Comments

"Oracle and Methodist got me thinking about how much is working and moving in the U.S. economy, though you sure as hell wouldn't know it from the press and its pundits—or the President's schedule-of-gloom."

When was the last time you saw the president speak?

At the moment,he is Out Reaganing Reagan.

"The good news is marked by venture-funded startups in every aspect of information technology (from materials research to devices to the Internet and other media) and biotechnology and renewable energy and green enhancements and materials science and medical devices. (And. And. And.) "

Most of the technologies you've listed are technologies supported in the President's budget.

Posted by dan at March 20, 2009 9:26 AM

"Oracle and Methodist got me thinking about how much is working and moving in the U.S. economy, though you sure as hell wouldn't know it from the press and its pundits..."

Listening to the pundits off and on over these past few weeks, I have not wanted to curse so much in all of my life. Overwhelming is their arrogance and glibness --not all but many. Jon Stewart did well to let many of these guys have it!

Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, had a vested interested in saying that Stewart's comments were "incredibly unfair." NOT! Stewart was right on! CNBC's financial pundits appear calmer now and more level-headed. Let's see how long this lasts.

I agree with dan that "at the moment, he (the President) is Out Reaganing Regan." TP seemed to be referring to the President's words some weeks ago. In these times a single day can make a difference, let alone a few weeks.

The Oracle and Methodist message is much appreciated. Thank you.

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 20, 2009 11:04 AM

The dust has settled. Even though there is uncertainty, investors are now investing in new companies. I also saw my first robin.

Spring is here.

Posted by Bruce Fryer at March 20, 2009 2:47 PM

Nice, Bruce. Thank you. Hope prevails.

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 20, 2009 5:39 PM

Nice to hear you yelling 'hope' out in the wilderness. While it may take a while, the media echo chamber will take up the cry when enough optimists remember how strong and innovative the American 'can-do' spirit is.

Posted by Fred H Schlegel at March 20, 2009 6:52 PM

Tom - a wonderful posting - I agree 100%. The big challenge as we know though is that the Democrats & president are putting in place a debt-ridden, inferior, anti-business environment that means innovation here will have to find more favorable non-USA free enterprise climates as they mature various cash flow streams.

In other words my $50M man cousin took his IT company to Carson City, NV 15 years ago from where? CA of course - super high tax radically bankrupt, illegals infested - CA. Now he is offshore for his operations' management & became a Mexican dual citizen by living there mainly for 6 years in his ocean front place - so non-USA is the future of his company & one would suspect too many others.

Posted by C Love at March 20, 2009 7:04 PM

"The big challenge as we know though is that the Democrats & president are putting in place a debt-ridden, inferior, anti-business environment that means innovation here will have to find more favorable non-USA free enterprise climates as they mature various cash flow streams."

Let's not say anything please about President Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson, Senator Shelby et al during the last administration who were all Republicans that brought us to this great moment of disruption after having been given a surplus ran the deficit up the highest than any other administration ever.

Some breeding ground for free enterprise where banks are tight fist about lending and the likes of Goldman Sachs prevail.

That's just great for business! Bailing out on America is also so very patriotic. Country First for sure!

Many of C-Love's stories have a bit of a fairytale element to them and since we do not know what the "C" and the "Love" stand for we have no real ideal who's speaking. His whole existence as we know it could be a big fairytale, a big joke.

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 20, 2009 7:43 PM

"Fill your wardrobe with hair shirts?" Is this a generational thing or am I totally clueless? What are these so I can check and make sure I don't actually put one on and go out in public?

Posted by Terry Ransbury at March 20, 2009 9:26 PM

Ellis - the joke is on you for sure - it is all about you & the liberal Democrats - you are responsible even though you'd love to pass the buck in typical left wing low IQ fashion. Detroit is your history & legacy. Whereas I am all peace & love in a time of liberal mistakes & perversion. :>)

Posted by C Love at March 21, 2009 6:01 AM

C - I am literally laughing aloud at your latest. You're a funny man, too funny indeed! Speaking of perversion, some may see the faces of Mr. Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter as such -- all "righteous" Republicans.

By the way, I didn't qualify the joke. As our words are us, you yourself tend to be a joke. I have not stopped laughing.

Do you really want to talk about IQ's and Republicans? I thought Secretary of Defense Gates, a Republican of both administrations, made the distinction well between our former Republican president and our current brilliant Democratic one.

Hail to the Chief!

