December 2011
1 post
One Sliver of the Economic Reorganization of the...
Incredible article on one corner of the new economic structure of the world that is emerging in Wired this month.
From that article this amazing statistic - “small, illegal, off-the-books businesses…employ fully half the world’s workers. [These businesses are] unregistered, unregulated, untaxed, but not outright criminal—I don’t include gun-running, drugs, human trafficking, or things...
July 2011
1 post
The Different Types of Elected Officials
I served on the West Lafayette, IN City Council for just about two years. That may seem like a relatively limited amount of experience as an elected official, but like any job, you learn the most in the first few months on the job.
One of the lessons I did not anticipate but learned very quickly, is that not everyone runs for office for the same reasons, or even any of the reasons elected...
June 2011
1 post
Please Don't Call Your Elected Official -...
“do everyone a favor and call your elected officials in Washington” it is a common refrain, and one repeated this morning by top VC blogger Fred Wilson, but I disagree.
Don’t call it does nothing. Zero, zip, nada, nothing
We think it does, because every advocacy group out there pounds it into our head: “call, call, call” But they are doing this not because they...
May 2011
2 posts
West Lafayette Electoral Predictions
Local elections are different from national elections, in that they are in reality often decided long, long before Election Day. In local races, there is rarely enough money spent, effort put in, or media coverage to really change the race in any meaningful way, so elections are often decided by the strengths and weaknesses of candidates the moment they sign up to put their name on the ballot.
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Separating the Trends from the Bubble
This morning Fred Wilson, posted about the megatrends going on in the VC world right now, and then argued that the current exuberance is ok because a lot of value will be created. I disagree that the two are linked here is why:
I agree with the two main points of this post, that this is a frothy time and that there are major “megatrends” going on - what I disagree on is that the two...