We Must Preserve The Earth’s Dwindling Resources (For My Five Children)

The Onion just wrote a fantastic satire piece on irresponsible population that just you have to read:

We Must Preserve The Earth’s Dwindling Resources For My Five Children

WaMu’s Precipitous Fall

I thought financial stocks were cheap in February/March, but some have sold off quite a bit more since.

Patrick Kavanagh just told me to check Washington Mutual’s share price out, and OUCH, has it been hurt!

WaMu is down more than 88% in the last 12 months, which means that if you were to buy shares now for $4.80, and WaMu was to recover to its 52-week-high (around $43), you’d be rewarded with a ~900% return.

To accomplish this, WaMu would have to avoid bankruptcy, not get bought-out on the cheap by a competitor, cut costs, and improve the quality of its loan portfolio (easier said than done).

After this sobering realization, this hypothetical 900% gain seems extremely unlikely.

Greece Doesn’t Like The Tax Man

Living in Greece, I’ve discovered some things that could use improvement.  One pet peeve of mine is that businesses rarely accept anything but cash.  Why?  Is Greece stuck in the stone-age?

The answer is a little bit more complicated.

To make a long story short, Greeks prefer cash to prevent tax authorities from seeing that revenue, effectively lowering their tax bill.

Here’s the long story:

Greece is a country rife with corruption, and tax evasion is a national sport.  It’s estimated that between 28 and 35 percent of Greek GDP goes unreported (amounding to 70 billion euros).  25% of Greeks reportedly live on less than 22 euros a day, yet posh cafés are booked full despite selling the most expensive coffee in Europe (espresso shots often sell for 4 euros/$6.20).

Greek income clocks in at 80% of the Euro-zone average, hardly a good showing.  But if the underground economy of unreported business was counted, Greek income per-capita would fall ahead of the Euro-zone average.

This pervasive tax evasion gives consumers more spending money, but it really hurts the public coffers.  Tax revenues could conceivable double with more accurate reporting, leading to a reduction of public debt, increased spending on education, and more money for research and development.

You Decide

Are these kids from Keratsini young alcoholics, or young recyclers?

Voodoo, Alienware Face Off

Computer gaming kiddies armed with their parents’ American Express cards gobbled up Alienware’s aggressive designs over the last decade, turning the upstart into a formidable force in the computer industry — enough of a competitor that Dell scooped it up two years ago in a deal of undisclosed size.

That was a smart decision for Dell. Dell largely serves the corporate computer market, and its designs don’t appeal to any niches outside of corporate IT departments. Alienware, on the other hand, has captivated gamers with deep pockets, who don’t want the regular grey box setups that plague American homes and businesses.

Alienware has some problems, however. It’s known for manufacturing errors and shoddy customer service. A friend of mine, James (who is the IDEAL Alienware customer, I might add), has ordered two Alienware desktops, and has had problems both times. The second computer had the wrong part (perhaps it was a graphics card, or an incorrect memory configuration/size). When he called in to complain, Alienware told him he could pay his own way to send the machine in and pay for an upgrade, even though Alienware was responsible for messing up his machine’s configuration in the first place!  His experience is not alone; a survey of computer forums shows widespread discontent with Alienware’s customer service.

Alienware also has an image problem.  Real gamers won’t buy their machines.  Gamers like to tout their technical abilities; this includes building their own computers from generic parts, often on the cheap. Alienware computers don’t give you the pride of building your own computer, and they also cost significantly more.  It’s often been said that Dell’s XPS line of performance computers outperform Alienware, and at a much lower price. None of these revelations bode well for Alienware in the long term. Their ideal customer is rich, and new to gaming. Once initiated into the gaming community, one might be ostracized for ownng an Alienware and not having built their own for less.

Alienware does have pretty solid, differentiated designs. But their designs haven’t evolved enough to validate their additional cost.

Enter Voodoo.

They’re in the same market segment as Alienware, but they’re doing things differently: they’re doing everything right.

Their designs are evolving - not stagnating. Check out the design of their new desktop, the Omen:

It’s understated, modern, sharp, functional, and different.  It positions the internal components 90 degrees off, allowing physics (heat rises, people!) to cool the internals and improve performance without resorting to loud internal fans.

Another innovative product they have is the Envy 133 notebook.  It’s super-thin, and is the only notebook that really challenges Apple’s innovative design.

The trackpad is flush with the palmrest. Its power brick doubles as a WiFi hotspot.  How many laptops can claim that?

