Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists - April 18, 2005 Edition - Edited by Brian Gongol


Editor's Introduction
Welcome to the Carnival of the Capitalists, a weekly compendium of the best in business and economics on the Internet. Due to the Carnival's considerable growth and some associated growing pains, this edition of the Carnival tries a brand-new layout and approach, which we hope will improve the reader's experience. Your comments and suggestions for improvement are welcomed. This edition is as "big-tent" as it gets, and is an experiment to see if the Carnival can happily keep itself both big and on-task. Carnival founders Jay Solo and Rob May have both weighed in on the subject. If the barriers to entry this week seem artificially low, please forgive that as the cost of this experiment. To join in next week, please use the CotC entry form. Next week's Carnival is scheduled for Peaktalk.

About the Host Site
Gongol.com variously supports or a wide range of efforts: A radio talk show on economics, a small business in the water industry, a web-design firm, a talk show about computers and technology, and a mass-market book on market thinking presently in the editing phase (interested publishers, please contact Brian Gongol). Links to news about technology and economics appear daily on the home page and in the RSS feed, and new research on economics and related issues appears about once a week.

How to Navigate This Edition
This edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists comes in three editions. All posts are identified by both the site's name and the particular entry, with an icon identifying the most suitable category to which it belongs and a brief summary. A minimum of editorial content has been added, but some favorites are marked as Editor's Choices. The guide to icons is at the bottom of the page.
Site Post/Essay Category Summary Editor's Picks
Random Thoughts from a CTO Rolling the Dice General Business Gambling is entertainment, but risk-taking is a necessary way of life, especially in business
DAtum Chinese Noodles and Indian Chutney Economics As the economies of India and China grow, they could form a powerful combination
Blog Business World Google Sandbox Theory Validated by Search Engine Giant Technology Evidence suggests Google puts new websites in a temporary penalty box to prevent them from manipulating the rankings Editor's Choice
Conglomerate The German Business Judgment Rule Law and Regulation Applying an ambiguous American standard for business judgment may not make sense for Germany
BaySense A Suggestion for US News College Ratings Education College rankings should include an unorthodox metric: Diversity of intellectual thought
The Internet Stock Blog Seven Implications of Google Technology As Google tries to morph from search engine to answer engine, it will encroach on Yahoo's traditional stronghold Editor's Choice
View From a Height The Problematic Style Grid Economics Live blogging of a presentation on Morningstar style boxes that says those styles aren't what they represent themselves to be
Multiple Mentality It's Not A Refund Law and Regulation One hidden cost of tax refunds: We tend to spend them unwisely, instead of using it well by never overpaying in the first place
Free Market Project Government Sponsored Enron Economics The Fannie Mae scandal is almost 20 times the financial disaster Enron was, so why has it garnered just 3% of the same attention? Editor's Choice
New Millennium Minds Post Google Earth Coming to Fruition Technology Reviews the author's recent predictions about Google
Mad Anthony Is My Car Properly Inflated? Economics A luxurious '88 Dodge Aries may have been more expensive in real terms than a brand-new PT Cruiser
JSLogan Bad Business in the Fine Print Marketing and Sales Less fine print: More sales Editor's Choice
Political Calculations Managing Difficult People General Business What to do with employees who can't live without their rageahol Editor's Choice
voluntaryXchange Trade, Love and Conversation Economics Free trade is like open conversation; the more of it, the better off most people are
Cap'n Arbyte's Into the ACN Pyramid Scam Law and Regulation If 60 Minutes were this thorough in fact-checking and myth-debunking, it would still be a respected program Editor's Choice
The Entrepreneurial Mind VCs Getting Back in the Start-up Game Economics Sarbanes-Oxley is having the unintended consequence of putting a lot of venture capital on the table for start-ups
Pro Wrestling Impact Understanding Your Fan Base Marketing and Sales The largest number of exclamation marks in any CotC contribution, ever
Chocolate and Gold Coins Magic in the Marketplace General Business To keep your Hydrox idea from being sold as someone else's Oreo, put a little magic into your process
The Electric Commentary You Can't Spell "Hell" Without the "L" Law and Regulation Comrades! Let us rejoice that the Chicago Transit Authority is run by Communists with no knowledge whatsoever of the market!
Managing with Aloha Working and Living with Aloha General Business When employees feel a sense of purpose in their work, they can see things others cannot
Half Sigma Let's De-Socialize Our Health Care Health Care and Social Services HillaryCare? It's already here
One Billion Red Chinese and a Dog Named Liberty Incremental Freedom Law and Regulation Freedom can be accumulated like compound interest; trying to get it all in one fell swoop can make it backfire Editor's Choice
