U.S. Sharpens Preparation for Cyberwar, The Wall Street Journal

Top Gun for Cyber Warfare Training.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Healey Rules $400 Billion Empire With Stakes In 28 Funds

An excellent story.

You can find the article here on the Bloomberg News website

Don’t Indulge. Be Happy. The New York Times

An excellent article. The word "underindulgence" doesn't exist.

You can find the article here on the New York Times website

Air Conditioning, Blessed Invention, The Wall Street Journal

An interesting history of air conditioning well timed for the summer. This wonderful invention is not even a hundred years old.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

JPMorgan Is No. 1 Stock Picker As Investors Rate Brokers, Bloomberg News

A good article about stock picking.

You can find the article here on the Bloomberg News website

Language Difficulty Ranking, Foreign Service Institute

You can find the article here on the Effective Language Learning website

Setting Digital Ground Rules to Become E-Compatible With Family and Friends, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Kids Can Be Costly Long After They Turn 18, The Wall Street Journal

Food, housing, vacations, forgone, income.

These are just some of the costs baked into caring for children. This article discusses how some of the costs keep mounting up well after the kids reach legal age.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Grammar, a Victim in the Office, The Wall Street Journal

An excellent review of some of the most common grammar mistakes made at the office.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Young Investors, Start With a Roth, The Wall Street Journal

Excellent investment advice

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Merger Reshapes Latin Air Market, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Unlocking Yourself From the Clock, The Wall Street Journal

Thinking about time as "event time" rather than doing things by pre determined clock time.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Positive Thinking: Seven Easy Ways to Improve a Bad Day, Inc.com

You can find the article here on Inc.com

KKR Names First Brazil Appointment, Financial Times

Brazil is attracting more and more attention from PE investors including KKR, the famous buyout shop led by Henry Kravis and George Roberts.

You can find the article here on the Financial Times website

Texas Oil Man Finds a New Groove, The Wall Street Journal

An incredible article about a serial entrepreneur who knows business.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Students start to think about broader social values, Financial Times

An interesting look into Berkeley's Master in Financial Engineering program.

You can find the article here on the Financial Times website

Stealing a Watch, Made Easy, The Wall Street Journal

This humorous and insightful article gives details into the methods pick-pocketers use to steal from unsuspecting people nearby. The article discusses the techniques that can work so well, someone can steel a watch right off another person's wrist without them knowing.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Printing money: How to create a currency, BBC News

With the impending Greek elections and the talk of Greece potentially returning to its former currency, people speak as though creating a new currency is a simple undertaking. This article goes into a little more detail of what big steps are actually taken when a country implements a new currency. Fortunately, the global economies are so interconnected today that no country has an interest in seeing Greece struggle with a new currency plan. Therefore experts from around the world (straight with the IMF) will be there to guide the country through this fairly difficult challenge.

You can find the article here on the BBC News website

A Young Entrepreneur's Sweet Idea, The Wall Street Journal

This 15 year old is taking entrepreneurship to the extreme, (contracting professional chefs, meetings with venture capitalists, former executives as board members). This is an interesting story about a teen whose billionaire father is teaching his son the ultimate lesson of entrepreneurship.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Fraga Leads Brazil Private Equity Beyond India As Selic Falls, Bloomberg

A great article with a quick summary on Brazilian Private Equity.

You can find the article here on the Bloomberg News website

George Soros at the Festival of Economics, GeorgeSoros.com

This is a lengthy and very thought provoking article written by world famous George Soros. He discusses his fundamental view of economics and how it relates to his interpretation of economics issues facing countries around the world.

You can find the article here on the George Soros website

Defectors Cast New Light on Korean Camps, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Mastering the Finer Points of American Slang, The Wall Street Journal

Learning English for non native speakers can be a difficult task. Learning the subtle uses of English slang can be even more difficult. This article discusses some of the interesting types of slang that can be the most difficult to learn.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Why We Lie, The Wall Street Journal

An interesting discussion looking into the phenomenon of lying.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Two Lists You Should Look at Every Morning, Harvard Business Review

This article discusses two great lists to keep that you read every morning to start the day:

1. Your goals list. What is it that you are working towards with your efforts
2. Your distractions list. This is the one most people leave out. What things are keeping you from reaching your goals.