With regard to customer relations, Voodoo also has it down.  Their founder blogs to the gaming community, and Voodoo itself has a pretty legitimate blog that leaks photos and specs of their exciting new products.  It’s one of the few corporate blogs that people actually read, because the blog isn’t just products, it also chronicles the steps the company takes to stay in touch with the gaming community.  Voodoo sends teams armed with prizes and demos to gaming conventions, and they really keep consumers content (and happily engaged with new Voodoo products).

Voodoo’s management really has its head on straight, and stands as a beacon of hope for executive managers and entrepreneurs alike, no matter the industry.

Mini Bears Roam Greece

We ran into this little animal inside the Starbucks in Varkiza:

(click to enlarge)

Unbelievable Wealth

I thought London was wealthy — here in Athens, it’s out of control!  Last night, we went to a nightclub called Island with Patrick and Pavlos to celebrate the American College of Greece’s commencement, and the parking lot consisted of a Ferrari F430 Spyder, a Ferrari 599, a Porsche Turbo, an Audi R8, an Aston Martin DB V8, a BMW M6, various Range Rovers, Lotuses; the list goes on.  I’ve never seen any parking lot quite like it (though I imagine car meetups in Dubai would blow this out of the water!)

Here are the comparatively humble shots of London’s supercars from our visit last week:

New Phrase Learned!

Only in Greece:

“Where’s the souvlaki stand?  Let me grab my cigarettes…”

Translation: “Let’s get out of here.”

Try using that the next time you finish up at work and see if your less-Hellenic colleagues pick up on it.

Time To Buy Goldman Sachs?

Here are some ideas I’ve been thinking through lately (full disclosure: I have no position in any of the following firms unless specifically noted)

1. Buy Goldman Sachs?
WHY: All of the other investment banks had tons more exposure to debt writedowns than did Goldman, and those banks also managed the crisis poorly once it arrived. Investors are running away from investment banks that teeter near insolvency (Lehman Brothers, et cetera) due to the counterparty risk (if your broker goes bankrupt, your trades with them may be worthless). This means that investors might flock to safe, solvent brokerages, like Goldman Sachs. A price/earnings of less than 9 makes the bank look even more palatable.

2. Short Airlines?
WHY: Oil prices are sky-high. If the airlines raise fares, they’ll find themselves flying empty planes. Also, airlines are particularly f***ed when it comes to cost-cutting: they can’t easily scale-down the size of their fleets during downturns, and the high-fixed costs of operating a fleet equal a noose around their necks as costs rise. (Full disclosure: I’m short more than one airline).

3. Go long Brazil?
WHY: Brazil has the highest ethanol usage of any nation, allowing it to relieve the pain of skyrocketing oil prices. Their sugar ethanol capacity is unmatched, providing both an opportunity and a recession-reducer.

4. Go long China?
WHY: The iShares Xinhua China 25 Index is down more than 36% since its high last fall. In a global recession, China’s low labor costs might effectively pull it through unscathed. (Full disclosure: I’m holding a long position in several Chinese ETFs).

What assets do you think will outperform in the next year or two?

Seattle Photoroll

Sometimes, living in a place makes one oblivious to the beauty that surrounds them — I tried to forget about that and take some shots of a beautiful Seattle day this last week:

Zango Chokes

I’m a world away from Seattle, but reading this jewel of a news story from the Seattle P-I really made me perk up this evening:

Massive layoffs at pop-up advertiser Zango

Zango, formerly 180solutions, has received criticism over the years for installing its ad-serving software without computer users’ knowledge and making the uninstall process difficult to navigate. In 2006, the company settled a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission and agreed to pay a $3 million fine.

Since that time the company has made a series of acquisitions to broaden its focus, including New York-based HotBar…

I’ve hated this firm from day one, and pray for its demise in the coming months.

US Still Tops In Innovation

I’m not very bullish on Europe, as I’ve previously pointed out.

Today, I’ve come upon some more evidence that the US is the engine of global capitalism/innovation/research: according to the RAND Corporation (a non-profit thinktank), 40% of global research and development spending occurs in the United States.  The US outspends the EU (which has a larger population than the US).

The number of science and technology graduates is slowly increasing, but inflation-adjusted S&T salaries haven’t increased much in 20 years, leading many American students to believe that S&T jobs don’t pay well.  The study reasons that the US is at the forefront of R&D, but needs to pay grads higher salaries to gain more student cachet, and needs to pump up spending to maintain our dominance.

