Day: September 14, 2013

Book Review: The Year Without Pants

Book Review: The Year Without Pants

Posted on by David Merkel

I debated whether to review this book or not.? But I have read the whole book, and I can tell you that it is a great book.? The internet has changed the terms of work for many, and for many programmers they can work where they like.

The author has written many books, and he was invited by WordPress to be a leader of a team inside WordPress.? This tale describes how a guy who used to work for Microsoft could succeed in an unstructured environment like WordPress.

During his tenure, his team created great products for users, like Jetpack, and a consistent comment system.

The title of the book stems from the idea? that bloggers write in their pajamas — they don’t wear pants.? But WordPress powers over 20% of the websites of the internet.? It is a quiet and significant power over the internet.

The book deals with the culture of WordPress, the challenges of offering software versus offering a website, and more.? The creation of Jetpack, and a new comments system occupy a large portion of the book.

Only non-local businesses can benefit from this book.? Most businesses require people to be together regularly.? The book overstates that it is the future of work.? Being local is a big thing, particularly when services are personal, or when transport costs are high.

Quibbles

There are a few grammar errors in the book; it could have used a better editor.? Was there an editor?

Who would benefit from this book: Anyone trying to understand how to manage a dispersed workforce would benefit from this book.? If you want to, you can buy it here: The Year Without Pants.

Full disclosure: The publisher sent me the book after asking me if I wanted it.

If you enter Amazon through my site, and you buy anything, I get a small commission.? This is my main source of blog revenue.? I prefer this to a ?tip jar? because I want you to get something you want, rather than merely giving me a tip.? Book reviews take time, particularly with the reading, which most book reviewers don?t do in full, and I typically do. (When I don?t, I mention that I scanned the book.? Also, I never use the data that the PR flacks send out.)

Most people buying at Amazon do not enter via a referring website.? Thus Amazon builds an extra 1-3% into the prices to all buyers to compensate for the commissions given to the minority that come through referring sites.? Whether you buy at Amazon directly or enter via my site, your prices don?t change.

 

A Letter from a Special Reader

A Letter from a Special Reader

Posted on by David Merkel

When you start blogging, you never know who might read you.? At least I know that the Great Firewall of China is not blocking me yet.

Here is the e-mail I received:

Hi David

glad to write to you and I found your email in your blog

plz call me banny and I live in china mainland and do business in china. my work is capital market.

here I have 2 questions hope to discuss with you.

1 have you ever heard of chinese fixed income product named xintuo? the return rate is from 9-15% per year. do you think this kinds of product is attractive to western investor?

2 as I know us mutual fund is very good and only american can invest in it, and most of the mutual fund is not open to thos people who are not american. it there any way to invest in such mutual fund? from offshore structure?

hope to know your idea about this

banny

Dear Banny,

I do not know about xintuo.? I do know that it is very difficult to earn returns of more than 3% over government debt yields under most conditions over the long-run.? One thing I write about at my blog is that dishonest people use high yields as a means of cheating people out of their money.

When high yields are offered, people get tempted to invest.? But how do you know whether the yields can be maintained?

  • Is there an independent auditor of the financial statements?
  • Do you get financial statements regularly from whoever guarantees the return of principal at maturity?
  • Do you know what the xintuo is doing?? If they are not transparent, I would avoid them.? With most frauds the investors had little idea of what the manager of the assets was doing.
  • Is there a neutral third-party custodian who holds the assets for the good of the investors, and not the asset manager?

Be careful here.? Many Chinese wealth management products sound like Ponzi schemes.? They promise high returns, but it is likely that they are paying exiting investors with the money of entering investors.

On American actively-managed mutual funds: a few are good, maybe 10-20% of them.? The rest are bad.? They charge high fees and deliver performance less than the market.

As to how available they are to foreign investors, I myself was solicited to mirror my strategies for European clients.? There was not enough interest, so that did not happen.? We have a saying in the US, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”? If enough foreign money wants to invest in a US mutual fund, someone will come up with a way to do it.? In China, you may have to figure out ways to circumvent currency controls, but if you can, you can do it.

I wish you the best, and if you meet some of my friends in China, tell them Elder David greets them.

