The World, Filtered*

Volcker Fails to Sell a Bank Strategy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/21volcker.html?ref=business

“… The aging Mr. Volcker (he is 82) has some advice, deeply felt. He has been offering it in speeches and Congressional testimony, and repeating it to those around the president, most of them young enough to be his children.

He wants the nation’s banks to be prohibited from owning and trading risky securities, the very practice that got the biggest ones into deep trouble in 2008. And the administration is saying no, it will not separate commercial banking from investment operations.

… The only viable solution, in the Volcker view, is to break up the giants. JPMorgan Chase would have to give up the trading operations acquired from Bear Stearns. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would go back to being separate companies. Goldman Sachs could no longer be a bank holding company. It’s a tall order, and to achieve it Congress would have to enact a modern-day version of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which mandated separation.

Glass-Steagall was watered down over the years and finally revoked in 1999. In the Volcker resurrection, commercial banks would take deposits, manage the nation’s payments system, make standard loans and even trade securities for their customers — just not for themselves. The government, in return, would rescue banks that fail.

On the other side of the wall, investment houses would be free to buy and sell securities for their own accounts, borrowing to leverage these trades and thus multiplying the profits, and the risks”

Note:  Last night I watched a fascinating Frontline episode titled “The Warning” (which tells the history of Brooksley Born’s fight to regulate OTC derivatives.  The parallels between the history described in the above article and the film are striking, considering that some of the key players, like Lawrence Summers, play a role in both.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/

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A New Electronic Reader, the Nook, Enters the Market
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/technology/21nook.html?hpw

 “As widely expected, Barnes & Noble unveiled its Nook electronic reading device at a splashy news conference on Tuesday to generally positive views from the publishing community, and offered some details about its whispered-about lending capabilities.

…One of the differentiating factors of the Nook is that customers can “lend” books to friends. But customers may lend out any given title only one time for a total of 14 days and they cannot read it on their own Nook while it is lent.”

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IBM, Ubuntu Cloud Collaboration Package Seeks to Cut Down Microsoft Windows 7
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/IBM-Ubuntu-Cloud-Collaboration-Package-Seeks-to-Cut-Down-Microsoft-Windows-7-719779/?kc=rss
 
“In time for the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system Oct. 22, IBM released an Ubuntu Linux-based hybrid cloud computing and desktop solution for businesses looking to save some money by taking the hosted software and open-source route. IBM said its Client for Smart Work package is geared to help companies save up to 50 percent per seat on software costs versus a Microsoft-based desktop.”
 
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Infographic of the Day: How Do You Dig a Subway Tunnel, Anyway?
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/infographic-day-how-do-you-dig-subway-tunnel-anyway

“You're probably surrounded by massive infrastructure projects, with precisely zero idea about how any of them came to pass. What kind of man are you, huh?

Well, this should help: The Washington Post has produced a ginormous infographic detailing the tricky process of digging the 2,400-foot subway tunnel that's slated to bring subway service to Tyson's Corner in Northern Virginia.”

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Groupon
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/10/1019_chicago_innovation_awards/6.htm

“Everyone knows the power of the crowd by now in creating goods and services. As Andrew Mason, 29, has discovered, the crowd can be a pretty big force when it comes to buying, too. As founder of the Point, a social fundraising Web site, Mason was well-versed in aggregate spending. In November 2007, that led him to start a second Chicago business, Groupon, a site where people sign up for a daily coupon via e-mail. The discounts are usually good pretty good, averaging around 65% off from companies as diverse as skydiving and restaurants in 18 major cities, such as Chicago, New York, and Seattle. The catch: The coupon doesn't activate until a minimum number of people have pledged to buy. Customers enter purchase information, but no one is actually charged until the minimum is met, so there are no refund hassles.”

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