tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2493164481035415292024-02-20T05:24:42.135-08:00Views from SputnikVladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-84691191011148349482010-03-24T09:45:00.001-07:002010-03-24T09:46:29.938-07:00Moved blogsThis blog is unfortunately no more :(<div><br /></div><div>However, it has moved here:</div><div><a href="http://vladik.rikhter.org">vladik.rikhter.org</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Looking forward to a fresh start!</div>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-57709391610556163052009-09-30T21:18:00.000-07:002009-09-30T21:42:03.564-07:00RSS is dead? ugh, enough already!So I keep hearing this chatter about how RSS is dying. First time I heard it was <a href="http://www.techcrunchit.com/2009/05/05/rest-in-peace-rss/">back in May</a> from Steve Gillmor over at TechCrunchIT. Then it was followed by <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=23276">Sam Diaz over at ZDNet</a>. And finally a few days ago, Chris Dixon, blogged about <a href="http://www.cdixon.org/?p=1284">the same thing</a>. For some reason or another this picked at me.<div><br /></div><div>RSS is not dying! Or at least not anytime soon. A lot of those authors are assuming that Twitter or social networks or some combination will kill RSS. Now, I've been using RSS for over three years now. My subscription list has grown from a few sites to maybe 60-70 now. Some update once an hour, once a day, or once a month at best. Because of this compilation this has become my daily news source. Its tailored by the interests that I have (venture capitalism, entrepreneurship, technology, cleantech, etc) and by the sources that I respect enough to get the information from. If I tried to somehow manage to use Twitter to get all this information, I probably could it. However, it would involve never getting offline or having to skip out on a lot of the information. The simple idea of trying to drink out of the fire hydrogen that is twitter would be unbearable! I can leave my computer for 30 minutes and come back with 50 new tweets (and I only follow 90-100 individuals with no publications). How could I possibly manage to understand what areas of interest to read first? Who/what is more relevant? I could not!</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, twitter is planning on changing this up by adding groups, lists, etc. Its not enough, I cannot find enough ways to parse my interests to make it manageable and I'm a big nerd about it! I'm not exactly sure how the everyday manager, consultant, employee, or human being would feel about it, but I'm sure they already don't have the time in the day to deal with something like this. Its easier to come back into Google Reader and catch up with what you missed for the day. Your social networks definitely provide interesting additional content to read, but as it stands for me now, its not providing enough of my daily intake :)</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, I could be completely wrong, but hey, there's more than one way to skin a cat!</div>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-57607324454444052972009-03-18T06:13:00.000-07:002009-04-30T20:39:09.797-07:00Comp Sci Programs Making a Comeback?Considering its only been about 7 months since <a href="http://rikhter.blogspot.com/2008/09/cycles-jobs-finance.html">I talked</a> about the prospects of engineering degrees becomes more popular in this country, I'm surprised to see such a quick uptick in Computer Science Degrees in only a semester's difference. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/science/17comp.html">According to the NY Times</a>, the amount of individuals pursuing a CS degree have increased for the first time in 6 years! That's great news, however, I'm inclined to know the breakdown of international vs. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">American</span> students within these programs...there will be a later blog post as to why I would like to know. On a further note, a study from these individuals on why they are pursuing the degree would also be great.<div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, this is awesome news!</div>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-28220744559178288952009-03-07T07:47:00.000-08:002009-03-07T08:29:29.432-08:00Coworking in DallasSo instead of spending my Friday working from either home or Starbucks, I decided to change things up a bit. I spent the day at a coworking space sponsored by <a href="http://www.texasstartupblog.com/">Alex Muse</a> and <a href="http://www.biggu.com/">Big in Japan</a>. It was easily one of the better environments that I've worked in. Although yesterday was technically considered a <a href="http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2009/03/05/first-friday-jelly-tomorrow/">Jelly</a>, I don't believe its much different than any other time of the week.<div><br /></div><div>I got there in the morning, grabbed a seat at one of the available chairs and spent a few hours working while chatting it up with some really cool folks. One of the guys, Chris, that sat next to me has recently built a neat app for the G1, go <a href="http://www.froogloid.com/product">check it out</a>. There were a bunch of other developers as well as folks doing some media content and advertising work. </div><div><br /></div><div>Got a lot accomplished, met some great people, and even got free pizza! Not sure if the pizza is a standard, somehow, I doubt it :) I would definitely suggest anyone out there who is a consultant, entrepreneur, or independent contractor to check out some of the coworking space out in your area. <a href="http://coworking.pbwiki.com/">This is</a> the best list that I could find online. And if you live in Dallas and want to check out the Big in Japan coworking space, go <a href="http://coworking.pbwiki.com/DallasCoworking">here</a>. To get and idea of what it looks like, check out the pictures <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/sets/72157606539733917/">here</a>.</div>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-21865388832628049572009-01-22T12:20:00.000-08:002009-01-23T09:45:14.949-08:00Obama on Estate Tax<blockquote></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So let's first get aroud to the apology I owe to whomever reads this blog about not posting for nearly 2 months. I will try my best to not have that happen again, sorry.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now onto something that gives me a bit of an irk from time to time....Estate Tax. Realistically its not something that will effect me for many years to come, so who knows why I'm about to gripe about it. If you haven't heard about it before, its essentially a tax on inheritance, although its also called a 'death tax'. Originally it was levied on the wealthy in this country, but over time it has grown to effect small business owners, farmers, and everyday people. The main reason it started to effect all of those people is simply the growth of the value of the dollar and all of a sudden a million dollar inheritance wasn't as much as it sounds.