Sorted Weekly Tweets

Sorted Weekly Tweets

Posted on by David Merkel

 

Rest of the World

 

  • Chinese Buy Sydney Homes at Unprecedented Rate, McGrath Says http://t.co/EsRV6O2E99 Stylish flight capital does not come cheaply, mate $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Rajan Hailed as Swings Drop Amid Gundlach Warning http://t.co/Cxn6tDBDqe Rajan has courage to defend the Rupee & slow the Indian economy $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Aniston?s Salad Isn?t Enough as Quinoa Farmers Reap Golden Crop http://t.co/CkkKzTR5lC Bolivian farmers rejoice growing quinoa makes $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Catalan Separatists Pull Off Human Chain But Referendum Is Harder http://t.co/Yy15a6AfPW Reaching the limits of bad policy, risking wars $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Norway Pledges to Limit Oil Spending http://t.co/IzVJKwunbq Probably smart, because it is easier 2 overspend an endowment than underspend $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Shipping Rates Seen at 2010 High on Record Ore to China http://t.co/rCXg6JUlzf Means China is likely not rebalancing to consumption yet $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Youngest Japan Boards Beating Oldest With Stocks Rising 139% http://t.co/JDXARNyCku Returns were 52% for other firms over the last 3yrs $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Syrian Christians Pack Passports Fearing Islamist Onslaught http://t.co/vcaHMVzJpz More Coptic churches in US, next comes Syrian Orthodox $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Russia to Brazil Intervention Adds to U.S. Debt Distress http://t.co/wPiBAG35Z7 The real Q is what they are buyingw/the $$ they sell? Sep 09, 2013
  • Syria Vote May Derail Obama?s Agenda in Congress http://t.co/oGoHtSGUzD Argues that Obama has to win the Syria vote 2 avoid looking weak $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • Ancient Golden Treasure Found Near Jerusalem Temple Mount http://t.co/tLRWZfsNEm Byzantine coins dating from 4th – 7th centuries $$ menorah Sep 09, 2013
  • India?s Middle Class Hit as Rupee Plunge Pushes Up Prices http://t.co/AlN4xRJKI3 Another example of how inflation hits the poor hardest $$ Sep 08, 2013
  • Tokyo Defeats Madrid, Istanbul for Rights to 2020 Olympics http://t.co/gikYyiO4pY Tokyo wins the prize to build Olympic white elephants $$ Sep 08, 2013

 

US Politics & Policy

 

  • US Faces Long-Term Care Crisis, Report Says http://t.co/uu68sNvNWz Unsolvable unless we rein in costs, redefine what Medicare will cover $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • States Face Decision on Saving Trains http://t.co/Ps5L9Wk631 Federal subsidies end on short Amtrak routes, will states pick up tab? $$ #bus Sep 14, 2013
  • Walmart Wins in DC http://t.co/ixe7uC1U6C “Mayor Gray has chosen jobs, economic development and common sense over special interests” $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Republicans Holding Next Fed Chairman?s Fate Stay Quiet http://t.co/k7oIqCtP6w GOP sits & grins over no-win situation 4 democrats & Obama $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • How Wal-Mart?s Waltons Maintain Their Billionaire Fortune http://t.co/duLt9Ogtod This is y defining income more important than tax rates $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • How to Preserve a Family Fortune Through Tax Tricks http://t.co/xHI585uI8W Graphic showing how GLATs, CRATs & Family LPs work $$ #lowertaxes Sep 12, 2013
  • Even a Railway Line Can?t Dodge the Keystone XL Controversy http://t.co/ykz7FdFdoS Given the delay, new projects replace the need 4 K-XL $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • New York Mayor Race Worries Business http://t.co/AQUazQsdYa De Blasio pursues policies that made Detroit the great city it is now $$ #FTL Sep 12, 2013
  • California city backs plan to seize negative equity mortgages http://t.co/LmTGRhptuK Fail: loss of financing for city & new homeowners $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • GE, IBM Ending Retiree Health Plans in Historic Shift http://t.co/Plbc1CK4fG Obamacare leads large corporations 2shed retiree healthcare $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Fraud Stealing $100M Shows Flaws in US Crop Insurance http://t.co/zTEg7Z0UG4 System relatively easy2cheat.Graphic: http://t.co/GkJ8RT0BLn $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • NSA Violated Privacy Protections, Officials Say http://t.co/b4cEoloHz5 Much as it would unemploy my friends, we need 2 end the NSA $$ Sep 11, 2013
  • Five Revelations From New NSA Documents http://t.co/khGGuAsqpU Government violated its own rules repeatedly, showing no respect 4the law $$ Sep 11, 2013
  • Intel clashes w/Obama’s election-year al Qaeda claims http://t.co/r6vM2wtjMz The successes against al Qaeda undone by spread 2 new areas $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Kerry’s ‘Gaffe’ Beats Military Strikes http://t.co/Il4bA172Y1 Hey, getting the chemical weapons out of Syria is @ least a small win, yes? $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Crop Insurers? $14 Billion Some See as Money Laundering http://t.co/39r6zZQrcz Difficult 4 crop insurers 2 lose as US Taxpayers foot bill $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • DeVry Lures Medical School Rejects as Taxpayers Fund Debt http://t.co/Ek4gXsIkHB Long article on how Caribbean med schools compete w/US $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act: Time to End the Corporate Welfare http://t.co/NPlTkozP4n There is no need to subsidize terror insurance $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Taxpayers Turn US Farmers Into Fat Cats With Subsidies http://t.co/aLE07PrkFt Crop insurance sends all the risk of farming to taxpayers $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • In Conversation With Michael Bloomberg http://t.co/dtJ4WJZnaZ Long somewhat hostile article asking Bloomberg his views, plans, etc. $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • Dear NSA, Thanks for Making Us All Insecure http://t.co/3sfMaeyR1L NSA weakens security 4all, harms interests of US Internet Corporations $$ Sep 08, 2013
  • it also lowers global trust in the US, fragments the internet, & encourages nations that censor & monitor the internet by US bad example $$ Sep 08, 2013