You can find the article here on the Harvard Business Review website

A Dive Into the Digital Deep, The Wall Street Journal

If the Internet is a global phenomenon, it is because there are tubes at the bottom of the ocean. A look at the undersea cables that connect us.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

What Workers Lose By Staying Put, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Standing Firm Against the E-Tide, The Wall Street Journal

As E books and the E book readers begin to take over, Strand, the historic book store in New York City looks to keep itself relevant against the rising competition.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

How Women Can Get Ahead: Advice From Female CEOs, The Wall Street Journal

Some advice from several of the world's most successful businesswomen.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

What the Chinese Want, The Wall Street Journal

Interesting insight into what trends we can expect from chinese consumers moving forward.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Could We Trust Killer Robots? The Wall Street Journal

Unmanned drones will play an increasingly important role in the future. This article discusses the future of these advanced aerial weapons.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

One on one with Hillary Rodham Clinton, USATODAY

The U.S. top Diplomat speaks about her travels and time as the Secretary of State.

You can find the article here on the USA TODAY website

Don't Unpack That Suitcase These Days, One Foreign Posting Isn't Enough for Managers Who Want Top Jobs, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Study: Economic mobility depends on the state you live in, USA TODAY

You can find the article here on the USA TODAY website

Tuesday Never Comes - Bill Gross on Credit, PIMCO

This excellent article written by famous mutual fund manager Bill Gross discusses the incredible effect expanding credit has had on economic growth. In his words, "the global economy is floating on an ocean of credit."

You can find the article here on the PIMCO website

"Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem, YouTube

This is an extremely clever video with two guys rapping about the theories of the great economic thinkers, Keynes and Hayek.

You can find the video here on the YouTube website

14 Lessons from Benjamin Franklin About Getting What You Want in Life, Business Insider

For anyone who has never learned about the details of Benjamin Franklin's life, I highly recommend doing so. His name appears in many places for the successes of the many different things he did in his life. He was an inventor, writer, printer, statesman,  and did many other things including helping to write the U.S. Constitution. This article gives 14 pieces of advice written by Franklin. Although this wisdom is over 200 years old, it still hold true today.

You can find the article here on the Business Insider website

A talent shortage looms as the industry booms, Investment News

According to the article, demand for financial advising is set to increase with the onset of retirement of the baby boomer generation (I am wondering why people think they do not need financial advice or planing before retirement). This demand, they say has led to a major talent shortage in younger financial advisors needed to replace their elder coworkers in the near future.

You can find the article here on the Investment News website

Developing Countries Are Revolutionizing Mobile Banking, Harvard Business Review

This article takes an interesting perspective by discussing the new technology in the pipeline that is revolutionizing mobile banking in developing countries where significant numbers of people have traditionally been "underbanked."

You can find the article here on the Harvard Business Review website

Life after Firefox: Can Mozilla regain its mojo? BBC News

Mozilla's Firefox internet browser has taken off since 2002 when internet users first began using it as an alternative to Microsoft's standard Internet Explorer browser. In the beginning, using Firefox became a way tech users could signal their computer savvy. Firefox remains an extremely popular internet browser with users around the globe who claim allegiance to its user friendly design. However, tt has a serious long term problem in the form of Google. 85 percent of Mozilla's income comes from the money Google pays them to make Google.com the automatic home page and search bar. With the rising popularity of the Google Chrome browser, it is not clear that Google will want to continue their payments to Mozilla raising questions about the company's long term financial stability.

You can find the article here on the BBC News website

Millennials struggle with financial literacy, USA TODAY

Changes in our culture and a severe lack in economics and financial education in the secondary school system have created a generation (the Millennials) who are less financially aware than past generations. This seems to me to be an ominous sign as smart financial decisions are what leads to wealth building and long term societal growth in the economy.

You can find the article here on the USA TODAY website

How Much Money You Need To Realistically Recreate The Scrooge McDuck ‘Gold Coin Swim’, The Billfold

A humorous article that quantifies how much money it would take to create a gold coin mountain like the one seen in the mansion of Scrooge McDuck.

You can find the article here on The Billfold website

The Best Statistics of Developing Nations, TED Talks

A great video by Hans Rosling discussing the context around our data we measure for developing countries.

You can find the video here on the TED Talks website

Whose Capitalism is it Anyway? Harvard Business Review

A great article on how we define capitalism.

You can find the article here on the Harvard Business Review website

Be Proud of Your Accomplishments, Not Your Affiliations, Harvard Business Review

Ask someone to talk about their accomplishments or career and many people follow the trend of stating their university degrees, company experience, and professional affiliations. The author of this article argues that people should focus on their own contributions rather than affiliations when they talk about themselves. It allows someone to show their own skills rather than add themselves to the category of "just another banker, or ivy league student, or consultant."