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is the table of the tax over the course of the most recent years:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';"><div style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; font: normal normal normal small/normal arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px; font-family:-webkit-sans-serif;"><table class="wikitable" border="1" style="color: black; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: right; "><tbody><tr><th style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Year</span></th><th style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Exclusion<br />Amount</span></th><th style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Max/Top<br />tax rate</span></th></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2001</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$675,000</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">55%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2002</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$1 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">50%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2003</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$1 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">49%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2004</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$1.5 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">48%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2005</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$1.5 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">47%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2006</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$2 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">46%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2007</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$2 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">45%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2008</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$2 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">45%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2009</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$3.5 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">45%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2010</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">repealed</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">0%</span></td></tr><tr><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2011</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">$1 million</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; padding-top: 0.2em; padding-right: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 0.2em; padding-left: 0.2em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">55%</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So only since 2004 did it finally start to make a reasonable crawl upwards. There is also a big hole in 2010 when it is completely repealed before going down to the miserably low amount of $1 million in 2011. As a morbid observation, I can imagine some strange things happening in 2010 with deaths of wealthy individuals.</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; font: normal normal normal small/normal arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, it looks l</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ike there is some </span></span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123172020818472279.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">effort </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">to freeze the current levels moving forward. I'm not sure exactly where this sits on the priority level for Obama's first 100 days or maybe its not even within the first 100 days. I'm personally a bit surprised by the fact the democratic congress would choose to freeze them at the 2009 level, however, I am quite content with it. The $3.5 million exclusion is a per person basis, another words allowing a married couple to exclude $7 million in their estate from taxes. I think this is extremely reasonable. I'm a big subscriber of Warren Buffet's view of inheritance: "Leave enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing."</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; font: normal normal normal small/normal arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have a tremendous distate for laziness in society. Unfortunately, a large inheritance from one's parents, grandparents, uncles, etc allows for a great excuse to never lift a finger. This is by no means a rule amongst all individuals receiving inheritance, there are plenty that are capable of handling a large amount of money. I am not speaking to their ability to manage it, but more so the responsibility. You see, taking away someone's incentive to wake up in the morning, to make a life for themselves is robbing them of potential joy they will never understand. Money will never solve all of your problems yet there are a lot of people out there that don't know how to become happy or happier once they have all that money.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; font: normal normal normal small/normal arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This leaves me to think that although $7 million is a high amount, its enough to get someone started, but not quite enough to do nothing. Money needs to flow from one source to another for the economy to work and as awful as it sounds to have to tax someone's life's work, it may just do their beneficiaries and the economy some good in the end.</span></span></div></span></div>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-32916596040727365412008-11-23T20:40:00.000-08:002008-11-23T20:56:58.593-08:00Finance/EngineersReferencing my old post <a href="http://rikhter.blogspot.com/2008/09/cycles-jobs-finance.html">here</a>. I saw a great graphic today through <a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/11/13/engineers_finan.html">Paul's blog</a> that shows the historical graduation totals of Finance majors vs. Engineering majors. Notice the large shift in the late 1980's.<br /><br /><a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/EngineersFinancialvsReal_9C0B/engineers_2.png"><img title="engineers" style="border: 0px none ; display: inline;" alt="engineers" src="http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/EngineersFinancialvsReal_9C0B/engineers_thumb.png" border="0" width="539" height="367" /></a>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-35846647514307685442008-11-23T20:26:00.000-08:002008-11-23T20:35:16.600-08:00Should have listened to Peter SchiffSo I'll be honest, until earlier today I had no clue who <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schiff">Peter Schiff</a> was. However, after watching the video below, I can easily make the decision that if I needed an economic/financial opinion, he would be the first one I would go to.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Laffer">Arthur Laffer</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein">Ben Stein</a> would probably not be those guys. And as for Ben Stein, this video although not a full indicator of his intelligence or knowledge, does make him look a bit bad in hindsight.<br /><br />Easily the best historical finance related video I have seen thus far.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2I0QN-FYkpw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2I0QN-FYkpw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-38005293173604035552008-11-05T09:55:00.000-08:002008-11-05T12:23:08.330-08:00Moving OnImt's done. It's finished. Now we can turn around and get back to what we are supposed to be doing. I want to touch on a few points in regards to the mass amount of believers that this election essentially means a turn for socialism. As the most important point of disclosure that I can give you, I voted for <a href="http://www.bobbarr2008.com/">Bob Barr</a>. There is a list of reasons I chose to vote for Bob Barr, which we can dive into at another time, but at the least when reading the following just keep that in mind.