Yes, officials in Oak Brook, IL are wringing their hands. Some are possibly rending their garments as well. The news is not a shocker, well, at least not for anyone who writes books and watches trends from afar. For those who haven’t heard, McDonald’s is taking over some/all of Harpo Studios. Yes, Oprah’s old studios. While there is great angst in Oak Brook, every suburb around the country should be worried. I read some quotes … What McDonald’s Move to Chicago Tells UsRead more
Investing
Posted inInformation Technology / Investing
Was Leaving LinkedIn Your New Years Eve Resolution?
It was mine. Thousands of others didn’t bother to wait and more thousands will be leaving this year. This is a site which one time had a purpose but is now less relevant than MySpace (remember MySpace?). In management’s misguided effort to chase FaceBook and Twitter customer bases they have made changes to the site which make it less than useless for professional groups. Wasn’t the entire point of LinkedIn professional groups? The site has … Was Leaving LinkedIn Your New Years Eve Resolution?Read more
Posted inInformation Technology / Investing
The Return to Program Hiring
If you live long enough, everything comes around again. Well, hopefully not leisure suits, but it appears some things from the 70s are making a comeback. In this case it is mass hiring of tech workers from college. During the 60s and 70s there was a massive software development effort under way. There, quite literally were not enough programmers to go around. Large corporations needing order entry, inventory, accounting, warehouse management, payroll and any number … The Return to Program HiringRead more
Posted inInvesting
The Annuity Scam
I poke around on financial sites from time to time. Yes, I see the late night commercials as well, when I’m awake late at night. No matter how many legal beagles and politicians swear up and down they are legit, the long history of annuities which took peoples money then disappeared to countries without extradition treaties (both real and imagined) will not be forgotten by the scammed or those they can tell in a 24/7 … The Annuity ScamRead more
Posted inInvesting
Dot-Com Flame Out 2.0
Anyone who was around for the last Dot-Com Flame Out (affectionately called DOT-BOMBS) remembers how that scam went. Valuations were mostly based on revenue growth (it was the new-new economy but old-old venture money). Groups of Dot-Coms started “trading services,” many in the form of advertising, to make the numbers exceed what the old economy investors wanted. Yes, a token few pointed out these companies weren’t actually making any money, but the hysteria over exponential … Dot-Com Flame Out 2.0Read more