RAND study: US still #1 in R&D, but sees areas of concern

Hedge Fund Legitimacy

As some of you might have heard, Samuel Israel bilked investors for $400M in a ponzi-scheme posing as a hedge fund.  He recently faked his own death only days before he was due to begin his 20-year jail sentence.  He’s on the run and considered armed and dangerous.

His victims could’ve protected themselves if they’d only looked out for a few red flags:

His business card has an AOL email address.

Obviously, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

When investing in hedge funds, you should demand professional quarterly audits to confirm the performance claimed by the manager, and you should call the auditor to confirm the numbers given to you by the fund are accurate.  Also, have your lawyer scrutinize the offering document and add considerations to protect you against fraud.

Work-Related Stress

Looks like reporting on the dog-eat-dog world of politics has taken its toll, RIP:

NBC’s Tim Russert Dies

Cold War Tensions Continue

With Iran and Israel on the brink of war and the resurgence of an aggressive Russia, the world doesn’t look so stable anymore.

Considering that Russia supplies Iran with its nuclear materials, and that Russia often defends Iran in matters discussed at the UN, it’s not so hard to imagine Russia defending Iran militarily in a war against the United States and Israel. Russia was poised to enter the 1973 Yom Kippur war in support or Syria and Egypt, and was only kept out of it due to the threat of fully armed American B52s circling Greenland as a deterrent.

Looking on Wikipedia at some of the bombers that might be used, I came upon the Tupolev Tu-95, NATO codename Bear. It was introduced in 1952 — hardly a new plane — yet it’s projected to serve Russia in the long-range bomber role until 2040. The American B52 Stratofortress, which is just as outdated, will be retired from service at the same time.

Here is a surprising list of NATO encounters with the Tu-95, listing only events in this decade:

* April 2002 — two Tu-95s flew within 37 miles of Alaska, were intercepted by two F-15s.
* January 2004 — a Tu-95a flew over the USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan.
* 29 September 2006 — NORAD scrambled Canadian CF-18s from CFB Cold Lake in Central Alberta and American F-15s out of an airbase in Alaska to intercept a number of the Russian Tu-95 Bear heavy bombers participating in an annual Russian air force exercise near the coast of Alaska and Canada.
* May 2007 — the Royal Air Force scrambled two Tornado fighters from RAF Leuchars in Scotland to intercept a Tu-95 observing the Royal Navy exercise Neptune Warrior.
* 17 July 2007 — two Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16s (from Bodø, Norway) and subsequently two RAF Tornados (from RAF Leeming, England) intercepted two Tu-95s as they made their way down the Norwegian coast towards Scotland.
* August 2007 — two Tu-95s flew towards the U.S. base on Guam, were intercepted by U.S. fighter planes.
* 17 August 2007 — two RAF Typhoons were launched to intercept a Tu-95 that had veered towards British airspace over the North Sea. The Tu-95 later turned away.
* 5 September 2007 — six Russian bombers were intercepted by six F-15s from Elmendorf Air Force Base, 50 miles from the northwest coast of Alaska.
* 6 September 2007 — Two Norwegian F-16s tracked eight Tu-95s over the Barents Sea as they neared Norwegian airspace. The bombers flew past Norway and continued towards British airspace where four RAF Tornados were scrambled from RAF Leeming before the Russian planes turned away. It was the same day that Canadian Forces’ CF-18s were scrambled to escort Russian Tu-95s outside Canadian airspace near Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
* November 2007 — F-22A Raptors performed their first intercept of two Russian Tu-95s in Alaska.
* 9 February 2008 — 24 aircraft including F-15 Eagles and an E-767 AWAC from the Japanese air force scrambled and gave “a notice, then a warning and another a notice and a warning,” as a Russian Tu-95 violated the country’s airspace during a three-minute flyover of Sofugan in the Izu Islands. Japan formally issued a strong protest, demanded prevention of future incidents and presented a protest note to the Russian Embassy in Tokyo. Russian officials conversely stated that four Tupolev Tu-95 bombers completed a 10-hour mission over the Pacific on Saturday, but “our strategic aviation planes did not violate Japanese airspace.”
* 9 February 2008 — in the Western Pacific, a Russian Tu-95 flew over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz twice, at a low altitude of about 2,000 feet, while another bomber circled about 58 miles out. Four American F/A-18 fighters were scrambled to track the bombers.
* 5 March 2008 — Off the eastern coast of South Korea, a Russian Tu-95 flew over USS Nimitz and was intercepted by two F/A-18 Hornets at an altitude of 2,000 feet at a distance of about 3-5 miles. Four South Korean F-16s were also scrambled to intercept the bomber.
* 26 March 2008 — Off the coast of Alaska, Two U.S. Air Force F-15s escorted two Russian Bear long-range bombers out of an air exclusion zone.
* 24 April 2008 — Two Tu-95 bombers from Engels-2, along with two Il-78 refueling aircraft, were escorted by NATO Tornados and F-16s over the Atlantic.
* 13 May 2008 — Two Tu-95 bombers from Ukrainka air base conducted a 20 hour patrol over the Arctic Ocean, CF-18s intercepted them as the bombers headed towards the Alaskan airspace.

