I’ve been blogging a lot lately about this whole economic crisis and how/why you might care. Lets switch gears a little bit and delve a little bit into the technology world… into the happy world of Facebook.

People are always talking about Facebook these days. Microsoft even threw them something like $240 million dollars just to be a minority stakeholder (no official decision making power). Why exactly is Facebook so damn cool from a business perspective other than because you can “socially network” aka “stalk all your friend’s hot friends?”

1. Because Microsoft cares - Ok, that a bit of an attention seeking headline. The history of companies that Microsoft has invested in or taken over is both extermely long and definitely not 100% successful. However, Microsoft is enormously rich, powerful and and is one of the most profitable companies on the face of the Earth. Ever.  They’ve thrown about $240M in investment capital at Facebook in exchange for having exclusive rights to deliver ads on Facebooks website + 2% stake in Facebook. Yes, those ones that you’ve never clicked on. Nevertheless, the fact that Microsoft is paying attention ($240M worth) is not something to ignored…

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This series of posts is about introducing to you some of the important names in our world. Not only are these people making [economic] history as we speak,  they are some of the brightest and most influential minds in the world. Lets find out if they are using their powers for good or evil… :) 

Also, by knowing who these people are, what the organizations are for which they work, and what they are doing you can better understand the news that you see/hear. Ultimately, as usual, more understanding will distinguish you from the average investor/human being who could be clueless both as to what is going on and how to react.

Without further ado, I present to you Ben Bernanke - Chairman of the Federal Reserve (aka the Fed)

What is the Federal Reserve/Fed? 

• The Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the United States government. This means that it is both a “bank for banks” as well as the bank at which the “US Treasury” [of which Hank Paulson is the head of] is a customer. 
• The couple main purposes of the Federal reserve (among many) is to address/prevent bank panics, act as the government’s bank, and promote fairness and stability in the US economy (employment, prices, interest rates, etc). 
• A few ways that the Fed does it’s job is through: control of the money supply, supervising and regulating commercial banks, and adjusting the federal funds rate.
• For the Fed, the name of the game is stability and national welfare. Very “big picture”-esque
• Ben is essentially the Chairman/boss of this part of the government. 

About Ben

Ben has very much an academic background which includes a PhD in economics from very prestigious schools (Hardvard and MIT). He then went on to teach at Stanford  and Princeton!

Ben is pretty new on the job and started in 2/1/06, replacing the former Chairman of the fed, Alan Greenspan - who’s basically been around forever and is a highly respected economist. In terms of economists, Ben is in just about the highest position you could achieve for the world’s foremost economic superpower (I hope we still are for a while longer!).

Ben Bernanke could be seen a few months ago in the headlines of most major Fed actions in the news including rate cuts (which generally serve to boost up the economy for a little bit and spur borrowing which leads to activity) and stuff to try to stave off a lot of what is happening today. Now Ben is seen mostly working with Hank Paulson on all these enormous bailout plans and such.

So is Ben doing a bad job? Well again, this is a very complicated question. You could say that Ben Bernanke is not exactly handling the situation well given that we are in the worst financial crisis this nation has [ever] seen. However, you could also argue that things could potentially be worse (if we were attacked by aliens or something…) or that Ben actually just came in and inherited a system/nation that had been suffering for a LONG time from too much greed that dug us into a deep whole, from which we could not have possibly expected ol’ Ben B to save us from single handedly. Time will tell, time…will….tell…

Watch this, I guarantee you will chuckle.

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/ - This is the REAL website of the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where our money comes from…

Awesome article about exactly how much $700 Billion dollars really is…

I need to own one of these, to help me remember these insane times!

Great article about why Google’s Andoid phones are something to be excited about.

This phone looks very mediocre, but the potential is amazing! This is the long awaited gPhone btw.

If the bailout talk doesn’t just PISS you off. Read this. There are some good quotes and perspectives there.

I posted a few weeks ago about the ban on short selling… here’s a good supplemental article about how our government is basically cheating American free markets.

As someone who bikes to work everday, this technology is pretty cool but a little bit of a gimmick if you ask me. It would be GREAT for long biking trips though.

This is a hilarious commercial.

If all my clever explainations don’t help you at all, check out this screenplay for Resession: The Musical

This series of posts is about introducing to you some of the important names in our world. Not only are these people making [economic] history as we speak,  they are some of the brightest and most influential minds in the world. Lets find out if they are using their powers for good or evil… :) 

Also, by knowing who these people are, what the organizations are for which they work, and what they are doing you can better understand the news that you see/hear. Ultimately, as usual, more understanding will distinguish you from the average investor/human being who could be clueless both as to what is going on and how to react.

