Jason Rines (iThinkBig)

The Market Is Improving, Cancel the Coffin

Great. Hand me $30 B, know I'll get more in six to nine months and allow me to hide all of my bad assets off the books indefinately and I'll be like the IB's and start making acquisitions and lofty statements too.

Preview from Europe: Stocks Log Worst January Ever

I do to. Boomers are retiring and downsizing. And the big banks are funding the pharma consolidations. March 2009 be a good time to buy for 5 year buy and hold. I have to state of course I own a company in Consumer Healthcare marketing. I own one also in Higher Ed. Interesting that a solid portion of the stimulus is going in that direction. While at times I feel it is repugnant, I do not bet against the trade.


On Feb 02 01:23 PM Heath DiMaggio wrote:

> I still think Healthcare is a good bet. No matter who's in office,
> people, businesses and Government will spend to make us healthy.
> We will work harder when were healthy and pay more taxes. Milestone
> Scientific (seekingalpha.com/symbo...) looks like a good
> bet for a small health products company. It has a good sales force
> and a new and existing product line. The dental single tooth anesthisia
> makes sense. How many dentists are there in The country and elsewhere?
> Plus, they still have existing intstruments (products) to sell.

The Antidote to Economic Malaise: A Culture of Collective Mindfulness

Hi Doug, Jason Rines here, founder of Raging Debate.com . Myself and a few other bright minds who get it as you do have already begun the R&D phase of what you speak of. The French Revolution was funded by the middle business class. The institutions at the top always fight true change back to Liberty. The reasons for this are fairy obvious. I encourage all whom read this to contact me at founders @ raging debate.com . Don't expect instant miracles. I am leveraging my database and technical knowledge and some cash towards this effort. All of us will have to do this part time as we attempt to run our businesses. Best of luck gentlemen. Take care of your family and neighbors.


On Dec 22 10:14 AM Doug Poretz wrote:

> I agree with the need for a culture change -- in fact, I believe
> we are beginning the process of a culture change, whether we like
> it or not. But I believe the "culture of collective mindfulness"
> is more like a tactic than an overall strategy. I think cultures
> are likely to change largely as a result of an evolutionary action
> rather than an attempt to put fingers in the dike when the flood
> of revolutionary forces is already upon us.
>
> I'd like to make two general points.
>
> 1. Try thinking of the economic situation not as an economic situation
> that stands by itself as if it was some sort of cyclical event that
> we'll work through, but as a subsegment of a more significant situation.
> See it in the context of a cultural event. Certainly there are cyclical
> factors at work, but i believe the depth and breadth of this situation
> goes far beyond simple cyclical economic factors. At the same time
> we have major economic turmoil, we also are going through the transition
> from a manufacturing to a knowledge economy (which, on its own merits,
> will give rise to new business models) ... we are now living in a
> truly global economy (also requiring new models) ... we are seeing
> major political/demographic changes, including the eroision of the
> quality of life for the middle class ... there is incredible volatility
> as to both the availability and the price of essential commodities
> (food and fuel) ... and we have a population that has been swamped
> with "buy this" messages on a very forceful and constant basis since
> the post WW II expansion, which over the years has transformed "The
> American Dream" (which is really a World Dream) FROM one based on
> ideological beliefs and high standards for individual responsibility
> and opportunism TO one based on buy more, buy newer, buy bigger,
> buy more expensive, buy on credit what you cannot afford. That isn't
> just an economic situation. And thus, it won't be changed simply
> by economic changes -- expect to see some major cultural shifts.
> I think it is too early to predict those shifts, but it isn't too
> early to become concerned -- because these shifts are going to occur
> in a world where individuals can communicate (and coalesce into communities)
> online 24/7/365, unrestrained by time, geography and (moften) language.
> How would the French Revolution be conducted in the age of the Internet?
> You might want to start considering that question, and see if you
> find some answers emerging in 2009.
>
> 2. New Models -- I have some experience here because i have co-founded
> and helped build a communications firm (as in PR/advertising/interac...
> al) that has a radical new model, starting with the way we bill:
> we do not keep time sheets and we do not bill by the hour -- that
> is a basic difference that sets us apart (our growth and margins
> also sets us apart). Anyhow, I've written at my blog on the specific
> issues of extablishing a new model (tinyurl.com/8dvk8g). The
> suggestion that you should have a mistake-focused culture when dealing
> with a new model isn't "advice" -- it is an a priori truth. That
> is because new models have new mistakes. And unlike old mistakes
> that have become recognizable and defineable over the years, along
> with the remedy that more or less works, NEW mistakes are not recognizeable
> and there vare no precedents for what works as solutions. You only
> see them after they have bit you. That's when you say: "what happened?"
> Then, it isn't simply an issue of identifying it as a mistake, but
> you have to define it accurately (and that usually doesn't happen
> on Try One), and after you define it, you have to develop a remedy
> (and that usually doesn't happen on Try One either). So, the cutlure
> of "collective mindfulness" is a great phrase and a very difficult
> and time-consuming reality, often setting off (by necessity) a whole
> bunch of new mistakes in its wake. Another thing I have learned is
> that as you encounter new mistakes, you have to develop new solutions
> consistent with the core fundamentals of the new model (that is,
> you cannot use old remedies for an old model to solve new problems
> in a new model) -- as you do that, your new solutions make your enterprise
> more and more unique -- so you are going to run into even more mistakes
> that you won't know are mistakes (again) until AFTER they have hit
> you. This gives rise to a cultural phenomenon that isn't very nice
> -- you are correct in that you have to have a culture where everyone
> looks for mistakes, and that can be a good thing, but it also means
> that people stay focused on "what's wrong" and that becomes a problem
> if at the same time you fail to revel in your model, despite everything
> that is (and will be) wrong about it.
>
> I applaud the effort to point the finger of blame at something bigger
> than "lax regulation" or "greed of Wall Street," etc. -- It is much
> bigger yet. It is, in my opinion, cultural -- but still, much bigger
> than a culture that lacks collective mindfulness. I think this is
> going to be a much bigger "correction" (or whatever it is called)
> than anyone currently envisions. And that concerns me. I think, all
> too soon, if I am correct, that phenomenon will concern us all.

Bank and Broker Default Risk

Thank you for posting the chart

John Paulson: Cruising Through the Financial Crisis

Yeah, but after a bunch of pain the folks in Washington will get it as they are voted out of office en masse and favorable policy which encourages entrepenuarship is put into play.

The citizenship at large is re-learning fundamentals the hard way even while we speak. I do not like suffering but unless you were already seven figures prior to this time, we all will take our lumps to restore America. We have been here before and we will help each other through it. Have heart, not all of us are mindless sheeple :)