You can learn what ”credit default swaps” are, and how they brought down AIG, in 10 minutes, thanks to Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch. What’s particularly clever is the car insurance analogy, which buys us some quick intuition into a complex topic.
In the book, we discuss the simple trade models that teachers use in Econ 101 — e.g., […]
Archive for October, 2008
The collapse of AIG in 10 min
Published by October 28th, 2008 in General, Simplicity, Concreteness and Story. 0 CommentsA trillion in Iraq
Published by October 28th, 2008 in General, Unexpectedness and Concreteness. 2 CommentsAs reported by Duncan Mansfield, a Knoxvillian named Rob Simpson was indignant when he heard that the cost of war in Iraq had hit $1 trillion. So he spent a year of his life putting that cost in perspective in a book called What We Could Have Done With the Money: 50 Ways To Spend […]
OK, I’m repeating myself, but I really have to insist that you drop whatever it is you’re doing and go listen to an episode of This American Life called the “Giant Pool of Money,” which explains the subprime mortgage crisis in the stickiest possible terms. It’s journalism meets education meets entertainment. If the words “subprime” and ”mortgage” […]
From a NYT editorial:
The Environmental Working Group released a report Wednesday that charged that some bottled waters were “no different than tap water.” And it found fertilizer residue, pain medication and other chemicals in some major brands.
While a lot of bottled water may be as pure as promised in those alluring commercials, the real problem […]
Check out this inspired online promotion for the Gonzaga U women’s basketball team. Make sure to enter your correct phone number (they don’t store the info). Absolutely ingenious, and it didn’t cost a fortune. (I wanted to buy season tix afterwards, even though I’m about 2,600 miles from Spokane…)
Maybe this will help. (My hat is off to the creators.)
The Ad Council’s latest (from a Stuart Elliott piece in the NYT):
The campaign, created pro bono by the New York office of Arnold Worldwide, urges an end to using derogatory language, particularly labeling anything deemed negative or unpleasant as “so gay.” That is underlined by the theme of the campaign: “When you say, ‘That’s so […]
Got stressed-out employees? Don’t bother lightening their load; don’t send them home early; don’t give them more control over their work. Hell, don’t even hire the “office masseuse” for a gratuitous 30-min visit.
Just feed them gum.
You can’t make this stuff up. From a spam press release:
“Time pressures, deadlines, office politics and bosses are the main causes […]
From a Chris Gourlay article on the rising popularity of the mini-cow — i.e., one ”that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass “mown” and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer” — comes this sidebar […]
