Monday, October 16, 2006
Credit Where Credit is Due
The Nobel Committee hit a home run last week when it awarded Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank the Nobel Peace Prize last week.
Yunus pioneered the concept of microcredit--and made it work. In a nutshell, Yunus made modern credit financing available to the world’s poor. As far as I can tell, this idea has been the single most successful innovation in development economics within recent memory. Prior to microcredit, most poor people faced few options when they sought to take material action to improve their own lives. They typically had to choose between selling majority equity stakes in their proposed ventures, “collateralizing” usurious loans with their own bodies or those of family members, or taking handouts. Microcredit makes it possible for them to borrow small uncollateralized amounts. The lender--often a collection of community members--absorbs all risk. Almost all loans get repaid.
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Friday, October 06, 2006
Coming Soon to the Commonwealth Club
For those of you who are local, I will be speaking at the Commonwealth Club on Thursday, November 2. I’ve titled the talk “Informationism,” the Club will work with Stacey’s bookstore to sell Digital Phoenix (by the truckload), and I’ve promised people that I would explain everything that you ever wanted to know about everything.
Now let’s see if I can deliver. Stay tuned. . .
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The Phoenix Enters the Dragon’s Lair
Last week, I received an e-mail request from Pei Zhao, in the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Zhao is translating Digital Phoenix into Chinese; the Shanghai Yuandong Press will publish the Chinese version shortly. He invited me to draft a new Preface. In one of the delicious ironic twists that are becoming increasingly frequent in the global information age, this Preface will allow me to address my Chinese readers from a 2006 perspective, but not my American readers. In fact, were it not for The Informationist, the English version of my Chinese Preface might never appear anywhere. Thanks to the modern miracle of the blogosphere, however, I can preserve my thoughts here in all of their original untranslated (or pre-translated) glory:
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Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Informationism, Inc. Unveiled
This morning, I spent a bit of time on the phone being interviewed by Matt Hines, a reporter for eWeek. Matt was interested in Microsoft’s battles with the security (software) industry. It seems that Microsoft’s new platform, Vista, contains some new security features. Some security companies are shocked--shocked!--to learn that Microsoft has changed some rules, altered some APIs, and is not delivering technical information as fully or as promptly as they might like.
I put in my two cents--noting that Microsoft might be up to its old tricks, but then again, it might not be. After all, we all want our software to be more secure, even though increased security might mean tougher times for security firms. Furthermore, given Microsoft’s track record, you can bet that any complaints of this sort will earn significant scrutiny. In any event, Matt’s article does quote me.
Two points of note, though:
1. He didn’t use my best line, which arose when I explained antitrust as: “It’s okay to step on someone’s toes, but it’s not okay to kick them in the balls.”
2. I unveiled my new corporate name for the first time in public. Informationism, Inc. is now a reality. Watch for it as I continue to roll it out!
Two points of
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Monday, September 25, 2006
Two Honest Men
Last week, the world got a glimpse of the ultimate rarity—honest political leaders. Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad expressed thoughts that many of their compatriots share using unusually blunt language. For those who pay attention, there was absolutely nothing new in either of their speeches, and even Chavez said nothing that he had not said before.
But what of those who don’t pay attention? Might they have learned something from these bold statesmen?
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
A Move Against Appeasement
Donald Rumsfeld has decided that those who favor a withdrawal from Iraq are comparable to those who appeased Hitler prior to WW II. In a speech to the American Legion, he posed some poignant questions:
• With the growing lethality and availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow vicious extremists can be appeased?
• Can we really continue to think that free countries can negotiate a separate peace with terrorists?
• Can we truly afford the luxury of pretending that the threats today are simply “law enforcement” problems, rather than fundamentally different threats, requiring fundamentally different approaches?
• And can we truly afford to return to the destructive view that America—not the enemy—is the real source of the world’s trouble?
Rumsfeld presumably believes that the answer to all of these questions is “no.” If that presumption is correct, I agree with him. In fact, I answered all of these questions in the negative back when he was backing Governor Bush’s neo-isolationist/realist campaign in 2000. I also agree with Rumsfeld that at least large parts of the “withdraw now” crowd are chronic appeasers, willing to give in to any demand in order to buy a moment’s quiet. These are the folks responsible for letting large parts of life fall under a “least reasonable party wins” system. In such a system, our loss is guaranteed. Even the least reasonable western rational liberal, encouraged to act in the least reasonable manner imaginable, pales in comparison to a run-of-the-mill divinely inspired anarcho-fascist. We’re just not good at certain games.
Where Rumsfeld has it wrong though, is in attributing all calls for withdrawal to appeasers. Many today call for withdrawal for a much simpler reason: they believe that our leadership lacks integrity and competence. The higher the stakes, the greater the need for a leadership that the people can trust. Rumsfeld in particular deserves stunningly low marks on both counts.
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
A Bit of Handicapping
Last Thursday (8/17), Judge David Folsom of the Eastern District of Texas issued his rulings in the epic patent battle of Tivo v. Echostar. The most significant of his rulings was an injunction ordering Echostar to disable some of the devices that it has already circulated, and to change the way that it does business. Folsom also declined to stay the injunction pending appeal, concluding that the balance of hardships tipped in Tivo’s favor.
Not surprisingly, Tivo’s stock spiked on the announcement; Echostar’s dipped. Echostar then flew to the Federal Circuit seeking a stay. On Friday (8/18). Chief Judge Michel granted a temporary stay until tomorrow (8/23), to give Tivo a chance to respond. Tivo’s stock glided lower; Echostar’s higher. Headlines and articles suggested that the business press saw real significance in the temporary stay.
As luck would have it, part of my practice involves fielding phone calls from Wall Street types confused by patent litigation. I spent the better part of the day yesterday reading Judge Folsom’s various rulings in this matter and explaining Federal Circuit procedure to investment bankers. In particular, they asked me to assign odds to the temporary stay being lifted or being allowed to remain until the appeal.
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Tuesday, August 08, 2006
A Declaration for Independents
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the political bands which have connected him with a party and to assume the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles him, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that he should declare the causes which impel him to the separation.
So much for opening with a rhetorical flourish. I regret that I must now retreat from Jeffersonian oratory into my own peculiar idiom. The sentiment, however, lingers. With this essay, I renounce my longstanding affiliation with the Democratic Party and assume a new position as a proud, politically aware and politically active Independent American Voter.
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