 

Financial Sector Today

 

  • Why looser lending standards won’t help you http://t.co/p36wvJj6YC Lending standards fall in markets hit by crash & now prices r rising $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Berkshire, AIG Join Battle Over Lucrative Business http://t.co/P87xoC3YZp $BRK.B roils industry expanding in excess-and-surplus insurance $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • House Talk: When an HOA Forecloses http://t.co/7Auan3ZFg2 Yes, your homeowners association can foreclose if you don’t pay your dues $$ Sep 08, 2013
  • Upside: Emerging-Market Bond Bargains http://t.co/2wIcJ5a8r5 They look cheap, but Q is how they adjust 2 tighter world monetary policy $$ Sep 08, 2013

 

Financial Crisis Fifth Anniversary

 

  • TARP didn’t save banks, it ruined them: Kovacevich http://t.co/o6BjBjNqbK Contradicts Paulson who said the TARP funds were voluntary $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • By every measure, the big banks are bigger http://t.co/nmfyAJ2CG9 The top 6 banks hold 67% of all assets in the banking industry $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • A Toxic Subprime Mortgage Bond’s Legacy Lives On http://t.co/NdJy3NLyih Story of CWABS 2006-7 Borrowers, Investors & Others Touched by It $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Lehman’s Cold Dead Hand Is Still Reaching Out For Money http://t.co/tbqVCB32LV Many games can b played w/derivatives of a BK counterparty $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Five years after Lehman, risk moves into the shadows http://t.co/9hootI4MGa Bank runs still possible due2 repo, margining, putable debt $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • 2008-2013: The Financial Crisis in 9 Charts http://t.co/2JmO98tqzA GDP, S&P500, Finance profits, employment, income, cars, homes & more $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Lehman Brothers Abyss Had Paulson Seeking Prayer Amid Crisis http://t.co/y5ucZK5dNX I’m getting tired of seeing Paulson in the news $$ #long Sep 12, 2013
  • Embracing Wynne Godley, an Economist Who Modeled the Crisis http://t.co/dEm8njuXmT The right answer involves Minsky and the Austrians $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Financial Crisis: Lessons of the Rescue, A Drama in Five Acts http://t.co/EIdEVqnkWa John Taylor blames Govt policy for creating crisis $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • Henry Paulson Defends Fannie Mae Bailout http://t.co/Rtvjlv8vsF As a result, we have maintained an overleveraged economy, more govt debt $$ Sep 09, 2013

 

Central Banking

 

  • Why Michael Woodford Thinks the Fed Should Taper http://t.co/Lyy1oLnhfC Contends that we need more safe assets in the financial system $$ Sep 14, 2013
  • Is the Demographic Shift Weakening Monetary Policy Effectiveness? http://t.co/SDaTi4zItG Older ppl react less 2changes in interest rates $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Fed wants yet another tool in its swelled policy kit http://t.co/5BvNPM0ro6 fixed-rate, full-allotment overnight reverse repo agreements $$ Sep 09, 2013

 

Other

 

