over 400 of these folks a year, usually working the summer months in exchange for a free site for the RV and some money for relaxing in the winter. RVers are generally comfortable with fairly modest pay, but they won’t stand still for very long if they don’t like the job or their boss or their co-workers. After all, they all have wheels on their houses and can leave with little notice."
And last, but certainly not least we have Brendon Connelly, The Slacker Manager. Brendon leaves us with a bunch of notes and links on how to "Get Things Done" which is just what I need to be doing now.
It's been fun!