Sorry for the lateness of this post, fellas. I got ahold of some bad saurkraut at lunch yesterday, and I've been puking like a frat boy for the past 24 hours. Anyway, this is something new we're going to be doing on Fridays from here on out.
As you can probably imagine, I source a ton of stuff each week for WSO. I then select the four or five things I think you guys will get the biggest kick out of and write about those. But that leaves a bunch of really great stuff that didn't make the cut. So now on Fridays, I'm going to put together a links post of the best stuff that you guys should know about, along with a brief description of each story. Let me know in the comments if you enjoy the format.
1. Lazard Profits Jump to $281 Million (The Telegraph) - Pretty self explanatory. A big year over at Lazard which saw profits rise from $11.1 million in 2009 to almost $300 million last year.
2. Wikileaks Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize (Fox News) - I haven't really weighed in on this issue, but suffice it to say I think the nomination is well deserved. Anything that makes governments' life harder is aces in my book.
3. Wikileaks vs. Wall Street in a War for Our Souls (Market Watch) - Another Paul Farrell screed, entertaining nonetheless.
4. Masters of the Universe: Meet the World's Best Paid Men (BBC News) - Article about the world's richest hedge fund managers, and how their income stacks up against that of a nurse (not sure how that's relevant, but...). Click it if you're into hedge fund porn.
5. Croesus Watch: Banker Pay Levitates to New Highs (Naked Capitalism) - The banksters saw another year of record compensation. Anyone else seen this movie?
6. The Paradox of Corporate Taxes (New York Times) - Great piece detailing the underhanded tax strategies of American corporations, which leave some (like Carnival Cruise Lines) paying only 1.1% tax on their earnings. Personal income tax shouldn't even be discussed until the loopholes are removed from the corporate tax code.
7. College Freshmen: Life Sucks (CNBC) - The misery index is peaking for today's college freshmen. "Eight years of college down the drain. Might as well join the fucking Peace Corps!"
8. Embrace Your Inner Tom Selleck (Art of Manliness) - Manscape much? Put down the razor, Chewbaca, and just be yourself.
9. Infographic: The True Cost of Homeownership (Moolanomy) - Good information for those weighing the pros and cons of buying their own place.
10. World Is "One Poor Harvest" from Chaos, New Book Warns (The Independent) - More commodities related stuff, but we could be facing some scary scenarios in the wake of these massive winter storms. All that melted snow has to go somewhere, and flooding of the Mississippi River Delta could drive crop prices higher than the 5.5% increase already predicted by the USDA.
11. Offermatic Gives You Sizeable Discounts Based on Your Spending Habits (LifeHacker) - Pretty cool service that tracks your spending and tailors discounts to your particular spending habits. Sort of like Groupon, but focused solely on you.
12. Why So Many Rich People Don't Feel Very Rich (New York Times) - Interesting article about the relativity of wealth. Great infographic, too.
13. Good News for People Who Love Unfairness (Reformed Broker) - Josh Brown's quick piece of the proliferation of private stock trading (a la Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and how the tech set is getting around the regulations.
14. Americans Who Swap Passports (ft.com/cms/s/0/0ae8415c-9e5e-11df-a5a4-00144feab49a.html#axzz1D00HmD8P">Financial Times) - An older piece, but very interesting. It details some of the reasons Americans are scrambling to get second and third passports, and explores why renunciation of American citizenship is on the rise.
15. Fallen Marine's Parents Adopt Son's Bomb Dog (Fox News) - Just an article to keep things in perspective for you, monkeys. Here's hoping the dog brings his family some solace.
Just as an aside, I saw this trailer this week and the movie looks pretty legit. Kinda like The Hangover, but with chicks.
That's all I've got for this week, guys. I actually have more, but I didn't want to bury you in links. If you're interested in seeing this stuff as it happens, follow my Twitter feed. Otherwise, I'll have the best of the best waiting for you here on Fridays. Let me know what you think of the format.
Have a great weekend, monkeys!
Kudos on the tax link...if anyone is into tax, or following it, check out glaxacosmith kline and their transfer pricing bust by the IRS a while back.
The format looks very neat and nice right now. It would be too wordy if it goes any longer.
really like this idea and the format
Eddie, I was thinking yesterday that WSO is missing some sort of linkfest. Good stuff.
Great idea!
Great idea.
Awesome idea, some great links there.
But that movie looks terrible.
I agree with Banker88...I laughed at the trailer but have little hope that the movie will be equally as funny. Not to mention the ripping off on The Hangover. I feel like I would watch this movie and just compare everything to The Hangover and it would fail miserably. I think I will watch for the movie to his TNT in 3 years. I am pretty pumped about The Hangover 2 though.
Regards
Loved it because the articles were super interesting.
Regarding #12, The Rich Don't Feel Rich: the article points out that there is a huge jump from people in the top earning percentiles making like $200,000 and the super rich in the highest percentiles, earning 7 figures plus. Of course, the top 3%--largely entrepreneurs--push economic growth, job growth, and are responsible for huge swaths of employment of the other 97% of the country. However, the obvious conclusion to the liberal readers (as one can see in the comments section) is that there is a wealth disparity gap that needs to be reduced by taxation. Putting aside the fact that wealth (net worth) and gross taxable income are not the same (or even related), it's funny how cause and effect never seems to cross the mind of a liberal. To them, you can eliminate wealth disparities by bringing the top earners down a notch through tax policy, ignoring the long-term ramifications on innovation and job growth that is generated largely by entrepreneurs seeking high earnings.
To liberals, there is no or nominal impact to the other 97% of the country by punitively taxing the top 1-3% of earners. And since there is no or nominal impact of tax policy, then to liberals it only makes sense to bridge an unfair wealth gap through taxation.
And friends, this is why we have the Democratic party. www.democrats.org for those of you interested in joining the cause.
Love this idea.
Definitely not going to see the movie just because I rarely find girls funny and none of them are hot enough to warrant an $11 ticket.
Excellent quality on those links, I'd like to see this become a regular thing.
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