Without further ado, I present to you, Hank Paulson!!

Henry Paulson - Secretary of the Treasury

What is the Secretary of Treasury? - [bulletted for your easy consumption :D]

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Microsoft’s second commercial with Seinfeld. Again, no one understood. = \

This must be SkyNet at work again. Gives some great insight into how some tiny error can really have HUGE implications.

This will be the future of television. I saw one of the small ones at the Sony Store (why do they exist…well I guess I went inside…) last weekend. These TVs are crazy thin.  Like as thin as the new Ipod Nano.

Remember Cuil? Yeah, me neither… But honestly - I’m not trying to be a hater on innovative startups. I just have a problem using an extremely ambitious claim to fame to get attention and then not delivering.

If you don’t know who Mark Cuban is,  he’s one of the very famous billionaire, investor/entrepreneurs of our time. Here’s how to get him to invest in your idea. Awesome interview with him here as well.

Oh my goodnes… what are they thinking…

Remember that video up top? Looks like there won’t be anymore… Like everything about these commercials, I don’t know how to feel….

Here’s what Microsoft has come up with to replace Seinfeld. What do you think?

It is sometimes hard to keep up with all the news.   Every Friday, I am going to tell you about 3 important things that happened in recent weeks.  If you are more aware of the business environment, you will positioned much better to succeed, no matter what field you are in.  Here are the three things I think you should have picked up this week:

1. The economy is weakening. -  There is a good chance we will go into a recession this fall.  Make sure you are working hard at your job.  The unemployment rate is now 6.1% which is a 5 year high.   Learn more here.

2. We are going to end up paying for this housing crisis. People have been living way beyond their means and this is finally going to come back to haunt us.  I always find it funny that people who make very mediocre incomes are buying new BMWs and huge Flat-screen TVs.  Companies have been encouraging people to buy things beyond their income level and this is going to cause problems.  Over the past few couple of weeks, the government has stepped into to help two very large American companies.  This is because they have had so many mortgages go bad.  Learn more about how this will affect you here.

3. We are currently going through a fundamental shift in the IT world. - At EvadingMediocrity, we are huge believers in Software as a Service (SaaS).  This basically means that your computer programs will run more like services (electricity, cable, etc..) than traditional software programs.   This would allow you to access your data from any computer no matter where you are in the world.  I will explain this in much more detail in later posts.  Google confirmed that it is trying to accelerate this movement when it released Chrome this week.

We are in some insane times right now. Downright insane. One could even [easily] argue that the behaviors on the trading floors the last couple days are literally insane. Your average “wall street dude” is depicted below…

This is a short but very impactful conversation I had with a mentor I had in college. He was CEO of a local commercial real estate mortgage firm. Very well off.

“What did you do when you were my age to help get you where you are today?”
“That’s a very broad question…”
“I guess I mean in terms of investing or personal finance… what can I do to ensure that I get my financial life started off well so that when I’m your age, I can be ready to retire and enjoy some of the luxuries in life?”
“The BEST thing I can tell you to do at your age, since I’m assuming you don’t have much to invest, is to NOT BUY A CAR right out of college. It is a huge temptation that nearly all graduates succumb to and I can’t stress how important staying out of debt early and building a good base early for investing is.”

It was a relatively simple lesson but I took it to heart. Here’s some ways young professionals can easily save/preserve some of their hard earned cash.

Ditch the wheels - Taking public transportation has many pluses (for everyone) in addition to the fact that it will save you lots of money in the long run.  According to the American Public Transportation Association an average person can save $672.00 a month by taking public transportation.  Not only are you saving your wallet but your car’s life span too. Shit, maybe even your own if your doing a little “Self powered commuting”.

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I am always looking for ways to increase my productivity both at work and at home. Afterall, at work, the more productive I am, the more value I can produce for my employer (leading to good things like promotions/raises/etc). At home, each minute I save in productivity can be spent elsewhere (sleep, play, drink, eat, relaxation, slaying dragons, taxedermy, creating a human shaped computer)

Here’s 3 easy technological innovations that are HUGE boosters in productivity no matter who you are!

Email on your phone - This is an absolute must.  After you try using email on your phone, you will never go back to not having it.  This will help you be very responsive to email and more aware of what is going on at work.  However, I must warn you that your significant other will probably not like this feature.  The ultimatly means you will be working more but it will work out to your advantage in the long run. Learn how to turn this to your advantage without getting addicted to the drug known as the crackberry and you’ll crush your current productivity level.

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