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 21, 2009 9:26 AM

C Love - Please remember that one of our comment ground rules is:
"No personal attacks, please. Disagree with ideas, but don't attack people."
Please limit your comments to the topic at hand. Any issue you might have with another commenter can be addressed outside this forum. Thanks.
(I would have addressed this with you via email, but you've yet to list a valid one.)

Posted by Shelley Dolley at March 21, 2009 9:50 AM

As many of you know, I am an Obama supporter--was and am. But that does not require me to drink the whole bucket of Koolaid. I simply want the President to balance the "feel your pain" stops in Elkhart with "how cool is this" stops in Houston at Methodist or Cambridge MA at MIT or a biotech startup or Palo Alto (or Bentonville). To visibly highlight the amazing stuff that's going on all over that needs accelerants along with the tough stuff that needs stiches and antibiotics.

Posted by tom peters at March 21, 2009 11:03 AM

Elkhart was well over a month ago. (feb 9)
He was on Leno this week and
before he went on Leno, he was at an electric car plant. Just hold in the Obama Koolaid for a year or so.
Not even 2 months have passed.
You held in the deregulation/greenspan koolaid
for more than 20 years.

Posted by dan at March 21, 2009 12:36 PM

"Just hold in the Obama Koolaid for a year or so.
Not even 2 months have passed."

dan - I appreciate your point here very much. But I must say because we are in such an extraordinary time the President may not be given the luxury of time in all matters. Who says life is fair? What will be important, however, is where we actually are in a year or two. I have concerns about not necessarily the President's tone, but the actions or lack thereof of his Treasury Secretary.

Again, your point above is appreciated. The American people remain behind our President, although the sole effort of some seems to be to defeat him before he even gets started. How patriotic is that?! Many of these guys aren't thinking about the country; they are thinking about their "illustrious" civil servant careers and their next campaign contributions.

By the way, the latter is true for Republicans and Democrats. Ugh!

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 21, 2009 1:54 PM

I don't know enough about economics to make a judgment on the Treasury Secretary. I know for a fact that some of the mathematics that is used to evaluate the situation we are in is actually based on equations developed during the Manhattan Project and the Apollo space program. These guys are dealing with the equivalent of rocket science.
I'm sure anyone who is not actually in the Treasury Secretary's shoes does not really understand the scope of the problem.
The President should be given the luxury of time.
At least 1 year. If we don't give him that much time, its on us if he fails. We hired him to do a job and we need to let him do it.
On Leno, he said being President is like being on American Idol except there are thousands of Simons.
I'm just saying I'm not a Simon.

Posted by dan at March 21, 2009 2:35 PM

The rocket science analogy made me laugh aloud, dan. Perhaps this is precisely the problem. All of this economic stuff is by far too complicated. But I think that many involved understood precisely what they were doing, as they walked away with billions in fees and the use of insurance companies as pass throughs. True transparency is greatly needed.

I am not a Simon either, though I think healthy debate and disagreement is necessary. There is a difference also between those who wish and plot for the President's failure and those who have a sincere difference of opinion. With regards to policy the Republicans by and large seem to simply be a Party of "no."

As I have said, President Obama could not have a bigger supporter.

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 21, 2009 3:17 PM

Sometimes you really need a rocket scientist.
Starting in the 1970's when defense money stopped funding large physics projects, people with phd's in physics started to get jobs in the finantial industry.
So it sounds funny, buts it true.

Posted by dan at March 21, 2009 5:44 PM

Suggest you read Lewis Lapham's curmudgeonly essay in the current Harper's. (For amusement, or perspective--no matter which.) He cites the historically appalling things that happen when there are too many smart people in the room--not just Bundy et al. in re Vietnam, but throughout history. Very interesting, even accounting for Lapham's biases--a staunch LC, Liberal Cynic.

Posted by tom peters at March 22, 2009 12:05 AM

Tom,

You mention Oracle favorably in this post. The same Oracle has been the biggest (in terms of $ value) and largest (in terms of number of companies) acquistion/merger player in the market. Their website http://www.oracle.com/corporate/acquisition.html lists 11 acquisitions in 2008 alone while there are multiple other companies which it has invested in. There are companies like BEA, Peoplesoft, Siebel which have been taken over by Oracle in the recent past.

You have never been much in favor of companies taking that trajectory - in your recent post about Westpac the same point is highlighted as well. In fact you have been vociferous in your opposition to the strategy Oracle is adopting:
http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=008579.php - "I guess I can tolerate the Big Mergers more if I just think about them as unassisted suicide."

