Friday, April 2, 2010

“Business Book Reviews - Time” plus 3 more

“Business Book Reviews - Time” plus 3 more

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Business Book Reviews - Time

Posted: 01 Apr 2010 10:54 PM PDT

The End of Wall Street

Roger Lowenstein (Penguin Press; 339 pages)

If a novelist lined up as many dramatic events as the author does here, his work would be blasted as contrived. Lowenstein, a magnificent business writer, creates an almost novelistic accounting of the all-too-real 2008 financial collapse. The book opens in late summer: Lehman Brothers is a hairbreadth away from collapse, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been taken over by the feds, and AIG is veering toward disaster. After several decades of laissez-faire regulation, Wall Street is crying out to be rescued by the government.

The irony is overpowering, says Lowenstein. "Less than a generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when prevailing orthodoxy held that the free market could govern itself, and when financial regulation seemed destined for near irrelevancy, the United States was compelled to socialize lending and mortgage risk, and even the ownership of banks, on a scale that would have made Lenin smile."

Lowenstein is terrific at walking the reader through complex economic events, and he artfully traces the development of the subprime-mortgage disaster. It sounds like a lofty ideal when Angelo Mozilo, a co-founder of Countrywide, says in a speech in 2003, "Expanding the American dream of homeownership must continue to be our mission, not solely for the purpose of benefiting corporate America, but more importantly, to make our country a better place." Countrywide and others made mortgages available to anyone with a pulse, aided and abetted by Wall Street, which created the market for exotic mortgage derivatives. By 2008, "banks and investors had plied the average American with mortgage debt on such speculative and unthinking terms that not just America's economy but the world's economy ultimately capsized."

Lowenstein has a pitch-perfect sense of the Street's monumental recklessness. The chorus line of overpaid bad actors in this book is endless. Held out for particular scorn is Lehman CEO Richard Fuld, who has "the daring of a gambler who believes, deep down, that he will always be able to play the last card." Maybe he did, yet as the book impressively shows, Fuld lost. We all did.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Is anyone in charge here? Wall Street as we knew it failed and needs a reboot.

The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World

Walter Kiechel III (Harvard Business; 347 pages)

Kiechel, a former managing editor of FORTUNE, hails the rise of strategy, saying it has eclipsed "any other change worked in the intellectual landscape of business over the past 50 years." The "lords" are Bruce Henderson of BCG, Bill Bain of Bain & Co., Fred Gluck of McKinsey and Michael Porter of Harvard Business School. He traces their quest to understand how companies gain competitive advantage. The strategy revolution, Kiechel writes, "features a rowdy parade of ideas and analytical techniques jostling each other down the historical road."

THE BOTTOM LINE: Who says that business is anti-intellectual?

Thank You for Firing Me! How to Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job

Kitty Martini and Candice Reed (Sterling; 232 pages)

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Book Reviews: 13 Bankers and Econned Add New Layers to ... - Seekingalpha.com

Posted: 01 Apr 2010 09:28 PM PDT

One thing I get frustrated with when it comes to books that cover the financial crisis is that they start in 2001, or at earliest from the early 1990s with the creation of the credit default swap. I think that there is a bigger story, both of deregulation and the change of the financial sector since the 1980s, as well as a political economy story, with the growing overlap between the financial and the elite classes, and in general those stories get lost in the desire to watch the implosion of late 2008 run in slow motion.

But I've just read two books that each add a new layer to the story of the financial crisis we find ourselves in, and I'd like to talk about them quickly. I'm terrible at reviewing books, but I do want to talk about what each of these books add to the conversation.

13 Bankers, Simon Johnson and James Kwak

If you read this blog, chances are you read Baseline Scenario where Johnson and Kwak blog. So let's get the obvious question out of the way: "If I read Baseline, should I read the book?" Yes. It's a weird new media question to ask, like a "if I've seen the movie should I read the book?" kind of thing. But there is a bunch of new material, and the book approaches the issue of the political economy of the financial sector, the bailout, the events that lead us here and the proposals to lead us out from a few steps back which allows the reader to see it fresh.

The book walks us backwards through time for a history of the United States' relationship with banking, up and to the "rip the face off the customer" era of financial markets in which we find ourselves. It also gives a cross-section of the numerous financial crisis that have occurred across the world, using Korea and Russia as particularly interesting case studies. It also brings us through 2009 which I think is the most fascinating part of the story, and gives some coverage on how the current reform efforts look.

I think it is one of the few (only?) books that brings up campaign contributions from the financial sector, which should tell you plenty enough about how lacking many of the other financial narratives are when it comes to the political realm.


Econned by Yves Smith

Again, it is very likely you read Naked Capitalism, and again you should read this book. If 13 Bankers gets deep into the political economy, Econned gets deep into the plumbing of the financial sector in a way no other book has. It isn't for novice readers, but it is perfect for those who know finance from the blogs or news coverage and want to go deeper into the specifics.

