- Something must be done
- This is something
- Therefore, this must be done.
The Qwikster and the Dead - Megan McArdle - The Atlantic
This syllogism is pure gold.
FWIW, Despite the gloominess of this analysis, I’m optimistic about Netflix’s future, based on the little I know about Reed Hastings and the culture he’s created.
Market contracting is, in an important sense, an adversarial process: purchasers try to obtain the best goods or services at the lowest price possible; sellers try to provide the lowest-cost goods or services at the highest price possible. Some individuals enjoy this contest, and most participants in market economies are acculturated to engaging in it with a fair degree of indifference, at least in conventional commercial contexts. Yet some individuals evidently find it unpleasant to obtain or provide goods or services through such adversarial relationships!
In assessing the relative efficiency of alternative economic arrangements, received economic theory generally ignores such preferences concerning transactional processes, as opposed to preferences concerning transactional outcomes such as price and quality of performance. It does not necessarily follow, of course, that these preferences are unimportant. And, where they are important, market contracting brings the cost of running counter to them.
An alternative interpretation of alienation is that individuals gain important satisfaction from having a feeling of control over an enterprise they patronize, or from participating with other patrons in its governance – satisfaction that may be lost when they deal with the firm only through market relationships.
—The Ownership of Enterprise by Henry Hansmann
I think about this passage all the time. It informs my vision of how Open San Diego could operate.
What is a market, if it’s not a community?
Was there a more politically toxic destination to sell [Orszag’s contacts, skills, and experiences] than Citigroup? The firm may or may not win the prize as the most galling corporate recipient of federal bailout funds. It is certainly on the medal stand. It perfectly symbolizes both the “too-big-to-fail” problem and the overly-cozy relationship between investment banking and Washington. This move undercuts efforts to curb the revolving-door culture between the government and the industries it regulates and affects.Related:
…a normal person, functioning well on the upper levels of a prosperous, industrialized society, can hardly hear his conscience at all.
— Vonnegut
NCR: Did your strategy work? Did you meet good-looking girls?
Stillman: Have you seen the movie Cocktail? Tom Cruise played me! I was lucky enough to do it for three years — he only did it to make a movie.
An Interview With Alan Stillman, Creator of T.G.I. Friday’s
—
In which we learn T.G.I. Friday’s has been super lame from the start. Nonetheless, a very good interview with a savvy (albeit lame) businessman.
(via Instapaper)
Ahmet Ertegun was a Venture capitalist. A brilliant risk taker, and he knew how to stomach failure. He also signed artists purely on gut instinct. In many ways these new VC’s and Tech entrepreneurs resemble him.
Here’s why you should pay very close attention to GroupMe, a startup that helps you easily communicate with groups of your friends from your mobile phones: normal people love it.
On a Tuesday morning in April, the presidents of three of the largest restaurant chains in the country slip into an unmarked white van in Orlando, Florida, and embark on an unprecedented mission — sharing their latest trade secrets.
First sign that we’re in trouble: they’re meeting in Orlando.
Why America Is Addicted to Olive Garden
(via Instapaper)
I'm Jed Sundwall. This is my blog, which you can follow on Tumblr or via RSS. You can talk to me on Twitter.
