Obama, Daschle, and Apology

I’ve made no secret of my support of Barack Obama, but I also posted last week about my axiety about misallocated stimulus.  Policy matters we can debate, but I hope all of you realize how impressive it is that Barack Obama has apologized for nominating former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to be his secretary [...]

Is Obama Already Betraying Us?

I’ve been quiet, but I’m not happy.  My finance guru Roger Ehrenberg posted this yesterday and it forced me into action.
Anybody could spend all day, every day trying to decode the stimulus plan making its way through congress.  It’s widely accepted that the country is in dire straights and could be facing double digit unemployment [...]

Better Place Yes. Detroit No.

I still loathe the BIG 3 Auto CEOs today. I know that’s strong, but these guys are the Larry, Moe, and Curly of the Fortune 500.
Meanwhile John Markoff at the NYT reports that Better Place is moving into Hawaii with another sweet deal in the worst financial climate in two generations.  Because Electric cars make [...]

GM, Ford Management Must Go

The current Venture Capital Road Trip (literally Wagoner and Mullaly are driving from Detroit to Washington in hybrids; Nardelli reserves the right to fly) reeks of prepackaged public relations.   These guys presided over huge destruction in shareholder value and been very well compensated for it.   The WSJ now reports that Ford will speed up production [...]

Liveblogging Obama’s New Team

Obama now taking questions.
Some tough questions on why he chose Hilary after criticizing her on the campaign trail.  I think Obama did ok and kept it presidential. One wishes he would say, “I think we know that Hilary and I see eye to eye on most things, but campaigning is campaigning and governing is governing.”  [...]

The Decline of the Goldman Sachs Brand

This weekend Wall Street Journal ran an interview with Robert Rubin yesterday in which he was surprisingly defensive about his role at Citigroup over the past decade. Here are some highlights:

He passes the buck to the executives throughout the interview claiming “they did not execute properly.”
His $115mm in compensation (before options!) over the past [...]

Obama’s Internet Use Will Change World

One need look no further than changedotgov to understand how Obama and future presidents will use the Internet to communicate in a completely unfiltered way with citizens and the world’s population.  Obama uploaded his weekly radio address earlier today.  Already a 155,000 people on YouTube  have seen it on by Saturday at 5PM EST.   Remeber [...]

Obama’s domestic Agenda

Today’s radio address begins the beginning of a progressive political era in Washington.  Obama has said that he will create a sustained economic stimulus plan focused on improving the country’s infrastructure and investing in the still amorphous alternative energy economy.
The Republicans held the line this week with the automotive industry and with Waxman replacing Dingell [...]

Coolest Company in the World

This week, Better Place cut a $1bn dollar deal to bring electric car charging stations to the San Francisco area.  Better Place is without question, the most ambitious startup to ever come out of Israel and perhaps the company that has the best chance of restructuring the automobile industry in the next 5 years.

Better Place [...]

Joe “Disingenuous” Lieberman

The Senate is clubby and I understand that the independent senator from Connecticut  votes the right way on some issues.  But Joe Lieberman stood side by side John McCain all Fall campaigning against his own party.  In the Senate, committee chairmanships are really important sources of power and Lieberman should have been stripped.  To not [...]