Media Stock Blog Postal Rates, Netflix, and Blockbuster Marketing and Sales Proposed rate increases will make DVD rental-by-mail more expensive, but by how much?
Catallarchy Healthcare Questions Health Care and Social Services Anecdotal evidence that American health care works leads to more than four dozen responses in less than a week
Coyote Blog The ACLU is a Little Late to the Party Law and Regulation The ACLU as a tax-protest group? Ah, but that's because Nevada politicians want to tax lap dances Editor's Choice
Individ Metals and Mining Stocks in the News Economics Prices for raw metals have been soaring lately; conditions appear favorable for that trend to continue
Drakeview SBA Lending Program Going Strong Entrepreneurship SBA loans and a mix of public and private money are helping small businesses grow along with the economy
pc4media Freeeeeee Passes For Bloggers for Events Technology Blogs are emerging as a new marketing channel for events…and a way for bloggers to get free stuff
WILLisms.com Federal Tax Revenues Up Health Care and Social Services Tax revenues are up significantly, but so is government spending. Exhaustive detail on spending trends. Most at fault: Entitlements. Editor's Choice
Freedom's Fidelity Property Rights - The Subjective Element Economics Fair market value is an inadequate measure for eminent domain compensation
Marketing eYe How To Make Your Business More Efficient Entrepreneurship Running a one- or two-person shop? Write an operations manual for everything you do. Editor's Choice
Mobile Technology Weblog Tag Your Library Book Technology How mobile phones can be used to leave helpful "digital graffiti" for yourself and others
Management Craft Get Great Coaching this Week Education Lots of people think they know how to coach, but they often don't. How to get better coaching.
Ogre's Politics and Views Why Aren't Teachers Millionaires? Education Argues that teacher pay is low because the government is involved
Alan K. Henderson's Weblog Minorities Hit Hard by Estate Tax Entrepreneurship Highlights recent comments from the National Black Chamber of Commerce about the "legacy-killing" estate tax
Mover Mike Those Caribbean Banking Centers Economics Caribbean banking centers increased holdings of US Treasury securities by $11 billion in February. Why?
SMB TrendWire Conversation: Stage a Business Coup Entrepreneurship Podcast of a reading by entrepreneurship author Barry Moltz
Small Business Trends SBIC Program: Stop the Bleeding Entrepreneurship Why the government should stop trying to play angel investor and venture capitalist
Peaktalk A Global Rethink Marketing and Sales When a multinational goes overseas, should they sell their original product or change it to suit what they think are local tastes?
Lip-Sticking Jane Gets Ornery Marketing and Sales What women want: Convenience, simplicity, and lots of attention Editor's Choice
Cold Spring Shops I Deliberately Overpaid My Taxes Law and Regulation Is a simpler (but possibly higher) tax code more efficient than a complicated one with well-targeted benefits?
Interested-Participant Germany Considers Minimum Wage Economics Germany may try to impose a minimum wage due to an influx of immigrant labor, but it won't solve Germany's bigger problem Editor's Choice
Photon Courier Strategy and Execution: Advice from a Field Marshal General Business Forget The Art of War: Read the advice of British Field Marshal Lord Wavell Editor's Choice
EGO Mobile Phones and Product Cycles Marketing and Sales The mobile-phone market is changing too fast for the mobile-phone makers (NOTE: Some ads on EGO may be NSFW)
No Illusions New Drugs for Third World Diseases: A Case of Market Failure? Health Care and Social Services The lack of treatments for diseases common to the developing world is a problem, but it fails the test for actual market failure Editor's Choice
Talking Story The Entrepreneurial Mindset: 8 Rules when you are “On Again” Entrepreneurship Effective entrepreneurs apply scientific thinking (observe-hypothesize-test-repeat)…and it can work for anyone
Steve Pavlina's Blog Entrepreneurial Freedom and Responsibility Entrepreneurship The entrepreneur's task of balancing freedom with responsibility is a microcosm of how Amerca works, too
Rednersville Loyalist Still the Lowest Prices in Town Entrepreneurship If someone offers to buy your store, should you sell?
Gongol.com The State of Market Thinking 2005 Economics Four cases where markets are winning ground, and four where they're slipping


Guide to Icons
Law and Regulation Law and Regulation Business General Business Marketing and Sales Marketing and Sales
Computing and the Internet Technology Health Care Health Care and Social Services Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship
Economics Economics and Finance Education Education Editor's Choice Editor's Choice


Note to Future Hosts
If you want to duplicate this method of displaying the Carnival of the Capitalists, download the template (Excel format; for a free program that reads Excel files, visit my open-source programs page and download OpenOffice) and try it for yourself. Please contact me for help using the icons and formatting. Please save the icons to your own site in order to save my bandwidth. The icons are included in the spreadsheet template.

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