USA ← A Little Ludwig Goes A Long Way

The Supreme Court DOMA ruling is going to roll through every state and organization

Jul

2013

In Ohio, a federal judge rules that Ohio has to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. This is going to roll through every state, company, organization, municipality. If it is unconstitutional for the federal government to discriminate against legally married couples, then it is surely unconstitutional for any other entity to do the same. ...

I wish a member of Congress had half the balls of Snowden

Jun

2013

However you feel about Snowden’s actions, whether he is a patriot or traitor, brilliant or naive, you have to give him credit for having the balls to take a stand. He has put his life and liberty at risk for something he believes in. He has thrown away his career, his relationships, his home, everything. ...

Two thoughts spurred by FiveThirtyEight

Nov

2012

* “FiveThirtyEight”:http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/ and other election watchers have made it crystal clear that candidate attention has moved entirely to swing states — and increasingly swing counties and swing demographics within those states. You have to believe this trend will continue, and we will see ever finer-grained focus on counties, on precincts, on finer and finer demographic ...

Why I don’t care about economics issues this election

Oct

2012

I recently posted “my thoughts on the upcoming presidential election”:http://theludwigs.com/2012/10/why-i-will-vote-for-obama-in-the-presidential-election/, and a couple people mentioned how concerned they were about economic issues. Hey, me too! They aren’t the most important issues for me this election, but I worry about deficits, taxes, government expenditures, economic growth. The only viable path out of our economic problems is ...

Why I will vote for Obama in the presidential election.

Oct

2012

I am pretty apolitical. I view government as a necessary evil. The political process seems horribly compromised, most politicians seem hopelessly compromised. The campaign ads make me barf. I will be happy when election season is over. Usually I just keep my head down during the season and try to keep my views to myself. ...

Too bad Fisker didn’t use Kickstarter

Sep

2012

So a longish time ago I got all excited about the “Fisker Karma”:http://onward.fiskerautomotive.com/en-us/karma/overview/ and put a $1000 deposit down. Then the car was super late. And the interior was very tight. And the performance wasn’t that outstanding. And I loved my Audi. And I couldn’t justify the expense. To my surprise they called me last ...

Is healthcare the greatest limiter on startups?

Sep

2012

@shanselman has been sharing a lot of tweets today on the topic of healthcare and startups. For example: * https://twitter.com/lobrien/status/247408555651645440 * https://twitter.com/doozerblake/status/247407834130690048 * https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/247403381012975616 * https://twitter.com/timsonofsteve/status/247413105750077440 The shared assertion is — the lack of easily available health insurance is preventing a lot of people from joining or creating startups. Nothing scientific about this data, it ...

…the biggest threat to innovation is the lack of single payer health…

Feb

2012

“Rob (@mtnspring) is onto something here”:https://twitter.com/#!/mtnspring/status/173485019560558592. Health insurance is a huge lock-in for corporations. If an employee has a family, and/or ongoing health concerns, it is very hard for them to walk away into the morass of COBRA, pre-existing conditions, etc. I have to believe that people would be far more willing to take startup ...

Feeling a little contrary today — Taxes, IP, Apple

Jan

2012

“Mitt pays $3M+ in taxes a year”:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney-tax-20120125,0,7825338.story — that is a s%^tload of money, whatever the rate. And people want another $3M a year out of him? When I see numbers this size, I wonder more about where it is all going — shouldn’t we spend more time on what the heck the government is ...

Another reason why corporations shouldn’t be permitted to make political contributions

Jan

2012

From today’s NYT article on Apple’s offshore manufacturing: “We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries”, a current Apple executive said. “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.” I’m not completely angry about this view, this might be the correct and legitimate attitude for ...

We aren’t designing for fairness, we are designing for equality of opportunity

Oct

2011

So someone asked me “Hey, with your views on the Occupy movement, how do you feel about the fact that the top 10% pays 70% of federal income tax? Is that fair?” First of all, this is NOT the Occupy issue that gets me most excited — I am much more interested in limiting corporate ...

I’m in the 1% and I support the 99%

Oct

2011

I’ve been fortunate. I had great access to education due to support from my parents, and I was lucky to be at Microsoft during a very heady period for the company. I am clearly a 1%er. And I understand that my good fortune is part luck, part due to the support of others, part due ...

I need to get smarter about the healthcare debate

Aug

2009

Having spent way too much time with healthcare providers, insurance companies, etc, in the last 4 years, I certainly support change. Almost any change, change for change’s sake, is worth trying, because the system is not very satisfying right now. We should clearly try to do something. So I am inclined towards supporting the new ...

Getting US Citizens Out Of Trouble

Aug

2009

Journalists Rejoin Relieved Friends, Family in U.S. – washingtonpost.com — it is awesome that these folks have been freed, and it is generally a good thing that we have found a way to talk to North Korea and have a success at something, here’s hoping that this event will contribute to calmer relations with the ...

Black-Swan Proofing, Useless Business Plans

Apr

2009

Gleaned from the twittersphere: FT.com / Comment / Opinion – Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world. Man some good common sense in here. Business plans a waste of time. Sounds like your typical entrepreneur would be far better off meeting people and networking than spending time on a plan. There is probably some minimum ...

…the group of psychopaths on Wall Street…

Apr

2009

Dave Chen pointed me towards The Big Takeover, a great telling of the AIG story. People are pissed off about this financial crisis, and about this bailout, but they’re not pissed off enough. The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d’etat. ...

Bailout Scorecard

Mar

2009

Who is getting the bank bailout money – CNNMoney.com. Wow, $10.5Trillion so far. $35,000 from each US citizen’s pocket. To pay for years of poor decision making, greedy decision making. F%^k.

Treasury Maps New Era of Regulation – WSJ.com

Mar

2009

“That would drive managers out of the United States.” via Treasury Maps New Era of Regulation – WSJ.com. So just wondering, why would driving hedge funds out of business in this country be a bad thing? How many inventions have they funded, how many jobs created? What is the biggest success story for the country ...

The AIG-backlash-backlash

Mar

2009

Ben was so right | The Big Picture. The backlash against AIG bonus backlash is in full swing. I for one am glad though that the bonus issue has exploded. While the dollars involved are not material to our country, the message and discussion about values is perhaps the most important issue to our country.

Bernanke Pushes the Button | The Big Picture

Mar

2009

Bernanke Pushes the Button | The Big Picture. “The prospect of hundreds of billions of newly minted dollars coursing through the global financial system caused currency traders to thrash the greenback by almost 3%.” ” The Fed is “now bringing out all the ammo in its arsenal”, according to Rosenberg.” “And, for those who think ...