HaywoodJablomey

Unemployment Abounds - But Not for IT and Management Consultants

Note that the article used the word *consultant*. That is not a synonym for "contractor". To be a consultant, you have to be willing to make the client's problem *your* problem, even the parts that are unruly, unfamiliar, etc. It isn't about putting in 8.5 man-hours and taking your empty lunchpail home, it is about how much value you can give back to your client. This principle transcends IT, it is not unique to it. If you are results-oriented and value-oriented, you will make money in any economy. If you are just looking for someone to pay you a high rate for your 8.5 man-hours/day, then you will be challenged in any economy.

Ben Graham Had It Right

It is a mistake to dismiss this as merely our misunderstanding of the "limitation of mathematics in the field of finance". In the quote, Graham is making two distinct arguments: (a) the threshold-complexity of the problem is too wide/deep to mathematically model, and (b) the model would be computationally infeasible to apply, even if created. Both suggestions, shorn of Graham's quality prose, are better study for the academic than the practitioner. Notwithstanding the steady pace with which we advance in these areas, there will always be a 'working range' that our models can cover and limits beyond which it breaks down unpredictably/catastro... This landscape Will Always Be Dynamic (math gets better, etc). Participant- and sector-level governance entities (i.e. corporate boards as well as gov't regulators) are required to maintain pace of innovation, they are not the passive observers of history they'd like to be. They did not maintain pace, fantasizing that The World would subordinate its activities/consequence... to their committee schedules and tee times, freeing them to under-resource governance/controls and spend the money elsewhere. Their efforts have precipitated an excruciating reminder that, The World does not work that way, and now we deal with the consequences of herd panic on top of our own wretched excesses.
There are far more important things at work here than man putting 'too much faith' in math and science.

Ben Graham Had It Right

It is a mistake to dismiss this as merely our misunderstanding of the "limitation of mathematics in the field of finance". In the quote, Graham is making two distinct arguments: (a) the threshold-complexity of the problem is too wide/deep to mathematically model, and (b) the model would be computationally infeasible to apply, even if created. Both suggestions, shorn of Graham's quality prose, are better study for the academic than the practitioner. Notwithstanding the steady pace with which we advance in these areas, there will always be a 'working range' that our models can cover and limits beyond which it breaks down unpredictably/catastro... This landscape Will Always Be Dynamic (math gets better, etc). Participant- and sector-level governance entities (i.e. corporate boards as well as gov't regulators) are required to maintain pace of innovation, they are not the passive observers of history they'd like to be. They did not maintain pace, fantasizing that The World would subordinate its activities/consequence... to their committee schedules and tee times, freeing them to under-resource governance/controls and spend the money elsewhere. Their efforts have precipitated an excruciating reminder that, The World does not work that way, and now we deal with the consequences of herd panic on top of our own wretched excesses.
There are far more important things at work here than man putting 'too much faith' in math and science.

Reasons to Bail Out GM

Detroit comiitted suicide. For 5+ years, I've been renting Ford Mondeos in the UK on business trips that get 50 mpg and accelerate/cruise on the motorways like a sports car. (Serious, I've put the cruise control on at 105 MPH -- yes, that's right, 105 MPH not KPH -- and still averaged 45+ MPG.) GM also has high-quality overseas products, but those knuckleheads stupidly refuse to offer them in the States because it would interfere with sales of their gas-guzzling leviathans. I have zero sympathy for their current pains, absolutely zero, they should be allowed to go bankrupt, allow successful competitors to buy up their assets, and let the market replace these non-competitive dinosaurs with companies prepared for 21st century business. A bailout is nothing other than a reward for years of stupidity, negligence and laziness. I'm incensed that the idea of a bailout for them is even being suggested, let alone seriously considered.