You can find the article here on the Harvard Business Review website

Fink Finds Assets Not Enough in BlackRock Bid for Clout, Bloomberg

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has remarkably flown under the radar during the negative publicity of financial firms that has taken place since 2008. BlackRock's chief Lawrence Fink has said it is time for BlackRock's brand to become well known. This detailed article discusses BlackRock's diverse businesses and plan to expand its name awareness worldwide.

You can find the article here on the Bloomberg website

A Private Jet With Space for Both the Rolls-Royces, The New York Times DealBook

The world's most extravagant private jets.

You can find the article here on the DealBook website

Federal Budgets and Class Warfare, The Wall Street Journal

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg writes an opinion article for the Wall Street Journal. He argues that taxes should be increased to help begin reducing the Federal government's spending deficit, but that Obama's tax the rich campaign is a waste of time political strategy. Even if his blocked proposals were to pass, the increased government revenue would hardly affect our current deficit, something that cannot truly be tackled without serious spending cuts. His article shares more thought about how to address these complex problems.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

The man who helped 'simplify' Chinese, BBC News

Zhou Youguang, the man credited with creating the system for writing Chinese in the Roman alphabet is over 105 years old. Like anyone who lives to this age, he has had a life full of different chapters and lived through the last century of Chinese and world history. Read about him more in the article.

You can find the article here on the BBC News website

Man survives 30 hours in Gulf after boat sinks; friend dies, USA TODAY

An incredible story about a man who lost his best friend when their fishing boat sunk in the Gulf.

You can find the article here on the USA TODAY website

A Start-Up Airline Finds Its Place in the Maldives, The New York Times DealBook

A great example of a man that took his experience to start his own company. This American has started an airline focused on one of Asia's smallest countries by population, the Maldives. He saw the rising tourism demand from the new middle class in China and India, pitched the idea for investment and now operates a two plane airline with solid financial performance. His quote from the article:

“Business 101: find a niche and serve it well,” he said. “That’s what we have done.”

You can find the article here on the New York Times DealBook website

In Search of One Energy Miracle, The Wall Street Journal

Bill Gates' thoughts on energy, carbon taxes, and development for the poorest 2 billion people on the planet. He says there are 5 different miracles that could happen to make these things possible.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Amazon Adds that Robotic Touch, The Wall Street Journal

Amazon made its second largest acquisition ever with the purchase of Kiva Systems, a company that sells customized warehouse robot systems that dramatically reduce the need for warehouse employees.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Here's a Funny Idea: Medicare Laws That Are Easy to Read, The Wall Street Journal

President Obama's healthcare law is over 900 pages long. The much criticized Dodd-Frank financial regulation law passed in 2010 is over 2,300 pages long. To make matters worse, a typical passage from the health care law looks like this:

"In the case of a plan for which there are average per capita monthly savings described in section 1395w–24 (b)(3)(C) or 1395w–24 (b)(4)(C) of this title, as the case may be, the amount specified in this subparagraph is the amount of the monthly rebate computed under section 1395w–24 (b)(1)(C)(i) of this title for that plan and year (as reduced by the amount of any credit provided under section 1395w–24 (b)(1)(C)(iv) [2] of this title)."


Whether or not you think America is over-regulated, the fact remains that U.S. regulation if over-worded. (if you are not convinced America is over-regulated, click here to read about the issue in the Economist). The length of complexity has become so absurd that many Federal Judges have spoken out in complaint for the excessiveness of recent legislation. If these appointed legal experts, the public servants we expect to interpret the law, are blocked by the complexity, then it is reasonable to expect the average citizen to be completely lost if they attempted to understand their lawmaker's work.

Over-regulation and long winded laws are likely positively correlated. As a rough solution then for our nation's problem of stifling growth, keep the laws shorter and easier to undersand.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Pacific nation may move entire population to Fiji, USA TODAY

This island nation is making plans for what it will do when the sea level rises above its land. The options include bui;ding sea walls around the islands to keep the water out and a variety of other solutions to this unusual problem. It lastest plan is to purchase land in nearby nation Fiji to move its entire population to the country to avoid the rising water.

