News and views from around the web:
Floyd Norris, behind the TimesSelect firewall, notes that
sometimes it pays for banks
to stick their heads in the sand, although he stops far short of suggesting
that this might be one of those times.
In 1990 and 1991, when many banks went under, regulatory forebearance probably
saved some from meeting that fate. A refusal to recognize a reality that turned
out to be temporary now looks wise.
Al Ries thinks the
iPhone will fail because "divergence devices have been spectacular
successes" while "convergence devices, for the most part, have been
spectacular failures". Um, can anybody say cameraphone? Or Blackberry?
Edward Hugh has 7,681
words on Latvian economics. I dare you to read them all.
Pat Toomey claims that raising taxes on private-equity shops
"can only have a
major adverse effect on the industry and a host of unintended consequences".
But he doesn’t explain why, and he also doesn’t explain why private equity principals
and companies should pay much lower taxes than anybody else. File under: "stunningly
unconvincing".
Brad Greenspan, the would-be
Murdoch spoiler seeking a minority stake in Dow Jones, says that the company
should launch a new business television
channel to compete both with CNBC and with Murdoch’s forthcoming channel.
‘Cos launching TV channels is so easy.
Scott Armstrong says that "even when done properly, statistical
significance tests are of no value".
Michael Bloomberg says
you should spend seven days a week at the office. Best Buy, not
so much.
And finally, something that the buyer of Damien Hirst’s $100
million skull
might be interested in: Diamond
derivatives!