http://www.parkparadigm.com Markets for the Digital Generation Tue, 13 May 2008 11:06:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I imagine even the most ignorant politicians would not promote the onion-esque policy I’ve chosen as a headline for this post as a serious solution to the issue of climate change. And yet… An increasing number of politicians around the world - in both developed and developing nations - are ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/05/13/easy-solution-to-global-climate-change-ban-thermometers/ Here’s another sublime absurdity brought to you from the folks on Planet (US) Congress (via Reuters:) Federal Reserve and Treasury officials said on Wednesday they were struggling to craft rules to ban bank and credit card payments to illegal Internet gambling sites because federal law is unclear about what type of ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/05/06/its-likehard-to-explain-trust-us/ It would seem obvious to anyone who has ever boarded an airplane that weather is a primary factor in determining whether or not any given flight will take-off and/or land on schedule. The impact of adverse weather conditions is even more acute for commercial flights using increasingly congested major ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/05/02/new-blue-sky-frontiers-in-risk-management-and-markets/ I have long thought that the gigantic mega-financial institutions of the late 20th/early 21st century significantly overshot the synergies and economies of scale ostensibly underpinning their business model, to find themselves firmly positioned in the realm of diminishing returns and unmanageable complexity. The foundations of this thesis are built ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/04/14/in-good-company/ Clouds and silver linings and all that… Yes, it would seem that the US might finally get a more intelligent, less balkanized regulatory environment for financial services. Before the announcement yesterday, Forbes reported that Treasury Secretary Paulson would be unveiling a comprehensive ‘overhaul of US financial regulation’: Paulson’s plan would ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/04/01/clowns-to-the-left-jokers-to-the-right/ Reuters reports: Canadian university faces off with digital generation A Canadian university has instilled a culture of fear by threatening to expel a student for cheating because he set up an online study group on Facebook, critics said this week. Toronto’s Ryerson University threatened to expel first-year computer engineering student Chris Avenir last ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/03/21/the-pitchfork-brigade/ You get press releases on blogging: For Immediate Release Albuquerque, New Mexico—March 18, 2008—UtiliPoint® International, Inc. (UtiliPoint) has issued a new report at the conclusion of its survey on blogging and blogs in the energy and utilities industry. There are 112 million blogs growing at a rate of 175,000 per day according ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/03/18/when-enterpriseconsulting-10-meets-20/ All across America, workers are busily betting on the NCAA basketball tournament (from Fortune): …considering that 19% of U.S. employees have participated in a March Madness pool, according to a poll by CareerBuilders.com. It’s a bigger deal in some businesses than in others - 30% of financial-services workers are in on ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/03/18/march-hypocrisy/ “CME to Launch Futures and Options on U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls” According to a release from CME Group, the new contracts “will allow customers to directly manage their exposure to the government labor number or to offset positions in financial markets.” The monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls report is one of the most influential ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/03/17/betting-on-exchanges/ I’m on record with my opinion that gigantic financial services firms were beyond the ability of any individual - however talented - to manage effectively. At least (or especially) using the centralized ‘Sloanian’ management paradigm. Citigroup is of course the poster boy for this conjecture. So it was natural ... http://www.parkparadigm.com/2008/03/17/on-the-right-track/