Now, these are only the reported incidents with this particular Russian aircraft. Imagine all the other potential incidents involving fighters or naval assets! Also, notice how Russian incursions into others’ sovereign airspace (or close calls) have increased markedly since 2007. 2002, 2004, and 2006 saw only one incident each, while 2007 showed 7 incidents, and 2008 has already produced 6, and the year isn’t yet halfway over!

It seems somebody is trying to tout their air power.

Israel and Iran Battle It Out

Thomas Friedman writes something worthwhile!:

People vs. Dinosaurs - The New York Times

…in the first quarter of 2008, the top four economies after America in attracting venture capital for start-ups were: Europe $1.53 billion, China $719 million, Israel $572 million and India $99 million [...]. Israel, with 7 million people, attracted almost as much as China, with 1.3 billion.

So who will be here in 20 years? [...] I’ll bet on the people who bet on their people — not the people who bet on dead dinosaurs.

(Thanks for linking to this article first, Barak).

Apple Stock Tanks

The herd that is the market has spoken: Apple is not invincible on launch day. Apple launched the iPhone 2.0 as well as some innovative software and services, only to see its stock slump by over 4%, to $176.

To some, this was the expected result:

5/12/08 15:27, Cameron Newland wrote:
If everyone is buying/holding [in advance] to profit from the buying surge at the press release for the 3G iPhone, and all of us are going to sell during the price pop, isn’t the stock really going to tank on high-volume on announcement day? Self-fulfilling prophecy.

Others seemed to think that Apple’s stock, invincible as ever, would be the “next big thing”, breaking $250/share after the announcement (as I write this, Apple stock is hovering around $180/share):

5/12/08 17:19, Clark Kent wrote:
Guys, wake up and smell the coffee! The 3G iPhone is going to be announced tomorrow or next Tuesday [his prediction proved to be false].
AND YOU THINK AAPL will plunge?

I think you greedy sh*ts should all sell your AAPL today and get back
to under your rocks.

YOU ARE THE PROBLEM WHY AAPL always go up and down. You are the herd
and you stampede on fear and hear say.

Go hide under some rock, you do not deserve to be AAPL holders.

Steve and Apple are great companies and they are too many times the
victims of speculators, market manipulating anal-ysts and run-
away_while_I_can self-fulfilling prophecy traders like yourselves. [...]

I’ll be laughing my way to the Bank when AAPL goes upwards of $250
overnight AH AH AH AH

AH AH AH AH, indeed.

Later, this same user, “Clark Kent”, reasons that because television personality Jim Cramer suggests not to sell Apple on announcement day, that we should blindly follow his advice. That notion runs counter to the very effective strategy of doing THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what Jim Cramer recommends. Remember that Jim Cramer famously advised his viewers to hold on to laggard Bear Stearns at $63/share earlier this year, less than a week before the struggling bank was bought by JPMorgan for $2/share. Why, then, should we heed his advice?

Both Jim Cramer and this “Clark Kent” character are emotionally attached to their favored stocks. Their mistake ensures they’ll never stop to consider what everyone else (the market) thinks, and in the end their ignorance will only make them poorer. Some people never learn…

Millennials Go To Work

My generation, the millennials, are well-traveled, internationally aware, and better prepared than any previous generation of humans to hit the ground running in their chosen occupation. It’s been stressed to millennials that they need to take extra courses, volunteer, and distinguish themselves in heavy competition for entrance into the top schools and jobs. An undergraduate degree and a single summer internship just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Read the fantastic (albeit long) article surveying this new breed of job-seeker at the Washington Post:

The Amazing Adventures Of Supergrad

Greg Nickels’ Wasted Effort

After the unfortunate shooting (luckily non-fatal) that occurred at Seattle’s Folklife Festival, the mayor is trying to do something in response, and solely for the purpose of taking credit for it to boost his political support.  His proposed order has no teeth, and is actually illegal.