<br /><br />Let's start with the Presidency and the non-stop 'historic win' that this election has been categorized with. I agree with the historic, however, I want to remind the readers of the initial blog post I wrote in regards to <a href="http://rikhter.blogspot.com/2008/08/expectations.html">expectations</a>. My parents moved our family to this country for the purpose of us having better opportunities in this lifetime and a fair shot to achieve our dreams such as our neighbors and friends would have. The US is not perfect by any means, but perfection does not exist in this world, therefore in my view and my opinion the US is the greatest country in the world. That being said, yesterday's election was exactly what this country was about. In my mind, sooner or later, the expectation of someone other than a white male holding the highest position in this country had to happen. We constantly plow into our heads, that diversity and anyone achieving what they wish for is why this country is around. Remember we are mostly immigrants here from around the world, the best compilation of immigrants that are driven, motivated, passionate and fueled with a hunger to better our lives in this generation than from the generation before. Yesterday was simply a wake-up, a quick kick in our <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tuchus">tuchus </a>to remind us that this is why we are all here. I congratulate President-elect Barack Obama on achieving that, in today's world we should expect victories like that!<br /><br />Now, let's move on to the Senate. As it stands right now, it is 56-40 according to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/main.results/#S">CNN</a>. By the looks of the other elections in Oregon, Georgia, Alaska and Minnesota they should all go towards Republicans, however, the race in MN is fairly close to call and may need a recount. Let's just assume its 56-44. I put together a table below of the historical Senate Congressional seats<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><table class="wikitable" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 100%; color: black; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">Year<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Republicans</span><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; font-weight: bold;">Democrats</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; font-weight: bold;">Comments</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; font-weight: bold;">President</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1992<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">44<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">56<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Clinton</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1994<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">52<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">48<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Party changes made it 54-46, then a resignation made 53-47<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Clinton</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1996<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">55<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">45<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Clinton</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1998<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">55<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">45<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Became 54-46 after death of R-Coverdell (GA) and D-Miller (GA) was appointed<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Clinton</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2000<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">50<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">50<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">51-49 for Democrats after a caucus switch<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Bush</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2002<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">51<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">49<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Bush</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2004<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">55</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">45</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">1 Independent w/Dems<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Bush</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2006<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">49</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">51<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">2 Independents caucus w/Dems<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Bush</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2008<br /></th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">44<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">56<br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Not Official</span><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">Obama</td></tr></tbody></table></span>So it looks like after the split in the Senate will be about the same as it was during Clinton's first two years. After I write this, there may be a change and MN could have democrat along the numbers to move slightly to 57-43. As long as it doesn't hit 60 I believe everything will be fine. I am strong advocate of checks and balances, in my view so long as there is a balanced and fair way to decide legislation than things should be alright. However, when one party gets an advantage to 60 and passes whatever it wants, then there is a bit of a worry.<br /><br />I would post the House numbers, but they pretty much mirror what the Senate looks like. I want to point out the 1992 election. We can see right off the bat that Clinton came into office with a 56-44 Democratic edge in the Senate and 258-176 edge in the House. Without a doubt the administration quickly went to work on a fair amount of Democratic agenda. If we remember, Hillary Clinton made a staggering effort to achieve universal coverage via a national health care plan for the US. Although originally the country and administration liked the idea, ultimately due to the conservatives, the AMA and health insurance industry it failed. This was two months prior to the 1994 election. It became a killer for the democratic party in the House (lost 54 seats) and the Senate (lost 8 seats). It showed what democracy was made for. If you don't like the way something is going, you have a right to change it. From there President Clinton worked with a predominantly Republican House and Senate for six years. As far I see it, the 90s turned out to be quite a decent decade.<br /><br />The way I see this administration shaping up is fairly straight forward. We have a terrible economic situation at hand for the next couple of years. Our government's main focus will be the economy. After that there will be a focus on Iraq and energy independence. I do not believe (and I can be wrong) that after all of the immediate issues that they have to work on, they will be able to at the same time throw together a universal coverage health care plan. I have a hard time seeing exactly where the money for that would come from (we are spending close to a trillion dollars on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_fund">TARP</a>). Now if they can work out these issues in a fairly bipartisanship matter, than the 2010 elections may allow the democrats to keep control. However, if they decide to move too far to the left on a lot of issues, health care included, then without a doubt they will lose the House and Senate to the Republicans. In my mind, that's great as well! Nothing better than a Democratic executive branch working with a Republican Congress. <br /><br />I will consent to one thing, taxes will go up. That's inevitable. I believe they will eliminate the Bush tax cuts and go back to the Clinton numbers from the 90's. Take a look at this table:<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><table