He shook Hugo Chavez's hand with a smile...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVYNWEoCUs
He called Ecuador's Rafael Correa, a supporter of the FARC, to "congratulate" him on his recent re-election...
He wanted Manuel Zelaya to return to Honduras after the Central-American president was deposed...kicked out of his own country!... for violating the Honduran Constitution. Zelaya has been following Hugo Chavez's footsteps.
White House Council member Gregory Craig is advising Barrack Obama on Latin-American relations. Mr. Craig was the lawyer for Fidel Castro in 2000's U.S. vs Cuba Elian Gonzalez case.
Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Jul 27, 2009. pg. A.13
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Money from trees
Goldman Sachs: $40 billion in securities sold tied to risky mortgages between 2006 and 2007 even while secretly short selling on those securities sold. -McClatchy
CEO of Goldman Sach's - Lloyd Blankfein
Kevin G Hall
Moody's Investor's Service
Key player in the financial crisis
Underwriters, mostly Newscentury, Ameriquest, Countrywide passed their mortgages to big investment banks such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, and others. These investment banks worked with the ratings service agencies to package pools of mortgages into securities that would become collaterlized loan obligations or mortgage backed securities, essentially loans backed by mortgage payments. The buyers of these mortgage backed securities were usually pension funds, retirement funds, charitable endowments, and institutional investors. Many of these buyers were restricted to buy only top-rated securities. History shows that ratings were "made to order". Consequentially, Moody's revenue's grew to $2 billion in 2006. Moody's stock price from $13 in 2000 to above $72 in early 2007. The stock has since fallen by almost $50/share.
CEO of Goldman Sach's - Lloyd Blankfein
Kevin G Hall
Moody's Investor's Service
Key player in the financial crisis
Underwriters, mostly Newscentury, Ameriquest, Countrywide passed their mortgages to big investment banks such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, and others. These investment banks worked with the ratings service agencies to package pools of mortgages into securities that would become collaterlized loan obligations or mortgage backed securities, essentially loans backed by mortgage payments. The buyers of these mortgage backed securities were usually pension funds, retirement funds, charitable endowments, and institutional investors. Many of these buyers were restricted to buy only top-rated securities. History shows that ratings were "made to order". Consequentially, Moody's revenue's grew to $2 billion in 2006. Moody's stock price from $13 in 2000 to above $72 in early 2007. The stock has since fallen by almost $50/share.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Che overview
*Kleptocracy - applies to a government "that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats) at the expense of the population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service." - wiki
*coup d'état - a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics
*Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán - Guatemalan military officer and politician, president from 1951 - 1954 until he was ousted by a coup d'état in which the US replaced him with a military junta, headed by Colonel Carlos Castillo. Arbenz had attempted to end the Latifundia system.
*Latifundia system - pieces of property covering tremendous areas. Often called haciendas in Latin America. Similarities with the Roman latifundia. Blamed for economic inequality and strife.
*26th of July Movement - In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution to overthrow the Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba. The name originates from the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953, an army facility in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The movement was reorganized in Mexico in 1955 by a group of 82 exiled revolutionaries (Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Che among others). Batista eventually fled Cuba in 1959.
*AWOL - absent without leave, abandonment of duty without permission from one's government
*coup d'état - a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics
*Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán - Guatemalan military officer and politician, president from 1951 - 1954 until he was ousted by a coup d'état in which the US replaced him with a military junta, headed by Colonel Carlos Castillo. Arbenz had attempted to end the Latifundia system.
*Latifundia system - pieces of property covering tremendous areas. Often called haciendas in Latin America. Similarities with the Roman latifundia. Blamed for economic inequality and strife.
*26th of July Movement - In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution to overthrow the Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba. The name originates from the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953, an army facility in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The movement was reorganized in Mexico in 1955 by a group of 82 exiled revolutionaries (Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Che among others). Batista eventually fled Cuba in 1959.
*AWOL - absent without leave, abandonment of duty without permission from one's government
Sunday, June 28, 2009
EPM
from the Architectual Record
"Architect Giancarlo Mazzanti’s Biblioteca España [record, November 2008, page 138], completed in 2007, is one of the 10 «park-libraries» built as part of the social plan for the city’s most neglected sections."