The mayor plans to announce an executive order restricting concealed weapons on city property, including parks.  Executive orders are directives to city departments. They don’t actually apply to the general public, instead acting as advice to city employees. The order is unenforceable, because it contradicts state firearms laws, which take precedence over contradictory city/county laws.

If the order doesn’t apply to the general public, why even proclaim it?  If you introduce a policy that is in violation of state law, and is meaningless and unenforceable, why go through with it?

Mayor Nickels is looking for support, and will seemingly do anything for good press.  I’m not so easily fooled.

The mayor should spend his time addressing real problems and innovating a better city, not signing illegal, contradictory executive orders that don’t change a thing.

Read more over at the P-I:

City to limit concealed weapons

Obama (On A Leash)

Barack Obama has the world and much of America entranced:

The German government’s coordinator on U.S. relations, Karsten Voigt, said many Germans “find (Obama’s) mixture of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy very attractive.”

But what will he do once in power?

We’ve seen promises before, and we’ve seen them broken. Featuring strongly in memory was George H. W. Bush, who promised “READ MY LIPS: no new taxes!” and promptly reneged, raising taxes upon becoming President.

Barack Obama has the fanfare and the support, but he’s going to need to implement the policies to ensure America is best positioned to innovate and compete globally, to ensure that all citizens have quality healthcare, to ensure that America has the best education system available, and to do all this while bringing the federal budget under control. He’s going to need to reduce (or control) government spending, but he’ll have to keep taxes low for the middle class, and for businesses.

To ensure that Mr. Obama does a good job as chief executive of the nation, voters and the media will have to hold him accountable. We should give no free passes like those given to the seemingly-angelic Tony Blair upon his election. Perhaps an opinionated electorate and media demanding immediate accountability will be the only powers that can keep this Democrat on a leash. After all, Bill Clinton, possibly the most successful Democrat President in the five decades, accomplished what he did because he was checked by uncompromising Republican-controlled Congress.

Maybe we should just put every new President on a leash right out of the gate. It would sure keep them from darting-off to the extremes of partisanship.

World welcomes Obama win - AP
Excitement about Obama spreads around the world - AP

Tags: barack obama, fiscal responsibility, leash, obama, president, president obama

Intel Wants LTE Dead

The two competing fourth-generation high-speed wireless technologies, WiMax and LTE, are prepared for war. Intel is decidedly behind WiMax, having committed to building WiMax into its next generation of chipsets for computers large and small. Intel has also financially backed Bellevue-based Clearwire, which is rolling out WiMax in the US, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, and Mexico.

The cellular carriers, AT&T and Verizon included (as well as myriad players all over the world) have committed to LTE (Long Term Evolution), a superfast wireless network standard primarily to be used for voice but also for superfast data and video.

Basically, WiMax is going to get massacred.

Each technology will have its own installed base of customers to market to. With LTE, you’ve got hundreds of millions of cellphone customers, and the networks will be rolling out some LTE-compatible devices as early as 2009. People carry their cellphones with them everywhere, so why not just use the high-speed data in the device you already carry?

Currently, WiMax has no installed user base. They’re taking a different tack, and trying to ensure that WiMax comes built-in on all new laptops. They’re hoping that WiMax becomes as ubiquitous as WiFi has. That’s a long-shot. Remember that it took 6-7 years from its broad introduction in 1999 for WiFi to become standard on most laptops.

LTE already has hundreds of millions of customers waiting in the wings, many of them with contracts to stay with that particular carrier. WiMax has no broad customer base to speak of, and its poster-child Clearwire has already encountered difficulty trying to hawk wireless broadband to an unwilling populace. The competition on price that cable internet offers is just too strong for Clearwire to defeat, and Clearwire’s slow speeds compared to fiber-optics (Verizon’s FiOS, for instance) won’t win it any converts at the high-end of the market.

Intel realizes that WiMax is dead in just about any country that already has cable/fiber infrastructure. Now, they want a truce. Intel wants WiMax to MERGE with LTE so that they don’t compete against one another.

It’s too bad such a merger won’t ever happen. Sorry, Intel, you’ve already backed a horse — the wrong one.