So is there a change in belief for Oracle as they had a good quarter? Or is there some other message you want to convey?

Thanks,
Nitin
http://nitnblogs.blogspot.com

Posted by Nitin Goyal at March 22, 2009 12:58 AM

I am decidedly unsure of what time our President has to make the right decisions. I am more sure that appearances on Jay Leno, increasing bowling scores and an improving post game have almost almost nothing to do with building on the 142 million jobs base in the USA and restoring our confidence as a nation.

As for history, there is plenty of s*** on many shirttails. To wit:

"By expanding the types of loan that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur more banks to make loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings." NY Times September 30, 1999 Fannie Mae Eases Credit to Aid Mortgage Lending

We, quite simply, have suspended disbelief as a nation for over a decade. Hopefully my next glass of Kool-Aid will have aspirin in it.

Posted by David Porter at March 22, 2009 9:40 AM

"By expanding the types of loan that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur more banks to make loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings." NY Times September 30, 1999 Fannie Mae Eases Credit to Aid Mortgage Lending

Blame the poor!

Posted by dan at March 22, 2009 7:18 PM

We should always consider unintended consequences in our policies. The good intentions quickly became relaxed credit standards for flippers and speculators in growing markets. And, by the way, just because a mortgage lender was willing and able to provide someone with a $30,000 income an interest-only ARM on a $500K house does not mean that homebuyer should have purchased the home in the first place. Live according to your earnings not your yearnings. Hard to get sideways doing that.

Posted by David Porter at March 22, 2009 8:06 PM

You've got a point, but its not put us as deep as we are.
Can you say Credit Default Swaps?

Exactly what were the good intentions associated
with those?

For the past 30 years, I've been looking for Elvis and Welfare Queens Driving brand new Cadilacs.
Haven't found and instance of either one.

Posted by dan at March 22, 2009 8:24 PM

"For the past 30 years, I've been looking for Elvis and Welfare Queens Driving brand new Cadilacs.
Haven't found and instance of either one."

Right on! Was just at dinner with a friend who was talking about the crime in Detroit. Of course, I could not help but to bring up the crime that masks as contracts and credit default swaps on Wall Street and in Washington.

David - It's good to see you.

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 22, 2009 9:10 PM

It seems logical that street crime is driven to satisfy basic survival needs as well as, probably, some feeling of significance. Difficult to ascribe such motives to the criminals on Wall Street and beyond.

Back at you, Judith.

Posted by David Porter at March 22, 2009 9:23 PM

Anyone catch President Obama - the Buddah - on 60 minutes?
He confused Steve Croft because he broke out laughing as he was decribing all of the opposing forces he has to deal with.
If people can listen to this guy and not feel optomistic, they aren't really listening.

Posted by dan at March 22, 2009 9:32 PM

David - While you have aptly described some of the motives of street crimes, it is indeed very difficult to ascribe human logic to the likes of Bernie Madoff and some others in Washington and on Wall Street. This goes beyond greed and power.

We can start by calling many of these guys what they are--crooks and criminals. I recently watched a show on J. Edgar Hoover--'nough said! By the way, is blackmailing a crime? Perhaps the contribution of big business to campaigns too.

What these Wall Street guys have done the street criminals could never do i.e., bring the global economy to near collapse. Also, the Wall Street guys have cost us much more, though this is not meant by any means to excuse any criminal.

dan - I missed the "Budda" on 60 Minutes. :-) The only news show I watched today was Fareed Zakaria GPS.

It looks like Eliot Spitzer had to go down.

Posted by Judith Ellis at March 23, 2009 12:22 AM

Tom,

Howdy from sunny Austin, Texas. One comment to add to your post- on the comment of "venture-backed-startups". What is really interesting to see are not just the venture funded startups, but the sheer amount of bootstrapping startups that are pushing ahead in our present economy. At Tech Ranch Austin (a venture accelerator) we continue to see large numbers of entrepreneurs that recognize that investors are holding back from making investments in this market, yet entrepreneurs are undaunted in building their businesses.

Moreover, as these entrepreneurs build their businesses through bootstrapping them up, we're seeing a crop of companies that are much more mature in being prepared for later investment.

On your next trip to Austin, let me show you what I mean with some of Austin's star bootstrapping and venture backed startup entrepreneurs.

Safe travels,
Kevin Koym

Posted by Kevin Koym at March 24, 2009 7:20 PM