January 2011
19 posts
“You have to use your imagination to invent something better than life because life itself is dull and prosaic.”
—Erskine Caldwell (via theparisreview)
My Next Pair of Glasses Will Be Coming From Here
I’m liking the Fillmore and the Harper. And of course, who doesn’t love a monocle.
Pics via (Warby Parker)
“But Hacker and Pierson particularly zero in on instances of intentional policy drift, when policymakers deliberately sidestepped or resisted available policy alternatives that might have reduced inequality. Allowing corporate executives to be compensated with stock options is one such case; stock-option compensation tends to bend incentives toward the short-term maximization of share prices rather than planning for long-term growth. Consequently, such compensation has allowed top managers to capture jaw-dropping gains despite their companies’ often dismal performances. The long-term cost of corporate failure is borne not by CEOs and their executive minions, of course, but by rank-and-file employees, who get laid off when companies need to cut costs and whose pension investments are wiped out when companies’ stocks sink.
In the 1990s, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which regulates accounting practices, noticed this practice, correctly predicted the damage it would do to the economy, and then sought to curtail it. But Congress, spurred on by the lobbying efforts of major corporations, stopped the FASB in its tracks.” —
In the 1990s, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which regulates accounting practices, noticed this practice, correctly predicted the damage it would do to the economy, and then sought to curtail it. But Congress, spurred on by the lobbying efforts of major corporations, stopped the FASB in its tracks.” —
Why the Rich Are Getting Richer | Foreign Affairs (via robot-heart-politics)
Similar in topic to previous post.
The Rise Of The New Global Elite →
theatlantic.com
F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he declared the rich different from you and me. But today’s super-rich are also different from yesterday’s: more hardworking and meritocratic, but less connected to the nations that granted them opportunity—and the countrymen they are leaving ever further behind.
IF YOU HAPPENED to be watching NBC on the first Sunday morning in August last summer, you would have seen something curious. There, on the set of Meet the Press, the host, David Gregory, was interviewing a guest who made a forceful case that the U.S. economy had become “very distorted.” In the wake of the recession, this guest explained, high-income individuals, large banks, and major corporations had experienced a “significant recovery”; the rest of the economy, by contrast—including small businesses and “a very significant amount of the labor force”—was stuck and still struggling. What we were seeing, he argued, was not a single economy at all, but rather “fundamentally two separate types of economy,” increasingly distinct and divergent.
This diagnosis, though alarming, was hardly unique: drawing attention to the divide between the wealthy and everyone else has long been standard fare on the left. (The idea of “two Americas” was a central theme of John Edwards’s 2004 and 2008 presidential runs.) What made the argument striking in this instance was that it was being offered by none other than the former five-term Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: iconic libertarian, preeminent defender of the free market, and (at least until recently) the nation’s foremost devotee of Ayn Rand. When the high priest of capitalism himself is declaring the growth in economic inequality a national crisis, something has gone very, very wrong.
Read the full article here. Read more articles from the January/Feburary 2011 issue of The Atlantic here.
$44 →
theweek.com
That’s how much a PBR costs in China.
The Chinese bourgeoisie, growing rich off the country’s property and banking industries, is developing expensive tastes — and not just for sports cars and designer bags. Thanks to a new craze for high-end alcoholic drinks, the Chinese rising class is splurging thousands of dollars on imported beer, whisky, and wine. Here’s a data-focused look at the booze boom.
UNACCEPTABLE.
Hilarious. Living in the CR has spoiled me, because I refuse to pay more than 35kc (less than $2) for a quality beer.
Getting on track
So, I’m already starting to work on my list of “resolutions” for the new year.
Firstly, I started using the LiveStrong tracker again. Not so much to count calories, although I realize that’s an important aspect of eating healthy, but just so that I have a visual of what I’m eating everyday. I’m hoping that this visual chart will help me get my eating habits in gear (which, considering I’ve now seen that I drank two shots of espresso for breakfast and ate nothing but a bag of potato chips until dinner, seems like it will do the trick).
Next is exercise: this is quite difficult for me, considering we’re in the dead of winter here in Prague, and I refuse to run outside in the cold and on the ice and snow. I used to have a free gym membership through my boyfriend’s work, but since he’s changed jobs, I’m left with only a few options. I don’t want to pay for a gym, since they are expensive here, so instead for now I am alternating between P90X, yoga, and Wii exercising at home. Still need to invest in a few things (yoga mat, stretch cords, balance ball), but for now I think it will do the trick.
Reading: I’ve started to re-read (or read, since it’s been probably 14 years) Homer’s The Iliad, to be following by The Odyssey. I often read to and from work (e-books), but I’m thinking of investing in a few real books as well to read at home.
Languages: I’m bringing the Czech books to work to study during any down time, and I’m also cranking out the Italian, since I will be going there quite often for work.
Another thing that I’d like to add to the list is less face time with the ol’ computer. I’m in front of it almost all day at work, and then I come home and do the same. I’m giving myself a little bit of a break from it, and maybe I’ll have some more time to focus on the things on my list. But I’ll still be here, just a little less each day.
And iTunes just wiped my iPod. FML. So much for less computer time. You just can’t keep me away Apple.
New Years Resolutions
I hate resolutions, just because I feel like it’s setting oneself up for failure. That said, I still have a few things I’d like to work on:
-Eat healthier (obvious)
-Exercise more (another obvious)
-Read more
-Become more proficient in my languages
-Volunteer more
-Take more pictures/enhance photography skills
-Make it to somewhere in Asia (even if it’s just through Istanbul)
This is a fairly basic list, and smoking’s not on it. I’ve always said I’ll quit when I’m 30 or pregnant, whichever comes first. Neither has yet, so it’s staying off the list for another year.
I’m hoping to stick with all of these, and will post the journey/results as they happen. Hopefully that will be more of a motivation for me!
December 2010
32 posts
“I gave a commencement speech at a girls’ high school once, and I said, ‘If you find yourself two years from now at spring break, don’t lift your shirt up. And if you you do, have your own camera. The foolishness is that there’s some disgusting middleman. They’re your boobs. At least have the sense to film it yourself and get the money from it.’ That’s what baffles me about ‘Girls Gone Wild.’ We could sell this ourselves! Talk about giving away the store. First of all, don’t do it. But if you’re going to do it, keep your hands on the money, for God’s sake.”
—
Tina Fey giving financial advice
(via tinafeydaily)
They’re your boobs. This woman is a genius.
