Herein, against my better judgement, I wade into the Great Instructure social media wars of 2019. ... The announcement triggered a great deal of, let's call it discussion, on social media, particularly Twitter. A lot of has gotten nasty and heated. On the surface, the discussion seems to be about questions regarding what Instructure (or Canvas, or the data Instructure has collected) is "worth". Specifically, is it worth the $2billion Thoma Bravo has valued it at and why would TB pay that? Underlying the valuation question though, is the real concern. Can we discern the plans and future for Canvas (and thereby schools, instructors, students, the higher ed system, pedagogy, etc) from this transaction? There's roughly two camps. ...
US econ system
An Economics of Polarization
This post is a response to yesterday's discussion in Davidson Now’s pop-up MOOC, “Engagement in a Time of Polarization”. The key provocation for the discussion was Chris Gilliard's great essay Power, Polarization, and Tech. The video of the hangout discussion is embedded at the end of this post for you. In his discussion of … Continue reading An Economics of Polarization
Big Food, Big Gov, Little People
Note: These are my notes from my presentation/discussion at the LCC Centre for Engaged Inclusion today and also for use in my Comparative Systems class. If embedded slides don't display, use this link to download or open in new tab: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mBMlzdxBwCIqJ7hPlQ-P-Co59AyYJ55eol53Avj40JM/edit?usp=sharing
Is “Right to Work” About Freedom?
It's Rick Snyder's incredible flip-flop here in Michigan on so-called "Right to Work" legislation and his claims that it's about "freedom" that brings me back to blogging. Lately I've been getting increased questions about what "Right to Work" really means. So, let me try to cut through the Orwellian rhetoric and explain. So called "Right … Continue reading Is “Right to Work” About Freedom?
Too Big to Fail Should Be Too Big to Exist
Against Monopoly has a great graphic that shows a big part of the problem with our financial sector and our economy. The four banks shown above are the four largest banks in the U.S.: JP Morgan Chase, Citi, BofA, and Wells Fargo. Together they dominate the financial industry. If you add in Goldman Sachs and … Continue reading Too Big to Fail Should Be Too Big to Exist
Gov. Rick Snyder Invokes the Magic Job Genie
The mantra of Republican governors (and in Congress) has been that taxes must be cut in order to create jobs. In previous posts I've dealt with the confusion about how federal level changes income taxes might or might not affect the strength of the economy. Most of the federal tax discussion focuses on individual income taxes. … Continue reading Gov. Rick Snyder Invokes the Magic Job Genie
Home Foreclosures – Write Your Attorney General
I support this from Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism. The law must be upheld. Fraud is fraud. It is not "paperwork glitches" or "snafus" or "correctable errors". It has been the policy of the banks and mortgage servicing organizations to file en mass false statements and false documents in our courts. These practices will not … Continue reading Home Foreclosures – Write Your Attorney General
The GM Tale
Earlier this week General Motors, the new post-bankruptcy GM, issued it's Initial Public Offering. Initial signs are very encouraging in several ways, which I'll describe. But first let's take a note. Only 20 months, less than two years, The conservatives and tea party types were howling for GM to go bankrupt and for the government … Continue reading The GM Tale
Poorer Boomer Retirees: Macro Implications of Proposed Pension and SS Benefit Cuts
In many political circles this year, a mantra has emerged: we cannot afford the public sector pension plans and we cannot afford Social Security - we must cut the future benefits. For example, George Biggs of the conservative, right-wing think tank American Enterprise Institute argues that even though public sector workers receive lower pay than … Continue reading Poorer Boomer Retirees: Macro Implications of Proposed Pension and SS Benefit Cuts
RIP: Efficient Markets Hypothesis – 70% of stock trades last 11 seconds or less
One of the economic theories that dominated a mainstream economic theory during the last few decades is Efficient Markets Hypothesis. Essentially, an important part of the concept is that asset prices, such as stock prices on the stock exchange, accurately reflect all available information about the future earnings of the firm. Further, it implies that … Continue reading RIP: Efficient Markets Hypothesis – 70% of stock trades last 11 seconds or less
EconProph 