Gene Morphis ' View

If you work for a company and the President, CEO or COO - especially if he is new to the company, says "we are going back to basics", update your resume' that day. Don't hesitate; begin networking for a new position, post on Monster/Hot Jobs/Career Builder, etc. as soon as you can prepare a competitive resume'. Your company is in big trouble and the leader most likely is clueless to the nuances of the market, competitors and internal capabilities. If you own a stock and, in a presentation or earnings call, the CEO says "we are going back to basics", sell the stock, and give strong consideration to shorting it. Of course, by the time they are spouting that, the stock has probably already been pummeled.

I ordered a sampler of the new, much-discussed and much-promoted Nub cigars. From Oliva, the concept is that regular cigars have a sweet spot, generally in the middle, where it most richest and most flavorable. So, they attempted to develop short cigars (shorter than robustos) but rolled so that the entire cigar is the sweet spot. I'm not too sure they succeeded. But I am sure that they are far stronger than I expected. Even the Cameroon wrapper, suposedly the mildest blend is one charged-up stick. I would only recommend to someone who likes them really, really strong...

Let's parse the credit crisis and explain what really happened rather than all the silly and illogical explanations bandied about. There are actually multiple causes, not just simply one. Actually, we'll discover seven. Each type has its own backstory. Start with Freddie and Fannie . While widespread fables attribute this to inadequate regulation, nothing could be further from the truth, or, to be direct, a dumber explanation. Fannie and Freddie were incredibly regulated - in fact, there was a regulator OFHEO that had nothing to regulate but Fannie and Freddie. (As an aside, when you hear one of our outstaning elected officials say that this all happened because of inadequate oversight, just remember OFHEO. Your tax dollars were at work on oversight right there. Feeling better?) Rather, F & F's demise, at enormous cost to the now-frequently-abused American taxpayer, was directly caused by a failure by the slimy gutless weasels we elected to run our government. F&...