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The Shallowest Generation

ritholtz.com

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Re: The Shallowest Generation

#31

Post by jraines »

mellow wrote: post #28
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #4

Interesting article, but the author's selective memory and faulty logic continually undermines the point he's trying to make. My favorite was this gem: "Past U.S. generations invented the airplane; invented the automobile; discovered penicillin; and built the Interstate highway system. The Baby Boom generation has invented credit default swaps; mortgage backed securities; the fast food drive thru window; discovered t…

"dramatic reductions in global poverty", lmfao. Quote me wrong.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_be...

Check out the movement in the graph starting around 7:40. A huge portion of East Asia and South Asia (where a large part of the world's population lives) experienced a large gain. (We might not consider a move from $1/day to $10/day significant, but it is)

As another commenter pointed out, this isn't something we can attribute to some "U.S. generation", but there it is.

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#32

Post by mellow »

jraines wrote: post #31
mellow wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"dramatic reductions in global poverty", lmfao. Quote me wrong.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_be... Check out the movement in the graph starting around 7:40. A huge portion of East Asia and South Asia (where a large part of the world's population lives) experienced a large gain. (We might not consider a move from $1/day to $10/day significant, but it is) As another commenter pointed out, this isn't something we can attribute to some "U.S. generation",…

Wealth is relative. Since the Baby Boomers' DoB, many people have got wealthier, many more have got poorer. This is not coincidental.

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#34

Post by ryanwaggoner »

mellow wrote: post #28
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #4

Interesting article, but the author's selective memory and faulty logic continually undermines the point he's trying to make. My favorite was this gem: "Past U.S. generations invented the airplane; invented the automobile; discovered penicillin; and built the Interstate highway system. The Baby Boom generation has invented credit default swaps; mortgage backed securities; the fast food drive thru window; discovered t…

"dramatic reductions in global poverty", lmfao. Quote me wrong.

I'm speaking of reductions in extreme global poverty:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty#Measuring_poverty

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#35

Post by tom_rath »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #20
palish wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The automobile was invented by a German, but it was popularized by Henry Ford. Also, consider that if that German hadn't invented the automobile, Ford still would have. i.e. Ford wasn't inspired by that German, because he was already working on an automobile. His autobiography is very good: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/hnfrd10.txt

Lesson for startup founders: your competition built the prototype first. Maybe you should still keep going forward, if you expect to have a solid competitive advantage?

Perhaps more succinctly: The second mouse gets the cheese.

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#36

Post by callmeed »

jd wrote: post #5

Is it just me, or does the author use a lot of unintentionally funny analogies? Anyway, I'm going to chip in on the issue of CEO pay. Many, including the author, are outraged that they're paid 500 times the wage of the average worker. But the CEO job is generally given to somebody who a) has proven himself (5mm b) is willing to work 80 hours per week c) is willing to pick work over family/friends, no matter the circu…

True, though I don't think it "boils down to incentives" only.

Frankly, I'm tired of people crying about CEO pay. Yes, there are examples of ridiculous compensation and severance packages (former Home Depot CEO got a $210M severance when leaving, for example). But I think it also boils down to demand and human capital.

A good CEO can do things the average person in the labor force cannot. No two ways about it. And, as economies/industries grow over time, the is greater demand for these people.

Robots and offshore workers in Ukraine cannot lead publicly-traded US companies.

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#37

Post by time_management »

ken wrote: post #8
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #4

Interesting article, but the author's selective memory and faulty logic continually undermines the point he's trying to make. My favorite was this gem: "Past U.S. generations invented the airplane; invented the automobile; discovered penicillin; and built the Interstate highway system. The Baby Boom generation has invented credit default swaps; mortgage backed securities; the fast food drive thru window; discovered t…

Also, half his examples weren't done by any "U.S. generation". The automobile was invented by a German, and Penicillin was discovered by a Scot.

This reminds me of "America, Fuck Yeah" in Team America, wherein U.S. credit is taken for sushi, Christmas, and books.

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#38

Post by mellow »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #34
mellow wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"dramatic reductions in global poverty", lmfao. Quote me wrong.

I'm speaking of reductions in extreme global poverty: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty#Measuring_poverty

Interesting. 'About 1/2 of the human population suffers from poverty.' Well, let them die so everyone can be wealthy. Can you see the flaw in my argument?

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#39

Post by hugh »

mellow wrote: post #32
jraines wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_be... Check out the movement in the graph starting around 7:40. A huge portion of East Asia and South Asia (where a large part of the world's population lives) experienced a large gain. (We might not consider a move from $1/day to $10/day significant, but it is) As another commenter pointed out, this isn't something we can attribute to some "U.S. generation",…

Wealth is relative. Since the Baby Boomers' DoB, many people have got wealthier, many more have got poorer. This is not coincidental.

Wealth is absolute. Since the Baby Boomers' DoB, many people have got wealthier, very few have got poorer.

Re: The Shallowest Generation

#40

Post by hugh »

ojbyrne wrote: post #29
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

isn't "orthodox neocon" an oxymoron? How can you have a long-standing standard for a completely new phenomenon?

They've been around since Reagan. And most of their principles and the key people appeared during Nixon's administration.

In that case the term "neocon" is sufficiently broad to be meaningless. We should probably make up new labels if nobody can agree on what this one means.
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