class="wikitable" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; text-align: center; font-size: 100%; color: black; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">Year</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Income Brackets</span><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Bracket</span><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Top Bracket</span><br /></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; font-weight: bold;">Source</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1971-1981</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">15 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">14%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">70%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1982-1986</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">12 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">12%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">50%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1987</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">5 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">11%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">38.5%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1988-1990</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">3 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">15%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">33%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1991-1992</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">3 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">15%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">31%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">1993-2000</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">5 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">15%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">39.6%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2001</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">5 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">15%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">39.1%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2002</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">6 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">10%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">38.6%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); text-align: center;">2003-2008</th><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">6 brackets</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">10%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">35%</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;">IRS</td></tr></tbody></table></span>Honestly, we are talking about a movement of 3-4% points for the top bracket, which isn't the end of the world. In fact the movement of taxes to a higher level will be irrelevant to innovation and production. Never has a potential entrepreneur decide not to build a business because the tax bracket was too high. Heck, based on that idea, Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Israel, and Australia would not even have entrepreneurship, but they do and it's as thriving as ever!<br /><br />If you are familiar with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauser%27s_Law">Hauser's Law</a>, then you would know that no matter the amount of different tax levied on individuals, we have consistently had our tax revenue around <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124460502305693.html">19.5% of our GDP</a>. That leads us to a conclusion that the only reasonable way to raise the amount of tax revenue the government has is to focus on raising the GDP. Let's hope this administration does that.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm not a political consultant or analysts, so a lot of these thoughts although may be my own, may not be right. Time will tell. From my personal opinion, I hope the administration works on the following issues (this isn't a conclusive list):<br /><ul><li>A finite table to leaving Iraq.</li><li>Tackling energy independence in the following manners: 1) Significant capital expenditures to update our <a href="http://www.eere.energy.gov/de/electricity_grid.html">energy grid</a>, 2) Extending federal [wind] credits for more than 1 year at a time, 3) Working with states to encourage them to give additional state level credits to using renewable energy</li><li>Fix the nation's air traffic control system, it needs an update like our energy grid.</li><li>Allowing stem cell research and use to become more available.</li><li>Reworking the immigration system, in particular the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa">H-1B</a> visas, we need the best and brightest in the world in US! That is what built this country.</li><li>Our primary education system needs help as well. Not sure how much I want the federal government involved in this, but nevertheless the initiatives need to happen. And maybe more organizations like <a href="http://www.teachforamerica.org/">Teach for America</a> are the answer.<br /></li></ul>That's just a start. At the same time, I hope the Republican party sits down and figures out how they can find some new invigorating candidates that they can be proud of. They also need to start embracing the power of the internet and how useful it can be in fundraising, this was clearly a huge help to President-elect Obama.<br /><br />I am an eternal optimist. Life is good and life will continue to be good. You choose how you want your life to be, that's the American Dream.Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-37164167949839024082008-10-16T21:29:00.000-07:002008-10-16T21:32:05.585-07:00Car InsuranceI know this is a mundane topic, but I came across a company that could help people that drive less than 12,000 miles a year. Its called <a href="http://www.milemeter.com/">MileMeter </a>and its purpose is to find you a lower insurance rate based on how many miles you drive. Not sure how it works, but if anyone checks it out or gets a quote please let me know. This is extremely helpful for those of you in cities with good public transport or who live really close to work. I'm intrigued to see how competitive they are and what the parameters are as well.Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-69007388754923000512008-10-16T09:17:00.000-07:002008-10-16T09:23:47.754-07:00Difference between Liberals and ConservativesI finally got around to watching a few of the recently posted <a href="http://www.ted.com">TED </a>videos and on the first one I thought this was most relevant during our current political process.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt">Jonathan Haidt</a> is a psychology professor at UVA. He has been studying positive psychology and moral foundations of politics. This video below shows the results that he has brought forth regarding the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. He lists 5 moral foundations that differ between the two parties:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><ol><li>Harm/Care</li><li>Fairness/Reciprocity</li><li>Ingroup/Loyalty</li><li>Authority/Respect</li><li>Purity/Sanctity</li></ol></blockquote><br /><br />Its a great video, please tell me what you think!