Yesterday I wrote about how it feels to me like the economic crisis is accelerating the transition to the information society. I believe that the government stimulus can play an important part here by investing in networks as the infrastructure for the information society. The two key networks are high speed Internet and the electrical grid (see also Sam Palmisano’s Op Ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal). Our existing electrical grid is in a dismal state because regulation for many years...

Yesterday I wrote about how it feels to me like the economic crisis is accelerating the transition to the information society. I believe that the government stimulus can play an important part here by investing in networks as the infrastructure for the information society. The two key networks are high speed Internet and the electrical grid (see also Sam Palmisano’s Op Ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal). Our existing electrical grid is in a dismal state because regulation for many years...

NYC EDC has been meeting with entrepreneurs, VCs and others from the startup community in New York City to figure out whether it is possible to create more startup jobs. I recently participated in a discussion on this topic and there was an interesting discussion about the availability of seed capital in New York. Several folks made the argument that there is already enough seed capital available and that if more were available it would just mean that businesses get funded that “shouldn’t.” I...

NYC EDC has been meeting with entrepreneurs, VCs and others from the startup community in New York City to figure out whether it is possible to create more startup jobs. I recently participated in a discussion on this topic and there was an interesting discussion about the availability of seed capital in New York. Several folks made the argument that there is already enough seed capital available and that if more were available it would just mean that businesses get funded that “shouldn’t.” I...

The stock marekt has had quite a run. For instance, on March 9 of this year the S&P 500 closed at 676. This past Friday it closed at 1026 for a gain of 350 points or a staggering 51%. There has been quite a bit of discussion along the way about whether this is a sustainable rally with some fairly vocal folks (such a Roubini) saying that it isn’t and that there is a risk of the economy and the markets making a second big dip. My worry isn’t so much that, but rather that we in fact managed to w...

The stock marekt has had quite a run. For instance, on March 9 of this year the S&P 500 closed at 676. This past Friday it closed at 1026 for a gain of 350 points or a staggering 51%. There has been quite a bit of discussion along the way about whether this is a sustainable rally with some fairly vocal folks (such a Roubini) saying that it isn’t and that there is a risk of the economy and the markets making a second big dip. My worry isn’t so much that, but rather that we in fact managed to w...

I have written previously about unemployment and structural change in the economy, arguing that we are facing a particularly bad outlook for employment. The New York Times on Saturday had a good article on this subject that combined some chilling statistics with a couple of stories of individuals suffering the consequences. Probably the most important chart from the article is this: The dramatic growth in long-term unemployment is the surest indicator of structural change. To the extent that ...

I have written previously about unemployment and structural change in the economy, arguing that we are facing a particularly bad outlook for employment. The New York Times on Saturday had a good article on this subject that combined some chilling statistics with a couple of stories of individuals suffering the consequences. Probably the most important chart from the article is this: The dramatic growth in long-term unemployment is the surest indicator of structural change. To the extent that ...

Start with what seems like a good idea: assets and liabilities on a company’s balance sheet should be adjusted to reflect their fair value. For instance for assets, fair value would not be the price the company paid when it bought the asset (or the cost it incurred in building the asset), but the value it could realize if it sold the asset. A similar concept applies to liabilities. For a long time the rules governing what constitutes fair value were different on a case by case basis resulting...

Start with what seems like a good idea: assets and liabilities on a company’s balance sheet should be adjusted to reflect their fair value. For instance for assets, fair value would not be the price the company paid when it bought the asset (or the cost it incurred in building the asset), but the value it could realize if it sold the asset. A similar concept applies to liabilities. For a long time the rules governing what constitutes fair value were different on a case by case basis resulting...

Here on Continuations I have covered a lot of seemingly disparate topics such as the end of work, government surveillance and the digital balkans. They are, however, all part of my fascination with the transition from the industrial age to the information age. While that latter term was coined all the way back in the 1960s, there is reason to believe that the transition is beginning to happen now. Today I want to provide a large scale historical context, taking us all the way back to hunter g...

Here on Continuations I have covered a lot of seemingly disparate topics such as the end of work, government surveillance and the digital balkans. They are, however, all part of my fascination with the transition from the industrial age to the information age. While that latter term was coined all the way back in the 1960s, there is reason to believe that the transition is beginning to happen now. Today I want to provide a large scale historical context, taking us all the way back to hunter g...

The GOP debate brought more talk of a “wet blanket of regulation” weighing on economic activity. Apparently even President Obama thinks that environmental regulation is at issue here and has sadly rolled back some clean air standards. That’s quite ironic at a time when the Chinese are tightening their air quality standards and when we should be looking at creating (clean) tech jobs (as opposed to smoke stack ones) is biting. Instead we should be looking at the cost of financial regulation tha...

The GOP debate brought more talk of a “wet blanket of regulation” weighing on economic activity. Apparently even President Obama thinks that environmental regulation is at issue here and has sadly rolled back some clean air standards. That’s quite ironic at a time when the Chinese are tightening their air quality standards and when we should be looking at creating (clean) tech jobs (as opposed to smoke stack ones) is biting. Instead we should be looking at the cost of financial regulation tha...

First: Happy New Year! Second: Tech Tuesdays will resume next week. And now on to the topic of this post. Washington is starting us off into 2013 with a whimper. In a slightly past the artificial fiscal cliff deadline compromise we find ourselves with a nano bargain that amounts to the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic. There are lots of analyses published today about what’s in the bargain (increased taxes) and what isn’t (debt ceiling). Also lot’s of talk about what th...

First: Happy New Year! Second: Tech Tuesdays will resume next week. And now on to the topic of this post. Washington is starting us off into 2013 with a whimper. In a slightly past the artificial fiscal cliff deadline compromise we find ourselves with a nano bargain that amounts to the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic. There are lots of analyses published today about what’s in the bargain (increased taxes) and what isn’t (debt ceiling). Also lot’s of talk about what th...

Rahm Emanuel is quoted as saying “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” I subscribe to that philosophy and believe that the economic crisis that we are facing offer some crucial opportunities. As I have written on the USV blog, we are facing some unprecedented structural changes. We can either choose to fight those changes and waste a lot of resources in the process, or we can use this crisis to accelerate the ...

Rahm Emanuel is quoted as saying “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” I subscribe to that philosophy and believe that the economic crisis that we are facing offer some crucial opportunities. As I have written on the USV blog, we are facing some unprecedented structural changes. We can either choose to fight those changes and waste a lot of resources in the process, or we can use this crisis to accelerate the ...

I will be participating in an ad:tech panel this afternoon with the title “Digital Economy 2010: A Robust Recovery or Another Year of Trench Warfare?" I have to admit that I am not entirely sure what that means, but in a prep call with moderator Mark Mahaney we came up with some fun questions. The one that is most interesting is whether we may be facing a long-term decline in the percentage of GDP that is spent on advertising. I am pretty sure that I saw a statistic to the effect that adverti...

I will be participating in an ad:tech panel this afternoon with the title “Digital Economy 2010: A Robust Recovery or Another Year of Trench Warfare?" I have to admit that I am not entirely sure what that means, but in a prep call with moderator Mark Mahaney we came up with some fun questions. The one that is most interesting is whether we may be facing a long-term decline in the percentage of GDP that is spent on advertising. I am pretty sure that I saw a statistic to the effect that adverti...