Welcome to the almost-Valentine’s-Day edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists. This week (okay, every week), we have a wide variety of posts on a wider variety of topics, ranging from freelancing to crime and punishment to investing. With this kind of scope, I found it tricky to come up with categories that were both broad enough to accomodate the posts, and specific enough to make sense—so I stuck with the tried-and-true categories suggested by Gongol. The entries are arranged in a “super secret” order (since it seems that you people read them somewhat randomly anyway) but I’ve added the icons to help you pick out posts of particular interest.
Without further ado, the carnival!
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Law and Regulation |
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General Business |
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Marketing and Sales |
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Technology |
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Health Care and Social Services |
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Entrepreneurship |
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Economics and Finance |
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Education |
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Paul Krugman and VA Health Care
From the author, Different River: “Paul Krugman extols the VA health care system as a model for how government health care can be better than private health care — but he gets some key facts wrong, and with those facts corrected, his whole argument falls apart.”
BrainWare ABC - Alzheimer, Bilingualism, Creativity
From the author, Barry Welford: “Research shows that bilingualism increases the ability to multi-task and encourages creativity and problem-solving. More importantly it can retard the onset and severity of aging cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer Disease and dementia.”
Why Is Prostitution Illegal?
Funky Dung seeks to understand why prostitution is illegal from an amoral perspective. “The arguments presented in favor of making it legal touch upon topics related to commerce (and by extension capitalism).” It should be noted that this is an intellectual exercise and the author is not actually interested in legalizing prostitution.
Japan’s Retail Sector is Back!
From the author, Steven Towns: “A quick look at the resurging Japanese retail sector and some American companies that stand to benefit.”
Paco Underhill Series, #3
From the author, cehwiedel: “A well-known bricks-and-mortar marketing book is consulted for ideas to adapt to a website.”
Copyright Tutorial
From the author, Betsy Palmieri: “A nuts-and-bolts look at copyright law and why it matters for your business.”
Coach K: In Touch With His Feminine Side
From the author, Mark: “Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski has a lucrative second career as a corporate speaker on leadership - does his leadership model actually produce leaders?”
Inflation Disinformation!
From the author, Mike Landfair: “If we are going to fix the problems after the currency collapses, we need accurate information and we need to recognize that the Federal Reserve and the US Government are ‘in cahoots.’”
Managing Six Sigma Teams
From the author, Junelle Caravana: “A Six Sigma Black Belt is the team leader and the key change agent for the Six Sigma process. The role of the Black Belt is to facilitate the Six Sigma adoption as part of the culture.”
A proposal for Iraq
James Hamilton offers some thoughts on how to get the vast oil wealth of Iraq working most quickly and effectively to benefit the Iraqi people.
Stakeholder Engagement: The next box on your org chart?
From the author, Steven Silvers: “Wal-Mart’s creation of a senior-level Director of Stakeholder Engagement is classic PR strategy to align itself with critical interest groups by adopting the inflated phraseology of the Corporate Social Responsibility movement.”
Search Toolbars (ala Google) are Big Business
From the author, Scott Milener: “Until you’ve researched the numbers, it’s easy to think the toolbar plugin is a minor addition to web apps. But search toolbars are a major revenue driver for the search players.”
Recession Threat Growing
From the author, Michael Cale: “The probability of a recession in the next 12-18 months has hit a new high, according to one model. It currently shows a 27% chance of recession, up from 19% a month ago.”
Poverty is Stupid
Gavriel Raanan takes on poverty statistics and shows why he thinks they are meaningless.
30 boxes your schedule
Junelle Caravana walks us through using 30 Boxes, a new social calendar that can work well for freelancers.
Leaving a Trillion on the Table
From the author, David Foster: “Why did Europe fail to take advantage of the semiconductor revolution? What lessons can be drawn about the limitations of centralized planning?”
Virtually Saving the Day
From the author, Rosanna Tussey: “This article tells one way that small business owners and other professionals can learn to use their time more effectively through delegation of administrative tasks that don’t require their specialized knowledge.”
Asleep at the Wheel
From the author, Nina Smith: “The real estate market hits home for most people.”
World’s Worst Savers: Guess Who?
Amanda reflects on some recent surveys indicating America to be the least likely developed nation to save: why did this happen and what is being done to change this?
Keeping up the PACE
From the author, Henry Stern, LUTCF: “Part 2 of an exclusive look at a new way for small companies to use the same tools as large corporations to save money on health insurance costs.”
A Thesis for Re-Invigorating the News Business
From the author, Ed: “My prediction: 2006 will see important steps by news companies to turn the tide, re-invigorate their businesses and grow readership, and a few will find a new formula to succeed at this for the long haul. Here’s how.”
The Hardest Part of the Job
From the author, Skip Angel: “Letting a person go from your organization is the hardest part of the job (at least for this manager).”
The New Gatekeepers
From the author, Tristan Louis: “In this entry, I contend that we have created new gatekeepers in the blogosphere.”
Return to Sender
From the author, Big Picture Guy: “If junk is anything you no longer use, what then would you call e-mails that were not useful in the first place? A sardonic look at e-mails running rampant in The Small Office.”
Effective Interest
From the author, Jose Anes: “How to calculate the effective interest of an investment, after taking into account taxes and inflation, and which avenues we have to invest safely while avoiding the effects of these maladies.”
The good news and the bad news about the budget deficit
From the author, Jim Glass: “Following the lead of the departing head of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, this post looks at what matters regarding the US national budget — and finds a whole lot of people are sweating the small stuff, while ignoring the big stuff.”
Overworked? Try too productive
From the author, Retireat30: “Despite the constant complaints, leisure in america has actually been increasing over the past 30 years.”
Making Money over the Internet
From the author, Anita Campbell: “Denise O’Berry joins us for a broadcast of Small Business Trends Radio on the subject of making money from passive Internet income. As an added bonus, she also includes a link to a 22-page download called Passive Income Guide, that she created specifically in honor of the show.”
Business problems: Seek them out
From the author, Wayne Hurlbert: “Become a seeker of problems. They are precious gifts representing golden keys to your future business success.”
It Usually Begins With…
From the author, Kenneth R. Gregg: “2/8 is Jules Verne’s birthday. Verne was the originator of “hard” science fiction and the premier author of the “enterprising spirit” of the 19th century.”
Summit County
boringmadedull looks at a proposed building project in Summit County and questions the benefits.
I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit to the carnival. The Stalwart is hosting next week, so read the rules and send in your post!