<br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="432" height="285" id="VE_Player" align="middle"><param name="movie" value="http://static.videoegg.com/ted2/flash/loader.swf"><param name="FlashVars" value="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/JonathanHaidt_2008-embed-2Clay_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="scale" value="noscale"><param name="wmode" value="window"><embed src="http://static.videoegg.com/ted2/flash/loader.swf" flashvars="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/JonathanHaidt_2008-embed-2Clay_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true" quality="high" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" scale="noscale" wmode="window" width="432" height="285" name="VE_Player" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-513587604172835292008-10-15T10:28:00.000-07:002008-10-15T10:29:34.165-07:00Economy on a Magazine CoverFor those of you who read the <a href="http://www.economist.com/">economist</a>:<br /><div style="width:425px;text-align:left" id="__ss_651677"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertocr/the-economist-covers-the-financial-crisis-evolution-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="The Economist Covers - The Financial Crisis Evolution">The Economist Covers - The Financial Crisis Evolution</a><object style="margin:0px" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-economist-covers-1223762304878962-9&stripped_title=the-economist-covers-the-financial-crisis-evolution-presentation"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-economist-covers-1223762304878962-9&stripped_title=the-economist-covers-the-financial-crisis-evolution-presentation" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;">View SlideShare <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertocr/the-economist-covers-the-financial-crisis-evolution-presentation?type=powerpoint" title="View The Economist Covers - The Financial Crisis Evolution on SlideShare">presentation</a> or <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/upload?type=powerpoint">Upload</a> your own. (tags: <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://slideshare.net/tag/japan">japan</a> <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://slideshare.net/tag/usa">usa</a>)</div></div><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border="0" width="0" height="0" src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyMjQwOTE2ODY5OTMmcHQ9MTIyNDA5MTcwMjYwNiZwPTEwMTkxJmQ9Jmc9MiZ*PSZvPTgyOWRlM2UxNDIxNjQzMWNiZGZhMmExN2NmNjNlOTQ4.gif" />Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-47906747248339295252008-10-15T08:55:00.000-07:002008-10-15T08:57:00.411-07:00Article on Future EconomyPaul Kedrosky has a great article <a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/10/14/fossil_rabbits.html">here </a>on what he believes will happen. These are some of his points as stated:<br /><ul style="font-style: italic;"><li>We are going through a credit crisis sparked by the subprime meltdown. It is broader than that, however, really the tail end of an orgy of leverage and credit creation dating back at least 15 years </li><li>The unwinding of all this credit bubble will take longer than most people expect, and the damage will continue to be broader than most expect. Beyond banks and financial institutions, it will include many municipalities, some large-cap tech names reliant on major debt-financed network buildouts, a host of debt-financed non-financial companies, and some sovereign nations. Total cost: Bridgewater's $2.7-trillion looks close enough to me .</li><li>S&P forward-year earnings forecasts will come down faster than at any time in recent history. We will see 20% average estimate reductions across the board, leading to a further revaluation of the markets. After all, at S&P 1010 we are trading at 19x trailing earnings, and 18x forward, neither of which are inexpensive historically speaking. Admittedly, the above is not the non-financial S&P P/E -- ex- financial and consumer stocks we are more like 14x -- but it is a distinction that will get blurred as we go into this recession.</li><li></li></ul>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-29762716333717938102008-10-13T09:27:00.000-07:002008-10-13T12:46:26.092-07:00Michael BubléI have been to my fair share of concerts in my short life. I had the privilege of attending in my mind what was not only a concert, but a fantastical evening of entertainment by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bubl%C3%A9">Michael Bublé</a>. If you have not heard of him, go out there and check out his music. I can best describe it as a young Frank Sinatra. Check out this video:<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5F2Q8oYMUBw&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5F2Q8oYMUBw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Or other videos <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+buble&search_type=&aq=4&oq=michael+">here</a>.Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-20399161641324248142008-10-06T15:05:00.000-07:002008-10-06T15:09:36.077-07:00European BanksIn regards to my <a href="http://rikhter.blogspot.com/2008/09/whos-next.html">earlier post</a> about leverage in European banks, this is a quick and more accurate follow-up:<br /><img alt="http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/HowtheU.S.SavedtheEuropeanBankingSystem_A0F5/leverage_2.png" src="http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/HowtheU.S.SavedtheEuropeanBankingSystem_A0F5/leverage_2.png" /><br /><br />I say more accurate, because its not my own :) Even <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/30/banking.europeanbanks">Iceland </a>has nationalized one of their biggest banks.Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-16634914555258908332008-10-06T14:02:00.001-07:002008-10-06T14:29:18.645-07:00EffortI spent my Saturday evening as most of my friends do. We went to a buddies place, watched some fights on TV (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur4GfOJ9Q7U">Kimbo sucks</a>) and decided to head out on the town. We went to a local lounge, had a couple drinks and decided to split. On our way of walking around <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=McKinney+Ave,+Dallas,+TX&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.426353,56.601563&ie=UTF8&ll=32.806899,-96.795559&spn=0.032535,0.055275&z=14">McKinney Ave</a>. we found what we thought to be an interesting new Greek cafe on one of the streets. I got excited about it because for some time now we had been looking for some cool cafes to be opened late (this was around midnight) in the area where you could sit, have a beer/coffee and enjoy the night.<br /><br />And so the adventure began.... When we sat down outside we were greeted by a fairly upbeat waiter. Looking around we noticed about 6-8 other people sitting at tables, probably a glaringly good reason we shouldn't have stayed (that's not a lot of patrons). When we were given the menus, we decided to order some hummus for the two of us to split. The hummus was listed at $7 for an appetizer, probably the highest single amount I have ever seen for hummus, but nevertheless we figured eh, its late and its just something to munch on. The order came with pita as well...well sort of.<br /><br />About 10 minutes later our order of hummus and pita finally arrived. Lets start with the hummus. It was a small plate, with a very small portion of hummus. Its consistency was shockingly poor. The hummus was dripping! Have you ever had hummus that dripped? That's not hummus!! Hummus consistency should be in between solid and liquid, with a much closer swing to solid, not liquid! You're probably thinking that at least they had pita to dip into this 'hummus'. Wrong! We were given one <span style="font-style: italic;">tortilla</span>! You may be wondering why a tortilla, we did as well, considering this was a Greek cafe, although you probably couldn't tell with all the Latin music blaring. Besides the one tortilla we were given <span style="font-style: italic;">two</span> crackers on top of that. Have you ever in your life tried picking up runny hummus with a cracker? Good luck!