  • Detroit?s Bankruptcy and Pension Solution Depends More on its Planned Recovery and Rebirth – Not Just Cutting Costs http://t.co/RbkP5qNbeo! Sep 14, 2013
  • The prior article tweeted I disagree with. There r many high sounding words, amounting 2 “If we all clap, Tinkerbell will live!” $$ #nohope Sep 14, 2013
  • Insight: In Silicon Valley start-up world, pedigree counts http://t.co/tg1ox11QsK The school u went 2 or the firm u worked 4 matters $$ Sep 13, 2013
  • MIT?s Williams Decodes Economics of Gene Sequencing http://t.co/jPeJXSGK7d Economist connects intellectual pprty & incentives 2 research $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change Admits Global Cooling? http://t.co/qZCWogzNwD Climate changes; it always changes $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Financial Secrets Revealed! (Just Don?t Ask Where They Came From) http://t.co/5U6tugKpWV @retheauditors tells journos&readers2check facts $$ Sep 11, 2013
  • Fate or Destiny? http://t.co/FyEmhLLK0K @reformedbroker goes on hiatus? My but I will miss him. The financial blogosphere will miss him $$ Sep 11, 2013
  • The Weak Recovery Explains Rising Inequality, Not Vice Versa http://t.co/5fWR45Z3gi When growth was strong, incomes more even $$ Sep 10, 2013
  • Alcoa, H-P & Bank of America to Be Replaced on DJIA http://t.co/lDsl4dYVTL Nike, Visa & Goldman Sachs enter $$ $V $GS $NKE $AA $HPQ $BAC Sep 10, 2013
  • 10 ways to wipe out your retirement savings http://t.co/HjTw5raXEd Complexity, leverage, low diversification, self-custody, slick-talkers $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • Are the Baltic Dry Index Telling Us to Expect Stronger Economic Activity? http://t.co/5xZSe3HvTT BDI has been turning up lately, so maybe $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • http://t.co/Ti2RuDFD37 Did you read the deal terms? Looking at a special dividend of ~$5/share plus ~0.23 shs of $VZ per sh of $VOD. $$ Sep 09, 2013
  • AT&T Gets Tentative Approval to Fund Pension With Preferred Stock http://t.co/FS7tWqkxo8 In BK, pref stock worth little;PBGC holds bag $$ $T Sep 08, 2013

 

Verizon Bond Deal

  • How to Borrow $49B with a Stroke of a Pen http://t.co/v4djHDzgjh Bond deal of $VZ had weak covenants versus most investment grade deals $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Verizon Nets $2.09 Billion Windfall for Bond Sale Buyers http://t.co/3EWb3AvE6z In order to get the deal done $VZ had to offer 4%+ gift $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Verizon Pays Premium to Top Apple Bond Record http://t.co/VqnMkvWvn4 I would b wary of holding much long $VZ debt. Who doesn’t own it? $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Verizon Plans $20B Debt Sale http://t.co/uwWhFrvlwY Biggest ever, & on top of $48B+ of existing debt, will have 2have juicy yields $$ $VZ Sep 10, 2013
  • Verizon may boost size of bond offering: sources http://t.co/CGF0NsXD24 $VZ gets ready 2 issue biggest USD corporate bond deal EVER $$ $25B+ Sep 10, 2013

 

Wrong, Etc.

  • Gundlach Says Fed Is Mistaken in How It?s Ending Easing http://t.co/LPAZUFia7n This article does not make clear what Gundlach objects to $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • 4 investment tips that you should never use http://t.co/hjfumLxV3u Mixed analysis where the author knocks down falsehoods and straw men $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Confused: Buffett?s investing advice is a portfolio killer http://t.co/nQF65PRnaD More a criticism of Peter Lynch than Warren Buffett $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Wrong: Systemically Important Banks in the Post-Crisis Era http://t.co/seuYEsF5L4 Long, and misses liquidity issues like repo financing $$ Sep 10, 2013

 

Retweets, Replies, and Comments

  • @munilass I read this and thought that things haven’t changed much since Heraclitus and Parmenides. Would like to hear his thoughts on Godel Sep 14, 2013
  • @jeffdanoff1 Of course I know that. I detest Paulson’s 5-year anniversary self-justification obfuscation. Kovacevich shoots straight. Sep 14, 2013
  • RT @munilass: Feynman’s lectures are now available online (Volume 1) http://t.co/K4TfrMkQuD (via @jtc_19) Sep 14, 2013
  • @munilass @BarbarianCap I too have appreciated your writings. They are worth keeping. If you don’t want to pay to do it, I could host them Sep 14, 2013
  • I just left a comment in “Buffett?s investing advice is a portfolio killer – Jeff Reeves’s Strength in Numbers – Ma?” http://t.co/6oyVHvcKgK Sep 12, 2013
  • Thanks @munilass | I knew u had written about this in the past. I’m a generalist w/bonds, so I thought I would show it 2u4 your thoughts $$ Sep 12, 2013
  • Hey @munilass — I would b interested in your opinion on this from The Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget http://t.co/GwHTQNSzfy Sep 11, 2013
  • Commented on StockTwits: @Financial_Iceberg Saw that & tweeted it yesterday. The question is how long China can c… http://t.co/b7dmG6PvE3 Sep 10, 2013
  • I just left a comment in “David Einhorn was right about this stock – MarketWatch” http://t.co/koU5CehwBZ Sep 09, 2013
  • @mcuban @howardlindzon Here is my reply, 2 large for twitter: http://t.co/qSgjjTYFRe Yes, most retail investors r dumb, but money can b made Sep 07, 2013
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