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The only good thing about times like this…

…is that the comedy is good.

“You see, what happened is that we lent the money you gave us to Joe and the Kennedys and Mrs Maklin to buy houses with, and then we lent them some more money to buy a second property on a buy-to-let basis and a third rental property too and then we lent them some more money against the value of all the various properties that wed lent them the money to buy, so they could go on a nice holiday.

In fact the money youd deposited with us wasnt enough for all the money wed encouraged them to borrow, so we packaged up their mortgages and sold them on to some other people so that wed have more money to lend more people to buy more houses.

Are you with me?”

BBC – Today

US

Go for it Martin…

“The desire of Americans to have tailor made justice and tailor made medicine has made American businesses weak. American legal and medical costs are so much higher than those of other economies that the tremendous advantage that US businesses have in terms of the drive and creativity of its people is lost in legal uncertainties, lack of standards, and a medical system that is both unfair and tremendously expensive. Moreover the results are appalling: USA is a less just society than Europe or Japan and a less healthy nation. US longevity is trailing way behind that of the EU and Japan.”

Is America´s success a thing of the past?

US

Seeing the future…

Next weekend on the political talk shows, someone will say “nobody foresaw this crisis”. It’s the same excuse used for the morgage crisis; and just like the morgage crisis, it’s untrue. 

“The practice is very different, as Warren Buffett worked out years ago. His 2002 letter to his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders made headlines by condemning derivatives as “financial weapons of mass destruction”. The passage comprised only a couple of pages of the lengthy letter but read it again today – it is the best guide to understanding how Wall Street has arrived at today’s mess.”

Wall Street crisis: Is this the death knell for derivatives? |Business |guardian.co.uk

Politics, UK

That’s got to hurt someone…

Mainly, right now, it’s just a forest of figures: 12% wiped off property prices in a year; new mortgage approvals down by 71%; house sales at a 30-year-low; bank lending to homebuyers down by £12.1bn; one in seven homeowners in negative equity within two years; repossession orders up 24%; 45,000 families set to lose their homes.

Jon Henley on Britain’s attitude to bricks and mortar | Money | The Guardian

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One world…

When we look at market share in IT we often quote global figures that hide massive geographic differences. Also we believe that what we use is the global standard. AOL Messenger is a good example of this, if you’re in the US everyone uses it (or almost).

However, look at the figures by country and the picture is very different.

global_im_market_share_stats_july_08.pdf (application/pdf Object)

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It’s Netscape all over again…

“Today, it’s clear to me why I’ve felt this way: Google isn’t interested at all in “being a citizen” or part of a platform, they are interested in being the platform. If you look at the way Chrome is designed, it’s not so much designed to be a good browser, as much as it is a good operating system for web applications.”

Google Chrome and Gears – Unweary

Random thoughts…