<br /><br />Laughing to ourselves we finished the first round of tortilla and crackers and decided to ask our waiter for additional pieces of 'pita'. To think it could not get any worse, would be a sucker's bet. About 6-8 minutes later our waiter was handed by the chef/owner our additional piece of 'pita'. Now this was one for the ages (I tried taking pictures, but my phone didn't do it justice). We were brought a fully burned, crisp, black tortilla! No, it wasn't toasted, it was BURNED to a CRISP!<br /><br />Somewhere before the burned tortilla and runny hummus I had already decided not to ever come back to this cafe. BUT just in case I had any doubt, the waiter helped my decision along. Not 5 minutes after bringing us the tortilla, he took a few random pictures of the patrons sitting around and ANNOUNCED that he was off to Aura (a club a couple blocks away) and would be back in a bit! Are you kidding?! Its one thing to leave and have someone else pick up your slack, but to announce you're going to a club and will come back? Sadly we did not stay long enough to see this putz stumble back drunk from the club. We paid our bill and left. I believe the name of the place was Villa N, but we had a hard time finding the name written anywhere.<br /><br />Look, whenever you open a new business, restaurant, grocery store, dry cleaners, etc. Make some sort of effort to actually have business coming in and coming back. To have a complete disregard of all common sense only shows that you have no respect for your ideas or the individuals trying to help you achieve your ideas and goals. Honestly, EFFORT EFFORT EFFORT!Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-38961771718090717862008-10-03T07:16:00.001-07:002008-10-03T07:21:45.645-07:00VP DebateI tried to get through the entire debate last night, but I could not do it. With about 20 minutes left I thought I would be ok, but it hit me that I just could not take any more of this. The constant jabbing at each other and the administrations, the talk about what they will or more likely will not do once in office. Drove me up the wall. What really bothers me is the constant use of facts by both candidates, some with exact numbers ('voting 94 times this way or another way'). I wish someone stood up there and corrected them every time they were wrong. That would make me feel better about the given candidates character.<br /><br />I did find an article that checked some of their statements. Check it out <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hOOD000tWEGMjBjPdmkth_gX5hPAD93IPUH80">here</a>. A quick excerpt (this is the first fact from the article):<br /><p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p>PALIN: Said of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: "94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction."</p><p>THE FACTS: The dubious count includes repetitive votes as well as votes to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them on the rich. An analysis by <a href="http://factcheck.org/">factcheck.org</a> found that 23 of the votes were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all, seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, 11 would have increased taxes on only those making more than $1 million a year.</p></blockquote><p></p>Was anyone really impressed last night by what they saw?Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-15598682156523589262008-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:002008-09-29T12:55:05.556-07:00ArticlesA few good reads I stumbled upon today:<br /><ul><li>A visit with Bank of American CEO, Ken Lewis (<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/28/news/companies/tully_lewis.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008092908">CNN</a>)</li><li>Living in a leverage free world (<a href="http://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/features/living-in-a-leverage-free-world.php">Deal</a>)</li><li>10 Things that will change (<a href="http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/Ten_Things_That_Will_Be_Different_When_the_Financial_Smoke_Clears_080926.html">Kiplinger</a>)</li></ul>I'm a big fan of point number two in the last article. Enjoy!<br /><br />Shana Tova for everyone celebrating! Its going to be a great year!Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-20623774301218134582008-09-22T09:53:00.000-07:002008-09-24T20:34:17.104-07:00Who's next?...<span style="font-weight: bold;">[updated numbers below]</span>Read a post this morning regarding European banks getting<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/09/22/european-banks-too-big-to-rescue/"> too large to rescue</a>. They talked about the leverage in some of the banks in Europe as compared to the US banks and how in some cases the banks liabilities were close to the size of the entire GDP of the country they were HQ'ed in.<br /><br />Let's compare, these are the leveraged ratios:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />US Investment Banks:</span><br />Goldman Sachs: <span style="font-weight: bold;">25x</span><br />Morgan Stanley: <span style="font-weight: bold;">32x</span><br />Merrill Lynch: <span style="font-weight: bold;">27x</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />US Commercial Banks:</span><br />Bank of America: <span style="font-weight: bold;">10x</span><br />Citigroup: <span style="font-weight: bold;">14x<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span>Wells Fargo: <span style="font-weight: bold;">12x<br /></span>Wachovia: <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 10x</span></span><br /></span>JP Morgan: <span style="font-weight: bold;">12x</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">European Banks:<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>Barclays<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">: </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">60x</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>UBS: <span style="font-weight: bold;">46x</span><br />Deutsche: <span style="font-weight: bold;">61x</span><br />Credit Suisse: <span style="font-weight: bold;">32x</span><br /><br />Maybe someone with a better financial background could please explain to me and readers of this blog as to how the European banks will be able to get through this financial situation unscathed. To me its not looking its pretty, especially considering the liabilities of some of those banks comes close to the entire GDP of a country if not outweighing it.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></span>Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-66430123015679047632008-09-16T13:45:00.001-07:002008-09-16T13:47:01.485-07:00Wall Street to StartupJosh Kopelman is trying to find some people <a href="http://redeye.firstround.com/2008/09/leavewallstreet.html">jobs</a>.<br /><br />Maybe I should have added that in my previous post. Rough economic times are a good time to start a business, if you can make it through this time..then your business will really flourish!Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-91862725185829741812008-09-16T08:37:00.000-07:002008-09-16T13:30:26.687-07:00Cycles, Jobs, FinanceThis is going to be a bit long, I have a lot built up in my head.<br /><br />What happened over this past weekend is nothing new. It occurred at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_Loan_crisis">end of the 1980'</a>s. It occurred to a much lesser degree at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble">end of 1990's</a>. In general its happened <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_market_crashes">a few times</a> and made these <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States">recessions</a>. The problem is that moving forward, we as a society and country won't learn from our mistakes. We will repeat them again and again. What's crazy is that I don't think there is a single person out there that can tell us the ultimate consequence of all of these bubbles and crashes. We seem to bounce back every time and find a new place to invest dollars and create economic 'stability' for the short term. So in other words this is just another cycle. Sure, this is a simplification, telling someone in banking who has lost their job over this is not going to make them feel all warm and gooey inside.