"In 1999, they [EPM] commissioned the first important urban project in Medellín’s financial center: Parque de los Pies Descalzos, or Barefoot Park, by architect Felipe Uribe de Bedout."
"In 2004, Uribe’s EPM Library and Parque de la Luz, by architect Juan Manuel Peláez, rose side by side in the financial district." "Bedecked with 300 concrete-and-steel masts, which have an average height of 72 feet and are equipped with LEDs, the park changes in mood and appearance throughout the day and the year, according to the position of the sun and the shadows cast. Because of financial constraints, however, the masts are not regularly illuminated, as originally envisioned."
"According to national statistics, in 1991 the number of homicides in Medellín was 381 for every 100,000 inhabitants. By 2005 that number had dropped to 34. The role of strategic city planning and dynamic architecture in this dramatic change is undeniable."
^by Jimena Martignoni is based in Buenos Aires and writes on Latin American architecture and landscape design.
from the Architectual Record
"Architect Giancarlo Mazzanti’s Biblioteca España [record, November 2008, page 138], completed in 2007, is one of the 10 «park-libraries» built as part of the social plan for the city’s most neglected sections."
"In 1999, they [EPM] commissioned the first important urban project in Medellín’s financial center: Parque de los Pies Descalzos, or Barefoot Park, by architect Felipe Uribe de Bedout."
"In 2004, Uribe’s EPM Library and Parque de la Luz, by architect Juan Manuel Peláez, rose side by side in the financial district." "Bedecked with 300 concrete-and-steel masts, which have an average height of 72 feet and are equipped with LEDs, the park changes in mood and appearance throughout the day and the year, according to the position of the sun and the shadows cast. Because of financial constraints, however, the masts are not regularly illuminated, as originally envisioned."
"According to national statistics, in 1991 the number of homicides in Medellín was 381 for every 100,000 inhabitants. By 2005 that number had dropped to 34. The role of strategic city planning and dynamic architecture in this dramatic change is undeniable."
^by Jimena Martignoni is based in Buenos Aires and writes on Latin American architecture and landscape design.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
View from the biblioteca
School is not in session. But just take a look at this view! Honestly, I'm almost glad that Americans are scared to travel here because it adds to Colombia's authenticity. This city is for the people. No tourist traps, no rollercoasters. During my first conversation with the other "foreign" exchange students in my class, it was mentioned that the people here [Colombia] were particularly more friendly than other places in South America. I asked my dad about this and he said that it may be because of the support for President Álvaro Uribe. Having been described as one of the best Presidents in Colombia over the past 100 years, Uribe was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom bestowed by President George Bush on January 13, 2009. His ratings were estimated around 70% after his second year in office (and that's after winning the 2002 election with 53%).
Based on a 2004 Boston Globe article and referenced in Wikipedia, "According to official government statistical information from August 2004, in two years, homicides, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks in Colombia decreased by as much as 50% - their lowest levels in almost 20 years. In 2003, there were 7,000 fewer homicides than in 2002 - a decrease of 27%. By April 2004, the government had established a permanent police or military presence in every Colombian municipality for the first time in decades."
This blog post doesn't do justice to what Uribe has done for Colombia, or the progress that Colombia has taken over the past decade. For now, I'll say that my trip, 5 days now, has been worth every penny.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Management as a profession
So I think the trick to blogging is that you just have to write what you feel and not do too much thinking or try to word it perfectly or spend months doing research before you release the post. Management can share a similar ideology. Every manager is faced with a balance of action, risk assessment, and moral judgment among every problem they face.
I just read an interesting article from the Economist about how some Harvard MBA students set up an oath for this year's graduating class. The oath, as you might guess, calls for moral integrity and avoiding selfish greed. Almost half of the 400 students signed up during an unofficial ceremony. The oath was supported by some HBS professors who observe, "They [the students] want to get away from the cartoon image of business that they are taught in the classroom, to get useful practical advice on how to lead a firm in the 21st century."
I recall during the first month of my undergraduate career, creating a project on corporate virtues. In my case, Newman's Own donates all proceeds to charity. Quickly after that project, those ideas of moral integrity began to fade into the widespread, Milton Friedman belief that the sole mission of business is to maximize shareholder value. So, quite quickly, we see two bubbles that focus on the return to the investor and the return to "the enterprise and the society it serves."