Intel seeks wireless unification - BBC

MacBook Deal

Apple has a new offer for Education purchases (students and faculty): a free iPod Touch 8GB with purchase of a new Mac computer. For instance, buying a MacBook ($999 with Education Discount) comes with a free printer ($100 value, rebate) and a free iPod Touch ($299, rebate). You get your rebates for the printer and iPod within 8 weeks, according to the offer details, and if you submit your rebate online, at http://www.apple.com/promo , your rebate(s) will be sent out within 3-5 days!

This deal means that you could reasonably sell the free iPod touch on Ebay for approximately $225, sell the printer for $40, effectively making your MacBook cost only $735 (a savings of $364, or 33% off the normal price of $1099, which non-students pay).

Previously, the free iPod deal was restricted to iPod Nanos or iPod shuffles, which were worth much less than the 8GB iPod touch in the current offer.

I’ve already got a Black MacBook, but I bought another MacBook today just to get this deal. I suggest you do the same. (Tip: Oregon/Alberta buyers with ID don’t pay sales tax!)

Tags: apple, deal, deals, ipod, ipod touch, macbook, students

Disappointment and Hope

Disappointments:

Vladimir Putin has extinguished opposition voices from television, including political humorists. [IHT]

Huge Chávez is stealing an idea from George Orwell by overhauling two intelligence agencies and instituting measures that will force citizens to inform on one another to avoid prison terms. Unfortunately, both new intelligence agencies are directly under his control, which doesn’t bode well for separation of powers. [IHT]

Hope:

Bono has called for the creation of a United States of Africa, saying that a pan-continental identity would serve as a catalyst for resolving its conflicts. It would mark a step in the right direction but doesn’t go far enough: Africa needs a common language, an embrace of science and education, and a shot of western parliamentary democracy. [Agence France Presse]

Suicidal Centi-Millionaire

Jim Clark was a quiet, geeky engineer with poor social skills.  He invented the Geometry Engine, which brought computer graphics a giant step forward and was the basis for the success of his company, Silicon Graphics.  Glenn Mueller was a venture capital investor; the man who funded Jim Clark’s dream company and consequently milked Clark of his ownership stake, to the point that founder Clark controlled only 5% of his own company and his reigns were taken away.

Clark plotted his revenge from inside Silicon Graphics.  He pioneered the next big idea, interactive TV, along with Time Warner Cable.  When the Silicon Graphics CEO took all the credit, it was the final straw, and Clark left Silicon Graphics.

His new idea: to defeat Silicon Graphics’ interactive TV with the internet-connected computer.  He then founded Netscape to do just that.

Silicon Valley venture capitalists wanted a piece of the company.  Jim Clark let a select few invest in Netscape, but not Glenn Mueller, who had milked Clark of his ever-so-precious ownership once before and became a centi-millionaire in the process.  Mueller called again and again, but Clark just wouldn’t budge.  Mueller wasn’t going to get a single share of Netscape.  He’d missed the boat on the next big thing, and he knew it.

The day Netscape was incorporated, Mueller was on his yacht off Cabo San Lucas.  He picked up a gun and shot himself through the head.

The Little Creepy Crawlers Who Will Eat You In The Night - Michael Lewis for the New York Times

Heath Ledger’s Genius Girl

The late Heath Ledger’s fianceé, Michelle Williams, is much more than an accomplished actress. After emancipating herself from her parents at the age of 15, she showed promise in her father’s occupation: stock and futures trading. In 1997 at the age of 16, she won the Robbins World Cup Trading Championship, as her father had done ten years earlier. She turned $10,000 into $110,000 over the course of a year, the fourth highest return in the history of the competition (her father Larry’s being the highest at ~$1,100,000). She then continued her acting career, landing roles in TV’s Dawson’s Creek and, notably, Brokeback Mountain.

Her father Larry is currently in Australia, fighting his extradition to America on charges of tax evasion. He maintains his innocence.

Europe Lags

I’ve never been very bullish on Europe’s economy, due to the built-in handicaps that they have. Europe lacks a common language, has a workforce used to working less and vacationing more, and there’s a certain cultural sensitivity that stunts progress such as new real estate developments (they’re not willing to demolish an ancient building to build a potentially more-useful skyscraper, for instance).

The Association of European Chambers of Commerce in Brussels has just warned that the trans-Atlantic gap has widened further over the last five years by all key measures.

The EU’s overall employment rate was still stuck at levels attained by the United States in 1978, chiefly due to an incentive structure that discourages women from working and prompts early retirement by those in their fifties.

Doesn’t look too good for Europe, at least from a competitiveness standpoint.

Read more at the Daily Telegraph:

Europe ‘needs 75 years’ to catch US