<br /><br />We are also in another cycle of United States economics. The US over the course of its existence has on six occassions pushed into moves of nationalization or privatization. As it started with airport security in 2001 and followed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in recent weeks, we are in a point of our cycle where our government will nationalize a few of the major businesses thus creating a more socialist view from an outside perspective. Considering we already have a Democratic House and Senate, expect a potential for more moves in this direction with higher taxes. But again, just like previous times its simply a cycle. We will recover, our balance sheets will stabilize, regulations will be put in place and privatization will occur again in the coming years (maybe a decade or two).<br /><br />If additional regulation is created in Congress, then a tremendous amount of oversight for the financial industry will occur. This for starters will mean less wiggle room, which means less creativity, which in turn allows for less risk. There is going to be a lot of layoffs and downsizing in the financial securities industry to start with. Take a look at the following graph and notice the trend of the annual securities employment in this country:<br /><br /><a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/DataFactoidSecuritiesIndustryEmployment_12C56/yearly_2.png"><img title="yearly" style="border: 0px none ;" alt="yearly" src="http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/DataFactoidSecuritiesIndustryEmployment_12C56/yearly_thumb.png" width="534" border="0" height="339" /></a><br />[courtesy of <a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/09/15/data_factoid_se.html">Paul</a>]<br /><br />The increase in this field alone in the last 16 years is pushing over 40%. You can see the decrease show in 2003 from the 2000 bubble burst. How far down will it go this time around and for how long? This is also just the securities market, the entire financial industry has become too large of a part of our GDP. To date about <a href="http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Etphilipp/papers/slides_finsize.pdf">8.3% of our GDP</a> is brought together by finance, this is all-time high, almost a full percentage point about the 1990 levels. Lets for a second imagine that we return to the 1990 levels of finance in our economy, that is essentially suggesting that $120B needs to be redistributed from finance in form of wages and profits into other industries. The gentlemen who wrote the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/09/15/as-finance-jobs-fall-engineering-may-rise-again/">article </a>that I got this information from believes that engineering may be on the rise again. It is well known that hedge funds employ lots of PhDs. Take for example <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ayjImYcoCiH8">James Simmon'</a>s Renaissance Hedge Fund that has 200 employees over a third of whom are PhDs. These guys write the software programs to figure out the best times to buy into companies so they maximize their profit. Its a complex system of algorithms and quantitative mathematics that is put together by individuals with PhDs in Math and Computer Science. Do we really believe that these individuals are going to turn around and get back into basic engineering work.. I have a hard time seeing that. What you will see in the future is young graduates from MIT, CalTech, and GaTech (had to throw the plug) that will not be moved by financial engineering and find work in other facets of industry.<br /><br />The article misses the point that most of the individuals that have their experience in finance (not to mention their paydays), will not get back into engineering just because thats what their degree is in. Realisitcally we can hope that moving forward more students around the country will pursue engineering as an college major and move the US back into the direction of positive growth of bachelors in engineering, since we have been on a downward slide for a few years now. This in turn will allow us to have a breadth of future IP in this country that is ready to create new technology (hopefully in the CleanTech space!).<br /><br />I'm going to finish this post off with a quick recap. Finance party is over. Government regulation is back. Expect engineering degrees awarded to rise. Most important though, we are just riding another part of this crazy economic cycle, history will repeat itself in the future :)Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-5618924361990739752008-09-09T16:54:00.000-07:002008-09-11T14:00:40.694-07:00I am not my own customerHere's a problem that I have entailed often and maybe some of you can sympathize with me.<br /><br />I'll be sitting around one day and think of what I believe to be a good business idea. Lets just pretend its B2C. I will then spend the next few hours or days trying to poke holes in it and massage it into something that I would be a customer of.<br /><br />Therein lies the problem. I am a really bad customer. I ignore as many advertisements as I can (unless they are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsbBLXhP49Q">humorous</a>!). I tend to do extensive research before making a purchase I am interested in or consult close friends who have expertise in the area, say cars or certain tech products. I have rarely, if ever, clicked on one of those Google advertisement links and will generally comb the internet to find exactly what I am looking for. I have used eBay all of two maybe three times in my life. I am, however, a loyal customer. Believe me, once I have used your services and you were exceptional in the service that you provided, you better believe that I will do what I can in my power to make sure people around me all know about you/your company.<br /><br />So I tend to end up in one of two holes, either the idea or business is great and I may not use it myself or I will change it up so much to what I think will work and no one else will use it! I guess the question of the day is how in love with your product or idea do you have to be to go after it? Full blown blinding passion? Or more logical execution with a great understanding of the market?Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-66139677638946497912008-09-09T16:52:00.001-07:002008-09-09T16:53:54.240-07:00Blog look..I am going to be messing with the look of this blog for a few days to find one that I like, so bear with me if it bothers you. Also, any comments about the look would be appreciated :)Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-34513010096160256492008-09-02T14:41:00.000-07:002008-09-02T16:49:02.180-07:00Obama vs. McCainI know, I know...politics.<br /><br />During the election process voters go back and forth amongst each other on why each candidate would be more appropriate to hold the position of President then the other. It's a never ending debate that for the most part has no positive outcome. The realistic nature is that you will vote for who you'll vote for and from there you must accept the fact that the candidate elected is your President for the next four years.<br /><br />My point here is not related to why one candidate is better than the other, its actually to find something beneficial that each candidate can bring to the table for the business environment (I'm choosing business simply because its in the theme of this blog topic).