Writing Worth Reading
Last updated 7 am GMT
Writing Worth Reading
Company has no use for money it will raise. Mark Zuckerberg wants to keep absolute control. Only reason to go public is to gratify start-up investors and shareholding employees. Which is not nothing. But it's not enough (Free reg/$)
Why don't sovereign credit ratings account for inflation as a risk akin to default? Britain is proud to say it hasn't defaulted in past three centuries. But it has hurt creditors just as effectively, by inflating its debt away
"By friending Wall Street at the start of its journey to the public markets, Facebook is giving its users something unpleasant to think about: Their personal information is helping to make rich people even richer"
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend. But if you ever have to sell one on, they're liable to lose their charm. "A diamond's 'worth' is little more than a product of very careful image management." Here's how the industry works
Neat, short summary of Facebook's IPO filing document. In 2011: $3.7b revenue, $1b profit, 483m daily active users, 2.7b daily likes and comments. Zynga makes up 12% of all revenue. Best phrase in the doc? “Code wins arguments”
Short, punchy speech excerpt. In the era of industrial capitalism companies weren't "destroyed and left as bankrupt shells by financial raiders. Banking was expected to serve industry, not loot it". But then came finance capitalism
"Ordinary Europeans had no idea the euro would join countries at the hip and have every reason to feel tricked into the single currency. But this is done and cannot be undone." Now the best way forwards is to accept a transfer union
Compelling tour d'horizon of political, social, economic turmoil. Is this a "50-year moment" where crisis leads to protectionism, economic nationalism, de-globalisation? Or could it be something much bigger – a 500-year event?
Supposed rescue plans for Greece will never work. Greece isn't illiquid. It's insolvent. Lending more money will only make things worse. What's needed is a shock wave of defaults and bankruptcies. But who dares say so?
"Now that Mitt Romney is running for the GOP nomination for President, it seems everybody and his brother is taking a whack at the private equity piñata." But some criticisms of the industry are unfair or inaccurate. Here's why
There's a whole lot of younger people out there who can do your job, whatever it is, much better than you can, and for less money. Either we can pretend that's not the case. Or you can do the decent thing and resign (Free reg/$)
Hawks on both sides have it wrong, says Hill. So here's the case for "aust-imulus". Circumstances vary but, in general, it would involve some degree of toughing it out, followed by carefully targeted stimulus
Image by kenteegardin on Flickr
"The chance of being exploited in a long-term job is now experienced as a privilege"
