I have a confession to make. I am a Kickstarter addict. To me Kickstarter embodies everything that is simple and beautiful about the free market. If you have a good idea and can deliver, you get funded. If not, you don't. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Some great ideas have come out of there as well. It seems to have become the de facto launchpad for new video games, where designers are able to defray all or most of the cost of game development. Likewise, it's starting to take off for the rag trade. I recently got in on the 10-Year Hoodie and thought I was pretty cool, but this latest garment innovation might blow that one away.

Wool&Prince is absolutely crushing their Kickstarter goal so far with The Better Button-Down, a wool shirt that reportedly only needs to be laundered every 100 wears. You read that right. 100 wears. As in, buy four of them and you're only doing shirt laundry once a year.

This stunning footage was taken moments after Lazard brass announced an unprecedented entire weekend off for their analysts after a grueling 23-day back-to-back string of all-nighters. Most analysts were confused at first; one simply doesn't take both Saturday and Sunday off. But the obvious joy they feel after the initial shock of natural sunlight burning their eyes and skin is a sight to behold. Of course, there's always that one guy who hangs back in the office looking for a little more face time. Don't be that guy.

My kids are on spring break for the next couple weeks and I was walking them to the park yesterday afternoon when I was suddenly surrounded by riot cops and TV cameras. Admittedly I was looking down at my phone and not paying attention, but it was surprising how quickly it happened. I looked up and saw I was in front of the Peugeot headquarters on Grande Armée, and the riot cops were bracing for another massive protest over the closing of another plant.

A few minutes ago the Eurozone unemployment numbers were posted, and they went over 12% (ticked up to 12.1%) for the first time in Eurozone history. Greece led the pack with a staggering 27.2%, followed closely by the arguably more dire situation in Spain with 26.7%. Things are tough all over, as they say, and a Zone-wide unemployment rate well into the double digits does not bode well for economies struggling to get back on their feet.

Here in France the lack of jobs has been Hollande's biggest hurdle, and his approach to the problem has been less than inspiring. At some point the French are going to have to wake up and realize that it's a global economy and they're going to be the perennial victims of it if they don't get with the program and stop being so anti-business.

It's been awhile since I've done an update on the Lending Club WSO CDO and my Lending Club account in general, so I thought I'd knock one out this week. The fact is, I'm no longer investing with Lending Club and I'll explain why. Everyone's investment objectives and risk tolerances are different, so this change in strategy is just a reflection of my own personal preferences and is in no way meant to take away from the many great things Lending Club has accomplished. It's still the best P2P lending platform (in my opinion); it's just not for me anymore.

First things first. As of April 29, 2013 the WSO CDO is down to its last 4 notes (after beginning with 10). Three were sold and three have been fully paid (as shown after the jump). The weighted average rate is 11.93%, but that hasn't changed since day one. The Net Annualized Return on my broader Lending Club account is 14.89%. To date, I've had no defaults or charge-offs due to my aggressive aftermarket sales strategy.

At the present I'm just letting my account wind itself down. I haven't invested in any new notes in roughly five months. The notes I have remaining pay themselves off month by month and if a payment is missed I sell the note on the aftermarket immediately. I expect my account to take probably another 24 months to move completely to cash.

1) Algo Trading Saves Mark Cuban Millions During "Twitter Twitch" (Streambase Event Processing Blog) - Maybe all those bots running around the exchange aren't such a bad thing after all, Pretty interesting analysis of the recent AP-driven Twitter Twitch and the negligible effect it had on investors.

2) Millionaires Clash Over Socialite’s Child Support Claims (Dealbook) - This is just ugly all day and is a pretty clear violation of the time-honored "Bros before Hos" code. If you're looking for yet another reason to remain single, and especially why you never want to marry a fellow banker (or anyone even tangentially related to the industry), this is it.

3) SEC Seeks to Halt Scheme Raising Investor Funds Under Guise of JOBS Act (SEC) - If they'd quit dicking around and just get the JOBS Act passed already, the regulators could devote adequate resources to weeding out shysters like this. C'mon guys, get something done and quit putting the cart before the horse.

A lot has been made recently about original television programming being produced by Internet properties. The prime example is House of Cards on Netflix, but now a spate of original programming is hitting Amazon, and what I've seen so far is great.

Admittedly, I've only watched the pilot episode of Zombieland, but it was hilarious. Betas looks funny as well, and who doesn't love John Goodman, especially when cast as a fratty dirtbag Senator like he is in Alpha House?

It's all a part of Amazon's push into every part of our lives, and the Kindle TV box looks like it's in the pipeline. More and more viewers are moving exclusively to streaming, so I'm curious as to what the cable companies' response will be.

This might surprise some of you, but the world's best-known sound money advocate ain't down with the BitCoin. In the following video, Ron Paul explains that, while it should never be made illegal, BitCoin is just too complicated to ever actually work. Plus you can't put it in your pocket, which is apparently important to the septugenarian libertarian hero. He also touches on some hot button issues like the Boston Marathon bombing and how the old guard of the GOP is going the way of the dinosaur. Good stuff:

It looks like the free ride might be coming to an end. President Obama enthusiastically endorsed legislation that would introduce an Internet sales tax, perhaps even by year end. Obviously the bill has massive support from brick-and-mortar retailers who claim online retailers have a huge pricing advantage over them. It might surprise you to learn, however, that Wall Street is lining up against the bill.

I sometimes wonder what Angelo Mozillo thinks about the mess he made. Of all the shotgun weddings to come out of the 2008 financial crisis, the B of A - Countrywide union has to be the worst. Last week the bank agreed to a $500 million settlement with the Iowa Public Retirement System and various other members of the class action lawsuit. The suit was over toxic RMBS sold by Countrywide.

As if that weren't bad enough, it doesn't even settle everything. There are several other pending suits, and it seems like just as B of A gets one suit settled another one hits the docket. It has to be pretty frustrating.