You can find the article here on the USA TODAY website

Apple Macs Ease Into Corporate Market, The Wall Street Journal

The PC dominance in business may be fading as more corporations are begin to adopt Mac programs that allow employees to choose apple computers for their work over the traditional machines. As file compatibility issues of the past disappear and other Apple products become more popular ( IPhone, IPad) in business environments, companies ares seeing Apple's computers as viable options for their business needs. What does this mean? Apple may be on the verge of expansing its market share into the enormuus corporate pc market and U.S. college students who have spent four years "training" on their MacBooks may finally be able to put their skills to work on familiar computer systems after graduation.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

China Foothold in U.S. Energy, The Wall Street Journal

In the last two years, Chinese companies have invested over $17 billion in U.S. and Canada oil and gas. These investments come in the form of minority stakes that have allowed the Chinese to quietly increase their U.S. presence and perhaps more importantly, their access to U.S. drilling technology. The article discusses this subtle trend and the access to U.S. R&D that may accelerate the development of China's enormous energy companies.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Why This Tuesday Is One of the Worst Days of the Year to Buy a Car, Time

You can find the article here on the Time website

5 Retail Price-Tag Tricks, SmartMoney

Buyers beware. Retailers use subtle price tag changes in order to affect the way people think about the value of the item they are buying (A well known practice is the $39.99 price tag rather than $40). The article discusses come of these tricks and the psychology behind them.

You can find the article here on the SmartMoney website

The Best Seat in the House, The Wall Street Journal

An interesting look into the extravagant movie rooms that the most famous directors and actors build in their houses. The article gives details about these "screening rooms" that cost anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Why Brazilian Soybeans are Changing the World, The Georgia Political Review

This article discusses the impact of China's rise on the developing economy in Brazil. China's demand for Brazilian raw materials is helping the South American nation grow, but at the cost of creating what may be an unsustainable trade relationship between the two countries. The effects of this relationship may even change Brazil's current relationship with the United States as a central trade partner.

You can find the article here on the Georgia Political Review website

Is Private Equity Getting a Fair Portrayal, The Georgia Political Review

Mitt Romney's opponents have, at varying points of vulnerability, attacked his wealth as a sign that he should not be nominated to be the Republican party presidential candidate this year. Mr. Romney's wealth, which resulted largely from his executive postion at Bain Capital has brought unusual attention and criticism to the Private Equity industry. This article explains what private equity is and why it is relevant to the 2012 Republican primary elections.

You can find the article here on the Georgia Political Review website

Never Trust Government Numbers, Rasmussen Reports

When the government reports a new deal to decrease spending by $2 trillion dollars over the next decade, what does that really mean? This article discusses how these annocuemenls of deficit cuts are misleading because the government is not cutting, but rather slowing the increase in their spending.

You can find the article here on the Rasmussen Reports website

Sunken treasure haul arrives in Spain from US, BBC News

The chance of finding an undiscovered shipwreck full of treasure seems slim to slimmer for those who have considered treasure hunting as a career leaving would be sailors to choose more conventional career paths such as teaching or working as a researcher. The treasure, however, is still out there shown by the massive discovery  of 17 tons of coins on a sunken Spanish galleon ship estimated to be worth over $500 million.  Leaving your job or quitting school at this news would not be a great idea because a recent court ruling stated the treasure officially belongs to the Spanish government. Unfortunately for  US Odyssey Marine Exploration who made the find, international treaties usually hold that the cargo of warship sunk in battle remain the property of a nation unless they formally relinquish ownership. The treasure will go to Spain hopefully to be displayed in a cultural heritage museum (and not used to pay the high interest coupons on Spain's recent sovereign bond issuances).

You can find the article here on the BBC News website

Parking Meters in the Driveway, SmartMoney

If you have ever paid for parking, you know that in some situations (urban settings, sporting events, concerts, etc.) economics would say the demand for a space to leave your car is high enough relative to the supply of convenient space available to convince buyers to part with hard earned money for the non-lasting benefit. The good news is that it can now work the other way easier than ever before. This article discuses the growing number of people, businesses, churches, etc. that are adding substantial income through selling parking permission to the space around their homes or businesses. Including the fascinating new website, parkatmyhouse.com provides the unique service of linking those in search of parking (special event or regular parking) to people offering up space.

You can find the article here on the SmartMoney website

Are You As Busy As You Think? The Wall Street Journal

For busy people the (automatic) answer to many things is "I don't have time" (or a variation such as "This is a crazy week" or "I'm slammed"). This answer is easy to give when you confronted with a task (exercising, preparing a healthy meal, taling to family, sleeping enough, attending class, or going to a social event) when you are working a 60 hour work week, balancing this work with heavy personal life demands, or taking a full course load of advanced classes.