Can business professors provide the guidance needed to obtain the gray in the middle? Focusing on shareholder value puts emphasis on short term profitability, market gains. Shareholders "who feel that managers have not acted in their best interest can sue them." Yet business schools are meant to produce leaders, not the ticket towards profit-or-die wave pool. Global cooperation is somewhere lost in the spectrum. It seems that the only way to provide substantial philanthropy is to become Microsoft (monopoloy, Bill Gates never attended business school), or Wal-Mart (low wages, child-labor). While it costs money to make money, does it also cost morals to enhance social welfare?
The other question relates to what value managers actually bring to an organization. My friend Joe Pelletier believes that, while leadership skills can be transferable across industries and organizations, experiential learning is what will produce exceptional leaders. "It is easy to perceive managers as having no technical skills, relative to professions like IT, doctors, lawyers, etc. It's a general problem for business schools."
The need to reform the MBA is prevalent among our generation. The need for social enhancement is seen as a primary concern among my peers. The ability to socially connect has led us to permit transparency and "enhance our brand" as Dan Schwabel would say. The MBA has not stood up to its requirement for trust. While almost no entrepreneurs pursue an MBA, legislation calling for greater transparency along with management certifications in business ethics may ameliorate the integrity of the degree. While some countries host unethical businesses, the U.S. may hold the political and social will capable of rebuilding the strength needed to lead us into the next era of globalization.
On my plane ride down to Colombia, I sat next to a bright young Colombian-American who manages his own polymer glass company. He has a PHD in polymer science and has taken some management courses to help fill his shoes. I compare my admiration for his successful career to the future that lies in front of me. I hope that when I pursue an MBA, I can meet that level of commitment and value myself as a real asset to any organization.
I just read an interesting article from the Economist about how some Harvard MBA students set up an oath for this year's graduating class. The oath, as you might guess, calls for moral integrity and avoiding selfish greed. Almost half of the 400 students signed up during an unofficial ceremony. The oath was supported by some HBS professors who observe, "They [the students] want to get away from the cartoon image of business that they are taught in the classroom, to get useful practical advice on how to lead a firm in the 21st century."
I recall during the first month of my undergraduate career, creating a project on corporate virtues. In my case, Newman's Own donates all proceeds to charity. Quickly after that project, those ideas of moral integrity began to fade into the widespread, Milton Friedman belief that the sole mission of business is to maximize shareholder value. So, quite quickly, we see two bubbles that focus on the return to the investor and the return to "the enterprise and the society it serves."
Can business professors provide the guidance needed to obtain the gray in the middle? Focusing on shareholder value puts emphasis on short term profitability, market gains. Shareholders "who feel that managers have not acted in their best interest can sue them." Yet business schools are meant to produce leaders, not the ticket towards profit-or-die wave pool. Global cooperation is somewhere lost in the spectrum. It seems that the only way to provide substantial philanthropy is to become Microsoft (monopoloy, Bill Gates never attended business school), or Wal-Mart (low wages, child-labor). While it costs money to make money, does it also cost morals to enhance social welfare?
The other question relates to what value managers actually bring to an organization. My friend Joe Pelletier believes that, while leadership skills can be transferable across industries and organizations, experiential learning is what will produce exceptional leaders. "It is easy to perceive managers as having no technical skills, relative to professions like IT, doctors, lawyers, etc. It's a general problem for business schools."
The need to reform the MBA is prevalent among our generation. The need for social enhancement is seen as a primary concern among my peers. The ability to socially connect has led us to permit transparency and "enhance our brand" as Dan Schwabel would say. The MBA has not stood up to its requirement for trust. While almost no entrepreneurs pursue an MBA, legislation calling for greater transparency along with management certifications in business ethics may ameliorate the integrity of the degree. While some countries host unethical businesses, the U.S. may hold the political and social will capable of rebuilding the strength needed to lead us into the next era of globalization.
On my plane ride down to Colombia, I sat next to a bright young Colombian-American who manages his own polymer glass company. He has a PHD in polymer science and has taken some management courses to help fill his shoes. I compare my admiration for his successful career to the future that lies in front of me. I hope that when I pursue an MBA, I can meet that level of commitment and value myself as a real asset to any organization.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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