It is worthwhile if only for the chapters that are about the deregulation of the financial markets. Rather than something that happened at some point in the 1990s, Yves works the history back to the 1960s and 1970s and shows how a new type of financial market started to show up. The first half of the book is a history of economic thought. It weaves the new Chicago economic thinking and the new financial thinking together in a way reminiscent of Perry Mehrling's work on Fischer Black and the history of finance and macroeconomics. And the chapter on the shadow banking market is a great exploration, in particular how it shows the nuts and bolts of how the shadow banking sector was created.

I think these two books will mark a pivot of the narratives of the crash to a more sophisticated understanding of where we have come from and the real issues of how we govern ourselves and what kind of economy do we want to build. Both are highly recommended.

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Yahoo Entertainment For The iPad Debuts - WebProNews

Posted: 02 Apr 2010 07:37 AM PDT


If the iPad lives up to the hype (as you may know, Apple's actually termed the device "a magical and revolutionary product"), it'll provide companies an important way of connecting with millions of consumers.  And Yahoo may be one of those companies, since it launched Yahoo Entertainment for the iPad this morning.

The app looks both attractive and useful.  Yahoo will provide a TV guide, news, comics, book reviews, and even original video content, making the app a good companion whether users are sitting on their couches or out and about in the world.

One other important point: Yahoo Entertainment for the iPad is free.

These factors should ensure that Yahoo gets a fair amount of exposure thanks to the app.  Yahoo isn't going to stop paying attention to the iPad a day before it launches, though.  On the Yodel Anecdotal blog, Tapan Bhat, the company's SVP of Integrated Consumer Experiences, wrote, "This is only the first of many incredible experiences Yahoo! will develop for the iPad . . ."

Even if Yahoo and Apple haven't traditionally been close, then, it's a good bet that at least a few Yahoo execs are hoping the iPad will live up to Apple's expectations.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Yahoo! Re-Imagines Entertainment; Launches Yahoo!&reg ... - TMCnet

Posted: 02 Apr 2010 09:31 AM PDT

TMCNet: Yahoo! Re-Imagines Entertainment; Launches Yahoo!® Entertainment App for iPad™

SUNNYVALE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today announced Yahoo! Entertainment for the Apple (News - Alert)® iPad. The app provides consumers with a brand new experience for the way they live, consume and enjoy content. People are able to explore entertainment content, television listings, videos, news and more - through an elegant and immersive experience that only Yahoo! can provide. Yahoo! Entertainment for iPad is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at http://itunes.com/apps/yahoo-entertainment.

Yahoo! is leveraging the powerful features of the iPad to create one of the most interactive and personal experiences possible. An innovative Multi-Touch user interface makes it easy to help people discover new content on Yahoo! Entertainment. The app takes advantage of iPad's geo-location functionality to pinpoint consumers' locations to deliver relevant, local television listings and content. The app can be used in both portrait and landscape displays.

"Devices like the iPad allow Yahoo! to create new experiences and expand the art of what's possible in the eyes of consumers. Just like we did with Connected TV and mobile, we successfully re-imagined the consumer experiences for an entirely new platform," said Tapan Bhat, senior vice president of Yahoo!'s (News - Alert) Integrated Consumer Experiences. "Yahoo! Entertainment for iPad is simply amazing. The combination of compelling and engaging content coupled with unique design and innovation, provides consumers with an unparalleled Web experience." The Yahoo! Entertainment App offers an intuitive and rich design. Through real-time content from local providers, the app surfaces and recommends TV shows, entertainment articles, and a wide variety of videos from across the Web. Key features of Yahoo! Entertainment for iPad include: TV Program Guide and Listings: Find favorite programs, featured TV shows, and recommendations; customize and filter content for a personalized entertainment guide.

News, Comics, and Book Reviews: Read the most sought after entertainment news from Yahoo! TV and Yahoo! Movies and more, in an easy-to-navigate, magazine-style layout.

Original Video Content: From sports to news, discover videos from Yahoo!'s top media properties, including Yahoo! Sports Minute and Tech Ticker. Video content is also available from other notable sources.

The Yahoo! Entertainment App demonstrates the future direction of Internet design and is another example of Yahoo!'s continued commitment to delivering cutting-edge, innovative and personally relevant experiences. It is the first of many engaging experiences being developed by Yahoo! for iPad. For more information on the Yahoo! Entertainment iPad app, please visit http://entertainment.yahoo.com/ipad About Yahoo! Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!'s vision is to be the center of people's online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://pressroom.yahoo.com or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal (http://yodel.yahoo.com).

Yahoo!, Yahoo! Entertainment, and Yahoo! Sports are service marks and trademarks owned by Yahoo! All other marks may be the property of their respective owners.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6236605&lang=en

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