Happy New Year!
This is a great time to look back, as well as forward. Here are some links you may find interesting:
Time magazine reviews the top 10 financial collapses of 2008 here.
Professor Steven M. Davidoff ("The Deal Professor") blogs about what deal-makers learned from 2008 here.
Over at "The Race to the Bottom," they are blogging about (among other things–so you may have to scroll down) their annual review of the most anti-shareholder, anti-plaintiff decisions by the Delaware courts in 2008.
(Speaking of year-end lists, hours of potential fun await you here.)
Professor Gordon Smith blogs about "The Weekend That Wall Street Died" here. My own take is that reports of Wall Street's demise have been greatly exaggerated (to the extent we can even agree on what "Wall Street" is) and that before too long it will rise from the ashes stronger (and more dangerous) than before due to consolidation and the government's commitment to "free" the market again as soon as possible.
But perhaps this cartoon sums thing up best.
All the best to you and yours in the coming year.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I would hope that the coming year brings us the death of the deregulation, "free" trade paradigm. If we continue to favor the financial sector at the expense of manufacturing, could we at least shift the tax burden accordingly?
I would hope that the coming year brings us less negativity and hopelessness, especially from the the media and the liberal side of the government.
Quick f/u: You can find Francis G.X. Pileggi's rebuttal to Professor Brown's list of the most anti-shareholder decisions from Delaware here:
http://www.delawarelitigation.com/2009/01/articles/commentary/top-5-delaware-cases-from-2008rebuttal-to-professor-brown/
Average Joe…..if you think the media is going to be anything other than what it has become you have entertained wishful thinking….there is no need to feel hopeless in this great country of ours……the American attention span is too short to stay hopeless very long……the American spirit has taken a short break….it is only latent…..this idea of bringing back manufacturing is not in the cards…….it's time for other countries to experience the great growth we have had with manufacturing…..we are in the information age and the quicker we accept this 'new wave' the better…..our schools must fulfil their duty in providing the information for our kids to move forward…….and as parents, grandparents and great-grandparents we need to lead the way, with confidence and intelligence…..Alice
RE: "…..this idea of bringing back manufacturing is not in the cards…….it's time for other countries to experience the great growth we have had with manufacturing….."
While I tend to agree with the overall sentimentalism of the former posters to this topic, a simple fact is that the USA cannot abandon "production" and expect to make a national living by shuffling bits, bytes, and thoughts around the globe. The challenge is to pick our "products" more carefully and quit pretending that we can do everything better than every other region/country. We need to develop an 'agile production model' that can take a new product from concept thru prototype in less than twelve months. There needs to be fewer competing design/build firms and more 'centers of production excellance' that only do what they do best.
I'm getting on a long winded tangent so I'll let my point rest with this: either we quit competing with ourselves or we CAN kiss our production lines goodbye.