This article discusses this issue and provides some excellent strategies for changing where your time goes and how you think about it.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

To Tailor Burgers for France, McDonald's Enlists Baguette, The Wall Street Journal

The world's second largest fast food chain by number of stores (after Subway) has just announced an update to their French menu, the McBaguette. This article provides interesting statistics into the French diet (for example, the average French person eats 121 pounds of bread each year) ans why their love for bread may mean better business for the American fast food chain.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Google’s Newest Frontier: The Ocean, The Wall Street Journal

Google's latest project was just announced at the World Oceans Summit in Singapore, an underwater mapping program of coral reefs similar to Google Street View and Google Art project. In addition to its products that I use everyday everyday (Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Search, Blogger) and the many other products that I use regularly (Google Finance, YouTube, Google Translate, Google Scholar etc.), this unique company continues to develop new and interesting projects like mapping the oceans underwater and programming cars to drive themselves. In spite of the recurring privacy complaints and occasional antitrust claims against Google, O am thankful for a company that continues to innovate in so many different ways to make information and communication more available to me.



You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Who, What, Why: How long can someone survive without food? BBC News

If you've ever wondered how long you can really go without food, you should read this article. It adds a new perspective to the commonly used phrases "I'm hungry" and "I'm starving."

You can find the article here on the BBC website

Plan B for China's Wealthy: Moving to the U.S., Europe, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

Blogger Orders the Most Expensive Starbucks Drink Possible, Time

A humorous article about a man who decided to take full advantage of Starbuck's "Free drink on your birthday policy" by studying the menu to come up with the most expensive drink combination possible.


You can find the article here on the Time website.

Zurich is World's Costliest City, The Wall Street Journal

The updated data from the Economist Intelligence Unit states that Zurich is now the costliest city in the world to live in. For Americans (especially those who have lived in a big city or have relatives living in a major city), the first reaction to this data is mild surprise that there are cities more costly than our own domestic models of high cost living (New York City, San Francisco, Washington D.C. etc.)

This article, however, states that North American cities do not even break the top ten on this list. Zurich and Tokyo are almost twice as costly to live in as NYC (180%). The costliest cities are now largely located in East Asia and Europe.

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website

New Brazil Boom: Collecting Debts, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website.

Kim Jong Il Dies, The Economist

Kim Jong Il, dictator of North Korea, died on December 17th, aged 69 or 70

You can find the article here on the Economist website.

The Carlyle Group - 2011 Holiday Founders' Video, YouTube

You can find the video here on the YouTube website.

Dividend Stocks Become the Heroes, The Wall Street Journal

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website.

Swiss Bankers’ Millionaire Dreams Fade, Bloomberg

You can find the article here on the Bloomberg website.

Mitt Romney Lambasted in Attack Ad for Speaking French, BBC News

Republican presidential candidate front runner has been negatively portrayed in another ad by Newt Gingrich for.......... speaking French. The ad attempts to compare Romney with John Kerry, a democrat who also knows a foreign language. The strange technique employed in this ad is not surprising because candidates will attempt more and more creative attempts at bringing themselves back up as they fall further behind (Gingrich). The ad, however, unfortunately reveals a general apathy towards foreign language in American society. Most natural born Americans do not learn a second (or third or fourth) language. The trend has the sad effect of cutting off many people from direct access to literature in other langage, friendships with speakers of other languages, and a deeper understanding of the people of cultures who speak other languages than English. The apathy, however, is understandable, as the use of English around the world has become the norm for international business and continues to grow as an international language. Americans often feel they have no incentive to learn other languages when they can travel successfully to most countries with only the English language. In spite of this, the idea that a potential U.S. president's foreign langage skills is negative is ridiculous. The president of the United States (POTUS) certainly does not need to speak French (or any language for that matter) to faithfully execute his (or her) position. There is an army of the best translators in the world to accomplish that. Foreign language skills do however give the president tools to be a more effective leader. French speaking foreign officials, businessmen, and other residents around the world will have a higher degree of respect for a U.S. leader who has given the effort to learn their language.

You can find the article here on the BBC News website

Is It Irrational To Give Holiday Gifts? The Wall Street Journal

Do you like the gifts you were given this past holiday season? Are you sure the gifts you gave are liked by the people who received them? You can hear it emphasized each year that the holiday season is not about the gift giving, but rather the time to celebrate with friends and family. In this article economists (shocker) take a different argument by questioning whether gift giving is in fact irrational. Studies have shown that receivers of gifts typically assign a lower value to the gift than the price for which it was purchased. One study even suggests that this effect means as much as a third of the money spent on gifts is wasted.

To avoid this effect, rational economists argue the only gift that should be given is cash. The behavioral economists, however, have analyzed the social utility of giving gifts. Gifts are organized as pure exchanges (ex. socks for the grandson in need of socks), paternalistic gifts that drive economists crazy because the preferences of the receiver are ignored (Gifts you think the receiver should like. Ex. a new CD),  gifts someone likes, but feels guilty buying for themselves, and several other interesting types of gifts and their purposes (ex. gifts brought for the host of a party).

You can find the article here on the Wall Street Journal website