<br /><br />Growing up [and still today] I heard countless stories from friends, family, colleagues and random strangers on how so and so was such a great President and because of him we have [fill in the blank]. Some Presidents allowed us to get into this country, other created peace, some a booming economy, whatever it is you can always find a President that did something fantastic or was at least in office while something great happened.<br /><br />This brings me to my point, I was recently going through a comparison of issues between <a href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0806/gallery.election_issues/index.html">Obama and McCain</a>. I came across their views regarding <a href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0806/gallery.election_issues/12.html">Taxing Business</a>. Without a doubt from a corporate perspective, McCain wins in his want of decreasing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%. However, Obama had something that I really wanted to mention from the standpoint of a budding entrepreneur:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Exempt investors from the capital gains tax on their investments in small businesses and startups if they made their investment when a small company was valued below a certain threshold. That threshold has yet to be defined.</blockquote>Now this is clearly more beneficial in the early stages of a business (whereas McCain is more geared to profitable corporations). Lets say you as an Angel are investing $100,000 into a business that is valued at $1M (for argument's sake lets say the threshold is $1M in valuation for your capital gains to be tax exempt). Lets again pretend that in a matter of five years the said company sells for $15M. You've made yourself a tidy $1.5M on a $100K investment, better yet, you pay no taxes on your $1.4M in capital gains! Depending on the state this can be a savings of $300k-$500K (rough estimate). Not to mention there are <a href="http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/dir_resources/state_policy_issues.aspx">some states</a> that will allow you to have tax credits or deduction for investing in such early stage deals. Unfortunately Texas and Georgia are not included in those states.<br /><br />Morale of the story is, if your candidate does not win the election there may always be a benefit to you in one or more the different initiatives the other candidate is trying to push. As always look for niches and work your way hard into them!<br /><br />Anything in particular that draws your attention to a candidate for one particular reason or another? Lets stick to business topics for the time being...Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-39022809318165192772008-08-30T18:11:00.000-07:002008-08-30T18:37:30.120-07:00My own globalization[Sorry for the break in posts, I was out of town and forgot to mention that before I left!]<br /><br /> As we all remember Thomas Friedman wrote a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_is_Flat"> fantastic book</a> about globalization and the 'flattening of the world'. Two of the major factors that he touched on were Outsourcing and Offshoring. Recently some friends and I conjured up a few ideas that needed websites to be built. Unfortunately our expertise was limited in building a site that would have all the bells and whistles that we needed. I remembered that over a year ago I saw a mention of a company called <a href="http://www.odesk.com/">oDesk </a>on <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/">Techcrunch</a>. oDesk's premise is fairly simple, you enter in what kind of contracting, consulting, or project work you need done and providers bid on your work.<br /><br />It was a great way to get started! I put together an outline of exactly what I needed (remember, the more detail the better understanding someone will have of what you want them to accomplish). Your next step is to fill out some info about how much per hour or per project you'd like to pay, minimum feedback you require from previous employers, total hours spent on oDesk, etc etc. Withing 24 hours I had 18 applications! The overall total was around 24 or 25, I lost count. The beauty of the site is that you can see previous work, how they were rated by the buyer, tests they have passed, and how much they charged for the work. You reject who you don't want and interview who you do. I set up around eight interviews over Skype and gmail and went through questioning about their work and what I wanted to get accomplished and in what time frame. I have already received four quotes and am waiting on two or three more.<br /><br />Globalization and technology are a beautiful combination! We are able to provide work to individuals in countries that have a hard time producing their own work at a very large discount to ourselves. In return you [should] get quality work in a timely manner and get your business up and running. oDesk also has a direct competitor in <a href="http://www.elance.com/">Elance</a>.<br /><br />If you have a great technology based idea, you really have no excuses left! Go out there and execute!Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249316448103541529.post-40850353191149012312008-08-21T06:09:00.000-07:002008-08-21T06:38:06.784-07:00Ticketmaster & Live NationSo back in my later years in high school I used to go tons of concerts (or 'shows' as I used to refer to them). I could be seen scouring the net for new shows constantly and probably checking out at least one if not two or three a week. The great thing about most of the bands that I was seeing was that they played at relatively small venues. When I mean small, I mean the place fit maybe 150 people. The great thing about these venues is that it really got you up and close with the band! Another perk was NOT having to pay fees to buy a ticket, you would simply pay a cover or a ticket charge at the door. Keep in mind this is 1999-2001, so buying tickets online other than Ticketmaster was non-existent.<br /><br />This brings me to my point. I HATE buying tickets online from Ticketmaster, in fact I dislike it so much that I am willing to drive to the venue at odd hours or during working (or to skip school at the time :) to buy the tickets direct from the venue and not have to pay the $8/ticket charge for a $40 ticket. [As a side note, I just looked up Michael Buble tickets in Fort Worth, Texas and what do you know its $10.65/ticket to buy through Ticketmaster.] It also really irritates me that they call the charge a <span style="font-style: italic;">convenience charge</span>! Here's the thing, the internet is not a convenience anymore, it used to be, but now its standard business practice! Why do I have to pay over $20 to Ticketmaster just to buy the tickets online? I realize that venues have contracts with them and that they provide them with the sales tools to fill up their venues, but come on, no one really bothers to go to ticketmaster to find out where their favorite band is playing, do they?! You go directly to the band website, which would be a great place for them to sell tickets independent of Ticketmaster and profit from it, since they are losing so much money on the CD sales.<br /><br />This whole rant started when I read today that <a href="http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/iac-completing-split-into-5-publicly-traded-parts/">IAC is splitting up their business empire</a>. In the article they mention that Ticketmaster is losing Live Nation as a customer in 2009, yay! Live Nation and Ticketmaster apparently had it all out<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/business/23ticket.html"> last year</a> and decided to split. This will definitely hurt Ticketmaster as Live Nation is its biggest client, to the tune of about 15% of its $1B in sales (although they will continute to sell their House of Blues tickets).<br /><br />I love it! Break down barriers, take down Ticketmaster!Vladikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09115036024389565368noreply@blogger.com0